Monday, July 30, 2012
RPG Elements in Dead Island
By biggest gripe with Dead Island is that many of the traditional RPG elements seem largely unnecessary. Do I really need to see large, floating numbers appear around every zombie every time I attack to indicate damage?
What makes a level 30 rusty pipe so much more powerful than a level 2 rusty pipe? What makes a revolver spiteful and how is it any different from any other revolver?
I can’t help but think the gameplay could have been accomplished without all this emphasis leveling, numbers, and experience, leaving your character’s player-chosen abilities to do all the talking. As it stands, many of these elements only detract from the player’s immersion in the game world.
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Reading this made me wonder what such a game would be like with no HUD. We've seen through games like Call of Duty that you can effectively communicate your health and such through interaction visualizations like blood spatter, but can the same be said for communicating the effectiveness of weapons against enemies without relying on health gauges?
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see an RPG-style FPS that entirely eschews the numbers and works to visually communicate all of the intricacies of its mechanics.