Opinion: I hate escort missions and I bet you will too (Topic)

I'm sure many of us want to dominate the game. Be the one who destroys worlds, or at least acts as a living killing machine to stop an entire army of opponents. But how awful it is when the game turns you into a nanny ... To be honest, I hate escort missions, and I'm sure you also despise this tasteless trick, which somehow still exists and has not turned into archaism.

God the Nurse

Escort missions are one of the standard techniques that developers can use to diversify the game experience. Especially in action games where we spend most of our time attacking or defending. In theory, shifting the focus from killing everyone who violates your comfort zone to protecting an ally is a good tactic to pull the player out of that comfort zone and add variety to the gameplay. But this is one of those things that does not pass the test of practice.

This is often just infuriating and frustrating, especially when you play as a really strong character who is being made a nanny. But I can't say otherwise, because the one you are protecting does not show absolutely any instincts of self-preservation, in every possible way substituting himself under the bullets or blows of the enemy, dying in a matter of seconds.

And the problem is that we are not losing by mistake. And this is probably the meanest thing in this whole situation.

The difficulty level is largely untrue, it increases dramatically compared to any moment before or immediately after such a mission. We also lose most of our tactical flexibility and mobility, being forced to stay close to our guards and attack enemies with the single most effective attack we have, because otherwise our client will be killed faster than we have time to understand anything. .

While no one likes escort missions, the developers still insist on including them in their games. Among my friends, acquaintances, there is not a single person who would love them. Moreover, I and some of my friends quit the game, for the reason that we could not complete the escort mission. I threw the first Dead Rising to hell, since the whole game is riddled with these stupid moments and no matter how much I love Saints Row The Third - the mission of the guardian angel that at times prompted me to delete the game. And of course, from the very beginning, as you read the title, you knew that there would be Resident Evil 4, and although I passed it, and even enjoyed it, Ashley screams “Leeeeeon, Heeeelp! I still dream about kennels.

I don't know how, but as a kid [sometimes I feel like I was a much more hardcore gamer as a kid than I am now] I went through Max Paine and her horrible mission of accompanying a dude in a mascot costume more or less easily. At a conscious age, it was more difficult for me. I also know that it was at the highest difficulty that the real ending opened, and many people could not complete this particular mission.

This tempered my character and allowed me to come up with tricks when completing such tasks. For example, in Fable, leave the damn merchants at the beginning of the level and clear it of all werewolves, and only then return after them and lead them through the desert level. Also in the MGS series, at times there is an amazing opportunity to knock out the one you are accompanying in order to also clear the level and calmly bring the right person to the right place.

It can be nice at times

It happens that something like that may even like it if it is done competently and with taste. Some developers understand that such missions cause frustration and a rise in temperature for gamers at the level of the fifth point, and they decided to change this. For example, The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite did it well.

Ellie and Elizabeth just run around the level and hide from enemies, not allowing themselves to be killed, and without making us worry about their well-being. Yes, it made the players think they were immortal, but by sacrificing realism, we were given a good experience, without unnecessary stress.

The escort is also cleverly implemented in Ico, where you could take Yorda by the hand and lead when you need to, or leave her out of the conflict area. It changes the dynamics of the game and forces you to take a fresh look at this kind of mission. For even if things go awry, you can drag her wherever you want.

These are examples of techniques that make escort missions less cumbersome. Why don't developers always give us control over the situation? A simple "stand here follow me" command system would have improved the situation.

Alas, in this way the developers deprive themselves of one of the tools of the variety of gameplay. Since they simplify tasks, making them nondescript and meaningless. At least the developers themselves think so, everything suits me personally. And so we still have these terrible missions. I cannot find any other explanation for their existence.

I can grovel for another half hour about how I accompanied the little sisters in the first Bioshock, how I got tired of Emma in an underwater escort in MGS2, guarding planes in Ace Combat 7, but I’ll probably repeat what I said earlier: escort missions in games are useless ... Nobody likes them. They need to either be reworked or completely made archaic like stationary machine guns that were everywhere in their time.

The Topic of Article: Opinion: I hate escort missions and I bet you will too.
Author: Jake Pinkman