Dear Developers, If you’re going to have a chase scene don’t leave any “goodies” lying around

If you’re a gamer, no — a gaaamer I’m pretty sure you’ve experience this.

So you’re playing a game and you come upon a chase sequence or a sequence that requires you to move with some sort of urgency, say a rescue mission where the rescuee screams heeeelp!!! Or you have to hurry up and defuse a bomb before it detonates and blows up the city, or you have a certain amount of time to save the crew before the “bad guy” kills them.

So now you’re in that mindset, you’re focused, you’re determined but then this happens…

Instead of staying the course as the story dictates, you find yourself along the way searching for hidden items, or power ups, or orbs, or health packs, or ammo.

I don’t know about you but I’m huge on immersion, if I’m chasing somebody or something I want to remain in that mind frame. If I’m rescuing somebody I want to remain in that mind frame. When I’m playing my game I want it to be believable that he/she/it will get away if I don’t stop it. It has to be believable the fate of the world is at stake if I don’t get there on time.

Leaving goodies behind does not accomplish this, the gamer loses focus and instead of focusing on saving the world we’re worrying and saying to ourselves “Sheesh! I hope I didn’t miss a “Trophy”/”Achievement””. Bottom line is I don’t want to stop to look for treasure or any of the other things previously mentioned, I just want to lock on my target and move at a hurried pace without worrying about if I left something behind.

Playing God of War Ascension — the Kratos, Megaera encounter specifically, the whole beginning part is a chase scene but there is bunch of goodies sprinkled throughout this chase, including orbs and scrolls; the latter giving you insight into the story. And that’s just one example there are countless other games I’ve played that included these type of scenes but left too many goodies behind to really give the scene life.

I could actually say it’s a rarity to get a pure chase scene from developers. I found myself many times just forgetting my task altogether and turned it into a search fest or, me being the gamer I am I would manufacture immersion on my own by ignoring what I might possibly leave behind no matter how important (that rare gun) and just go after them in the most realistic way possible from an emotional and physical standpoint.

That’s why I may thoroughly enjoy a game better with the second playthrough because it gives me the chance (provided I picked up all the important stuff the first time around) to play as pure as possible. I could then ignore said goodies.

Going forward I think developers that create chase scenes should focus on making those scenes what they are suppose to be — chase scenes. Oh the potential if you nail everything that makes chasing, or chase scenes great. The thrill of the chase, the momentum of the chase, the urgency of the chase, the adrenaline of the chase.

Now I’m not saying every chase scene going forward has to be point A to point B 90 miles per hour in a straight line, while those are welcome there are many ways to go about it. Throwing a monkey wrench in it like falling down a ditch and taking a minute to recover, or sending goons a player has to fight through, or having to break down a barrier can work and has worked as well. Just don’t leave any goodies around that’s irrelevant to the chase is all. Failing to do so ruins the spirit of what you worked so hard to create anyway.

And again not just chase scenes but any scene itself that sets you up in hurry up mode. When a character yells “I’m in here!!!” Or “Hurry up!!! I’m dying!!!” Or “Help me with this they’re coming!” I shouldn’t then be worried about what goodies is lying around, that also ruins immersion big time!

Sincerely,

SchollA – Console ControllUs

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