Should enemies be able to get head shots?
- Thread starter Korten12
- Start date
Anyone remember golden eye for the n64? I remember the unlocked 007 mode where you could adjust difficulty by tweaking health, damage, accuracy and the like. One bit of fun was to rig accuracy and damage to 2000% and try to make though without dying. One shot meant death.
Now I bring this up because it represents the idea here, an opponent who can, theoretically, execute you at a large distance long before human response or knowledge of the enemy.
Back to the nostalgia. Some maps were a blast to do this in. Close quarters, places like the bunker where you could surprise and ambush, where you'd need to sneak and be careful, well this was great. Some maps, not so much. Maps that were big, that were open and that were littered with enemies with scoped weapons (looking at you siberia level). Those were not fun to play. You'd spawn, have a second or two of life then die from mystery shot of god.
To tie this all back together, this shows that it depends on the sort of game and the intent of the enemy to decide if this is good or bad. If the purpose is to force the player to use other tactics, to avoid being seen, to try to out smart or out snipe the opponents, then it can be a valid addition. It is not meant to be a run and gun, so punishing people who try to run through is a worthwhile part of the design.
On the flip side, if the game is meant to be more of an action title, where twitch trigger guns or chest high walls litter the landscape, then no, you do not want headshots by enemies. The designs of those games would make the kills cheap and the rest of the game supporting that play style only to be punished for playing it right when some AI busts out the snipers. Games don't have to be real and don't have to be fair in how enemies and players stack up. In some shooters, the headshot crit sort of mechanic would really mess with that when controlled by an enemy AI.
Now I bring this up because it represents the idea here, an opponent who can, theoretically, execute you at a large distance long before human response or knowledge of the enemy.
Back to the nostalgia. Some maps were a blast to do this in. Close quarters, places like the bunker where you could surprise and ambush, where you'd need to sneak and be careful, well this was great. Some maps, not so much. Maps that were big, that were open and that were littered with enemies with scoped weapons (looking at you siberia level). Those were not fun to play. You'd spawn, have a second or two of life then die from mystery shot of god.
To tie this all back together, this shows that it depends on the sort of game and the intent of the enemy to decide if this is good or bad. If the purpose is to force the player to use other tactics, to avoid being seen, to try to out smart or out snipe the opponents, then it can be a valid addition. It is not meant to be a run and gun, so punishing people who try to run through is a worthwhile part of the design.
On the flip side, if the game is meant to be more of an action title, where twitch trigger guns or chest high walls litter the landscape, then no, you do not want headshots by enemies. The designs of those games would make the kills cheap and the rest of the game supporting that play style only to be punished for playing it right when some AI busts out the snipers. Games don't have to be real and don't have to be fair in how enemies and players stack up. In some shooters, the headshot crit sort of mechanic would really mess with that when controlled by an enemy AI.
It should take away 1/2 to 3/4 of your health on the hardest difficulty--maybe alittle more.
If you want a good game to play on the highest difficulty play Rage. I just did their "Spec ops" co-op with a friend. We were both very taken back by the actual challenge.
If you want a good game to play on the highest difficulty play Rage. I just did their "Spec ops" co-op with a friend. We were both very taken back by the actual challenge.
Were you... trying to sneak by at all?Zaik said:
OT: One hit kills are bullshit and should be easily avoidable if they're there at all.
Not while AI is as it is. If it's a stealth based game with decent hunter seeker mechanics, then yeah, sure. If it's just a shitty action game then there's really no good reason to have it outside of the additional annoyance factor.
For the record, Max Payne 3 massively sucks in that regard for much the same reason Rage did, you either do an all out action game or you make it a cover based shooter, when you don't, either the player's time is wasted by enemies taking 6 headshots to kill over the course of 3 minutes in between them popping in and out of cover (Rage), or you have all sorts of loopy crap where enemies have to be killed in a specific order in specific circumstances. On the higher difficulties Max Payne 3 felt more like a puzzle game in that regard, until you figure out exactly what the f*** the developers had in mind during any encounter, you'll be eating lots of dirt, and even then, hope to all that is holy you have the right weapon at the time, in some portions you might as well reload the chapter if you get into an instance with the wrong weapon.
