In the case of Guilty Gear, one must actually witness the process to judge. The moves require the fighter to have been aggressive enough to have accumulated a tension meter, input two commands and have the precision of a hawk. The one-hit kill is essentially the "Hail Mary" of fighting games - the defense knows it's coming, it works maybe 10% of the time and once it flies, the offense waits with bated breath and a prayer - but if it hits it will definitely make the highlight reel. If the move whiffs or is BLOCKED (yes, it actually has to hit clean), the player is penalized by not having a tension meter for the rest of the fight. If you whiff in the first round, it's going to be another long one or two rounds until you can use super moves, Roman cancels, safe guards and more. When a sword has two sides, you can be assured the possibility of cutting yourself is there.
Since then the theory has carried over into games such as Hokuto no Ken or Mortal Kombat's stage fatalities and the future bodes more with Soul Calibur IV's Critical Finish maneuvers. EGM's preview of Soul Calibur IV in issue #229 is the perfect example of the public groaning resulting from the implementation of one-hit kills:
"... Soul Calibur IV dares to break that rule by adding a controversial new system: Critical Finishes, wildly over-the-top maneuevers that end the round with one incredibly dramatic supermove ..."
"... If this sounds distressingly like Mortal Kombat's Fatality system (or even worse - Guilty Gear's arbitrary Instant Kills) ..."
The article puts forth the attitude that the consensus is against one-hit kills. Seemingly, the new idea of adding in a one-hit kill feature can't be met with interest due to its implementation. In fairness, EGM hypes the SCIV feature with its own segmented section. However, is the idea being given merit because it is a good idea, because the game in question is the heralded, best-selling Soul Calibur or is EGM just singing praise via exclusive information? No matter what the reasoning, it seems being featured in Guilty Gear and Mortal Kombat just isn't the ticket for the feature.
No one questions why a single bullet to the head of a Spartan or Covenant places that player in the afterlife so why can't we give the benefit of the doubt to Faust's nuclear explosion, Scorpion uppercutting Sub-Zero down onto stalagmite, Sueng Mina piercing Maxi with a flaming spear or some chainsaw wielding dude with a mohawk from the year 2024 lobbing off extremities? Let's weight in on the pros and cons and maybe then people can judge for themselves rather than going on the premise of a single move killing off an opponent.
PRO: CERTIFIED BACKUP
Instant kills can give you some serious backup if you need a little help with a battle. If your rival is beating the tar out of you and you just can't pull ahead via conventional means, then pulling out the ace and getting a hold of the situation can result in victory. Rarely is an instant kill in Guilty Gear a matter of showing off or humiliation - it's a last resort. When there is no light at the end of the tunnel, you sometimes just have to lob that Hail Mary - throw that attack and pray.
CON: RIVAL RELIES TOO HEAVILY ON INSTANT KILLS
On the same token, having that sneaky, evil, disgusting rival pull one off every chance he gets is no fun and you could end up losing even if you are better at the game. Fortunately, most of the newer games however have too strict of conditions for this to happen (such as Soul Calibur IV’s where your opponent must block nonstop to the point their armor breaks). It is extremely vital that a great game that has this ability takes the time to program a complicated command and/or a strict time frame to pull such a move or this one con can single handily make the entire game unworthy to play. Time Killers resorts to a lot of cheap play in order to set up dizzies and instant kills. When this becomes the focus, the cheese factor can go through the roof and fun might stop in its tracks.
PRO: MORE STRATEGY
With the prospect of you or your rival being able to end it all in an instant (or one long animation, cue Guilty Gear) it’s important to take the time to think about what you want to do before you start pressing pretty buttons and such. Having a battle plan to avoid getting chomped on or even setting up your own death trick requires perfecting combos so you can easily carry out your rival’s demise. With strategy comes replay — having to practice and try out dozens of techniques. Obviously, you have to know the stages in Mortal Kombat Deception and use your noodle to not stand in front of that incinerator with the red line around it. If you are continually being slammed off the top of the temple and splatting onto the ground, don't hate the player, hate yourself for constantly putting your character in front death traps.
