A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

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Alex79
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A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Alex79 »

We all love games, but sometimes a game has an idea you've never seen before and it is amazing. Maybe the whole game is built around this one idea, or maybe it's just a small aspect of why any particular game is brilliant, but interesting game mechanics are one of the reasons we all play. How about a list of some of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

I'll start.

Link's Powers (Breath Of The Wild)
A huge open world sandbox where, aside from a small number of overall objectives, you're largely left to make your own fun through discovery, experimentation and - perhaps most importantly of all - Link's powers. Creating columns of ice in mud puddles to give you a headstart climbing a tower, dropping huge metal crates on the head of an unsuspecting lynel or freezing time to solve a tricky shrine, and that's not even mentioning the speed runners who managed to exploit Link's bomb abilities to catapult themselves across the map in record times. The possibilities were endless. I understand the abilities have been greatly expanded upon in the sequel, but back in 2017 we'd never had such a versatile set of powers to mess around and cause mayhem with.

Corvo's Blink (Dishonored series)
The ultimate stealth ability. Teleport yourself behind a guard, choke them out and carry them in the same move, and teleport you both to a rooftop, all in the blink of an eye. Corvo has a wide range of powers across the two games, but none are more important for stealthy play than the blink. I can't imagine playing these games without it. I'm not the biggest fan of stealth games, but being able to teleport out of sight or out of danger made these games much more playable for me.

Bullet Time (Max Payne series)
I'm sure it wasn't the first game to offer a slowdown effect but Max Payne was the game that surely brought it to the masses. There was little cooler at the time than slow-mo diving in to a room, popping out headshots before landing with a bump. The effect got even more interesting with subsequent games, adding more features and rewards for chaining kills. Heavily inspired by The Matrix perhaps, and we've seen it implemented in multiple games since, but I'll always associate bullet time with Max Payne more than anything else.

Grapple-chute (Just Cause series)
Whilst slightly more limited in use in the first game in the series, the grapple-chute (I'm sure it's probably got a proper name) really came in to it's own in Just Cause 2. A huge, open world map, where the slowest way to get around was in a car. If you were driving anywhere in this game, you were playing it wrong. Parachuting down on to the back of cars, taking out the driver and then launching back in to the air whilst grappling on to the side of a building for maximum speed - awesome fun.

Portal Gun (Portal series)
An entire game built around one mechanic could have got boring, but the first Portal is testament to what a great idea it was. A space-bending gun that allowed you to protect portals on to almost any surface was amazing fun. I don't think anyone who played that game didn't create themselves an infinite loop; one portal in the ceiling and one of the floor before jumping in and reaching maximum velocity. The gun was a joy to use from start to finish, and allowed players to get creative with how they solved each puzzle. They should put a portal gun in the next Call Of Duty.

Now post some more!
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TheEmailer
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by TheEmailer »

The ones that come to mind are quality of life.

Sure the witcher 3 wasn't the first, but NPC's matching your pace on the way to quests is great.

I guess "detective mode" is pretty much the standard in so many games.

I remember when shops in games didn't easily compare with your current equipment



Carboard box in MGS for the lols.
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markfm007
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by markfm007 »

Love this, here's a quick few that come to mind for me.

Active reload/cover (Gears of War): Makes the less exciting parts of the action, hiding and reloading, feel excellent and a skill in themselves.

Rally (Bloodborne): Creates a great risk/reward between whether you back off to heal safely, losing a blood vial, or stay in the thick of it and try to reap greater reward. Could also throw in the glory kill in Doom here, and I'm sure other games have similar concepts.

Bonfire (Dark Souls): Why not do another From Software... Maybe cheating but I love how everything revolves around the bonfire in Dark Souls - estus, humanity and hollowing, kindling, reviving enemies, and how it all connects to the story and lore of the world.

