Re-innovative games.

Today I would like to present to you some of the games that changed the way we play right now. Games that did not invent a certain mechanic but rather improved upon it and was an inspiration to most games we play now ( hence the word re-innovative)

Regenerating Health: Halo 2 (2004, Xbox)

Some people credit the original “Halo" for introducing the generating health to the video game world but this is not true, because in the first “Halo" it was the shield that got regenerated over time and not the player's health, but “Halo2" was the one that truly had a regenerating health system which 99% of the games follow to the day.

Cover-System: Winback ( 1999, N64 - PS2)

“Winback" wasn’t the first game to introduce the idea of hiding behind cover to avoid damage in video games, but it was the first to introduce the cover-system mechanic we are familiar with now, where you stand behind cover, you lean out to shoot and get back. No doubt that this mechanic revolutionised games and was crucial for certain type of games like stealth-based ones, and that’s why two years later “MGS2: Sons of Liberty” not only borrowed this mechanic but upgraded upon it with the introduction of its own interrogation system and the ability of using it in first person mode. Later "Gears of War" once again upgraded upon it with the ability to vault over covers and that’s how most games are using it right now.

Police Chase Race: Driver2 (2000, PS)

When you think about racing games that had multiplayer police chase mode in them “Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit” will instantly come to mind, but the truth is it’s not the first game to introduce this mode to video games, it was “Driver2” back on the original Playstation. The game was not a racing game in a sense, meaning you can’t compare it with “Gran Truism” or any “Need for Speed” it’s more like an action game which is somewhat similar to “Grand Theft Auto”. “Driver2” had about 4 multiplayer modes (local, of course) including police chase where one player controls a police car and tries to damage the other player’s car completely.

Quick Time Events: Shenmue (1999, Dreamcast)

Like it or hate it, this gameplay mechanic is a huge part of most video games we play now. There even entire games built around it. “Shenmue” was the first game to introduce this mechanic the way we know it now. And if for some reason you are not familiar with what a quick time event or (QTE) is, it’s basically a trigger appears on screen and you have to press a certain button quickly enough in order for your character to perform a certain action like dodge something or attack someone, usually during a cut-scene.

PS: I tried to make the post look nicer by adding images and making bullet points bold, but there is really no text editor to work with. Apologies for that.

Halo2

Winback