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Forums - Gaming Discussion - A funny thing about escort missions: the best games ever resort to them.

It is more often than not that you hear gamers complaining about escort missions. "They suck!" They cry. "Do you remember that bitch from Goldeneye 64? MY FUCKING GOD that was awful". "WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!" That is the general consensus about this huge group of gamers*.

 

Well, there's a funny thing about those escort missions. Most of the universally loved** and critically acclaimed games have incorporated, in one way or the other, such gameplay design.

 

Examples such as:

 

· Yoshi's Island (carrying Mario)

· Dead Rising (saving the survivors)

· Metal Gear Solid 2 (with Emma Emmerich)

· Halo: Combat Evolved (protecting Captain Keyes)

· The Last of Us (Ellie)

· Half Life 2 (Vance / Calhoun)

· Max Payne 2 (Sniping enemies around Max)

· GTA: Vice City (Those infamous "protect this random NPC" missions)

· Vanquish (Aiding the ship)

· The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (Defending the heir)

· Fire Emblem (That random NPC wife of Dorcas)

· Advance Wars (Basically the same thing as above)

· Bioshock Infinite (Taking Booker out of Columbia)

· Resident Evil 4 (Ashley)

· Uncharted 2 (Protecting Elena)

· Portal (Companion Cube)

· A Link to the Past (Rescuing Zeruda)

· ICO (Yorda!)

 

What do you think about this mindblowing fact? Does this change your perception of escort missions?!

 

* This group is based upon a statistic that says that 79% of gamers hate escort missions.

Incidentally, there's also an statistic that says that 67% of the statistics are made up.

** This is, of course, my personal criteria. But it is the one that prevails!



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It depends. It must be pretty well designed to work. And even in pretty good games, like RE4, the mission suck but the game is good enough to compensate it.

I don't consider TLOU a escort mission game. Ok, you are theorically escorting Ellie, but she is invisible to enemies and only very rarely she will be attacked, and even then you have almost 2 minutes to save her. You can drink a damn coffee and return in time.




The thieve's hideout in A Link between Worlds is my favorite dungeon of the game and that is basically an escort mission.

Well, ICO and Yoshi's Island are all one giant escort mission. Ellie doesn't count because she doesn't get in the way. You've got a point bro, it can work very well if it's done very well. Can add a lot of emotion to the game, tying you to and making you care about the character like in ICO (and similarly with Agro in SotC)



The best game of all time has it as core game mechanic. Must be really popular.



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i think its publisher dependant.. Activision, escort missions we hate.. Ubisoft, escort missions we hate.. EA, we just hate anything EA..



 

Face the future.. Gamecenter ID: nikkom_nl (oh no he didn't!!) 

vivster said:
The best game of all time has it as core game mechanic. Must be really popular.


Yeah, I definitively agree. Dead Rising FTW!



Ka-pi96 said:
Except in some of those games the person is invincible, so it doesn't really count as an escort mission.


That doesn't matter. RE4 doesn't stop being a escort missions just because you give Ashley the armor outfit, which makes her invincible.



torok said:

I don't consider TLOU a escort mission game.


TLOU itself isn't a escort mission game, but it does feature escorting, even if the character is invincible. You're still tasked with escorting her throughout the country.



Escort missions are cool but I would understand why a girl wouldn't like that kind of thing.



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