1. Playing with time- Beginning with The Matrix, bullet time became a phenomenon in movies. Ever since Max Payne, they have been a staple in gaming. Bullet time isn't the only way of playing with time. In Quantum Break, one of your abilities is to slow motion in a certain area, giving you the upperhand on teleporting enemies (whom normally require wasting a valuable shotgun shell), or buying you the time you need to get to cover. In Grand Theft Auto V, two of the special abilities revolve around time bending, respectively slowing down time while driving or while in a shootout (Both of which come into use when on a rampage).
2. Multiplayer counteractions- In several first person shooter games, there is a "hardcore" mode where friendly fire is enabled. In order to halt team killing, people who team kill 3 times are automatically booted from a server. In Call of Duty Black Ops, if a friendly intentionally aims a rocket at the ground at the start of a no respawning round (causing everyone on the team to die), the teamkiller will be immediately booted. In Call of Duty Ghosts, shooting at teammates will deflect damage onto the troller, effectively warning players to improve their aim or to go somewhere else. In Halo Reach, if a teamkiller reaches 3 offenses, the latest victim is given the option of booting them from the server. In games such as America's Army, teamkilling will instantly teleport the player into a recreation of Fort Leavenworth, and players can not leave until they manually close the game. Outside of shooters, the Mario Kart franchise has been known to be relatively generous to players near the bottom of the back, giving them a much higher chance of an item like a bullet bill (takes you through a nice amount of the course blindingly fast until you get ahead of so many people) or the ever dreaded blue shell (for use when someone is too far in first place)
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| And you are officially unfriended. |
3. Various online features- I don't know when muting (players from a list) was introduced, but it has finally stopped people from blaring their music into their microphones. I appreciate this one a bunch. Chat filters in games such as Town of Salem come into good use for providing a moment of humor for those who curse and have to be around those who curse. I also really find it clever in Town of Salem how there is a role called jester that has an uncanny win condition- must die by lynching. The trick of this is that players must come up with a way to fool the town into thinking they are evil. Their reward? They get to haunt (or force suicide onto) one of the people voted guilty if they are executed. The real treasure of this is that even if a certain player is immune to night attacks they are forced to commit suicide. Not even the doctor can save them.
4. 3d gaming- Well it was an innovation at one point. Obviously, this did have several drawbacks, such as several games having a horrible camera system. Unfortunately, a poor camera system is one of the few things that can completely crush an otherwise excellent game, as it nearly stopped Sonic Adventure (it's saving grace is that I mistook the poor camera angles as a cinematic effect when I was playing through). Besides even modern 2d games have 3d graphics or motion properties (and those are called 2.5D). As of right now, almost every modern game is 3D, but there are still several good 2d games out on the market.
5. Parkour- When it is used the right way, parkour is great. This has never really been too prominent until Mirror's Edge, a story about a fugitive who must prove her sister was framed for an assassination. This leads to a slightly strained running from authority story, but the action is promising, and a sequel is in the works. There is also the example of Titanfall, where giant robots can cause mayhem on the battlefield. A key to avoiding these giants is to stay off the ground by wall-running and using giant weapons. It is also vital to avoiding attacks by your fellow men, and can easily lead to a spot with good cover. Another worthwhile note is that if a player can get high enough, they can take off the titan's core armor and start a surgical attack, yet this almost always requires using parkour and finding your way to a high enough rooftop.
6. Digital distribution- Often times this is where the good deals are found. Also, there should be no reason why your games suddenly fail to work. This could also go for sites such as Newgrounds, where you can find some pretty cool games, but often leave people wanting for more (and besides, it is a free flash gaming site, so their is nothing else to really say here). However, a digital storefront is starting to become a good resource for game purchases. The only thing that I wish was different was the fact that you can not get refunds on your purchases (I already feel like Sleeping Dogs is $7 I'll never see again). However, a digital storefront does make it far easier to get pre-order bonuses sent out, since all you have to do now is just find the special code and plop it in.
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| Oh great, now this entire post is derailed. |
7. Quicktime Events- By now, these are becoming overused and it ain't pretty. However, when put
into play correctly, they can feel like a good way to quickly boost adrenaline. Please do not get this confused with button mashing games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Basically, a player just has to press a button at the proper moment to avoid an instant death. One of my favorite examples of this is the 2013 Tomb Raider installment, where players must travel through a forest area littered with guard hounds. Players can stab dogs with an arrow provided they react fast enough. Come to think of it, the sentry dog event is overused, having a presence in Call of Duty 4 and the Wolfenstein reboots (though nonetheless a classic example).
8. Choice affects story- In the Shadow the Hedgehog installment of the Sonic franchise, players had a choice between 3 objectives in each level: Neutral, Evil, and Good. Depending on the goal chosen, players are will take on an entirely different level (and most of these good/bad objectives are way too time consuming). These choices usually don't affect gameplay, but typically affect endings. Take for instance in Call of Duty Black Ops 2, when trying to escape a stakeout gone wrong, players must keep focused to avoid accidentally burning a teammate. Luckily, this only affects small talk in the next chapter, while other decisions have far more harsh consequences. In many Telltale games (big sale going on at time of writing), your decisions affect the conversations. At the end of each episode, you see a screen showing how much of the community agreed with your choices. Of course, all these add up, so even if several players reach a common ending, it is likely that they took a different path to get there.
9. Anti-Frustration Features- In many games, there are features that will save players from an inconvenient death:
In pinball tables, if a ball fails to have a long enough life span, the table will "save" the ball and not count it as a loss.
In several shooter games (mostly third person) such as Quantum Break or Uncharted, if a player notices there is a weapon that can be picked up, it is considered to be the developer's way of saying that there is going to be a gunfight soon.
In Super Mario Galaxy, repeatedly failing at mandatory missions will open the option to let the game to possess your character and automatically negotiate the obstacles.
In Bioshock Infinite, a short harp note will play once you have cleared an area of enemies and can move on safely.
In the Medal of Honor reboots, as long as you and your allies have the same weapon, you can always approach them if you need more clips. Also, your sidearm always has infinite ammunition
Need more? Go here!
10. Automatic saving- Whoever pioneered this gets a karma point from me. There is no greater annoyance to a gamer than discovering they did not save their game and having to make another long trudge again. A vast majority of games from the Playstation/Nintendo 64 era and onward will automatically save after each chapter/level. The only problem I have with this system is when the game saves midlevel (Halo, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and Half Life), it is not uncommon for the game to save in an unwinnable situation, such as when none of your weapons have a full clip or your health meter is at a low level (and you have to restart the chapter).
There are several other great things in video games. These are just my favorite examples of game features that are more than welcome. I hope for more awesome stuff in the future video games and for video game developers to keep being original!
Game on
Jacob Bacci
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