Many shooters today that profess to call themselves "tactical" don't give their players the proper tools to implement strategy. While we still live in the days of "Watch out! we got Two bad guys over by the barricade." we really shouldn't. One of the next steps in improving tactical gameplay is developing a grid system that will allow us to show our allies a precise location instead of generalizing a location that we can see. Think of the possibilities it will add to bombing runs, sniper targets and pointing out the locations of enemy forces in general. The days of "We got a sniper by the tree." should be long gone.
In the same vein, highlighting a target (aka "painting" them for a short period) that may be mobile or a sniper is critical to tactical gameplay as well. Titles like Homefront did an excellent job by allowing UAVs to reveal the enemy to our friendly forces and BF3 does a great job with sniper "scope glint". There is absolutely no substitute for knowing how numerous the enemy is, and what direction he's coming from. The dominance of snipers in shooters has been well-documented. While we certainly can't prevent people from wanting to be snipers, if there are a balanced and realistic mechanics put in place to prevent them from being dominant and arcady like those in casual, candy-style shooters like COD--long-time fans of shooters will be ecstatic.
luv grids idea
ReplyDeleteIt depends how it's done.
ReplyDeleteRight now and for the past year, the sniper class on MAG has been well-balanced. If I were able to call out snipers on MAG right now, the class would disappear. So in general the grid and painting are good ideas but as you suggest, it MUST be balanced.
i like the paint idea but i agree it has to be balanced. i dont think snipers would vanish tho, just be less of them. a good thing considering the bottom 80% hurt the game.
ReplyDeletegood suggestion!
ReplyDelete