Topic: What about a Call of Duty game on rails?

[Chozo Ghost]

I was playing COD WaW on my friend's PS3 on Veteran difficulty, so I kept dying over and over again at each checkpoint, but that made me realize how the enemies are scripted to appear and do certain things when the player trips an invisible wire kinda thing. For example, there will be a part where a Japanese soldier will rush at you in a Banzai charge, and every time it will be exactly the same no matter what. So that made me think of on-rails shooters which work exactly the same, except you don't have any direct control over the movement of your character... but otherwise its exactly the same. So there's really absolutely no reason an on-rails COD game couldn't be made.

What do you guys think?

[KDR_11k]

People don't WANT rail shooters. The illusion of freedom is enough (plus you can decide where to take cover).

[NWR_insanolord]

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 gave you the option of playing it on-rails or as a full FPS. I'm surprised more games haven't tried that.

[Chozo Ghost]

Yeah, I don't really like on-rails shooters either. I'm just saying that kinda reminded me of one because of the scripted enemies and all that... plus if you think about it, you have to head in a single direction so its not much different. Sure you can move around somewhat, and there are different types of cover you can choose to hide behind, but its fairly limited all the same. Actually, the Black Cats mission in WaW is an on-rails shooter in every sense, because you're on a plane firing a machine gun and you have no control whatsoever about how the plane flys. So that really is on-rails by any definition.

But then again, the real draw for me to COD type games is always online multiplayer. I just happened to be doing the solo campaign in order to get all the trophies. So far I have about 40, out of a total of like 60 or something...

[BranDonk Kong]

Medal of Honor heroes 2 on Wii has Arcade Mode which is on-rails...and sucks.

[KDR_11k]

There are plenty of vehicle levels in CoD4 DS and the regular levels feel more like shooting galleries. I don't like the game for that reason.

[Mop it up]

Any shooter could be on rails... but why should it? I don't think there would be much interest in the game from existing Call of Duty players, they seem content with the game as it is. And the series is already a good seller, so there's not much reason to create a "simplified" version to entice new customers.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 gave you the option of playing it on-rails or as a full FPS. I'm surprised more games haven't tried that.

I find that interesting. I wonder how much extra effort it takes to implement such an option? A lot of shooters follow a linear path and don't really have backtracking, so it can work.

[Dirk Temporo]

Rail shooters... They all suck.

Okay, that's not true. But they could be so much better, and I don't understand why they're not. All the best ones are in the arcade, and even they aren't as good as they could be. Where's all our locational damage reaction and enemy variety? Why don't the games play a little different each time you go through them to prevent memorization being the only skill necessary to beat them? I played the Terminator game at an arcade the other week, and I just don't get it. Every other game has evolved somehow (well, not DDR), but the light gun games haven't changed much since Area 51.

[Chozo Ghost]

Any shooter could be on rails... but why should it? I don't think there would be much interest in the game from existing Call of Duty players, they seem content with the game as it is. And the series is already a good seller, so there's not much reason to create a "simplified" version to entice new customers.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 gave you the option of playing it on-rails or as a full FPS. I'm surprised more games haven't tried that.

I find that interesting. I wonder how much extra effort it takes to implement such an option? A lot of shooters follow a linear path and don't really have backtracking, so it can work.

Actually, it seems to me it would be a pretty simple thing to map out the path that the character (you) would move around. After all, isn't that what is done for all the A.I. characters already anyway? And I don't just mean the enemy A.I. characters either, because in COD you have friendly A.I. characters who move along with you as part of your squad and they obviously move around on pre-programmed paths.

[Barrett]

i dont want it . . . it will totally spoil the game experience . . . !!!

[NWR_insanolord]

I don't see how. The single player campaign is basically on rails already; it's very linear, and you can't stop moving forward because no matter how many enemies you kill, they'll still keep coming if you don't advance.

[Morari]

Call of Duty, as a series, has always been very linear and heavily scripted. Putting it on rails really wouldn't change much.

[Halbred]

If you want an on-rails Call of Duty game, there's that Teyon WiiWare game that Nate and I discussed on the last Newscast. Osama Bin McCree, if you will.

[MoronSonOfBoron]

Call of Duty would benefit from on-rails gameplay. Not only have the level designs been very linear and heavily scripted since the first games in the series, it would help navigate some of the needlessly labyrinthine environments. Of course, it would probably be just about as exciting.

Unless we somehow get Call of Duty: Overkill. I'd totally be on board for that.

[ThePerm]

i miss arcades, this would be a great arcade game

imagine a rails game that was online, and there was only one or two heroes. They have the option of scrolling left and right, but no 3d freedom....

the thing is all the stationary guys are also played by other players who have the ability to duck and cover but also can't go very far from their post.

i couldn't imagine a whole game being like this, but this would be a pretty fun mode. This gives me a bunch of ideas actually.

There was this mode on one of the previous call of duty games where you shoot nazi? zombies trying to get into your base that my brother was playing. I'd imagine it would be pretty cool if there were intruder and defender roles. Not necassarilly zombies, but one side tries to guard people from getting passed, and the other tries to get passed, and this would be in multiple stages and directions.

[Chozo Ghost]

I think a good compromise is when you have an on-rails situation but it lets you decide the paths you take. That's kinda the best of both worlds, right? That way there are on-rails fixed paths, but there's multiple paths and you can decide which to take.

[Chozo Ghost]

no matter how many enemies you kill, they'll still keep coming if you don't advance.

That's not entirely true. When I was playing veteran I kept dying a lot so at certain points I hid behind cover far from the enemy and alternated between sniping and ducking behind cover until I killed them all. It does take a LONG time, though. You reach a point where your NPC friends stop firing because there is no more enemies left for them to kill, and they just stand there waiting for you to move forward, and then you move forward and then more scripted enemies appear and then you can repeat the process.

So the enemies aren't infinite, but if you don't move forward it will take you a LONG time before they're all cleared out, so it still pays to move forward.

[Morari]

I think a good compromise is when you have an on-rails situation but it lets you decide the paths you take. That's kinda the best of both worlds, right? That way there are on-rails fixed paths, but there's multiple paths and you can decide which to take.

I don't think that's necessarily the "best of both worlds". That, to me, is simply making a better on-rails shooter. House of the Dead 1&2 are still great to play because there are literally dozens of different paths to take through each level. It adds a ton of replay value and is sometimes quite unexpected. Compare this to other games in the same series however, such as HotD3 and Overkill. Those games are about as boring as can be after the first two or three play throughs because they drastically limit and eliminate any kind of choice the player has.