Something called the "Half-Life Effect"

[kannibus]

I recall numerous instances where with a full clip and dozens of reloads for my MP44 in COD 2 I couldn't hit squat. Then I'm on my last ten bullets and suddenly it's all headshots. Have yet to try it out in real life though...

 

[NicolasMarinus]

No. I usually die within seconds

Why would you call this the Half Life effect? It's a human trait that can even be applied to board or card games.

 

[Matt-Sama]

Thats the only way I ever win!

 

[WayOutThere]

In other news, I agree. The original Call of Duty was notorious for this.

I can attenst to this. I remember at one point in CoD 2 surviving like 5 minutes of fighting bad guys on a scrap of health. That was quite awesome.

CoD2 had regenerating health...

I was refering to Big Red One.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Had this hit in Bioshock today. I had no heath showing, and I had no First Aid. I had a Rosie with half health attacking me, as well as 3 leadhead splicers. Security Bullseye on one of the splicers, Enrage on the next, Electric Buck the Rosie, Telekinesis a body, kill the enraged splicer, Freeze the Rose, run, come back, and just unload 4 Electric bucks into its face.



I then died by a Spider Splicer, but damn, was it awesome.

 

[No_Remainders]

Halo Combat Evolved on Legendary for PC. I finished the Library by RUNNING THE HELL THAT WAY!

 

[Caligulove]

I think its more of a complete focus on everything that you do to make sure you dont fuck up. It really is willpower for you to keep on going until you can heal up again.

then its back to kicking ass and taking names.
Easy as pie

 

[Smack-Ferret]

This sounds like a kind of adrenaline for video games.

 

[NBSRDan]

I think it's called being more careful because you'll die if you take one more hit.

 

[Broken Orange]

You should change the name of it to "Get-Your-Head-Out-of-Your-Ass Effect"

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

So there's an interesting phenomenon that some of my friends and I have observed and it is this: In a game when the player reaches the point of critical health they experience a boost in skill that allows them to survive. This applies to games that do not have regenerative health (so Halo and the like don't count). Most recently it happened to me in Batman Arkham Asylum. I had just beaten a titan and there were over a dozen thugs left in the room and I was one hit away from death. Then the Half-Life Effect kicked in and I managed to beat them.

Has this ever happened to any of you?

Damn, is this what happens in games nowadays? Things have changed an awful lot since my day.

They used to have a neat little trick called "rubber band physics" in some driving games. It meant that, no matter how well or how fast you drove, you could never get more than a certain distance ahead of the lead opponent's car. You could pick up and use every turbo charge, natural feature, shortcut... wouldn't matter. That damn car would always be on your tail. Then they'd throw in a few extra hazards just before the end of the last lap that it took split-second timing to avoid (which, as anybody who's seen me try to play sniper in TF2 will know, I simply do not have.) Naturally you'd always hit the hazard and the car behind you - as well as the next two - would sweep past, leaving you out of the top three and having to replay the entire race ALL OVER AGAIN.

So the end result of this childhood mental scarring is that when I reach desperation point, I don't suddenly gain a mass of adrenaline and become eagle-eyed and fast-fingered. My mouse-hand melts, I slouch down into the fetal position, and often I just turn my back and try to run. (Note to TF2 newbies: generally speaking this is not a good idea when playing pretty much any class against pretty much any other class. Everybody's got something they can run or shoot you down with.)

Plus, I automatically don't expect any game whatsoever to be "fair". Which has actually prepared me pretty well for the grim reality of harsh everyday life. Thanks videogames!

 

[Silver]

It always happens to me in Mount and Blade, if I start battle with a lot of hit points, I'm dead. If I only have a single one I become a god at parrying and shooting people in the head with arrows. Dagger, shortbow and a falchion I picked up off of an enemy after my horse got killed, and I still beat the bloody bastards. And the fight started with about 6 against 30. Hell yeah.

 

[David_G]

Yes, this could be called the Half Life effect. Since I finished Half Life two months ago, I remember having 15 health, and carefully trying to find cover from where I can shoot the marines.

 

[Woodsey]

I believe it's real name is: "being-fucking-amazing-at-the-last-second-effect".

Everyone's done it before haven't they? Although I expect a little cheaty cheaty on behalf of the developers - what makes a better game experience:

a) Dying all the fucking time

or

b) Nearly dying, only to survive some rather intense shit and feel like a God ?


Hmmmm?

 

[lenneth]

At the end of doing Adventure Mode on Hard Mode on SSBM, I fought Giga Bowser on one life, and COMPLETELY owned him.

Giga Bowser on his own isnt that bad, Event 51 however is another story

OT: This happens all the time for everyone, its much cooler when you enter a room full of enemies and kill them all without being hit

 

[CargoHold]

WHERE CAN YOU FIND TIGERSSSS
ONLY IN KENYAAAAA

In other news, I agree. The original Call of Duty was notorious for this.

COME TO KENYAA WE GOT-DA TIGERSSS
Funnily enough, there are no tigers in Kenya.

Anyway, I think it's actually a dynamic in some games. In AC2, you can have one 'hit' left on your health and still take about three before you die- developers are nice like that.

 

[UnearthedArcana]

Horde

Care to add UnearthedArcana on XBL, fellow literate Horde fan?

On topic, I get this in SC4 sometimes, especially when I run into someone who really gives me a run for my money. It's as if I don't play my proper game against random folks on Ranked, but if it's someone with a legitimately high Win/Loss or a fellow Zasalamel player, I feel like I'm doing a lot better than usual.

 

[Clashero]

Sure, it's called "stop daydreaming and pay attention, you're almost dead."

Mindfulness is more energy exertion than most of us are willing to put forward, but some conditions make it easier.

Also, you actually do get better in Half-Life when your health is at a critical level. Enemies fire less accurately, you take less damage, do more damage. There are many, MANY changes, but they're all so silght that you can't notice them.