Five Innovative Video Game Features from Past Generations
This generation we have seen some pretty creative game features from Killzone 2 introducing a cover system in first person perspective, all the way to Mass Effect’s conversation system.
Not all innovative game features were created recently, so join me as I take a look at five that introduced creative features from past generations.
The Thing: Fear and Trust
The Thing was released for the PS2, X-Box, and PC on August 19th 2002. Loosely based of the 1982 John , the Thing has a fear and trust system which adds more realism to the game. If you came across potential teammates your actions during combat affected their trust in you. If you killed someone who was infected then your teammates would praise you. On the other hand, if you killed someone who wasn’t infected then your teammates would lose trust, and they might even turn on you.
The fear system would kick in once your teammates were exposed to certain environments, or the alien creatures themselves. A bloody scene or a blocked door could spook your team and cause them to react in 3 different ways; they would simply run away, lose all hope and commit suicide, or go nuts and shoot everyone in sight. If you had to kill a teammate for shooting indiscriminately at your squad, that would also affect your team’s trust in you. This system was one of the things (no pun intended) I enjoyed about this game.
Uhhhh, you first homey..
Check out the new movie by the way. I heard it wasn’t bad…
The Punisher: Interrogation
I think you better talk buddy…
Believe me I accidentally killed a lot of thugs in this game, but the Punisher doesn’t worry about minor technicalities like that. The Punisher has a very cool interrogation system used in certain parts of a level, or when an enemy was still alive after a gunfight. Just like the Marvel Comics vigilante, players could get valuable information on a level by pointing a gun at a bad guy’s head, beating them until they talk, or using the environment as a torture device. This feature was done by applying pressure with the analog stick, but too pressure resulted in death.
Don’t check out the Punisher movies. I know for a fact they are bad…
Mark of Kri: Focus Beam
The Mark of Kri and its sequel the Rise of the Kasai for the Playstation 2 has the player using both analog sticks in combat. The left stick is used for control, and the right is used to target enemies with a feature called the focus beam. You could sweep the beam over multiple targets and enemies in range would be assigned a different button on the gamepad, and performing combos by pressing the button multiple times or with other unassigned buttons.
This system made fighting multiple enemies and changing targets very fluid.
A new Mark of Kri would be greatly appreciated Sony.
Metal Gear Solid: Kojima breaking the 4th Wall
What makes Metal Gear Solid a classic is that Kojima breaks the 4th wall multiple times during the course of the game.
The 4th wall is an imaginary boundary that is between the fiction and the audience. It is the suspension of disbelief we have that allows us enjoy a piece of fiction as if it were a real event.
Kojima used this technique in a number of ways :
- Using the rumble feature during the heart attack scene
- Psycho Mantis reading your memory card and looking for Konami games
- Having to switch controllers to beat Psycho Mantis
- The hidden codec frequency on the back of the game case
This technique alone is one of the many reasons Metal Gear Solid was on of the best gaming experiences of all time.
As a matter of fact, the franchise is innovative…
Monster Rancher: Unlocking Monsters
Gotta catch them all, Monster Rancher! Wait a sec…
Monster Rancher is a cult classic developed by Tecmo in 1997 and debuted on the Playstation One. This game was pretty much like Pokemon; you collected monsters, trained them, and pitted them against other monsters.
What made this game innovative was that you could unlock new monsters by taking out the game and putting in any CD you could find. As the series progressed, DVDs could also be used in the unlocking process.
The game wasn’t that bad honestly, but at that period in time everyone was getting those annoying AOL discs in the mail.
Guess what I used those discs for?
Honorable Mention: Max Payne for its use of bullet-time and its modern Noir storyline.
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