Take Cover: Difference between revisions

While not a new concept (as certain games are made so tough you want to find a barrier between you and your enemy even if you don't have a formalized cover system), the wild success of ''[[Gears of War]]'' has lead to its recent replication in a long series of what are effectively [[Follow the Leader]] games. It's basically [[RPG Elements]] for a new era of gaming, and a reflection of changing tastes.

 

 

----

=== Straight Examples: ===

== [[First-Person Shooter]] ==

* The main concept behind ''Full Spectrum Warrior'' is to advance your squads from cover to cover, making them (and enemies) impervious to bullets from certain angles. Since this is a tactical game and not a shooter, your soldiers will complain loudly if they're dangerously exposed, and there's a key that'll--[[Artificial Stupidity|in theory]]--have them scramble to the nearest cover quickly.

* In ''[[Halo]] 2'', Sergeant Major Johnson [[Lampshade Hanging|playfully suggests]] that Master Chief [[Gameplay Ally Immortality|hide behind him]] out in the field.

* [[Call of Juarez]]: Bound In Blood has a rather nicely executed version. Walk up to, say, a [[Crate Expectations|crate]], and your character will automatically crouch just low enough so that they can shoot over it, while exposing himself to as little incoming fire as possible, at which point you can press the crouch button to get completely behind cover. He will also lean around corners automatically, though this doesn't work as well.

* ''[[Perfect Dark]] Zero'' has an "aim from behind cover, pop out and shoot" system similar to third-person shooters.

* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R. 3]]'' uses a system similar to the one from ''Crysis'', although the player does press a button to stick to cover and can emerge to fire, which is referred to as "active cover".

 

== [[Third-Person Shooter]] ==

* ''[[wikipedia:Kill Switch chr(28)video gamechr(29)|Kill.Switch]]'' (2003) by [[Namco]] can be credited for being [[Trope Codifier]] and [[Trope Namer]] of the whole "Third-Person Shooter Cover System"™ gameplay mechanic. However, despite being a good game and a multi-platform release, it wasn't a massive blockbuster hit and only a modest number of people remember it as the pioneer of the third-person shooter cover system. Of course, one of those people was [[Gears of War|Cliffy B]]. And despite him giving the game credit at every opportunity, it's still obscure.

** ''[[wikipedia:WinBack 2: Project Poseidon|WinBack 2: Project Poseidon]]'' (2006) combined the cover system of its predecessor with the [[Over the Shoulder]] perspective of ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''. ''WinBack 2'' released in early 2006, over half a year before ''[[Gears of War]]''.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' (1998) featured a peek-around-the-corner cover mechanic, where Solid Snake can press against walls and peek around corners.

* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' (2005), developed by [[Shinji Mikami]] at [[Capcom]], featured a cover mechanic at a few scripted instances of the game, in places where enemies pack heavy firepower. The game also introduced the [[Over the Shoulder]] perspective now common in third-person cover shooters.

** ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'' features an improved cover mechanic in its gameplay, but like its predecessor, you only get to use it during a couple of scripted instances. Incidentally, it becomes available after you start encountering enemies that pack heavy firepower.

* ''[[Uncharted Drakes Fortune]]'' utilizes an impressive cover system - duck behind chest-high wall, lean from behind tree, ''hang from cliff and chin up to shoot''. The game's cover mechanic was demonstrated at E3 2006, months before the release of ''Gears Of War''. Like [[Epic Games|Cliffy B]], the creators of ''[[Uncharted]]'' have cited ''Kill.Switch'' as inspiration for its cover system.

** Made even better in the second one, [[Uncharted 2 Among Thieves]]. You haven't lived until you've pulled an enemy off the cliff you're hanging from, or, even better, doing a 300 style kick to knock enemy's out of their hanging cover to their deaths. Tends to elicit curses in online matches.

* ''[[Terminator]] Salvation'' uses a very similar system, which is invaluable given the enemies' [[More Dakka|usual tactics]]. You spend quite a lot of time in the game pinned behind some abandoned car or waist-high wall by [[Gatling Good|minigun fire]].

* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] 4'' almost exactly copied Gears Of War's system. One can use <s>his own</s> any vehicle as cover, a tactic used in real life by police, but since [[Every Car Is a Pinto|damaged cars can explode]], don't count on it lasting forever.

