Perfect
I've noticed a few things about games in the past few weeks when I've been replaying old classics. Firstly, there is one huge gaming cliche I'd never noticed before. What is it with seeing the boss go past you before you fight it? Sound odd?
Twice in Sonic 3, at least once in Lylat Wars, once in Turrican II, and I'm sure there are others I haven't re-noticed yet. Here's my Sonic 3 example I just quickly went and captured, you can see the waterfall boss behind the trees before you fight him.
The boss will just go past you, giving you a hint of what it looks like. It'll always be behind trees/grates/toilets (don't ask) but you won't fight it for another few moments.
Secondly, there have been two noticeable changes in gaming trends.
Change 1 -> Games are shorter. Far, far shorter. Games used to be one long play-through, but now you can simply play the shorter game against but with a different outfit, one that looks slightly different from the first and makes no real difference to gameplay. I preferred the old version with a huge game, personally. Though games like Resident Evil 4 are long enough while also having various outfits, hidden weapons and whatnot.
Change 2 -> What ever happened to the mission based games? I know many of the war-time games are, but the modern classics like F.E.A.R, HL2 and Prey are all continuous narrative. True, Halo 2 is, but I'd still like more mission-based games.
Now we have my proposal for how to create the Ultimate FPS experience.
Halo-life 2 : The Perfect Fear of Prey
What would we have in this game? Well, from each game you can see in the title there would be the best little bit of the game taken, and combined to make something rather good. Every FPS I've ever played I've always spotted something I felt could be improved, and now I think this would be ideal.
From Halo 2 : Take the ease of multiplayer game-finding and the capacity for tricking. Perhaps carry over the Sword, but it would have to find room to fit in among the other weapons I'd bring in from elsewhere. I'd take the level design because where the whole area is built, not just the bits you're supposed to see. I'd leave behind the vast swarms of racist homophobic American bigots though.
From Half-life 1 : This is partly joined with Half-life 2, but I'd take the plot. Because the plot is fantastic. Also, keep with the "In-game Cinematics" - there's something more fun about playing through the 'video' sections rather than being pulled out of the game temporarily. More games need Satchel Charges, so I'd bring them over.
From Half-life 2 : Take the plot, the graphics, and the physics. The physics might have to be tweaked a little to allow for Halo-style tricking. I would most certainly leave the way levels are created, because the second you stray off the straight and narrow things go crazy. Bring the Gravity Gun too.
From Perfect Dark : I'd like to bring a bit of this plot too, but I'm not sure how you could combine it with that of Half-life. Obviously, the main point here would be the weapons. They've still never been beaten. Not even close.
From F.E.A.R : The slow-mo and the blood and gore would be the main two things I want from here. I'd also bring the fact that you can gradually upgrade your health/slow-mo time as the game advances, since that encourages you to search levels more thoroughly.
From Prey : I'd bring two things from here. Firstly, the crazy scale-changing, the wall-walking and the portal stuff. But I'd also bring the "Leech Gun", just because it's a nice concept. For those who don't know, you can find four different wall-mounted thingies around the Dyson Sphere the game takes place in. Each is a different colour, and you can absorb their energy with the Leech Gun. Each different colour makes the gun fire in a different way, be it plasma/ice/electricity/mega beam of death.
And lastly, have secrets. Lots of secrets. Halo 2 had the Scarab Gun, Perfect Dark had the cheese, but there should be more! And, in some cases, they should be tougher to unlock. You should have to do weird and crazy things to find the coolest additions the game can offer, like finding the cheese on the Carrington Institute. For those who aren't interested, stop reading now.
Go down to the hangar and get the hovercrate. Take it all the way back upstairs and jam it in the doors to the weapon training area. Then, go inside, and stand in the firing range door so it can't close. Select the Slayer and Easy mode to give you the longest time. The door will attempt to close, but you're in the way. Then, select Fly-By-Wire mode and shoot. Guide the rocket out the training area doors, down the ramp and outside into the Hoverbike training area. Look up at the sky and go above the door that only opens when the Skedar attack. Turn the rocket around the corner and there you can find a small slab of cheese.
We need more stuff like that. For only a tiny amount of extra programming it gives the game way more life as you try to figure out how to do things.
Twice in Sonic 3, at least once in Lylat Wars, once in Turrican II, and I'm sure there are others I haven't re-noticed yet. Here's my Sonic 3 example I just quickly went and captured, you can see the waterfall boss behind the trees before you fight him.
