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Hide and Go Sneak - The Rise Of Stealth Gaming
Thanks to Slate for its article discussing why stealth elements are now integrated into some of the most interesting new videogames. The author argues: "10 years after Doom, the rampant weapon-play can start to seem tedious. Kill your enemies, reload, kill some more, reload - man, what a drag. You become a pacifist for the weirdest possible reason: not because the virtual violence seems so awful but because it's so bloody repetitive", before suggesting that, although "many of these games do, in the end, require you to resort to at least some violence", an "unexpected benefit" of stealth titles such as Thief: Deadly Shadows is that "Your aesthetic experience becomes much better. Most lightning-fast 'twitch' shooter games are so fast-paced you barely have time to notice how wonderfully detailed the 3-D world is... Stealth turns gamers into tourists."
Yeah, but sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to walk around the corner so you can sneak by him can be pretty damn tedious also.
For the record, Doom is my favorite game of all time.
In a game, I don't have as precise control of my body. In a game, I cannot see how well I blend in with the surroundings, because I cannot see my in-game self.
What little stealth I have in real life I have learned from slow-paced non-life-threatening situations.
I guess I should go play Thief or Splinter Cell or something.
One problem was the time problem. In the time it takes to get one stealth kill, you can get many run and gun kills. The solution is a heavy penalty for dying, like not respawning.
Now the problem with the stealth paradigm is that it can be boring for those already dead: you really want to wait for a 20 minute stalk match with the last two players?
CS I think balances these two, despite being the first game in the genre to populatize the no-respawn rule. I get most of my kills not because I'm the faster shot, because I see the other player first and can line a shot up without him even noticing me (and no, I don't camp, I just go alternative routes). I can play CS like a stealth game (especially in maps like oilrig) but you don't have to, which is what's so great about it. (In America's army and RC3, it's stealth only (or sit at a choke point and fire into the smoke) which is less exciting. I want to stalk an enemy who isn't necessarily stalking me.) The max time limit of 4-5 minutes in most maps (though it can seem like forever) also helps as well as the ability to stalk a specific target (e.g. the VP or the bomb sites) on offense.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
I know you meant delay between shots, but DooM didn't keep track of rounds of ammo in and out of the weapon, it just subtracted rounds from your total ammo each time you shot. If I remember correctly, the shotty did have reloading animation, though, which slowed down the rate of fire. The first fps game I remember seeing that kept track of both bullets in the clip and a separate stockpile, requiring reloading, was Goldeneye for N64. I'm sure it's not the first though.
Interesting point, but I think that reasoning is a bit flawed. A game that requires you to go slow and take your time as part of the gameplay, and the fun, isn't artificially inflating its play time. If it takes you 20 hours to finish it, playing it the way it was meant to be played, then it's a 20-hour game.
Now, a game with no way to save except between missions, or ridiculous caveats that hinder or reverse your progress -- that's artificially inflating play time. So far as I know none of the Thief games have ever done this.
I think the main problem with stealth games is that they can never give the character the proper combat skills. I remember playing Metal Gear Solid, and while I mostly hid through the game, I recall not worrying much when I did get caught because I could still gun down quite a few gaurds before dying, even make it out alive often. Meanwhile, when playing Splinter Cell I felt that Sam's combat skills were subpar for someone who the NSA put so much trust in. To be fair, the emphasis is on stealth, but shouldn't he at least have some chance in a gunfight? Now, I'm not asking for Sam to be able to charge through without worrying, but there should be at least a little room for error, especailly seeing as save point were presented in a checkpoint system, not a save anywhere system like a PC game. (Note: I played the Xbox version, I don't know if the save system is different on PC.)
Speaking as someone who has played Hitman II and Hitman Contracts, but not the original Hitman:
1) No door sticking (but I'm playing on XBox, and I've noticed "sticking to the scenery" seems more frequent in PC games. Not trolling, as I love my PC games. Just an observation)
2) You can save up to 5 times per level (6? I forget), which is enough to make it clearable, but not so many as to make the FPS quick-save-marathon approach work.
3) I don't remember many illogical situations.
4) The guards only kinda have eyes in the back of their head. If they hear you, they'll probably call for backup, but they don't call out "weapon" for unseen weapons, etc. Plus, disguises work very very well.
5) I can't remember anything that rendered missions plain impossible, but I may have just been lucky.
That said, the frequent complaint is that, in addressing everyone's problems, they made a pretty unpopular change: it's possible to clear the whole game with no stealth whatsoever. You get a rating at the end of each level for stealth, from Silent Assassin to Psychopath or Butcher or something. So, if you have the self control to try to get Silent Assassin, it's hella fun, but if you just go guns blazing, it's a very subpar FPS. Why anyone would play it that way is beyond me, but, you know, kids today...