Can Vehicle sections EVER be playable?

[ChromeAlchemist]

Grand Theft Auto? I remember that being great, driving wise.

In comparison to other games' vehicle sections, the cars in GTA III, VC and IV (oddly enough not SA) handled like a brick in shit in my opinion, it's almost like they wanted to jack-knife and set on fire. Some say it was for "realism". O_O

IMO, for the control set up and type of game it was, Halo did it right. Rather than create something original for the sake of being original, in this case they should just copy it. The chances of coming up with revolutionary driving mechanics in a game is fairly slim.

 

[Lonan]

James Bond: Everything or Nothing
Great vehicle sections, absolutely loved them.
Mass Effect:
Liked vehicle sections, quite enjoyable to plow through enemies who would cause a huge headache otherwise. Excellent way to dodge incoming fire. Zoom control was frustrating.

Heh, I'm surprised to hear anyone else remembers that game. It was fun.

Not enough multiplayer to be wildly popular though.

 

[Banana Phone Man]

I don't mind vehicle sections. They add onto a game and introduce more things to do. At points the are annoying as hell but I generaly don't mind them.

As for good vehicle sections I will say that only HL2 is the only game that stands out for me. The cars and the hovercraft were the most fun I have had in any games vehicle sections. A down side? Where the hell was I ment to place the gnome and keep it in the car in Episode 2?(Frustration + 1) Other than that I couldn't see much wrong with them.

 

[Darktau]

Halo did it well, due to one analog for up down, and the other for left right.

 

[SpireOfFire]

riding the scorpion tank and the hornet in halo 3 were my fav vehicle sections.

if done right, they can be fun.

 

[mezmerizer02]

I cannot believe anyone is saying driving in Halo and GTAIV is good. those are the 2 worst examples of vehicle manipulation in gaming ever. They are by far the prime examples of showing how game developers have no sense of how a vehicle should be controlled. It's like controlling a bowl full of snot. Saint's Row and Sain'ts Row 2 were the onlt 2 games with vehicles that were somewhat non-complicated for someone to use.

 

[almostgold]

Man, fuck the rest of the Escapist. I love vehicle sections. I think they're great fun.

 

[bassdrum]

I direct you to Highway 17 in Half Life 2. That's the very definition of playable vehicle sections in my opinion. Also, Halo didn't do too bad a job on that.

 

[jimduckie]

i like the driving parts of games , gta gets better every game now if they had wear and tear and a need to put gas in it i would be happier

there is one thing that drives me quackers is in racing games , ie nascar , forza 3 etc is they control your pit speed even on the veteran or hard mode , pitting is part of racing in most games

 

[Omikron009]

I absolutely think vehicle sections can be playable. Especially helicopter segments. I've never played one that isn't awesome.

 

[Kryzantine]

Thing about GTA IV for some people, they're quite reckless. It's amazing, but once someone makes a vehicle where the brakes are actually needed, everyone starts complaining about how it has bad driving mechanics. It's not the mechanics, it's your refusal to get your finger off the trigger.

And yes, they can and usually are playable. As mentioned, skill has a bit to do with it.

 

[Poofs]

Well i enjoyed the Warthogs in Halo, The "Cars" in Borderlands, the horses in both Oblivion and GUN, i cant really think of any that really, really pissed me off

except Call of Duty 3
but, everything was bad about that game

 

[Chicago Ted]

I cannot believe anyone is saying driving in Halo and GTAIV is good. those are the 2 worst examples of vehicle manipulation in gaming ever. They are by far the prime examples of showing how game developers have no sense of how a vehicle should be controlled. It's like controlling a bowl full of snot. Saint's Row and Sain'ts Row 2 were the onlt 2 games with vehicles that were somewhat non-complicated for someone to use.

I think Halo's one is average at best, but like I said earlier, I love GTA IV's driving mechanics. I also say that Saints Row has some horrible driving mechanics to it. The difference is that Saints Row has almost no skill to it, all the vehicles I find are very twitchy when it comes to handleing, and there is almost no feeling of accomplishment while doing it. In GTA IV however, the driving mechanics have a bit of a learning curb to them, but what you can do it with it is amazing. In GTA IV, you can make the vehicles handle very well when you get the hang of it. I love driving around in a Ruiner online with my friend, him shooting/watching cinematically, and me driving. When I pull a 180 with it, fire through the front window of a cop car, killing the driver, watching it swerve into another cop, and then flinging my car back forwards and then driving away through traffic, I feel amazingly bad ass. It's the only driving mechanic that has truely made me feel as though I were in a high paced action movie, while something like Saints Row is so simplistic, and so bland, that I get bored while driving around with the police (see minor annoyance) follow me.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Thing about GTA IV for some people, they're quite reckless. It's amazing, but once someone makes a vehicle where the brakes are actually needed, everyone starts complaining about how it has bad driving mechanics. It's not the mechanics, it's your refusal to get your finger off the trigger.

And yes, they can and usually are playable. As mentioned, skill has a bit to do with it.

First, welcome to the Escapist.

Second, you hit the nail on the head. GTA IV's driving mechanic requires some skill to it, but I find that the bit of complexity to it adds a lot of options. I can do driving moves in that game that I simply can't do in others, such as being able to spin my car 180 degrees from front to back, while maintaining speed. Doing stuff like this not only makes me feel extremely proud and bad ass for what I've accomplished, but makes it even more enjoyable due to how the police hound you in that and truely make it feel like a high tension chase through the streets.

 

[Howlingwolf214]

Driving sections can be bearable when the Developers don't just skip over the mechanics.

Get the handling of the thing right and it becomes a much more enjoyable way of ferrying you from plot point to plot point.

 

[Acaroid]

You hear it from people who play Grand Theft Auto, you hear it from The Saboteur, you hear it from The GodFather The Game. I ran into it in Batallion Wars.

Developers don't know what the hell they're doing when making a driving level. That's all I can gather. I don't think they've actually driven a car.(though a light recon or tank might be a little bit excusable) but as I am driving it's nearly impossible to steer. Nearly impossible to not have the camera swinging back and forth. Very difficult to drive anywhere straight. It's easy as hell to get airborne and/or turned around.

Do you hate vehicle sections? Do you think they're necessary? Do you think that any chimp with a goatee could make a better system than the devs put forth? Any games that did it well that you know of? Or do you just chalk up the crap driving levels due to the limitations of a Joystick? If it's so limited, why do devs keep trying it and failing in every other game?

I KNOW...

and what the hell is with the damn "stear where you point" system.... Who ever thought that was a good idea should be shot...

 

[BlindMessiah94]

The only driving game I actual remember enjoying (other than like Mario Kart or a racing game like that), is Driver.
I loved that game, felt like a real getaway driver playing that thing. Even was getting my learner's at the time so the tutorial level was informative heh.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

SR2 driving was done well, the Halo 3 (single player) driving wasn't too bad. GTA SA had the better driving out of all of the games, 4 was like each car was a brick of Uranium. Mass Effect had its problems, but that was mostly poor terrain design on the planets, with a little more forethought there would have been no complaints.

Even though it only had the 1 level of it, Bayonetta's motorbike section was very nice.

 

[high_castle]

I apparently was one of about 3 people who liked the vehicle sections in Mass Effect. Landing on a planet and exploring various locations made the universe seem a lot bigger. And one of the big Awwww moments for me was seeing Earth from the moon on my big screen TV. I genuinely missed the Mako in ME2, but again, I think I was the only one.