Re: CRAP Poll # (Infinity - 6): Bring It Back!

On Mon, 09 Jun 2025 01:23:55 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

Vietcong (2003)

An excellent FPS set, unsurprisingly, during the Vietnam war. It
attempted to present a more realistic battlefield than other FPS games
of the era. It wasn't perfect (some of the levels were unduly long,
and the underground levels were gruelingly tedious) but it stood apart
from its peers. It was made by the same team that did Mafia and looked
absolutely gorgeous back in 2003. It had a rockin' soundtrack too.

The only Vietnam game I played I think was one set on one of those
tactical riverboats.

Probably "Gunboat" (1990, Accolade, multiple platforms including DOS)

An interesting game in that it let you man all the different positions
on the boat, similar to how Microprose's "B-17 Flying Fortress" would
let you do the same ("Gunboat" predated "B-17" by a couple of years,
however). But the extreme linearity of the missions made for
less-than-exciting gameplay, as I recall. It verged more towards the
arcade than sim.

And I'll add out-something  (Outwars maybe?)
>
A shooter in which vertical was as important as horizontal - you had a
jet pack of sorts and later glider wings that added to it to give you
more flight range.

>
Ah, the barely explored jetpack FPS genre. There are, of course, a
number of games that feature jetpacks, but few games made them central
to your gameplay. Maybe "Anthem" is the most modern?

>
The only one I Recall offhand was the extremely brief use of on in Duke
Nukem 3D.  That's what I liked about Outwars, the mission maps
_required_ you to use the pack to get around.

There were a few, but not many. "Dark Void" comes to mind. "Tribes" to
some degree. And, similarly, "Section 8". "Project Nomad" is another
forgotten game that featured a jetpack'd protagonist. Plus stuff like
"Star Wars Battlefront", which had jetpacks but they were optional
gear and the game didn't revolve around FPS flight.

As to why they aren't more common, it may be as you suggest that it
has to do with 3D spatial awareness. But I think it has as much to do
with the fact that first-person jumping (and essentially, that's all a
jet-pack is in these sorts of games; an extended jump ability) isn't
much fun. Lacking a physical presence in the games makes it hard to
judge where you are, which makes flight and landings less intuitive
than it needs be. It's just not that much fun.