The boss will just go past you, giving you a hint of what it looks like. It'll always be behind trees/grates/toilets (don't ask) but you won't fight it for another few moments.
Secondly, there have been two noticeable changes in gaming trends.
Change 1 -> Games are shorter. Far, far shorter. Games used to be one long play-through, but now you can simply play the shorter game against but with a different outfit, one that looks slightly different from the first and makes no real difference to gameplay. I preferred the old version with a huge game, personally. Though games like Resident Evil 4 are long enough while also having various outfits, hidden weapons and whatnot.
Change 2 -> What ever happened to the mission based games? I know many of the war-time games are, but the modern classics like F.E.A.R, HL2 and Prey are all continuous narrative. True, Halo 2 is, but I'd still like more mission-based games.
Now we have my proposal for how to create the Ultimate FPS experience.
Halo-life 2 : The Perfect Fear of Prey
What would we have in this game? Well, from each game you can see in the title there would be the best little bit of the game taken, and combined to make something rather good. Every FPS I've ever played I've always spotted something I felt could be improved, and now I think this would be ideal.
From Halo 2 : Take the ease of multiplayer game-finding and the capacity for tricking. Perhaps carry over the Sword, but it would have to find room to fit in among the other weapons I'd bring in from elsewhere. I'd take the level design because where the whole area is built, not just the bits you're supposed to see. I'd leave behind the vast swarms of racist homophobic American bigots though.
From Half-life 1 : This is partly joined with Half-life 2, but I'd take the plot. Because the plot is fantastic. Also, keep with the "In-game Cinematics" - there's something more fun about playing through the 'video' sections rather than being pulled out of the game temporarily. More games need Satchel Charges, so I'd bring them over.
From Half-life 2 : Take the plot, the graphics, and the physics. The physics might have to be tweaked a little to allow for Halo-style tricking. I would most certainly leave the way levels are created, because the second you stray off the straight and narrow things go crazy. Bring the Gravity Gun too.
From Perfect Dark : I'd like to bring a bit of this plot too, but I'm not sure how you could combine it with that of Half-life. Obviously, the main point here would be the weapons. They've still never been beaten. Not even close.
From F.E.A.R : The slow-mo and the blood and gore would be the main two things I want from here. I'd also bring the fact that you can gradually upgrade your health/slow-mo time as the game advances, since that encourages you to search levels more thoroughly.
From Prey : I'd bring two things from here. Firstly, the crazy scale-changing, the wall-walking and the portal stuff. But I'd also bring the "Leech Gun", just because it's a nice concept. For those who don't know, you can find four different wall-mounted thingies around the Dyson Sphere the game takes place in. Each is a different colour, and you can absorb their energy with the Leech Gun. Each different colour makes the gun fire in a different way, be it plasma/ice/electricity/mega beam of death.
And lastly, have secrets. Lots of secrets. Halo 2 had the Scarab Gun, Perfect Dark had the cheese, but there should be more! And, in some cases, they should be tougher to unlock. You should have to do weird and crazy things to find the coolest additions the game can offer, like finding the cheese on the Carrington Institute. For those who aren't interested, stop reading now.
Go down to the hangar and get the hovercrate. Take it all the way back upstairs and jam it in the doors to the weapon training area. Then, go inside, and stand in the firing range door so it can't close. Select the Slayer and Easy mode to give you the longest time. The door will attempt to close, but you're in the way. Then, select Fly-By-Wire mode and shoot. Guide the rocket out the training area doors, down the ramp and outside into the Hoverbike training area. Look up at the sky and go above the door that only opens when the Skedar attack. Turn the rocket around the corner and there you can find a small slab of cheese.
We need more stuff like that. For only a tiny amount of extra programming it gives the game way more life as you try to figure out how to do things.
posted by Mkzrj at 3:10 pm
3 Comments:
"Tweak the physics" from HL2 to allow for tricking like Halo 2 is a massive understatement. How about "all but remove gravity and don't lose health from falls."
Also, either in-game cutscenes from Halflife or interactive ones like Resident Evil 4. More games should have things like the knife-fight with Krauser or the laser corridor.
The destrucability of Black should be in there too. And, if possible, the sheer sense of joy that you get from blasting things on Black.
Oh yes, add the destructability. And I don't think "tweak" is an understatement... *shifty eyes*
Wow... that really would be the u l t i m a t e fps!
*Preorders* XD
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