The game is great, or could be great, but it currently takes players by the hand too much and it spoon feeds a lot of information.
- Footstep sounds
- Hit markers (including numbers)
- Hit sounds
Player sounds, notably the footstep sounds or Impact hammer noises when opponents are running with it, give away too much information and that has a big negative impact on gameplay, flanking opportunities and psychological warfare (the art of war). That makes it too easy to abuse of certain weapons and fire modes such as triple rockets, flak primary, flak shell, shock combo, etc. Without seeing the opponent, players can know that an opponents is located in a tight area easy to spam with explosive projectiles, etc. Players can move around the map and stand nearby any respawn point, ready for an easy respawn kill. It makes it easy to get a free shot on an opponent who is about to come out from behind a wall. It makes it a lot more difficult for a solo player to get rid of multiple remaining opponents on the opposite team, because they can track him so easily.
Also along the same lines, the game shouldn't notify the player when a projectile hits a target that cannot be seen. A local sound (ex: bing!) shouldn't play either and damage shouldn't be displayed in the bottom right corner.
Those features that I listed above essentially act as a legit wallhack in disguise. In no case a competitive multiplayer FPS game should give away the position of a player unless it has been earned by either moving the camera and spotting opponents, by making mental predictions of where players are going or by using in-game tools (ex: a weapon that makes someone bleed or players can use a mini-pistol that can mark an opponent on radar when hit, etc.).
Before someone says ''well everyone can hear footstep sounds, must be fair''. Would we play a game like UT if everyone had wallhacks? No, because such mechanic would make the fights really ugly. Well, the same thing applies to footstep sounds, hit sounds or hit markers. They make fights uglier and less psychological than they should be. It's just less obvious, because we do not explicitly see our opponents through walls, but they essentially fill the same role. And those who are used to it can easily follow opponents behind walls. We've seen pro players on other games in the past such as CS 1.6 almost perfectly track and shoot their opponents through walls just by listening to the footsteps. UT may be a very different shooter game, but the logic still applies.
I'm also well aware that footstep sounds, hit sounds or hit markers have been part of our FPS games for almost 2 decades now, but it's worth considering that maybe it was a human mistake afterall. And maybe UT shouldn't have those.
Or it would be worth creating a mutator for competitive play that doesn't feature any of those things for those who really want to earn their kills.
- Footstep sounds
- Hit markers (including numbers)
- Hit sounds
Player sounds, notably the footstep sounds or Impact hammer noises when opponents are running with it, give away too much information and that has a big negative impact on gameplay, flanking opportunities and psychological warfare (the art of war). That makes it too easy to abuse of certain weapons and fire modes such as triple rockets, flak primary, flak shell, shock combo, etc. Without seeing the opponent, players can know that an opponents is located in a tight area easy to spam with explosive projectiles, etc. Players can move around the map and stand nearby any respawn point, ready for an easy respawn kill. It makes it easy to get a free shot on an opponent who is about to come out from behind a wall. It makes it a lot more difficult for a solo player to get rid of multiple remaining opponents on the opposite team, because they can track him so easily.
Also along the same lines, the game shouldn't notify the player when a projectile hits a target that cannot be seen. A local sound (ex: bing!) shouldn't play either and damage shouldn't be displayed in the bottom right corner.
Those features that I listed above essentially act as a legit wallhack in disguise. In no case a competitive multiplayer FPS game should give away the position of a player unless it has been earned by either moving the camera and spotting opponents, by making mental predictions of where players are going or by using in-game tools (ex: a weapon that makes someone bleed or players can use a mini-pistol that can mark an opponent on radar when hit, etc.).
Before someone says ''well everyone can hear footstep sounds, must be fair''. Would we play a game like UT if everyone had wallhacks? No, because such mechanic would make the fights really ugly. Well, the same thing applies to footstep sounds, hit sounds or hit markers. They make fights uglier and less psychological than they should be. It's just less obvious, because we do not explicitly see our opponents through walls, but they essentially fill the same role. And those who are used to it can easily follow opponents behind walls. We've seen pro players on other games in the past such as CS 1.6 almost perfectly track and shoot their opponents through walls just by listening to the footsteps. UT may be a very different shooter game, but the logic still applies.
I'm also well aware that footstep sounds, hit sounds or hit markers have been part of our FPS games for almost 2 decades now, but it's worth considering that maybe it was a human mistake afterall. And maybe UT shouldn't have those.
Or it would be worth creating a mutator for competitive play that doesn't feature any of those things for those who really want to earn their kills.
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