Biased Reviews has started up again, so I thought I'd link to an interesting article on Alone in the Dark's current expansion for the PS3.
Many people complain about "tank" like controls in this genre. Personally I'm in the camp that the slower characters are probably more akin to how people really move anyway (character movement speeds in games are usually way faster than real life, so we're conditioned to that, making survival horror movement look slow), plus as Jason X says, it creates tension. I'm not sure I'd want that taken away.
I think that if you want increased realism, you ditch cludgy tank controls (I mean, when you move as a person, that's a pretty effortless proposition and tank controls certainly don't mirror that) and just implement things like a stamina reservoir (or even an adrenaline meter that affects everything from stamina, to attack power to clarity of vision, etc.): you could probably build some pretty hair-raising events in a survival horror game with chases based entirely on the ebb and flow of such a play mechanic which might force you to stop for a breather, or give you tunnel vision such that it obscures other escape routes, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to amp that feeling of being out of control, just make subtle changes to how your avatar handles when the adrenaline is really pumping by making corners harder to turn tightly, reduce ability to make precision strikes (e.g. make aiming more difficult under stress), etc. and, voila, genre-revolutionized and with all the realism you can stand :)
I can get behind a stamina meter.
ReplyDeleteThough I must say, I think Capcom had an interesting answer in Resident Evil 5: Chris Redfield is so ridiculously muscled that he probably would move like a tank. And he punches rocks!