- Joined
- Nov 14, 2012
After playing the game for a teensy-tiny bit yesterday, here is what I would have done to make Hatred a more compelling game.
Second character.
The game needs Coop. Where is the Dylan to our Eric? The biggest flaw with Nathan Explosion is that he has no character, and the best part of a good anti-hero is accidentally liking them. You like CJ from GTA:SA because he's a chill guy with a set of convictions and an ethical code, despite being a murderer and gangbanger. You like voice guy from Postal because he's funny.
Diablo 3 is a shitty game, but one thing shines way above everything else in it: the companions. Just having someone there to make witty remarks and even occasionally shyly hit on your character is funny, and engages you. Murderer Man doesn't say anything unless it's a cutscene and he's monologing to himself.
Established world.
I have no fucking idea where this take place. The game desperately needed to set up the world so you know what matters to the people. This is also a big problem with the Nuclear Power Plant at the end. The Power Plant is introduced haphazardly as a goal at the cutscene starting Stage 3. He just says "A power plant. If I destroy that, it would cause this pathetic population grief and suffering. My journey finally has a goal."
Why? Why do it like that? Fucking introduce the goal at the start somehow, even if not overtly. Also we know that nuclear power plants are NOT weaponized and are much safer since the days of Chernobyl. Having him solo overload a reactor and nuke the city is preposterous and suspends my disbelief comically in a game that is already comically far from reality.
What would have made a more interesting goal is something more subtle. The oil spill in the gulf of mexico was a huge thing that devastated the livelihoods of everyone involved and has had long-term ecological impacts. Make that the goal. Set it up in the first scene that it is a beach town with a huge tourist population, and then show the political rally in that one map protesting the construction of an off-shore oil rig that is being built. Have the protagonists slowly reveal to the player that their master plan that they already know about is to hijack a boat and set off an explosion to spill the rig's oil. Have the ending sequence be badass like this.
Oh, and Improve AI.
The AI is too fearless and dumb to feel bad for. Have them cower in corners and cry. I can't feel bad for dumb pixels.
Second character.
The game needs Coop. Where is the Dylan to our Eric? The biggest flaw with Nathan Explosion is that he has no character, and the best part of a good anti-hero is accidentally liking them. You like CJ from GTA:SA because he's a chill guy with a set of convictions and an ethical code, despite being a murderer and gangbanger. You like voice guy from Postal because he's funny.
Diablo 3 is a shitty game, but one thing shines way above everything else in it: the companions. Just having someone there to make witty remarks and even occasionally shyly hit on your character is funny, and engages you. Murderer Man doesn't say anything unless it's a cutscene and he's monologing to himself.
Established world.
I have no fucking idea where this take place. The game desperately needed to set up the world so you know what matters to the people. This is also a big problem with the Nuclear Power Plant at the end. The Power Plant is introduced haphazardly as a goal at the cutscene starting Stage 3. He just says "A power plant. If I destroy that, it would cause this pathetic population grief and suffering. My journey finally has a goal."
Why? Why do it like that? Fucking introduce the goal at the start somehow, even if not overtly. Also we know that nuclear power plants are NOT weaponized and are much safer since the days of Chernobyl. Having him solo overload a reactor and nuke the city is preposterous and suspends my disbelief comically in a game that is already comically far from reality.
What would have made a more interesting goal is something more subtle. The oil spill in the gulf of mexico was a huge thing that devastated the livelihoods of everyone involved and has had long-term ecological impacts. Make that the goal. Set it up in the first scene that it is a beach town with a huge tourist population, and then show the political rally in that one map protesting the construction of an off-shore oil rig that is being built. Have the protagonists slowly reveal to the player that their master plan that they already know about is to hijack a boat and set off an explosion to spill the rig's oil. Have the ending sequence be badass like this.
Oh, and Improve AI.
The AI is too fearless and dumb to feel bad for. Have them cower in corners and cry. I can't feel bad for dumb pixels.
