Half-Life 3

[swaaye]

Could be some sort of crazy collision detection problems. Crysis has those problems too although its physics simulation is maybe the most impressive out there right now. I got myself killed by debris on the ground quite a few times.

 

[Blazkowicz]

I love physics quirks, like a little bit of rubble stuck between two objects that gets all spinning and dizy then gets ejected with a speed in km/s.

It remind me of doors crushing yourself in duke nukem 3D. I was freaking out! really scary and unexpected.
better than a demon spawning behind you in doom 3.

 

[Sxotty]

"Quirks" is one way to put it Blaz They are funny maybe once for me, then they are just annoying.

 

[Grall]

I love physics quirks, like a little bit of rubble stuck between two objects that gets all spinning and dizy then gets ejected with a speed in km/s.

Start the original HL2 and just run through the game until you reach the playground with the swings and the two soldiers. Go inside the building and stop at the double glass-pane doors. Open them, then lift one of the cardboard boxes and put it down so it gets stuck between the doors when you close them again.

Enjoy the mayhem that will ensue...

Also try this with the plastic container and the bicycle. Once, after I got the bike stuck inside one of the doors, I touched the front wheel of the bike and got knocked into the wall/ceiling behind me with enough force to instantly kill me.

Physics in HL2 is the biggest mistake since forever. It just doesn't work, period.

 

[dizietsma]

I didn't like HL2 as it was like one big interactive cut scene. You have to do this, then onto that, save the girl, then you have to do that and down there to do this.

On the other hand I love Far Cry and Crysis because you don't have to do some parts of it, or you can do it about 4 different ways.

 

[swaaye]

I didn't like HL2 as it was like one big interactive cut scene. You have to do this, then onto that, save the girl, then you have to do that and down there to do this.

On the other hand I love Far Cry and Crysis because you don't have to do some parts of it, or you can do it about 4 different ways.

Yeah but that's how most shooters work outside of Crytek and Bethesda stuff. I think you'll find that a lot of people like to be guided along.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Yeah but that's how most shooters work outside of Crytek and Bethesda stuff. I think you'll find that a lot of people like to be guided along.

/me raises hand...

Although I don't like calling it guided along. That's something along the lines of the last Prince of Persia.

I do however, definitely like shooters on rails with a good/coherent storyline. Something almost all open world games lack.

Just because something is on rails doesn't mean it has to lack engaging features or present the appearance that it isn't strictly on rails. Deus Ex (original), Thief series, System Shock 2 for example were some games on rails that gave the illusions of freedom and open worldness. Also in the process keeping a (IMO) clean, coherent and good storyline.

Crysis and FC (original) were also excellant examples of on rails shooters that gave the illusion of freedom and open worldness.

Regards,
SB

 

[obonicus]

Even Crysis has a linear narrative, doesn't it?

 

[homerdog]

With regards to physics in HL2, I didn't run into too many glitches. Then again, I wasn't stuffing bicycles into doorways and whatnot.

 

[Neb]

Even Crysis has a linear narrative, doesn't it?

Semi-open I would say as it has huge levels and freedom to move as it pleases you minus some parts due to storyline.

First level "Island" IMO small/medium compared to other Crysis levels (low-med/high-colorgrading setting btw! )

 

[obonicus]

Narrative, not game-design. dizietsma complained about a linear chain of events -- very very few games aren't that way, or even allow you to skip some of the story.

 

[Sxotty]

With regards to physics in HL2, I didn't run into too many glitches. Then again, I wasn't stuffing bicycles into doorways and whatnot.

Did you ever stack things up? I mean it seems the most common thing to do with boxes is stack them

I remember in Dues Ex the demo level I ran around carrying boxes until I could build an entire bridge to climb up to lady liberties base

 

[homerdog]

Did you ever stack things up? I mean it seems the most common thing to do with boxes is stack them

Not that I recall, unless there was a point in the game that required you to do so.

 

[cp2009]

That's what I like about Stalker, Crysis, FC and the likes as well. I can do each mission MY way. Without needing to save this or do that. HL1 did the scripted type of game perfectly, HL2, not so much at times (I don't want to play with a retarded robot dog!).

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Semi-open I would say as it has huge levels and freedom to move as it pleases you minus some parts due to storyline.

First level "Island" IMO small/medium compared to other Crysis levels (low-med/high-colorgrading setting btw! )

Which still makes it a very linear on rails game.

You can't do missions out of order. There aren't even any real side missions except for the occasional bonus objective. Additionally you're completely locked to the current zone, which is even more restrictive than say Half-Life 1 where you could travel back to the previous zone (not that I can think of why you'd want to) in some cases.

Crysis, just like Deus Ex, Thief series, original Far Cry, is very much an on rails straight forward linear shooter. It, just like those others, just gives a very nice illusion of freedom and open worldness.

Which is in stark contrast to something like Far Cry 2 where you can go to basically any of the zones whenever you wish. Finish things in whatever order you wish (except at certain points you'll move the "story" along). And where the story (IMO) suffers from the lack of cohesion and forced linearity.

For example there's one mission I remember where one of your buddies is about to be attacked, at any moment now, and you are URGENTLY needed or he'll die. Except there's no real urgency to head there, go immediately or wait a few days. The guys after him will patiently wait until you go help him. Uh...yeah whatever.

Even DAO which I love, I hate the open world aspect. The tweaker in me has me travelling all over to maximize character stats and items. But storywise, it makes no sense when I do that. The blight is about to take over the country but it doesn't matter if you do it in a matter of days or take months (I'm assuming travel on foot takes quite a bit of time). So the story was great, as long as you can ignore the inconsistencies introduced by being able to do things in any order and travel whenever and wherever you wish, taking as long as you like...

Regards,
SB

 

[obonicus]

Fallout 1 had an actual time-limit, that'd keep you from dicking around too much. It was so hated that they patched it out and didn't add anything of the sort to the sequel.

 

[homerdog]

I prefer my games Crysis style; pretty open with many tactical options within each level but with a linear story arc.

 

[swaaye]

Crysis,... Far Cry, is very much an on rails straight forward linear shooter.

Well I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. Lets use Rebel Assault as the ultimate definition of the "on rails straight forward linear shooter". You have effectively no control other than shooting your gun at the bad guys flying at you. You fly through what amounts to corridors, some of which are literally corridors and are loaded with fake door syndrome. Doom has way more freedom.

Shooter linearity is a sort of nebulous thing to define. You can really start to split hairs in some cases but I'm rather confident that it can be quantified.

My little on-the-spot-comes-to-my-mind scale would go something like this:

[]----------------[]----------------[]--------------------------------[]
Rebel Assault    RtCW             Crysis                        Oblivion
Delta V          Unreal           FarCry                       Fallout 3
                 Half Life        Chrome                         STALKER
                 Doom                                         Just Cause
                 Blood                                             
                 Hexen
                 AvP
                 Dark Messiah
                 Jedi Knight

Yah watchout I called Beth's games shooters!! FarCry 2 harshly ignored.

 

[Blazkowicz]

some linear shooters are way too much on rails (Prey, HL2) while others with a more classical level design, such as RTCW, can be more enjoyable imo.

 

[Davros]

Rebel assault is my definition of on rails, the others I would classify as linear