The stupidity inherent in video games

[unixronin]

Stupid inconsistencies in video games annoy me.

Take Halo, for example.  It's, god knows, the 35th Century or something, we have faster-than-light starships that can jump across significant parts of the galaxy in weeks, we have fully self-aware AIs on a chip, we have cyborgs in powered battle armor with built-in energy shields, ... but that powered battle armor doesn't have night vision?  Come ON.

This is a common thread in almost every shooter.  (The only exception I'm personally aware of is Ghost Recon.)  Either there is no night vision gear, or there's night vision gear but its batteries last 30 to 45 seconds and then it has to recharge for 2-4 minutes.  As game detail, it's pathetically lame, and as a gameplay device, it's a cop-out at best.  Fer crissakes, we had working, usable night vision gear forty years ago in Vietnam.  It's still chic in many circles to look down our noses at Russian military hardware, but if any Russian equipment designer had dared to offer the Russian military night vision gear that crappy, they would have stood him up against a wall and shot him.

(Naturally, the darkness never impedes the attacking enemies in the least.)

Come on, game designers.  We're talking present-day-to-futuristic here, not THAG BASH THINGS WITH ROCK.  Give it a rest and join the 1990s at least.  If the only way you can achieve the game balance you want is to leave the player stumbling around in the dark, squinting into the monitor trying to see anything more than six feet in front of him, you have failed at game design.

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Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I have some major gameplay problems with Splinter Cell. I was OK with it — and found it a lot of fun, actually, playing a game that really rewards stealth and sneakiness — up to the first mission that gave me a rifle instead of a pistol, and discovered that there was so much shake built into aiming the rifle that I could not hold the sights on a man-sized target less than twenty meters away. I'd have had better luck throwing the rifle at my target.

That level of artificial handicap is just ... absurd beyond words. If I ever found myself with that much shake in my hands at the range, I would take it as meaning that I needed to cease fire immediately, safe the weapon, take a long break and get some food and fluids into myself. And possibly see a doctor.

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

Which Splinter Cell are you talking about? I don't remember that being a problem.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Whichever one cymrullewes bought me for the PS2. :)

Hang on, I'll go look ...
...It appears to be the original Splinter Cell for PS2.

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

I'm strictly Xbox/360. That was not an issue with my version.
I still strong recommend Conviction. Great game.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I might give it a try on PC sometime. I really try to avoid dedicated game consoles as much as possible. I HATE game-console controllers.