After replaying one of my favorite action titles I’ve felt inspired to start writing up a game document for what I feel to be an excellent action game. For this entry I’m going to talk about what makes a good action title and what can make it into a button mashing mess(try saying that 10 times fast).
The action genre is one of the oldest genres and is about one thing, kicking ass and taking names although I don’t think enemies have unique names. Story for most examples is kept on the side lines and the combat system takes center stage. To even start a discussion on action games we need to talk about the recent highs of the genre : God of War, Devil May Cry 3, God Hand, and Ninja Gaiden Black (or Sigma if you have a PS3).
God of War if I remember right was the first one released of the games I’m going to look at here. In it you play Kratos a painted bad ass with two blades chained to your arms and your set against just about every mythological beast ever mentioned. Combat is button mashing 101, combos are quick strings of buttons which result in limbs and blood flying all over the place. Of the games listed here the story and setting are the strongest. Some of the backdrops are pretty amazing to behold and the game does throw in a bit more puzzles then the usual action title. I rank GoW as the lowest as combat really does get repetitive and the game throws in very cheap fights for the player. To define “cheap fight” for this entry is a battle where the game mechanics are used against you to create difficulty instead of creating something to test the player’s skills.
Some fights in GoW have you fighting against enemies that can constantly re spawn enemies an infinite number of times which forces you to attack the second combat starts or your screwed. other times the camera itself is zoomed out to the point that it’s hard to gauge enemy attacks to block and counter them. Then we have the horrible protection levels that have you defending a weak person while every enemy in the area targets the person. Due to the nature of Krato’s attacks you can’t easily target multiple enemies and add in enemy spawning enemies makes life unbearable. Playing on the hardest difficulty of GoW is about being masochistic at best, enemies are given attacks that can kill you within a few blows, and those protection levels become an exercise in frustration.
Moving on we have Devil May Cry 3(haven’t played 4 yet so I can’t comment there), which has spawn many Internet debates on Dante(the protagonist) VS Kratos. In DMC3 combat is about high flying maneuvers and quick reactions. Dante can switch between 2 equip able weapons at will allowing you to create some amazing combos. The action is fast and enemies can quickly swarm around you. Combat while still button mashing requires you to learn the combos which are more about time delayed presses then button memorization to get through the game. Bosses become the focus of your frustration as they are challenging fights requiring mastery of the combat system to survive. DMC3 allows players to choose multiple styles for Dante that affect his combat potential, such as a close range mastery, gun mastery, acrobatics etc. The idea is sound but it does seem like handicapping the player to increase the already high level of challenge. Higher difficulty levels makes enemies more durable and hit harder, but the combat system is diverse enough to give players a fighting chance. The only downside in DMC 3 is the camera which makes fighting long range enemies frustrating as it stays off of them. I’ll be going into discussion of the camera in action games later.
Now we have God Hand which is the game that inspired me to come up with an action game idea. If meaningful story is your reason for playing games, well… then you might want to skip God Hand. In it you play Gene who after getting his right arm cut off by demons gets the God Hand or the right arm of God and is now out to save us from these nasty demons who look more like those punks in Final Fight. Quoting an advertisement in a promo video “It’s a ball bustingly hard game”. Even the basic grunts will wail on you and kill you within seconds if you let them. Many enemies can grab and do nasty things to you that deplete your health bar fast. Actual demons can randomly spawn after a fight that will destroy you fast unless you play one (or both) of your trump cards which I’ll get to in a minute. Boss fights are something else, you will fight 2 very homosexual stereotypes, a nymphomaniac, and perhaps the worse take on the power rangers yet.
So then why do I love God Hand? Because the combat system is simply fantastic. Instead of having preset combos, you can choose from numerous attacks and place them in your combo trees. The square button is just pushing square you activate, but you can put anything you want there from a backhand slap, leading to a roundhouse, kick leading to foot sweep and so on. This allows you to create your own style of combat which you’ll need to survive.
The difficulty is something else as well, you have levels 1 ,2 ,3 and DIE. As you fight and avoid damage and kick ass your level will go up which affects alot. Enemies will soon counter your attacks, move faster, use new techniques and new stronger enemies will appear in the place of weaker enemies. The higher the level you defeat enemies,the more money you will earn at the end of a stage which is used for upgrades and new moves. If your getting your ass kick instead the level will gradually (or sharply if you die) drop to lower levels making things easier. I will admit that it’s not perfect, fighting an enemy to have the level raise making it harder isn’t exactly fun. However you have a few ways of evening the odds.
Gene can “unleash” the God Hand to do increased damage and become invulnerable allowing you to make quick work of enemies. Also using “roulette” orbs Gene can activate an over the top attack such as summoning a base ball bat to send foes flying. This allows you to try to fight bosses “fair” just using your regular attacks, or go all out and finish them within seconds.
While I love God Hand there are some faults with the combat system. Enemies can attack through enemies and due to the nature of the camera and controls makes it almost impossible to successfully fight multiple enemies. The difficulty curve is high for this game as you’ll need money to get better moves and upgrades, but to do so you’ll have to fight at harder levels to do so. My first successful completion of God Hand clocked me at 75 continues used. I considered God Hand to be the second most balanced action title release which leaves you know what as the first.
