I had an interesting discussion with friends the other day about life meters. Life meters are a part of games that I have mixed emotions about.  Back in the day when arcade machines were fed with quarters, the life meter was a necessary evil.  If you were not dieing then you were not feeding the beast.

With the advent of home consoles systems, life meters were made obsolete.  Dying every few seconds to get more quarters no longer serves any purpose. It was just annoying and could ruin a great game.

So, on the one hand, new games with the old school life meters are pointless, but if the concept is modified to work so that life is regenerative then you have a visual way to gauge your health but not an instant game over.

This point is driven home by the Halo games and KillZone.

The health bar in these games were great visual aids as to how much health you have left.  So, if you are in a firefight and the indicator gets low you know that you have to scurry off and heal.

Games like Uncharted and COD use the pre-death rattle red screen and shortness of breath to warn you that you are about to DIE.  This type of warning system is hard for me to judge.  This means I usually charge in to battle all LLD.  (Navy speak for “light or limited duty” and is given to injured sailors.)

To end this post before I start to ramble, I think that the life meters of yore served their purpose but if they are not an integrated measurement tool in newer games they are worthless.

Source: ccgd

Post from: EveryJoe

It’s My Life

I’m done withThe Bourne Conspiracy and Contra 4. As you may have noticed, I’ve already finished Jason Bourne’s PlayStation 3 game. As for Contra 4, I don’t plan on touching it for at least a year.

You know, I always develop an overwhelming urge to throw my Nintendo DS against the wall while playing Contra 4, and it’s not just to see if the game cartridge would survive the impact.

See? Violent video games don’t turn people into homicidal maniacs. Frustrating video games do.

I’m looking forward to finally picking up Killzone: Liberation and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror for the PSP this weekend. If time permits, I’m also planning on finally getting some quality time alone with Mass Effect’s new DLC titled “Bring Down the Sky.”

So what are you playing this weekend?

Image for Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is courtesy of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Post from: EveryJoe

What are you playing this weekend?

My main reason for reluctance is the view itself. The third-person camera gives the player wider peripheral vision that FPSes could never provide. As a result, hiding in cover becomes feasible because you, the player, would be able to see if your character is hidden well or if a body part is sticking out for your enemies to shoot.

Killzone 2’s “lean and peek” gameplay thrills me because I’ve never seen an FPS utilize cover mechanics. However, since the game is still under development and won’t be released until next year, we can only speculate if “lean and peek” works or not. Would the Killzone 2 gameplay be affected greatly by this mechanic, or is this just a gimmick?

For Sony’s sake, I hope it does work since Killzone 2 is a PS3-exclusive game. If it doesn’t, then Killzone is just overhyped freebie material that’s destined to be placed in a bargain shelf next to Haze.

Post from: EveryJoe

Killzone 2 video shows cover mechanics

Three Speech is a semi-official means of communication for the PlayStation. That means a lot of what the blog has to say is marketing fluff, but if you look more closely, there could be some interesting news every so often.

So when the blog off-handedly mentions the launch date of Killzone 2 in a lengthy post, you should pay more attention because it’s the closest thing you could get for legitimate news. For now, at least.

“From around September or October, the PS3 will move into top gear: that’s when Killzone 2 will arrive…”

You heard it folks, the supposed Halo-killer will arrive in the latter part of 2008. Would it be any good? I can’t really say. The visuals are indeed looking sweet, but don’t let that be an assurance. *cough*Lair*cough*

Read

Post from: EveryJoe

Killzone 2 to arrive in second half of 2008?