Published on Apr 27, 2008 @ 11:04am EST
Back in early 2007 when I first saw Epic's latest single-player odyssey, Gears of War, I was somewhat perplexed. The player would be shot repeatedly, a large bloody gear would appear on the screen and it would fade to red, but then he would hide behind a sofa, wall, building or something and it would slowly fade away, returning the screen to normal. Was this damage? Did the player use an item to recover health? Surely hiding out of gunfire for a few seconds didn't revive him to full health - or did it? Sure enough, through more observation I could clearly tell that the player needed only to duck behind cover for two seconds before regaining any lost health and being able to cushion several more bullets to his cranial region before repeating the process.
Since that first observation, I've noticed that this kind of "shoot, hide shoot" gameplay has been springing up everywhere in shooter games. I'm not sure if this is a new trend or one I was simply lucky enough to have avoided for a while, but it has to stop. Modern game designers have apparently boycotted the health bar, and in doing so have removed a chunk of actual gameplay and replaced it with a child-catering mechanism to make games easier for the chronically easy-moders.
Health bars and medkits are tried and true elements of gameplay which add a significant challenge to the game. By allowing players only a limited number of medkits, the game designer makes the player walk, shoot and think more carefully before engaging in combat. Balancing the number of health packs given throughout the game is crucial to keeping the game fair, but at the same time difficult. In addition, have a limited supply of revival items adds stress to the player, making them more afraid of enemy attacks and traps because it could easily do them in. Once removed and replaced with a "health regen" system, you not only remove this stess but almost encourage players to make use of a mindless "run and gun" tactic which involves blindly charging into enemy fire and repeatedly shooting and hiding until everything is destroyed. Often I've seen players using only the simple melee weapon to take out all of the enemies, a tactic that can only work because none of their attacks deal enough damage to kill the player before he kills them. This not only removes the excitement gained from a danger element from the game experience, it also changes gameplay from an interesting and tactical battle to a mindless slaughterfest.
The healthbar and medkit were solid gameplay elements made and used to create a dangerous atmosphere, add strategy to gameplay and intensify the player's experience. The decision to remove them from modern shooters has hurt not only the gameplay, but the experience the game gives its players. And it's not just limited to shooters now; Lost Odyssey has incorporated it into its turn-based combat engine. This spread must stop before all games are reduced to this kind of mindless playing style.