That’s right it’s Ninja Gaiden Black time, considered by many action fans (including yours truly) to be the pinnacle of action titles. Ninja Gaiden Black is about making the player feel like a bad ass, and making every enemy in the game even more of a bad ass. Death comes quick in Ninja Gaiden, in fact many people were unable to beat the first level of it on normal. There is no such thing as being invulnerable after getting hit, and enemies can quickly reduce your health bar to zero in a flash. To make up for this, Ryu ( the protagonist) is an absolute warrior. He moves very fast, is responsive and can fight enemies coming at him from all directions easily. Each weapon he can use changes his attack style dramatically, from slow and powerful to fast and crowd control. Boss fights are over the top grudge matches with enemies that have un blockable attacks and will use any means to kill you. Unlike God Hand there are no trump cards to play in Ninja Gaiden Black, you have magic powers that can be used but none of them do alot of damage against bosses leaving you to your combat skills to survive.
It is that focus on combat that makes Ninja Gaiden Black so amazing and satisfying, to walk into a room of 6 demons and know that you can kill them all easily (if your good anyway) without breaking a sweat. This is the game for the player who likes to be challenged and even with all the times I died I never felt that it was the game’s fault. To makes things better (or worse for newcomers) each difficulty level re writes the game. Item and enemy positions are changed, new bosses are added, and new species of enemies are thrown into the mix the harder you make the game providing a fairly fresh challenge with each play through. Master Ninja which is the hardest difficulty is regarded as one of the hardest modes in just about any game, I managed to get half way into it before throwing up the white flag. With all these games as sources of inspiration it’s time to talk about my idea.
Since my first play of God Hand over a year ago this idea has been brewing in my head. For my game like the successes of the genre the meat of the game will be it’s combat. The player will have 4 buttons to use for combat, representing each hand and each leg. From there pressing the button will result in a low attack (hands will aim at the chest for example) holding will result in a high attack. Enemies will learn if you constantly attack low to block and counter those attacks, requiring you to mix it up. Every attack in the game can be customized onto your combo tree, from which running attack you want to grapple moves. I think 3 difficulty levels will suffice, the lower you play on the less likely enemies will dodge and counter, and like the movies groups of enemies will take turns attacking. The harder the level you play at enemies will attack you at the same time requiring strategy of attacking them. Unlike God Hand the difficulty can be changed on the fly as I think giving control to the player is important. Beating enemies on higher levels will give you tokens ( I think a simple bronze, silver, gold will do here) certain upgrades and moves will require a certain type and will reward the player with better moves and such for playing the game better.
One problem that I have with action titles is that many don’t provide the player with complete attack coverage. In God Hand you can’t fight enemies that get behind you, and groups are impossible to fight. In my game you have 360 degree coverage around the player, and are able to attack any one around you at will. This allows players to successfully fend off foes from all directions, and I will damn make sure that enemies will not punch through each other. The other issue I’ve seen in most action titles is the camera. Many games like the camera in a cinematic view which is great for screenshots, but makes fighting difficult. For this game the camera needs to be close enough that you can see the various attack tells of enemies , yet far enough that the player can see all around the character. I’m thinking about a side view or almost over head view for this game, in all seriousness I would have to see this action before making up my mind.
Two ideas I’m thinking about including in this game are a fully regenerating health bar and a stamina bar, more on stamina in a little bit. One constant problem in any action title is never having enough health to continue in a level. In this game, your health bar will regenerate while not in combat and slowly during combat as long as your not taking direct damage. This serves two purposes, first it eliminates the need to place objects solely for smashing to find health items. Second it frees up the designers to create truly challenging and interesting situations knowing that they won’t need to worry about the player arriving at it with too little health to continue. There are far better ways to have challenge in a game without forcing the player to restart because they took one too many hits in the last section.
The idea for the stamina bar figures into the defense options that are coming up. Many action titles can become button mashers and I have come up with a nifty solution to it. Every attack in the game will have an attack rating and a stamina rate. Stronger blows will reduce your stamina meter faster and without stamina you will be unable to attack or perform advance defense maneuvers. This will also allow players to balance out including attacks that can knock out enemies in a few hits, for lighter attacks better for long fights. Your stamina meter will be recharging whenever your not dodging attacks or performing attacks to keep it from becoming too much of a crutch. If you keep pushing the same button you’ll perform the same attack that will do less damage but drain less stamina requiring the players to mix it up.
Another important factor in action titles is defense, and I have some ideas in mind for my game. There are five different ways to avoid damage, starting out with the standard block. The regular block costs no stamina to use and will reduce damage taken in combat, of course certain attacks cannot be blocked and this is more of a last choice situation. Next is evading, pressing the block button before any attack connects will allow the player to evade the attack and set up for a counterattack. The act of evading however will cost some stamina keeping the player from exploiting it. Next which I’m still debating about having is the classic evade roll in other action titles to get away from large groups of enemies . I’m still not sure if I want that in there as it seems abit too arcade like for this title. Next are more advance techniques which may have to be unlocked in the game. First is using your attack to block another one, such as using your hand to stop a punch, you have to press the attack button before the attack connects. This sets up a foe for a powerful counterattack but costs a good amount of stamina. Lastly is the grab counter, you grab the opponents hand or foot to prepare for a powerful grapple attack. Costs the most stamina but will do the most damage. Another idea is to have clothing that effects stamina drain and resistance to damage, heaver clothes will reduce damage but will cause the stamina meter to drain faster.
With those bases covered , customizable attacks, defense, attack coverage, and proper rewards I think this title would be an excellent action game. And following in the foot steps of many action titles the story isn’t going to be the reason to play, but I do promise a better ending then going out to get a cheeseburger with the president.
Josh
