Black Dev Calls Current Shooters "F*cking Boring"

[John Funk]

Black Dev Calls Current Shooters "F*cking Boring"

Cover-based shooting is all the rage these days, but the senior designer of 2006's Black [http://www.amazon.com/Black-Playstation-2/dp/B0009351R0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1279310367&sr=1-1] thinks that it just makes for a "f*cking boring" game.

In 2006, Criterion Games' Black was the swan song FPS of the last generation. Receiving average to favorable reviews, Black was praised for its excellent use of sound and cinema-inspired action. The game's writer and senior designer, Stuart Black (no, that's seriously his name), was recently announced to be heading up a new FPS IP for Codemasters - and the man had some choice words for OXM UK [http://www.oxm.co.uk/article.php?id=17634] regarding the current crop of shooters.

Specifically, he thinks that the trend of cover-based shooting games is "f*cking boring."

"There's a lot of cover-based shooters out at the moment," said Black. "But when a guy hunkers down behind something, you've just got to sit there and wait for him to pop his head up. Pops up, couple of bullets to his head, pops back down again.. and I'm waiting for him to pop back up again? F*cking boring. I can't be bothered hanging around like that."

In all fairness, I'd like to note that that is actually how people are likely to behave in a gunfight since humans are squishy creatures that do not regenerate health. But does realistic always equal entertaining?

Personally, I don't have much problem with cover-based shooting. I actually think it's kind of fun.

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[thenumberthirteen]

Oh Black. What a game that was. An FPS boiled down to the core.

 

[Sebenko]

I agree with Mister Black. Cover is boring.

Mass Effect has cover. Ugh, I never used cover. Charge in, bosh the enemy in the face, far more fun than plinking away ad a health bar from behind convenient chest high walls.

 

[Kollega]

Black Dev Calls Current Shooters "F*cking Boring"

Aaaaand we have another nominee for "Captain Obvious of the year" award!

Okay, cover-based shooting may be realistic - but it's surely not too fun (unless maybe the game itself is tactical in nature). Today's shooters are all heavy and clunky, and i'd like to see something more elegant. Something able to effectively convey a feeling of smoothness and fluidity. Something akin to dance or a music.

 

[MR T3D]

i think it (cover-based shooting) gets boring quick, especially in MP.
now, moving around and using cover, that's cool, but just sticking to one spot, popping up, burst, ducking, IS "F*cking boring."

 

[uppitycracker]

I dunno, rainbow six vegas was easily one of my favorite shooters of this generation, simply because it incorporated that cover system VERY well, and was still an incredibly challenge. Boring? I find quite a bit of joy in trying to find the most sensible location to start a firefight, maybe having to move around a bit and take cover elsewhere, while trying to time that perfect headshot without getting sprayed to death in the midst.

From the creator of a game as mediocre and bland as Black, this statement means very little to me. If it's so damn dull, they really should do something to change it up, wouldn't you think?

 

[funksobeefy]

I love all styles of fps. The cover shooting, and the ridiculous Serious Sam style.

oh man I loved Serious Sam, one of the greatest co-op games ever

 

[wooty]

Haha, damn right lad, it does get veeeery tedious.

 

[xHipaboo420x]

I had no idea that the guy behind Black was making a new FPS!!

I remember reading interviews with him in the run-up to Black's release; he would stress how goddamn loud combat was and would shout at the journalist...

Black ended on such a cliffhanger, too. Been hoping for a sequel (spiritual or otherwise) ever since that final cutscene.

 

[serialver]

I do not mind cover but the level of it in Mass Effect 2, where anywhere a fight is going to take place has already been designed via the nicely prefabricated walls all over the place, which often looked out of place, was ridiculous.

If there is cover, it should be part of the area, blended into the surrounding, kick over a table use that in a bar or hide behind the shipping crate in the service yard etc. Course ME had some of this but most screamed I'VE BEEN PLACED HERE BY THE COVER COMMITTEE!

