| finalsquall said: Why is linear considered as a negative. If I was getting chased, I would be going One Way and that would be the Hell out of there. Linear is good and useful if the environment is done right i.e. feels like there is more in the background. Sometimes, open environments are just as bad - too long and you get lost lol. Anyways, how many people take a different way to school,work or other places of interest every time they go there. You may once in awhile - other than that you just want to get to where you are going. I like linear games at times :P |
What I'm more or less thinking of is games like Rachet and Clank, they have a few open arenas and you'll have to do a few objectives and you can do them in any order, or if you want to revisit a planet you can to get something you missed. Yet in most parts you have to go in one direction, but the way they designed it you don't feel that restraint. I'm mostly fine with the linear nature of the game, but I think it hurts the gameplay's sense of freedom, for example compare the wall climbing parts to Assassin's creed, Assassin's creed allows you to scale any wall and that feels like an ability you have, while in Uncharted you can only climb the very specific walls the developers have designated you to climb. Sometimes you'll be jump toward a very climable wall but he won't do it, and it kind of denies you that sense of freedom, you can only do that when your supposed to! then your asking yourself, where do they want me to go? and when your questioning where your supposed to go, your kind of pulled from the immersivness of the experience.
I'm not saying a game shouldn't be linear, I just think linear games should give you the illusion of freedom, like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, Half-Life, Portal, you can pretty much only go one way, but you constantly feel motivated to go that way you don't seem to question that, that goes almost into a subconsicous construct to level design.
