While in-game navigation can be helpful, it can also strip away a player's need to explore a title's world.
MW 2019 is five years old at this point and on previous gen hardware, but it is still the best looking Call of Duty game to date.
MW was an excellent videogame. They messed up Spec Ops big time, but aside from this it was a huge step in the right direction initially. Most notably, at launch it seemed to come from a very cohesive creative vision that was felt across gameplay, to story to art style/visual direction. It was also very notably written by prominent ex-Naughty Dog guys that quit almost immediately before release.
That COMPLETELY dissolved through post-launch content and the full pivot to a "cross-mode" narrative that completely obliterated the cohesion in overall story direction. Warzone then "became" the new face of Call of Duty and the franchise completely removed itself from anything remotely creatively "good". It is a pure money machine, so I kinda get why they're doing it....but I personally completely lost interest.
I would love to see Infinity Ward move off CoD and get to make their own product with full control. They clearly have some massive talent in their ranks but it's perverted by Activision's corporate interests.
Replaying Skyrim after 13 years is a reminder of the progress made in western RPGs over the last decade, but also what's been lost.
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
I agree.
I also agree that showing what buttons to push is a little weak; sure there's more buttons, but give us more time to master them in the game (which makes the game a bigger game instead of a 5hr crash-course for the multiplayer) and you can kill two birds (short games, button entropy) with one stone.
A game should opt for their GPS honestly, something you can toggle if you get really frustrated on what to do, of course. That way it works both ways.
1) If you get stuck you get a hint or even just toggle it on if you get stumped. And for those people who just want to play a game through from start to finish without having to find a needle in a haystack (depending on the game).
2) the people who really want that type of blind-forward game-play could play the way they wanted.
Just a thought. :)
I HATE when games hold my hand and tell me where to go.
I HATE when games are 3min of gameplay and then a cutscene.
Really a map and a compass or navigation should be optional.
I don't mind a little nudge or slight push in the right direction but the blatant arrows and flashing signals are too much. However sometimes a little indication in certain circumstances is very helpful. I have played enough PS1 and PS2 games to know how hard it is when you don't have clue what to do and the solution is so out there virtually no one would know what to do unless they found out by mistake. I am playing Alundra right now and the solutions to the puzzles are ludicrous. And sometime a map would help me to know where I am going instead of having to memorize every landmark and tree to remember where to go.
I don't mind it, i remember back in the early FF titles where they told you nothing and i'd have to constantly go scrambling for the walkthrough or spend hours going around in circles trying to find out where i'm supposed to go next.
Having some direction does help.