Darkmantle said:
And for the record, I don't really give a shit about regenerating health in CoD games, The rest of the game is SO DAMN GOOD it makes up for having that unrealistic bit.
So, basically, you realize that it doesn't make sense... but you accept it, because the game is fun.
That was pretty much what I was driving at. Otherwise, it's just comes down to what people mean by "realistic". Call Of Duty being a contemporary war game is obviously more realistic than a game about space marines battling aliens in outer space. While in the WWII days, it was cribbing a lot from Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers, it's always been about high-octane thrills. It's the arcade shooter version of Band Of Brothers. It looks and sounds realistic... but it's all about defeating the Germans practically single handed.
but lets take your thinking to it's logical extreme. What if I told you the only way to heal in the newest CoD game was to cuddle pink fluffy teddy bears for a good 5 seconds. I mean they are the same as health packs, which people liked in L4D so I mean, it's the same mechanicly, people should be over joyed at this inclusion and not have any complaints at all right?
That would make since if pink fluffy teddy bears were known to heal people, as say time and medicine did. Medicine heals wounds, so picking up a big health kit makes sense. Time heals wounds, so spending a few seconds in time-out after getting hurt makes a bit of sense as well (as you would if you were walking off a minor injury). Both work for minor injuries, both are completely ridiculous for a gun-shot wound.
I've played games where you can take a rocket launcher to the face and lived. Realistically, even if I survived such an encountered, I would be a pale shadow of my former self. But the gaming convention of restoring my hit-points salves all wounds. Food, medicine, time, magical spells... all of these things are long established video game conventions for restoring health... and in Gears Of War, apparently a good butt slap achieves the same thing, too... which I totally accepted the first time I was crawling on the ground screaming for help. Is it silly? Yup, but asking for help when hurt and receiving it has crept into games since team-based multi-player and we soon learn to trust the core mechanic.
Ultimately, this goes to my original point. Hit-point regeneration (whether it be health or shields) is a particular game mechanic that alters how gamers play a game. Halo: CE was my first exposure to it and I hated it. Since it was a new game, I was playing sloppy... and it didn't matter. No matter how poorly I played, as long as I survived an encounter, I was back to fighting strength within seconds... even in the middle of a pitched battle. I had the same reaction when I played the demo for CoD 2.
It had absolutely zero to do with whether the game mechanic was explained or not, it had everything to do with me not liking how hit-point regeneration altered core game-play. Eventually I learned to enjoy the ebb-and-flow of fighting and hiding but it took a good long while, and I completely understand why lots of people hate it. No longer are you trying to figure out how to get across a battlefield for a health power-up, thus removing a strategic element from the game and replacing it with a much easier system. Halo has hit-point regeneration, it matters not a whit if there's an explanation for it if someone doesn't like the game play changes it creates.
