Video games being virtual playthings allow for developers to provide an exhaustive menu of mechanics and features to satisfy any appetite for destruction, ranging from full scale building desolation as seen in Battlefield 4, to the manic insurgent simulator Just Cause.
Mechanics make good games phenomenal, ingraining pulse pounding, adrenaline-fueled action for those with the desire and the means to seek out the upper echelon of apocalyptic artillery, and bring it to bear against any digital antagonist foolhardy enough to stand against you.
Herein this article are 10 mechanics showcasing the capabilities and raw puissance that video games inject into the bloodstream of the player, ensconcing them with the capacity to become their own harbinger of Armageddon with a cacophony of madness, ruination, and earth shattering might.
10. Explosive Light (Alan Wake)
“Light is your weapon” is the tag line for Alan Wake, a third person shooter inspired by Twin Peaks and the works of Stephen King.
Visual effects brought to you by two smoking barrels (locked and stocked of course)
For some unbeknown reason, light in games is rarely treated with respect for the power it wields. Alan Wake changes that and makes it a core feature of its gameplay, equipping the player with an array of illuminating devices, from a humble torch to road flares. The light burns away the enemies’ shield of darkness, allowing them to be dispatched with conventional firearms. When targeting an opponent, a lens flare appears and slowly decreases in size akin to a health bar, communicating to the player the best time to strike.
Perhaps the most gratifying end to a combat situation in the game is when a player ends the fight with the blinding light of a flare gun. This instantly disintegrates any adversary in its blast radius, complete with a cinematic camera glorifying your victory and creating a copacetic conclusion to the engagement.
9. Strafe hopping (Dusk)
Dusk, as first person shooters tend to be, is rather frantic. Enemies come thick and fast attempting to eliminate the player. However, Dusk being perhaps the genesis for the ‘Boomer Shooter’ (modern games styled upon older titles such as Doom, Quake, etc.) allows the player to move like greased lightning.
I’m mildly concerned about that scarecrow on the right
While the combat capabilities of the player can be enhanced with power-ups harking back to days of old, the inclusion for the ability to strafe hop around the levels adds another degree of bedlam to the slaughter. Raw power, should it be unleashed, oozes from the player as they extinguish the forces of evil which populate the environment.
The cocktail of a tiered weapon system which gradually build the player’s arsenal, and some of the slickest movement in a video game, ensures those craving a hit of adrenaline-fueled digital interaction will not be disappointed.
8. Tag Team (Broforce)
A cute retro styled platformer, with explosions. Lots of explosions.
Just three bros, chilling
Broforce appears to have been a Super Mario mod which spiraled into anarchy, but the problem is, it just works. Featuring a plethora of action movie characters such as the T-1000, Indiana Jones, and many others, all as overpowered as each other. Broforce’s roots as a platformer show with the fragility of your character – one hit and you’re gone.
However, should you rescue another bro, you will respawn as a completely new operator from the Broforce register with near unlimited potential for destruction. With online and local play, solo action can be amplified with up to three of your real life bros dropping in.
7. AI (Trepang 2)
Currently, only a demo exists of Trepang 2 for the public to consume; however, this carte du jour provides a smattering of options for players who wished the enemies they fought in first person shooters provided a little more nourishment in terms of their counter attacks.
Surely the stock should be unfolded?
For starters, if a first person shooter is compared to F.E.A.R., it most likely is doing something right. While F.E.A.R.’s AI is hailed as extraordinary, modern understanding of the game suggests that while still excellent, it is a trick, a harmony of sophisticated programming and comprehensive level design.
Trepang 2 features an enemy which will react dynamically to the player actions. This appears to be the main course of the game, allowing the player to, for example, shoot out lights in order to trigger a search team, complete with flares and night-vision goggles, attempting to flush the player out.
Of course you could just go loud and experience the dessert options, such as using stunned opponents as human shields, forcing their comrades to re-evaluate the situation, and potentially causing them to fall back. Or if your palate favours bullet time with a twist, the game has you covered with each bullet pertaining its own physics—meaning, should the player desire, they can be shot out of the air mid-flight.
6. Escalation (Deep Rock Galactic)
Beards? Check. Bugs? Check. Vulgar displays of destruction? You bet. Ghost Ship Games’ Deep Rock Galactic coordinates the best lessons learnt from previous co-op based shooters by fusing the DNA of Left For Dead with Minecraft.
I did not make it out of this situation, but then again, neither did the bugs…
The game itself features randomly generated cave systems for brave space miners to explore, coupled with fully destructible terrain and an onslaught of bugs akin to Starship Troopers. This enables players, should they wish, to punch a hole right through the standard route, potentially bypassing hazardous interactions. But be warned, the swarm is relentless, and being trapped in a narrow tunnel with the light fading and surrounded by the chittering of mandibles is not for the faint of heart.
