HomeFeatures
What’s better: Tagging locations for teamies, or door violence?Vote now!
Vote now!
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Devolver Digital
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Devolver Digital
Last time, you decided thatsnap-to construction is better than fighting a little beastie then meeting the giant adults. I can respect that. It’s practical. It’s not bullying. Maybe you don’t enjoy getting your comeuppance. But the alternative is still pretty funny. Onwards! This week, I ask you to pick between helping people find things in an environment and using part of the environment as a weapon. What’s better: Tagging locations for teamies, or door violence?
Tagging locations for teamies
While the most obvious communications technology advancement in multiplayer video games since the dialup days has been widespread voice chat (which you previously decidedis not better than heals harming the undad), the greatest is tagging locations. Even if I had not become one of the people who instantly disable voice chat in every game, I would find it more helpful to quickly and easily drop a marker to tell my team “Here, this.”
Plunkbat’s tagging is a huge help when scouring the map to find enough bikes toform a bicycle bully gang
Press a key and there it is, a little dot on the UI for all to see. Here’s a thing. I want it brought to your attention. I believe you will find this useful. Sniper on this ridge. Ammo here. Gun there. Drop on this spot. Healthpack in this cupboard. Drive through this gully. Regroup in this building. Think I heard something over there somewhere. You’ll usually want text or voice to add this context, explain exactly what it is you’re highlighting, but verbal communication is quick for context and achingly slow for precise location. You want a tag for that.
Tags have only ever made a game better for me. They’re unexciting in isolation but you don’t spoon salt down your gullet either, do you?
Door violence
I like how vulnerable a protagonist feels when an important part of their violence toolkit is the act of quickly opening a door. In survival horror games, there’s me, just some person armed with household items, desperately hoping to daze an unspeakable horror with a door so I can either flee or hammer its faces in. When the apocalypse comes, you’ll find me lurking down the B&Q.Hotline Miamiuses doors this way too; you might be on a drugged-up neon killing spree but you’re still weak enough that you need to seize any edge you can.
On the flipside, quickly opening a door can highlight how superhuman a murderer you are. Take a method of violence which typically doesn’t do much more than leave someone bruised and swearing then turn it deadly. I’m especially thinking of the upcomingAnger Foot(demo available on Steam), where many fights begin with you kicking a door so hard it flies off the hinges and splats anyone behind. Great booting. And it’s a delight inDead Cellsto roll through a closed wooden door with such force that it explodes into splinters and stuns enemies.
14 Indie Games We Can’t Wait To Play In 2023Anger Foot might now be delayed to 2024 but hey, it was once a game we were really looking forward to this yearWatch on YouTube
14 Indie Games We Can’t Wait To Play In 2023
But which is better?
This one is a toughie for me. Tagging locations is so practical, door violence is such fun. Um. Ah. Hmm. What do you think?