 

[Hallow'sEve]

If done correctly, cover based shooting can be awesome. A great example is Ranbow Six: Vegas (1, not the sequel). I have, and still do, hate every Rainbow Six game ever made...except for Vegas. Dunno what's so great about it, but I LOVE IT.

On the other hand, I do know what this man's talking about. One of the reasons I love Halo, is because it's fuck-all to covering and you go in guns blazing. I think cover based FPS are just overused, it's the new WWII in gaming.

However, after reading this, I am now VERY interested in what this man will make next...

 

[AvsJoe]

I never did end up beating Black. I owned it for a while but then "it got misplaced" *cough*stolen*cough*. I miss that style of shooter though. Just Leeroying your way through every level, guns ablazing, like GoldenEye 64 or XIII, that was fun. That was the bee's knees, so to speak.

 

[Blimey]

I'm always torn on this issue. On one hand, I'll play a shooter like Painkiller (which I knew about before Yatzhee did ) and love the fact that I can trudge up, blast a tree through someones face, then walk away. And other times, I think there's nothing more intense then hunkering down behind a concrete barrier while bullets tear everything up around me. I think both games have merit and importance, to be honest. If all shooters were like Gears, that would be boring. At the same token, if all shooters were like Painkiller that would also be boring. Variety is the spice of life (and gaming.)


Also, I like to play paintball every now and again in summertime, and I can say that cover is something that you become very, very fond of when people are shooting at you.

 

[rockingnic]

I don't mind shooters that use cover unless all the enemy is just using is the cover. I'm fine with CoD:MW 1 and 2. I find Gears really boring and it's not as epic as people claim because the gameplay is basically made up of enemies that either take cover for TOO long or enemies that blitz you out of cover then you become a target for everyone (a lot of the time it's both). The thing that would make cover based games great is if you cover was destroyable, reasonably (like in Battlefield: Bad Company) or if you could generate you own cover.

 

[cononking]

I think cover based shooting is excellent. It adds an great new aspect to co-op play (covering your partner, from cover, as he runs, well, to cover). However, it has brought along a whole swathe of problems along with it: you're sneaking up to kill a bunch of people, you're about to get in position and... nope you've flattened yourself against a wall in plain sight, and they don't even give you your last cigarette before gunning you down.

 

[Korey Von Doom]

I dunno, rainbow six vegas was easily one of my favorite shooters of this generation, simply because it incorporated that cover system VERY well, and was still an incredibly challenge. Boring? I find quite a bit of joy in trying to find the most sensible location to start a firefight, maybe having to move around a bit and take cover elsewhere, while trying to time that perfect headshot without getting sprayed to death in the midst.

From the creator of a game as mediocre and bland as Black, this statement means very little to me. If it's so damn dull, they really should do something to change it up, wouldn't you think?

That game was bull, if you ever wanted to move forward you were always in danger of somebody popping out and shooting you, where as he can see around corners without exposing himself at all and just wait for you to get close.

 

[HentMas]

i cover when needed

i run when needed

i jump when needed

but when the game forces you to just cover (like Gears of War) it kind of feels boring

 

[Pandalisk]

I liked the older games before the use of cover was deemed mandatory, but i gotta say, i dont enjoy them as much as todays games, im a Tactical man at heart.

i prefer it in RTS form though, they covey it better, like in Man of War.
I remember people saying Operation Flashpoint 2 would be all about cover this and cover that, pah, didn't really pan out that way, in some cases yes, but even on Hardcore diffuculty settings people didn't bother with the cover, They have Balls of brass.

 

[the_tramp]

I hate usually hate cover mechanics, although some games have done them well. I loved Black back in the day, should probably dig it out... I do however remember getting ROYALLY pissed at that game because of the whole 'shot to the head doesn't kill, you must hit it at least 3 times' stupidity.

That being said the graphics were superb for the day.