From Coleco Vision To Iphone Games: Some High Water Marks In Video Game Design History – Part 2

In the first entry of this ongoing series we took a look at some memorable design moments in video game history courtesy of  Nintendo’s own Metroid on the original NES and Bioware’s MDK2 from the Sega Dreamcast. In this second part of this ongoing series we will examine some more of those moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.

Halo – A launch title for the original Xbox from Microsoft, Halo: Combat Evolved forever changed the way people think of first person shooters (FPS) on video game consoles. The game had a very long development cycle, starting out as an RTS title, evolving into a third person shooter for the Mac and finally resulting in an FPS for Microsoft’s console debut.  Regardless of this much longer than average development cycle, the game released to incredible sales, glowing reviews and almost universal praise for its execution and technical innovations.

The first high water mark in game design comes at the very beginning of Halo, as the main character – the Master Chief – is thawed from his cryo-sleep. It is at this point that the player first takes control of the main character – the Master Chief. Under the guise of configuring the Chief’s on-board systems, the player is put through a short tutorial that familiarizes them with the game’s control scheme. This seamless integration of gameplay mechanic introduction into the narrative is not only incredibly slick, but almost shockingly effective. What follows is a short run from the cryo-chamber to the deck of the ship. This run involved the player moving, jumping, ducking and generally being forced to familiarize themselves with all aspects of movement. It is not until the player finally reaches their destination on the bridge, that they are finally rewarded with their first weapon and the game truly begins.

Another standout moment in this game arrives at the beginning of the game’s second level, simply titled ‘Halo.’ When the Master Chief exits his escape pod and we see the incredible size and scope of the world he has landed on and will soon explore, the player discovers that along with some progressive controls and design integration, the game will also be upping the ante on level design. Few FPS to this point featured worlds so large and lush, and none starred enemies as dynamic and engaging as the Elites, Jackals and Grunts that make-up the bulk of the enemy army. Unbeknownst to the player, they would soon be fighting alongside civilians and soldiers, driving (and being driven in) Warthog jeeps, using sniper rifles and choosing their own pathways through the level. If the opening level of Halo wowed the player with its clever integration of tutorial elements into the gameplay, the follow-up level only served to cement the promises the development team made with those innovations, and foretold of a game to come that would push the limits of what gamers would come to expect from a FPS from that point on.

From Coleco Vision To Iphone Games: Some High Water Marks In Video Game Design History – Part 1

Anybody who has been a consistent video game player over the years has had their fair share of encounters with both fantastic game design – and controller breaking, teeth gnashingly frustrating, outright broken game design.

Since the latter does not deserve our attention, in this first in an ongoing series, we will take a look at some of those moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.

Metroid (NES) – When I bought Metroid for the NES in 1986 I was just a 9-year-old boy with some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. I bought the game mainly due to the box art, but also because I had seen it on the cover of one of the few gaming magazines of the day.

This was one of the first games I had bought new, entirely with my own money, and I was very excited when I finally got home and put the cartridge in my Nintendo. The stand-out moment for this game came within the first minute of gameplay.

As you start the game, your natural instinct is to head right. This direction of movement had been instilled in players through years of playing games such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros and countless other games.

Still, when the player headed right in Metroid, they were greeted by an impassable wall that required the character to turn into a ball in order to roll under it – a skill the character did not yet possess.

This forced the player to head back where they came from, and end up to the left of the start screen, where the ability to turn into the ball was found.

This simple to solve yet incredibly purposeful roadblock let the player know that their pre-conceived notions of how a video game was supposed to be played did not apply to Metroid.

After less than a minute of gameplay, the player was already being challenged and forced to re-evaluate how they approach games – all through the use of one straight forward, yet elegantly challenging design element.

MDK2 (Dreamcast) – This absolutely must play game is a sequel to the original MDK developed by Shiny entertainment and released on the PC, Mac and eventually the Playstation. BioWare took over the reins for the development of this Dreamcast based sequel and they plastered their consistent quality all over this title.

Starring three intertwined yet very distinct characters – Max the stealthy sniper, Dr. Hawkins the crazy scientist and Kurt the 6 legged dog (MDK respectively) – the game had an incredibly varied approach to gameplay that involved sections which complimented the strengths of each player.

Anyone who has played this game will know how brutally difficult it is, but this difficulty does not come without a degree of fairness. The game demands you execute very complex moves with absolute precision, and places unforgiving save points in your path that require the player to be not only perfect, but consistently perfect.

The standout game design moments in this game are delivered in a constant stream. After completing a torturous level with Kurt where you may have gunned down hundreds upon hundreds of enemies as you desperately and frantically searched for more ammunition, you are rewarded with a brain testing breather as you take over Dr. Hawkins and must solve a puzzle within a riddle.

This constantly rotating gameplay avoided the pitfalls of similar games by refusing to allow the dips in quality that often occur as character control shifts. While the game is filled with high water marks such as: the amazing boss battles and flying sequences with Kurt, Max’s free falling navigations and sniper wars, and Dr. Kurt’s epic climbing and pipe following – the game on the whole is a massive achievement in game design and stands out as one of the most challenging and rewarding games the Dreamcast ever saw, and that BioWare ever produced.

If you have not yet had the chance to play MDK2, do yourself a favor and track down a copy. I guarantee that if its merciless difficulty does not scare you away, the game will reveal itself to be one with few in the realm of high quality game design.