Poll: Favorite health system

[Audio]

Segmented Health is a good idea. It feels like starting with 3 lives and keep going as you lose them along the way. Thus dying without restarting a section or having a loading screen.

Basic health bar is fine by me. Like the way L4D pulls it off though; only charactor speed suffers but you 'bleed out' over time.

 

[Vigus92]

My favorite system is the one in mgs3. When you take damage, it drains the health meter and causes an injury that continues to drain your health over time. To stop that you have to treath your injuries with bandages and such.

When all wounds are treated, your health regenerates slowly over time. Just like when you recover from an injury in real life. In mgs3 you can't think "Oh it's no big deal if I get hurt cus I can just use that healthpack over there/hide behind that wall while I regenerate".

Getting hurt isn't just a minor inconvenience. It actually has consequences.

 

[standokan]

Regeneration, I prefer as its convenient and I think regeneration as a concept is bloody brilliant.

 

[octafish]

Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six style, you're hit, you're dead. Or health packs.

 

[PureChaos]

i like health meters, it's precise and you know exactly when you are going to die

 

[MARKMCMARCUS]

Yeah, I think it really depends on games. I can't pick one.

 

[TiefBlau]

Whichever complements the rest of the game.

Call of Duty 2 did a genius job with its full regeneration system, giving players a clear, distinct sign of danger in a way that doesn't break flow. It would not be as fun it was if I had to spend time scavenging for health packs to appease some meter at the edge of my screen.

However, I expect nothing less than a full blown-out health meter if I'm in a fighting game. There's nothing you can do but fight, after all.

 

[Squilookle]

Depends:

If it's a Military Sim, it should have the limb damage based system.
If it's a Sandbox it works best with partial segmented or full regenerating health.
If it's a non-realistic FPS (which includes COD and Battlefield, btw), it should be a health bar.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Shield and Health, it gives leeway, but there is also consequences for fucking up.

 

[Sixcess]

My tastes in FPSs are pretty old school, so I don't object to health meters and medi-kits. Segmented health I've only just encountered for the first time in Just Cause 2 and it does strike a nice balance.

I'm not a huge fan of full-regen, mainly because it does lead to very shallow gameplay. If I'm in the mood for a brainless shooter I'll pick up Halo and enjoy it, but if I want a challenge I'll look elsewhere.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Limited regen. Segmented, basically.

But I was thinking on the lines of F.E.A.R., where you can regen up to 25 or lower based on difficulty selected.

 

[kannibus]

Did you know that the "Shield and Health" system was already in use waaay before Halo? Ever heard of space flight sims where you had shields and armour? No? Okay then.

 

[SCAFC Chimp]

Limited health regeneration. If they do have it though, can they please get rid of the effects that clutter the screen (CoD, I'm looking at you). The red that fills up your view is almost impossible to see past, so you don't know where you're getting shot from, and subsequently die. I'm sick of every game having this stupid effect in.

 

[Kataiser]

Shield and health or regenerating segments, depending on the game.

Both give a small room for error to keep punishment for minor situations from accumulating to a terrible degree, but still have a point where mistakes have some tangible impact to your survival. Shield/health can be done really poorly, though. (Section 8?) The segment system is a bit less prone to problems, in my opinion.

But for very realistic games, a mixed limb-based-and-health-bar system would probably be better. So it depends on the situation. But I don't like the regenerating health system much.