The fusion of game mechanics escalates in relation to the RPG systems present in the game, culminating in equipment being able to be modified to provide a dynamic and changing load out selection. For example, the already devastating auto-cannon can be infused with neurotoxin bullets to poison any bug which stands up to its immense firepower. The options Deep Rock Galactic presents in tweaking your preferred play style adds another layer to this concoction of thrill charged gameplay.
5. Dodge Build (Payday 2)
Overkill’s Payday 2 is the most infamous digital crime simulator on the market, pitting up to 4 wannabe thieves up against hordes of law enforcement, with the goal to get the loot and get out, potentially recreating your favourite heist movie scenes in the process (the bits where the master-plan goes wrong).
For budgetary reasons only one Mac-10 was available
In the terms of a heist, bringing as many muscle bound, riot armour clad criminals seems the best method for success, but what happens if I told you of the other option? For those in the know, Payday 2’s options for a dodge build class provide the perfect glass cannon strategy, immense damage output, dodging bullets and enough speed to zip around any unsuspecting member of law enforcement.
The dodge build is simple to create, effectively a stealth based loadout equipped with the most compact, yet cataclysmic munitions available on the black market. For example, a build may allow for a 33% chance of dodging any bullet while sprinting, or the ability to reload dual MAC-10 submachine guns in less than a second. This may seem a tad overkill, but when in the context of the pandemonium of a high level raid upon a secret private military complex, the ability to become a freight train of firepower becomes necessary.
4. Fuze charge (Rainbow Six Siege)
Upon its initial release, Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege was posed as a tactical first person shooter simulating real world special forces engaging in counter-terrorism roles.
A slight fabrication of events but a showcase nevertheless
It is fair to say that Rainbow Six Siege has changed a lot since its release; however, it should be noted that the distinct thud of a Fuze charge being deployed, and the subsequent fleeing of the area by the defending team, has not. While it could be argued there are better operators than Fuze, nothing changes the sheer panic instilled in the other team as a cluster of explosives descends upon them, and their carefully constructed defences clear away into the abyss.
The gadget itself may net an elimination; however, the dread of the device coupled with the ability to quickly clear an area, regardless of what was contained within, guarantees at the very least some breathing room for your team, and quite possibly the annihilation of your opponents greatest asset: restraint. Due to the explosive nature of the charges, calm and collected thinking is often thrown to the wayside allowing you, now the arbiter of chaos, to calmly take the objective without the pressure of a sophisticated defence plan attempting to hold you back.
3. Stratagems (Helldivers)
Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers takes heavy inspiration from Starship Troopers, and manages to create a symbiotic relationship between the empirical satire present in the aforementioned film and frenzied twin stick shooting.
Grenade!
At surface level, Helldivers‘ isometric view may leave players assuming a basic top-down shooter affair. However the ability to call in a multitude of orbital strike ordnance provides ample scope and opportunity to obliterate any potential opposition your squad of elite intergalactic soldiers may face. These stratagems come in the usual flavour of call-in support options seen in video games, such as sentry turrets, air strikes and thermonuclear warheads. Although more tactical options are available, such as land mines, exo-suits and flamethrowers.
While the ability to call for superior firepower on the fly isn’t a new-fangled concept in video games, Helldivers achieves its crescendo of extermination through the input of a code performed by directional movement. Sounds easy, right? Combine the unlimited onslaught your squad is expected to face with the need for rapid code input (while leaving you vulnerable to attack), and you have the recipe for an extremely intense yet rewarding horde shooter.
2. Vomit (Sea Of Thieves)
Grog is naturally a part of Rare’s piratical multiplayer game Sea Of Thieves, and besides simply a joke interaction with the game world by adding virtual intoxication (distorted visuals and sound included), it adds everyone’s favourite bodily fluid: vomit.
Oh no, not again
While at first glance this may seem a mere continuation of the booze simulator, if the game thinks you have had enough, it allows players to jettison their previously consumed substances onto others. This could potentially obscure their view and give you the edge in a high-stakes situation.
It should be noted that the bile can be stashed in a bucket for a tactical evasive manoeuvre, or putting out a fire spreading out of control. If grog does not tickle your taste buds, fishing bait (worms, grubs and leeches) can also be consumed for the chunder effect without the need for intoxication.
1. Gun Fu (Maximum Action)
What’s better than diving through the air firing a machine gun? Perhaps akimbo machine guns? Or are automatic shotguns more your forte?
Can’t stand the heat?
Mongoose Game’s Maximum Action provides ample opportunity to quench your action movie thirst, by providing players with the capabilities to be their own John Wick or Inspector Tequila. The game features the aforementioned dual wielding of any firearm, and the ability to slide, dive, and dodge your way to the end of the level.
However, if your clip runs dry during your wanton carnage, then engaging the enemy in close-quarter combat will alleviate them of their trusty weapon potentially right into your hands. On the other hand, simply throwing your weapon at them will have the same effect, allowing you to quickly close the gap or reload to continue the fight.
(Video by Oyff.)
