A.. Is it a post? Why.. yes, yes it is! Actually, it's just a bit of an update to say that we still exist, and we will indeed return to v-logging soon. As for the news part.. That depends.. Since there are so many news sites out there, we may keep our focus to what we consider interesting (which arguably may or may not be interesting to yourselves) as well as articles and reviews...That being said, right now on XBL you can find a demo for Tomb Raider: Underworld, and on both XBL and PSN there is a demo for up-coming Mirror's Edge.
I've loved Tomb Raider since the original. I'm hardly fan-boyish enough to bluff myself into believing that the sodden shite that was Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness was good, nor will I defend the fact that the series is just milking (haha..) Lara for all she's worth. But the games somehow strike a chord with me. Whilst Legend didn't really capture the feeling, (indeed, aside from 1, 3 (lost chapters), 4, and what seems to be 8 (underworld)), most of the Tomb Raider franchise was lacking in charm. Tomb Raider: Underworld, or at least it's demo, reminded me oh so much of the Tomb Raider III expansion pack. It was absolutely stunning to look at, not just for a Tomb Raider game, but as far as graphics go, it was a joy. The engine has finally given us the huge, spectacular, overgrown tombs we had always wanted to plunder.
Lara herself moves more like a gymnast on speed compared to her first incarnation. Her move set is expanded from previous games, the controls are tight enough that it feels good, and her movements are responsive and (mostly) accurate. I'll admit there were a few times whilst shimmying along an edge where Lara would seem to stuff up her hand-holds around a corner and invariably fall to her doom (replete with a satisfactorily bone-crunching sound).
Running, climbing, swimming, swinging, diving and crawling around Thailand was a treat for a Tomb Raider fan.. I was overjoyed that Underworld felt and looked as good as it did.
But then I played the Demo for Mirror's Edge for PS3. Perhaps it had been far too many random-battle-encounters in Final Fantasy V, or the awkward combat system in the Witcher that had thrown me over the last few weeks, but I re-learned the word impressed.
It was like the first time you finally understood movement in the final segues of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time... It just.. felt... right.
At first there was confusion. L1 determines upward-movements, be it a jump, vault, or a wall run, and L2 determines downward movements.. crawling, sliding, dropping. R2 determined physical actions, bashing open a door, kicking an enemy in the face, that sort of thing, whilst triangle (or a six-axis upwards flick if you are so inclined) allowed Faith (the lovely games protagonist) to disarm an enemy.
Movement functions not assigned to the face keys?! What is this?
What it is, is an absolutely brilliant, intuitive method for getting Faith where you need to go as fast as you need her to get there. And suddenly, it all just worked. After missing more than a few jumps, slipping off a beam at least.. well.. who's counting, and dying numerous times, suddenly I had it. I was off like a gazelle being chased by an entire herd of lions, and yet somehow more graceful. Clearly DICE had put incredible amounts of effort into making Faith feel right.
So the controls were slick and Faith moved well. What made it feel good you ask? I remember a developer at Epic once mentioning that it was all about Player Feedback. What was the point of an explosion if the screen didn't shake? And so Faith's camera moves, swings, rolls, shudders and blurs appropriately as she zips around the skyline. As she begins to sprint her breathing starts to pick up, her footsteps start to hit the ground a little faster, and you can hear the sandy grip of her runner-shoe against the concrete as she launches from one roof-top to another.
It brought the question: Why do more developers not put such effort into making first-person (or any other) games feel this good? Granted, not many characters are quite as athletic as Faith, and they do have a gun-barrel to busy themselves with staring-down, but after feeling how smooth she could move, it really got me wondering.
After watching several developer interviews for Mirror's Edge, I begun to get a feel for how much work they had made into making sure Faith felt right to play. Not only did they conquer the challenge of having a visible body for the player to see, but they made sure that, even through animation challenges (such as how do you make a body at full sprint stop instantly), Faith would remain faithful (a-ha!) to her skill set and move the way they wanted her, without removing total control from the player.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of games that have made an effort to feel right in first-person, titles such as Half-Life 2, and F.E.A.R. are good examples as such, just as Killzone 2 looks like it just might get gun-movement right. But these are just my propositions. Great audio, camera control, camera effects such as depth-of-field and radial blur, tactile movement and animation all must come together to make a player feel right in their protagonist's shoes.
So there you go. What games do you think have gotten player movement right?
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