Phoenixmgs said:
Health regen completely breaks online play, and almost always hurts single player as well (I can live with it in single player but prefer not to)...
Pulling grenades and knives out your ass in a seconds notice is straight up bullshit in modern FPSs. It's not realistic and breaks gameplay.
I guess I'll have to disagree. Regenerating health doesn't reward poor play, it encourages exploration, it reduces the effect of cheap AI, it completely negates back-tracking...
And maybe I'm OCD, but seeing my health display at anything other than 100 fills me with intense rage. It's why I always have to reload, I literally can't stand more than a minute of less than a hundred health, it pisses me off so much. If it's regenerating, I don't mind, because I know it's going to get better.
As for the second point...
When I, say, pull something out of my pocket in real life, it takes me a few seconds. Maybe, if I can't find it or have a lot of stuff in there, even a minute. Throughout this time, I'm not bored, because my hands and mind are busy, I'm doing something.
When a video-game character, and not me, takes thirty seconds to holster his current weapon, draw a second one, turn off the safety, pull back the slide, and finally aim, I'm not doing anything. I hit a button, and I'm now waiting on that character to complete an action. I was having fun prior to switching weapons, and I now I will have fun afterward. The entire time in between is deliberately an un-fun zone, and, in my opinion, should be kept at a minimum. Four or five seconds, tops.
And drawing a knife doesn't take that long. I mean, longer than in a game, but still not very long. Realism is important, but in patently unrealistic things, it shouldn't be used as a critique. If you were complaining about lack or realism in, say, ARMA, then I would agree. Realism is the whole point. In most modern FPSs? The point is a few minor elements of realism, mixed in with more Michael Bay elements. Complaining about lack of realism there is like complaining about the lack of action scenes in
The Office. It's not the point.