For the record, Max Payne 3 massively sucks in that regard for much the same reason Rage did, you either do an all out action game or you make it a cover based shooter, when you don't, either the player's time is wasted by enemies taking 6 headshots to kill over the course of 3 minutes in between them popping in and out of cover (Rage), or you have all sorts of loopy crap where enemies have to be killed in a specific order in specific circumstances. On the higher difficulties Max Payne 3 felt more like a puzzle game in that regard, until you figure out exactly what the f*** the developers had in mind during any encounter, you'll be eating lots of dirt, and even then, hope to all that is holy you have the right weapon at the time, in some portions you might as well reload the chapter if you get into an instance with the wrong weapon.
Really? Always? No exceptions? Not even in games where that's pretty much every kill in the whole game?Easton Dark said:
Depends entirely on the game. In something like Doom you're supposed to be a one-man army and you're supposed to feel like it - suddenly having your kills cut short because of a lucky shot contradicts this.
If you're playing a game like Call of Duty, where you're just some guy with a gun fighting more guys with guns, it makes perfect sense. The game is supposed to make you feel more tactical and skilful, not bulletproof.
If you're playing a game like Call of Duty, where you're just some guy with a gun fighting more guys with guns, it makes perfect sense. The game is supposed to make you feel more tactical and skilful, not bulletproof.
Yes. I believe no game should have instant kills on players other than... bottomless pits or something.ComradeJim270 said:
If you're going to make a save be reloaded over and over, at least give the player a fighting chance.
On higher difficulties (maybe even normal but not easy) and only from sniper rifles and the like. I don't accept machine gun fire with an instant kill headshot and a stray bullet from a shotgun shouldn't be an instant kill headshot either for balance reasons. Headshots are supposed to be the marksman enemy's domain.
In some games these kinds of attack are great and add tension but in action heavy games where you are constantly getting shot at, they seem kind of cheap.
I do greatly enjoy the highest difficulty in GRAW where it is basically a on hit ko from any enemy. It makes you really think about how to approach each situation.
I do greatly enjoy the highest difficulty in GRAW where it is basically a on hit ko from any enemy. It makes you really think about how to approach each situation.
I'd say yes, at least on normal-plus difficulty levels. Maybe as a check-box option on normal, just to make everyone happy.
Max Payne had a solid storyline, but its gameplay was.. mediocre. Lots of kinks that should've been worked out long before release. The difficult spiked so frequently, I felt like I was riding a roller coaster. Anyway, enemies getting headshots on you: I don't think they should. It's not fun randomly dying just "Because."
Sure, it's realistic, but it's not the fun kind of realistic. It's like if GTA made all the cars have gas that you had to refill. And refilling took forever because sometimes the pumps don't work, sometimes they don't accept Nico's credit card, and sometimes because you pull in with the wrong side of your stolen car. It just wouldn't be fun doing that 100s of time.
Sure, it's realistic, but it's not the fun kind of realistic. It's like if GTA made all the cars have gas that you had to refill. And refilling took forever because sometimes the pumps don't work, sometimes they don't accept Nico's credit card, and sometimes because you pull in with the wrong side of your stolen car. It just wouldn't be fun doing that 100s of time.
Depends on the nature of the game. If you are a bad-ass regenerating health super-soldier plowing through enemies then it would be kinda silly, as in frustrating and taking you out of the pace a bit. But if it's a more serious realism-based game, like the earlier Rainbow 6 games, and each encounter or kill is more of an achievement, then I don't see how it should be a problem. Especially if you are trying to sneak past snipers, and the game is trying to encourage you to take a more stealthy approach due to dire consequences.
That being said, it should also be an option in difficulty, if there are people masochistic enough to want to test themselves through such an experience. I mean, that's what most multiplayer games are like.
That being said, it should also be an option in difficulty, if there are people masochistic enough to want to test themselves through such an experience. I mean, that's what most multiplayer games are like.
It certainly adds a bit of a random factor to the game. If I'm playing Far Cry and trying to beat a level on the hardest difficulty without dying, I'm relying on luck if the enemies ever take a shot at me. I could take 2 or 3 normal shots, but now and then there'll just be a *zip* 'press fire to respawn'.
Kind of annoying but I don't mind it terribly. As long as there isn't some section where all the enemies are taking headshots only.
Kind of annoying but I don't mind it terribly. As long as there isn't some section where all the enemies are taking headshots only.
boy oh boy did I hate that in Soldier of Fortune Payback
not only would enemies almost constantly kill you in one hit, some would even camp in corners and headshot you right as you pass
not only would enemies almost constantly kill you in one hit, some would even camp in corners and headshot you right as you pass