CON: KILLJOY
Again, working extremely hard to perfect combos that will allow you to perform an instant kill might simply only help anger you when all that falls apart when, in the middle of your tactic, your rival pulls his one-hit kill and blows you out of the water. While one-hit kills can allow strategy, if they are simple to connect in battle then why bother practicing, as your opponent will simply whip one out? And you don’t even have to lose to feel like the game cheated you; how fun is killing someone over and over watching him have no chance of survival? Nil. We have to question how much range some of the death traps have in Mortal Kombat. When an attack normally flops an opponent two feet in front of you, it's slightly disheartening to see the same move slam you 20 feet onto a bed of spikes.
PROS: MISS AND YOU'RE F***ED
A normal gamer might not realize how much of a crutch players face by not having a tension gauge in Guilty Gear, but, man, there's a reason why you'll hardly see instant kills attempted in competition. If you are mid combo in Mortal Kombat and an opponent jumps over you - your back will not only be wide open, but your front could very well be neatly located directly in front of your death. One of the most intense factors of one-hit kills is in its brutal oneupmanship. Nothing gets competitive juices flowing like situations that allow players to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just when you think you've won, a reversal or whiff can put you in a very uncomfortable position.
CONS: PROGRAMMING OVERSIGHT
Many of the juggles and 100% combos we've mentioned in the opening of the piece aren't really the result of complete skill, but oversights by the programmers of the game. Early versions of Mortal Kombat are notorious for having 100% corner juggles that ended the game of anyone who got caught in them and let's not forget about how Sub-Zero can infinitely throw you in Genesis version of the original (bastard). By allowing for strings that result in 100% damage, this opens up the possibility of exploits and the use of glitches to get ahead in the game. Thankfully, games such as Primal Rage, with its awesome no cheese symbol remind you that 100% is not cool. Even if the situation allows for more hits games such as the newer editions of Mortal Kombat force your character away from the opponent so combos stop just before ridiculous.
PROS: THEY LOOK COOL AND GET PEOPLE TALKING
If you thought people lined up for and played Time Killers because it was a technically sound game, you should guess again. While people griped about the level of violence in Mortal Kombat, games not popular in that time could do as they pleased as the game pushed the envelope of violence (well, for 1992). High score tables actually kept tabs of how many heads, arms and legs players lobbed off, which meant the one-hit kill was the primo way to see your name on the list (it's alright. Through the time machine mechanic, limbs were digitally restored for future rounds). In most any game, the one-hit kill is given the flair and entertainment as if it were its own cutscene and players can't help but smile at the result.
CONS: THEY COME ACROSS AS ONLY A GIMMICK
Need to do something that the media will talk about - add one-hit kills. Usually, one-hit kills do little to add to the overall game play and skill involved in competition. As said before, Guilty Gear one-hit kills are rarely seen in competition and I can't say Mortal Kombat Deception or Time Killers is played in a worldwide competitive manner. In fact, SCIV's critical hits warranted an entire section in the said issue of EGM. Are the attacks a mere PR device where the game companies can show off pretty colors and insane attacks? Not likely, but given how the moves are viewed, it seems no one takes the addition seriously.
Final Thoughts
So in the end, I can only guess that whether a move can mow down anyone in a single hit is a good thing or not is proportionate to whether or not is implemented correctly. I personally like the one-hit kills in Guilty Gear, but I never cared for a game to allow 90%+ air combos. Just me though. Will Soul Calibur IV finally do these maneuvers justice or will gamers and press continue to roll their eyes when the words "instant kill" are muttered as a fighting game feature? Only time will tell. Until then ... is anyone up for some Time Killers? Man, all that talk about the game has got me hankering for some limb hacking.
Feel free to visit the forums and share your opinion in the comments as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment