Poll: Health in video games

[Sixcess]

Removing regenerating health from any modern shooter would send the difficulty into the stratosphere. It worked in Doom because you could take a lot of hits, and dodge many incoming attacks as they were relatively slow projectiles. If the Doom marine was a typical modern protagonist who dies in 2 to 3 hits it would be a very different story.

 

[JMeganSnow]

I dislike the way regenerating health is *implemented* most of the time because it removes one of the important resource management/attrition aspects from the game and replaces it with a consequence-less, annoying pause.

Now, when it's implemented as, say, an ablative shield going down, that's different. It can even be fun. It lends itself to different styles of play, particularly in, say, Mass Effect, where you can concentrate on having tons of shields or tons of health or tons of armor or whatever.

 

[TehMountainMan]

This is really a matter of which style of shooter is better; basically, regenerating health inevitably spans to the modern military shooter (or halo, whatever), and the non-regenerating health represents the older shooter design (which does see some use, as apparently Resistance 3 uses the design). What the discussion really ought to be about is which shooter design works better, or overall produces (or can produce) better games and experiences. Does one get more stale than the other? One rising complaint I've seen is that the modern shooter has very quickly become tired and rehashed, and that it is not a formula that can endure for as long as it has and still hope to produce quality titles.

 

[Nuclear_Suspect]

Payday: The Heist does it EXACTLY how i like regenerating health (If I have to have regenerative health)

You have 2 health bars (Although they aint really bars) one outer layer which regenerates fast if you dont take damage and then your other health bar which does not regenerate (Which takes damage after the first one is depleted).

This balance allows you to play carefully and still be useful even if you're nearly dead, as in you can still take some quick shots and then take cover.

Sounds like Goldeneye on the N64, instead you automatically have body armor and it regenerates. Is this about right?

Yeah, you have armor/shield (Call it what you will) that regenerates fast, and non-regenerative health

 

[ChupathingyX]

I think the health system in Mercenaries, Resistance: Fall of Man and Far Cry 2 is the best as they combine both types.

Although those three examples are all slightly different they're basically the style that I believe is best.

 

[Arawn]

Regenerating health works excellent with the current "Cover and shoot" FPS design. As you get hit moving from cover you recover whatever damage you sustained. It works almost too well. I'd almost like if your health didn't fully recover from regeneration. Perhaps if you could only regenerate 50% of you total health and had to use items the rest of the way. Instead of trying to find that health pack, items the player carries to restore the remaining 50%.

 

[krazykidd]

Depends on the game, really. Some games need fast regeneration or you would be dieing all the time, while other games have zero regeneration and health pots instead.

Well personally , i'm a challenge guy . I'll speak for me.

I perfer non regen health. It creates more stressful situations . It prevents me from thinking i am immortal and makes me play smarter . That being said it doesn't mean i can't enjoy a good game of COD or halo . But one of my favorite games is Golden eye 007 . Even if i wanted to , i couldn't just run through the levels on easy mode . There is NO health paks at all and health doesn't regenerate . So when i was playing on the hardest difficulty i have to br VERY careful. What they did have though was armor packs , which were scarece and far between . But in no way was there anything to get back health. For me it's a way to keep a game challenging.

Your example of half life 2 , is unfortunate and is things that could potentially happen , but for me having regenerating health cut's on the challenge a game provides me . Now when you have regenerating health , the game because real easy BUT when you reach the highest difficulty , the only way to make the game more challenging is to have the enemy be able to kill you in 2-3 hits , which becomes REALLY annoying , especially in games like CoD . So every few hits i now have to hide behind a wall . And in a game like thay it's virtually impossible to not get hit . That isn't challenge , it's a test of patience .

That being said i also like when a game only regens a percentage of you health , like metro 2033 . You only regen the first 20% of your health . That seems fair . It keeps thinga moving while giving people a chance if they take a lot of dammage .

The reason regenerating health has become so predominate in my opinion is because of checkpoints and autosave . To give players in the unfortunate position in the OP a chance to make a comback or not have to restart the level all over because he took to many hits at some point .

Different stroke for different folk , but for me i prefer non regenerating health .

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

There needs to be some form of regenerating health, otherwise you can get through a massive epic fight killing every enemy ever, then be killed by a rat or something.

A mix of both works best, like the Far Cry 2 style.

 

[LtFerret]

Segmented Regeneration still remains my favorite system. You regenerate up until a certain point. To get past that point you need a med pack.

It dosn't put in situations where you die from scratch damage and still punishes you for screwing up

 

[Phishfood]

Its a toughie, a lot of people dislike regenerating health since it does make the game easier - you have almost infinite health. You can lose 99% health several times just to kill one guy.

With finite health and health packs, you have limited resources to beat a problem and that requires more skill. On the other hand, as others have said - you can back yourself into a corner by losing too much health early on. Also, regenerating health changes the nature of the game from "run and gun" to "duck and gun". Very different experience.

 

[Astiahl]

Hybrid here as well, though the only example I have experience with is AC II. It allows you to take a bit more punishment before spontaneously exploding, but will still kick your ass if you aren't careful.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I've always been a fan of limited health regeneration. Halo with it's regen shields and health only restoring is a good example.

Other games like Metal Gear Solid do something similar to this; where you need to use a ration or such to heal, but if you are near death your health will slowly return to a very minuscule point.

So hybrid.