* The [[John Woo]] game ''Stranglehold'' is a [[Third-Person Shooter]] that has Tequila taking cover from time to time, planting his back to a wall, column or other piece of cover and leaning to the side to blast away. This, along with [[Bullet Time]] and [[Leap and Fire]] tactics, is one of the keys to making it through the game, and is absolutely essential for survival on later stages, which have bad guys subjecting you to very, very, ''very'' heavy fire. And considering one of Stranglehold's main conceits is "Massive Destructibility," cover never lasts very long.

* ''[[Red Faction]]: Guerrilla'' forces you to use a lot of cover in order to survive, lest you be overwhelmed by EDF/Marauders. The thing is, [[Stuff Blowing Up|considering the nature]] [[Everything Breaks|of this game]], cover ''never'' lasts long.

* ''[[Vanquish]]'', developed by [[Shinji Mikami]] and published by [[Sega]], is a unique variation. While cover exists, you're quite a bit more robust than most cover-using protagonists, and have a number of high-speed moves that allow you to easily dodge enemy fire while retaliating. When you're dangerously low on health, [[Bullet Time]] kicks in, allowing you find the necessary chest-high walls easily.

** Unlike other cover shooters which allow the player to pace themselves, ''Vanquish'' drops the player into a multi-directional [[Bullet Hell]] of rockets and lasers, minimizing the player's reliance on cover. The game even penalizes the player for using cover too much, with the scoreboard even including the percentage of time spent in cover as a stat.

* ''[[Enslaved]]'' is not strictly speaking, a shooter, but it does have a cover system. Monkey's ranged attack is awkward and has a low ammo count, so firing from cover is not practical most of the time. Rather, Monkey and Trip tend to take turns drawing fire and advancing under fire, so Monkey can close to melee range.

** In the DLC campaign, Pigsy is a ranged fighter so he plays it much straighter, and uses his grenades, traps and rifle from cover.

 

== Strategy ==

* ''[[Emperor Battle for Dune]]'' introduced dedicated areas of "infantry rock" where infantry could take cover and be safe either from sandworm attacks or being run over by enemy vehicles (this probably being a balancing decision as otherwise infantry would be too underpowered).

* ''[[Starcraft]]'' also made it so that [[Geo Effects|certain decorative sprites (trees, outcroppings, etc)]] would grant a defensive bonus to infantry hiding behind/under them.

 

== Other ==

** ''[[Razing Storm]]'', also by Namco, uses a similar idea, except that you have a huge [[Made of Indestructium]] shield which you hide behind.

** The ''Police 911'' series is an expansion of this idea, using ''motion sensors'' instead of a foot pedal. The first game got ported to the PS2. [[Porting Disaster|Guess how that went.]]

* ''[[Space Invaders]]'' (1978), the [[Trope Maker]] of the [[Shoot'Em Up]] genre, was the first game to use a type of cover mechanic, where the player's ship can take cover behind destructible walls.

** The 2002 remake ''[[wikipedia:Space Raiders chr(28)video gamechr(29)|Space Raiders]]'' used a similar type of cover mechanic, where the player's character can take cover behind destructible objects.

** [[Sega]] incorporated a cover mechanic in some of their side-scrolling games soon after, including the ''[[Shinobi]]'' [[Hack and Slash]] [[Platformer|Platformers]] from 1987 onwards, and particularly the [[Stealth Based Game|Stealth-Based]] shooter ''[[wikipedia:Bonanza Bros|Bonanza Bros]]'' (1990).

** [[Capcom]]'s ''[[wikipedia:Code Name: Viper|Code Name: Viper]]'' (1990) was inspired by ''Rolling Thunder'' and used the same type of cover mechanic.

** A later 2D ''[[Metal Gear]]'' game, ''Metal Gear: Ghost Babel'' (2000), also implemented the peek-around-the-corner cover mechanic of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]''. The [[Tactical RPG]] [[Gaiden Game|Gaiden Games]], ''[[Metal Gear Acid]]'' (2004) and ''Metal Gear Acid 2'' (2005), also feature a cover mechanic similar to ''Metal Gear Solid''.

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' included a cover system where you would automatically stick to walls/waist high crates that you got close to. It was generally effective but could be annoying if you didn't want to take cover and the game decided you did.

** ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' improved this mechanic by having a get into/out of cover button. Unfortunately, at least on the Xbox 360 it's mapped to the same button as "run" and nothing cuts down your life expectancy quite like getting stuck to a wall when you try to run away from a charging krogan...

=== Lampshadings, parodies: ===

* The trailers in ''[[Serious Sam]] 3: BFE'' make fun of taking cover mechanic. The game's slogan is also "No cover, all man!"

 

{{reflist}}