Cazza said:
Being able to see your body in FPS games. It makes jumping much more easier and cooler. I feel it's kind of backward not having it.
Yeah... I've noticed lately that I really get pulled out of it when I'm playing a game in first-person and when I look down, there's just empty space, no shadow or anything. It makes me feel like my character is just a camera flying through the air with a pair of arms holding a gun attached. That's one of the things I really liked about
Mirror's Edge, and... it's actually the only recent game I can think of that does it.
Slightly more OT: The animations in
Assassin's Creed III. They really put in the effort to actually make it look like characters were walking up stairs instead of just a block of space vaguely painted to look like stairs, or how walking side to side will move Connor's legs in a mostly realistic manner, and how he'll brace up against walls or corners and standing on slopes, and man, I just really loved the animation quality in that game.
The Codec in
Metal Gear Solid. Particularly events like calling Rose while you're standing in front of a urinal in
MGS2 or calling Sigint while in a cardboard box in
MGS3.
How the main character's banter gets progressively angrier and angrier as you're going through the story in
Spec Ops: The Line.
The fact that squad mates actually moved around the ship in
Mass Effect 3.
Ipsen's Castle in
Final Fantasy IX. It's a huge mindfuck the first time you go in there, because the only hint about its gimmick is that the main character makes a comment about how it looks like it's "upside-down". Tonberries can still go to hell, though.
Metro 2033: When you're in densely populated areas, you're surrounded by people having actual conversations. And the idle chatter is
everywhere. It's a neat little touch that a lot of games fail to implement.