"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
08/22/2014 at 21:44 • Filed to: None
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"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
08/22/2014 at 21:44 • Filed to: None | 0
| 0 |
Once upon a time there was a game called Steel Battalion 2 that was more or less the launch title for XB Kinnect. As such it was nearly literally unplayable and nearly completely forgotten - but I think there's a concept buried and forgotten in the game itself that other games (I'm really thinking Mass Effect and CoD among others, which I'll get into a little bit later) could've used to take those games to the next level.
Everybody was going on and on about SB2's Kinnect interface and how terribad it was, but relatively few reviewers delved into the actual plot and squad mechanics of the game. Basically, the game's storytelling (including not just the plot developments, but actual character/squad interaction) went to great lengths to build your tankmate's characters and have the player actually bond with them (including what I remember the sole female tank crewer being available) and build them up as actual people instead of just faceless human-shaped polygons that can be interchanged and replaced at will. The end effect was to give another layer of seemingly real responsibility to the player and added incentive and heartbreak to make sure a mission didn't go south (instead of, for example, sacrificing some crewers to get to an objective faster, etc). In fact a few reviewers praised it as the best feature of the game (and in some opinions, the only redeeming one).
What I'd really like to see is an FPS game where your squadmates are the focus of the storytelling and gameplay. I know Mass Effect does this - but kind of sort of only, at least in comparison to what Steel Battalion 2 tried to do. Or in other words, Mass Effect ramped up to 11, minus the worldbuilding. Or building up the squad would take the place of the worldbuilding. A lot of well-written conversational chatter and even a focus on "down time" moments that would be critical to the cohesion of the squad. The player can shape relationships with squadmates, and through direct commands or actions basically decide which squadmates the player likes and hates, or how structured and disciplined the squad becomes when it's time for the firefights. The game's conclusion wouldn't be based on whether or not the player won the war (the way I see it, it would be like the modern-day Medal of Honor games that take place in Afghanistan, where the player's contribution is just a single component of the overall war effort) but in how well the squad bonds and maintains cohesion. There can even be not one but several "bad endings" where the unit completely falls apart and maybe even some squad members (and maybe even the player) just up and deserting, or something else.