Which aspects of a game contribute most to its atmosphere and immersio

[Deathmineral]

Call of duty games have stories as well, except MW2's sucks because of terrible characters that got killed off every other mission, they make the army into something more of a crime syndicate than an army, and the voice acting was bad. Fallout 3 and Bioshock are FPS games, I don't care if there are other game genre elements in them, if you are shooting in a game in the first person view then you are playing a FPS. By the way, I'm not bagging on MW2 just to be mean to the game or fit in or any other silly reasons, I genuinely dislike the game because of how they focused on the multiplayer more than the single player and after doing that they took away dedicated servers which simply ruins the multiplayer for me.

[feetfats]

For me

 

1. Gameplay/mechanics

2. setting

3. characters

4. plot

5. graphics

6. Sound

 

Although these can move around a bit depending on the type of game. ex. for me a shooter needs gameplay/mechanics more than an RPG does and RPG needs plot and characters more.

 

I find Gameplay mechanics are probably always at the top of my list as I won't play a game if it feels all gibbled up,, its too frustrating and not worth it

Edited February 19, 2010 by feetfats

[Fogel]

more like it's own universe.

Which completely supports my point.

 

Call of duty games have stories as well, except MW2's sucks because of terrible characters that got killed off every other mission, they make the army into something more of a crime syndicate than an army, and the voice acting was bad. Fallout 3 and Bioshock are FPS games, I don't care if there are other game genre elements in them, if you are shooting in a game in the first person view then you are playing a FPS. By the way, I'm not bagging on MW2 just to be mean to the game or fit in or any other silly reasons, I genuinely dislike the game because of how they focused on the multiplayer more than the single player and after doing that they took away dedicated servers which simply ruins the multiplayer for me.

I can't speak for any other CoD game so I'll just have to take you on your word for those, but I completely agree on MW2 single play. It sucks. It plays like a porno ...just gives you a reason to @#$% someone up. There is no story... it's just a pathetic excuse for action - which is fun in some parts. Outside of the multi-play (which i do enjoy ...a lot) the only two things I can complement the game on is the musical score and the graphics. Which also proves my point in that it takes more than just pretty graphics to immerse someone into the game.

 

And I never said Bioshock and FO3 aren't FPS. I clearly said it takes a FPS of that kind of caliber to immerse someone into the game. Games like those and Half-Life spend time in creating a setting to draw you in. A typical FPS like BF2, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem, etc., are just twitch games to get people hooked on the game play ...but there is no "immersion".

[JBags]

I voted Characters, because with bland characters you're not going to have a very immersive world. Player-NPC interactions are, I think, the driving force for game immersion, and if done correctly, can and will create and/or supplement the game's atmosphere.

 

AS for Setting, you can have an equally immersive world/game set in 10,000 BC or 40k AD. All setting is is just a time and place

 

graphics will always improve, and i personally feel Half life 2 is a way more immerisve game than Crysis was and the difference in graphics is huge lol.

 

Plot, yes, a poorly written plot will lead toa crap game. but well written one's tend to add tons of immersion to a game, but a well written plot also means well written characters

 

Sound? yea okay, but i'm no audiophile.

 

I was really upset to not see gameplay as an option. what you can do, and how fun it is to do it adds the most to immersion imo.

[sack_patrol]

And I never said Bioshock and FO3 aren't FPS. I clearly said it takes a FPS of that kind of caliber to immerse someone into the game. Games like those and Half-Life spend time in creating a setting to draw you in. A typical FPS like BF2, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem, etc., are just twitch games to get people hooked on the game play ...but there is no "immersion".

well those are different types of FPS. Duke Nukem for example...nobody cares about the story...I just wanna kill stuff. In Half-Life you can't just kill...it's a normal fps with not many things to modify how it plays AS an FPS like RPG elements or perks like in bioshock. but it's so much more in it's own unique way. Hl2 was everything hl1 was + a whole world of MORE including the gravity gun which really set the bar high up. From cod4 to cod6....what? I'd even go as far to say that it's declining in quality.

 

I was really upset to not see gameplay as an option. what you can do, and how fun it is to do it adds the most to immersion imo.

um yeah I guess but this is leaning more towards the actual atmosphere of the game and how it makes u feel when u are in the game. Gameplay is a different category...I can't really explain it but it just doesn't go with this current matter

Edited February 19, 2010 by ballist1x

[sack_patrol]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-vi...rewattack/61988

 

....Why can't games be like this today. But srsly...I never though something like this existed. Thats some serious stuff and very deep I gotta say.

[Deathmineral]

As interesting as that was, I personally hate games that are promoted with objects, events, etc. In my opinion a game could always be better if the developers and publishers would only concentrate on it and not focus on things that do not make the game better, like DRM or special editions of games that have night vision goggles or figurines or some other crap. If people only play games because they see them on tv through fancy promoting then the world will be filled with all sorts of idiotic gamers... oh wait...

 

I know a lot of people enjoy the "extras" that a lot of games come with but if the only way for the developers to promote that game is to throw in figurines and comic books then it might not be a good game, and we see more and more of this kind of stuff all the time, everyone has caught onto a trend of throwing in extra games recently even, bioshock 2, Darksiders, Dawn of War chaos rising, and trine, all these games are promoted by other games and in my opinion that isn't the way developers should do it, what they should be doing is rewarding people that buy and enjoy their games, a perfect example of this would be STALKER call of pripyat, this game is $30 normal but for people that own one of the two previous stalker games it is only $20 and I like that, I like that they are rewarding people for supporting them.

[sack_patrol]

I actually meant the actual game. And the way you play it. Not the presentation. As cool as a t-shirt is...I don't care if the games sux. But those atari games weren't that bad. Finding clues...treasures n stuff...it may not seem much now, but what I want to say is that games today should be made using similar concepts...not all games but but it seems like a nice idea to me. Games today are pretty straight forward...not much thinking...all they do is make ur fingers faster but don't really make you think. The Hitman games were one of those rare exceptions.

[Deathmineral]

Oh ok, I know what you mean now. Last game I played that was a good brain teaser was machinarium and it was one of the better games I played last year.