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Jun 28, 2007 - 09:43 AM |
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The Shotgun Theory |
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I've presented this a few times in chat before, but what with the sporadic attention spans and presence there, I might as well put it down in proper writing here.
I've played around with a playful game theory of mine for about a year now, and the more I've played since then, the more it feels accurate.
I suggested the idea that the quality of an action game (be it first-person, third-person or even some 2D games) is extremely often directly proportional with the quality of its shotgun (should there be one).
It is not the shotgun that makes the game great or bad, but how well the shotgun is implemented - how effective and useful it is, and how much fun it is to use - usually mirrors the quality of the rest of the game. Ergo, if the attention to the shotgun is excellent, it's most likely the attention to the quality of the rest of the game is just as high.
There are probably examples of where this doesn't apply, but I've yet to run into a game where I haven't been able to use the theory. Most of the time simply describing the shotgun is enough to describe the rest of the game. Examples:
Doom. Great shotgun. Best weapon in the game, pretty much the first of its kind. Fast, effective and fun, with plenty of ammo. Also applies to Doom 2, with the double-barrelled version being even more fun, if in a way more of the same.
Max Payne, awesome shotgun, both the pump-action and the sawed-off versions. Sawed-off will initially feel restricting and not so useful, using it close range and taking advantage of the instant reload, it's deadly. The Jackhammer is amazingly effective, but not quite as fun to use (much like the rest of the automatic weapons in the game). MP2's shotgun is also good, but for me didn't feel quite as ballsy as the first one. The John Woo-esque Hard Boiled shotgun versus the wimpier looking (thin barrel) L.A. Confidental shotgun.
Halo, amazing shotgun. Extremely powerful, ballsy, massive fun to use. Halo 2's shotgun fired and reloaded slower, tweaks that probably balanced the multiplayer, but weren't so fun in the single-player. So, good, but not as great as 1's.
Goldeneye, great shotgun, if could have used a meatier sound to them. Dual-wielding was fun. Perfect Dark, somehow clumsily implemented, and while full of neat tricks (double shots), not as fun as the ones in Goldeneye.
Resident Evil (GC version at least). Excellent shotgun. Looked excellent, sounded, felt and worked like a dream. Ammo scarce, but oh so worth it. Headshots really clumsy, but a lot of fun once you learn the system. Resident Evil 2, massively effective when upgraded to full. Shitty sound, but strong and fun as hell. Code Veronica? A good shotgun, effective up close, but terribly nerfed compared to previous ones. Resident Evil 4? ::orgasm::
Metal Slug? Awesome shotgun, runs out of ammo too fast. Quake? Quick, weak and pointless. Quake 2? Cumbersome, simple, though strong up close. Doom 3? Crap. Slow and clumsy, even if it's the most used gun in the end. Silent Hill? Good, if clumsy. 2? Better if still low on ammo. 3? 
Soldier Fortune 2? Completely awful shotgun. Looked the business, but sounded like crap with a deafening, hollow boom. Completely ruined by glitchy and awful hit detection that felt like your pellets just disappeared in the air, making the gun little fun to use. Soldier of Fortune 1? Slightly better than 2's, if still ruined by a crappy boom (and it looked like a box).
Duke Nukem 3D? Great and unusual. Dino Crisis? Very good, especially when upgraded. 2? Peashooter level, fast and fun, but pretty throw-away. Virtua Cop? Satisfying enough. Black? Loud and inaccurate. Eternal Darkness? Good. Manhunt? An artform of its own. Syphon Filter? Fun, if light. Jagged Alliance. Silent Storm. Deus Ex (lol upgrades). Half-Life 1 shotgun versus 2. Undying. Call of Cthulhu: DCotE. Medal of Honor console games compared to, say, Allied Assault. Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Battlefield 1942. Shogo. MGS3 (though many will disagree with me on this). Serious Sam. Blackhawk.
The list goes on, I suppose. I'm sure someone's bound to find a great game with an awful shotgun and vice verca, or to disagree with some of the examples here, but in general, I think it's pretty sound~
Can't speak for, say, Crackdown for instance, but all signs point to "fun and satisfying".
| Currently Playing: J-Walk: Soul Vibration - Night on the Rocks |
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