Most of the games I've played recently hit me as somewhat weird.
Some have great gameplay. Others have nice graphics. Some even have good storytelling.
And a rare few have them all.
But what almost none of them have, are sensible military tactics.
I know games have to be cinematic but why does that almost always result in crapy tactical descisions?
Allow me to elaborate; what I mean by this is that armed forces in video games use tactics and strategies, any real-world military officer would be court-marchalled for. Video games show, head-long charges, unplanned mass attacks, poorly planned reinforcement drops and dropship/helicopter shoot-downs that could easilly have been avoided.
a few examples; (*possible spoilers*)
In Call of Duty Black Ops, friendly soldiers storm headlong into battle waving their guns in front of them hoping the enemy will take cover (witch they won't)
In Halo Reach, the humans lead a head-long charge (using warthogs) against tanks and enemy air power while their tanks and air support lag behind. Your helicopter also takes a gamble by flying through a possible EMP shield (and crashing) instead of landing and walking the rest of the way.
In Final Fantasy XIII the bad guys try to stop a train by blowing up the bridge instead of, say, turn off power to the mag-tracks.
In resistance 2, your allies fall by the dozens as they try to defeat a Godzilla size monster by shooting machineguns at it. (I thought it was a proven fact that that won't work.)
They also try to kill a giant swarm of shredding beetles by standing in its tracks and shoot their rifles at it.
I could probably go on for hours on end like this but I think I made my point.
What I'm asking you now, dear readers of the escapist, is this; what do YOU think of these starnge tactics? How would you have done it? and how can game developers improve on this?
Some have great gameplay. Others have nice graphics. Some even have good storytelling.
And a rare few have them all.
But what almost none of them have, are sensible military tactics.
I know games have to be cinematic but why does that almost always result in crapy tactical descisions?
Allow me to elaborate; what I mean by this is that armed forces in video games use tactics and strategies, any real-world military officer would be court-marchalled for. Video games show, head-long charges, unplanned mass attacks, poorly planned reinforcement drops and dropship/helicopter shoot-downs that could easilly have been avoided.
a few examples; (*possible spoilers*)
In Call of Duty Black Ops, friendly soldiers storm headlong into battle waving their guns in front of them hoping the enemy will take cover (witch they won't)
In Halo Reach, the humans lead a head-long charge (using warthogs) against tanks and enemy air power while their tanks and air support lag behind. Your helicopter also takes a gamble by flying through a possible EMP shield (and crashing) instead of landing and walking the rest of the way.
In Final Fantasy XIII the bad guys try to stop a train by blowing up the bridge instead of, say, turn off power to the mag-tracks.
In resistance 2, your allies fall by the dozens as they try to defeat a Godzilla size monster by shooting machineguns at it. (I thought it was a proven fact that that won't work.)
They also try to kill a giant swarm of shredding beetles by standing in its tracks and shoot their rifles at it.
I could probably go on for hours on end like this but I think I made my point.
What I'm asking you now, dear readers of the escapist, is this; what do YOU think of these starnge tactics? How would you have done it? and how can game developers improve on this?
