Health-Bars Be Damned

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a bit sick of it to, but most health systems will be too game-y or otherwise unforgiving.  I remember playing The Getaway and thinking it was really cool how you could lean on a wall and slowly heal, but after a few times it just got annoying.  What really bothered me about it though, was that your blood would vanish as you heal and you would stop limping and dragging your feet.

Most games now decide you either lose vision in some way when injured, or you have a meter of some sorts.  The best implementation I've seen is when a health meter is somehow incorporated on your character or weapon.  Even though I have not played it, Dead Space seemed to have handled this well.  The problem with health meters is that they usually allow items to be acquired which refill the meter.  I find it hard to believe eating food instantly heals anything.  I do like compromises though, such as the Riddick games include.  They have a meter dived into blocks.  You can only "recharge" the current block of health and if you lose a block, you must use a NanoMed station to heal.  When you start involving future tech such as nanomachines, I find quick healing to be more reasonable because it can be possible theoretically.

Strictly for modern, regular dudes with guns though, I think it has to be game-y or unforgiving.  You really just have to decide which one you want because it is either going to go the realistic route or the game route.  You've got your Ghost Recon and you've got your Call of Duty.  I don't see any possible middle ground.

I hated backtracking looking for health packs. I'm so glad we're mostly done with it.

I liked the harder games that had you lose health if shot but then also added in the bleeding mechanic where you were forced to bandage yourself up to stay alive (A la Men of Valor).

I have been playing Mass Effect over the past week on my pc and they have done a good job with the fact that they make you use your health packs wisely. I also like it that you have to hack most health stations in order to receive more health packs to work with, if you fail that hack, then you can kiss those health packs goodbye.

I don't like recharging health either, I preferred the old health points / health packs / armor system.  It adds another layer to gameplay, and it means I can play like Rambo if I'm good enough (pick up tons of health, fight like crazy, pick up health), as opposed to always popping in and out of cover which is slower paced.  I think modern action games have recharging health because it's far more noob friendly.  No needing to remember where health pickups were, and it rewards going at a slower pace.  "I can just sit here behind cover and be safe, at least for a while..."

It's true that it makes a lot of sense for Halo, they use shields, so it's actually realistic in a way.  But recharging health for a WW2 soldier is even worse than walking over a medikit to get healed!  I'm not sure if truly realistic combat could ever be much fun either.  Shot in the leg?  You can't move and you have to wait a few hours to get helped.  Shot in the head by someone you can't even see?  You're done.

Still, I have mixed feelings, and I don't think any system is really optimal.

Regenerating Health works in some games and it others it ruins it. In the case of Double Agent it ruined part of the experience because you could run up to an enemy, stab him, and not have to worry if you die or have to low health to continue playing. Health packs make the game much more intense, still they aren't perfect either. Hopefully in the future we will see a more Far Cry 2 like health system (the multiplayer one) where you have to physically heal yourself to get back to full health. You don't have to go hunting for health packs, its more realistic than either of them, and you have to spare a few seconds of sitting behind cover instead of instant health regeneration so you can still die.

I highly doubt it's just a fad. Hopefully, the idea is used wisely. Some games need it, and some games could live without it. Personally, I prefer it in a lot of games. The magical first aid kit is magical enough, but it's even more magical to find a health pack just lying on the ground. Even so, no game is truly close to reality. But the health points do add a little strategy into the game.

But this isn't really something I notice about it. Like in Medal of Honor Heroes 2, the Campaign and the Arcade modes, I didn't really notice/care about how you got health back.

The problem I have with the FC2 system is it makes it too easy to heal up very quickly.  Find any cover and press the heal button as long as you're still carrying those syringe things and you're instantly healed (as long as you weren't in your last bar, where you have to pick a bullet out of your body or something).

If they used the FC2 system but it took you a few seconds to get your health back anyways, I think that'd be better.

Not all games are supposed to be realistic or are meant to be like that, which is one of the things people always assume nowadays. Video games are video games, not real life untra realistic simulators of something.