Inventory attache case (Resident Evil 4): A silly one but I love it. It makes the most boring part of a game fun. Having a nicely configured case appeals to the organiser in me too.
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Alex79
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Alex79 »

Nice, I almost put the death mechanic in Dark Souls and the risk/reward with getting your souls back etc.
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Truk_Kurt »

The 'Glory Kills' introduced in Doom 2016. It encouraged a push forward approach to the gameplay which unlike other shooters meant that it was better not to take cover to help your health regenerate but get up close and personal to rip and tear apart the enemies which would reward you with health and ammo. Because of this it meant the gameplay was constantly so fast and frenetic and unlike any other FPS I had played before and importantly, so so much fun. The amazing animations of the glory kills just enhances the mechanic. It's thanks to this mechanic that Dom 2016 remains my favourite game of the last gen.
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Truk_Kurt »

The rewind mechanic in petty much any modern racing game. I'm not sure what was the first game to do it but the first I played was Colin McRae Dirt 2. I always found it frustrating in older racing games where you would make a mistake and then basically have to restart the race, the rewind mechanic is just a huge time saver by letting you rewind to just before your mistake. It also helps with setting the difficulty of the game as you can set how many rewinds you get per race so there is still some element of challenge to it or you can even switch it off altogether.
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

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Truk_Kurt wrote: May 17th, 2023, 8:59 am The rewind mechanic in petty much any modern racing game. I'm not sure what was the first game to do it but the first I played was Colin McRae Dirt 2. I always found it frustrating in older racing games where you would make a mistake and then basically have to restart the race, the rewind mechanic is just a huge time saver by letting you rewind to just before your mistake. It also helps with setting the difficulty of the game as you can set how many rewinds you get per race so there is still some element of challenge to it or you can even switch it off altogether.
This is a great shout.

Also take downs in burnout!
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Rhaegyr »

Z-Targeting (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

Too many of my favourite games use this method - it blew my mind when I first played Ocarina of Time (which I think was the first game to introduce it?). Hard to imagine how most FROM games would work without it.

Adaptive Difficulty (Resident Evil 4)

I didn't even realise this is existed until a few years after the original Gamecube title was released. What I thought was a superbly paced game was still a superbly paced game with a ton of things going on under the hood to make it happen, all suited to how you were playing/performing. More of this please! Not sure if RE4 was the first to introduce this system though.

Witch Time (Bayonetta)

Incredibly satisfying way to make third person combat action(?) games even more of a hoot.

Map Annotation (Divinity: Original Sin 2 / Phantom Hourglass)

No idea what the first game was to introduce this but for the love of god - LET ME WRITE ON THE MAP. It adds so much to the experience and can save hours of frustration. Really personalises the experience too.
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by ratsoalbion »

RE4 wasn't even close to the first game to feature adaptive difficulty (listen to our Gradius (1985) series show for a much earlier - though still at least 10 years on from the first - example), but RE4 sure did it elegantly!
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Alex79 »

Rhaegyr wrote: May 17th, 2023, 2:08 pm
No idea what the first game was to introduce this but for the love of god - LET ME WRITE ON THE MAP. It adds so much to the experience and can save hours of frustration. Really personalises the experience too.
I must be 80 hours in to Divinity Original Sin 2 and never realised you could do this. :lol:
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by Rhaegyr »

Alex79 wrote: May 17th, 2023, 5:47 pm
Rhaegyr wrote: May 17th, 2023, 2:08 pm
No idea what the first game was to introduce this but for the love of god - LET ME WRITE ON THE MAP. It adds so much to the experience and can save hours of frustration. Really personalises the experience too.
I must be 80 hours in to Divinity Original Sin 2 and never realised you could do this. :lol:
Oh wow! It was a godsend in this game for me (and the two friends I played it with), particularly marking areas with numbers so we knew what level to be before we wandered back in!
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by GKBracken »

The parry in the Street Fighter 3 series adds a level of depth to the game that fundamentally has you second guessing every Street Fighter instinct you've ever had.
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Re: A thread of the greatest game mechanics of all time...

Post by See Mi Yah »

This is quite a low key (i.e. boring) feature that may not even qualify as a 'mechanic'. But I'm hugely appreciative of and thankful for the various assists that operate in the background of racing games, particularly 'simcade' series such as Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport and Codemasters' F1. It's only when you switch off all the assists (particularly with F1 and especially with the full blown PC racing sims) do you realise how accessible and enjoyable it makes the experience. The F1 games are a particularly pertinent example because of the comprehensive range of assists that Codemasters allow manual control of and the sheer speed and difficulty of the cars. The default settings in the above franchises have introduced millions of people to the joy of motorsports (as well as the games) and I'm not sure that would have been possible without those invisible hands gently guiding us along.
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