One of the most overused terms in the world is "the more the merrier". It is light-hearted and often spoken on a whim, without consideration of possible repercussions. We've all done it; Invited a couple of friends along for a drink with the dame, citing "the more the merrier" as a basis for the inclusion of these people. Then you find your stoney-faced other half awaiting you with plenty of under-the-table kicks and hints of a private tongue lashing to come. The romance was taken out if the evening's equation. More than two's a crowd.
Sometimes more than one is a crowd and that brings me to my point. Having recently succumbed to the attraction of games like Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2, Call Of Duty and Assassin's Creed, I have often been left feeling a little flat and unsatisfied. Not because the games are bad or because they are too easy. No, it is the friendly artificial intelligence that has got my goat.
You see, in the Vegas series I really enjoy the idea of having a small team to command and help out. It's just that sometimes they take things a little too far and 'help out' becomes them making me look like an absolute mug who's daddy made him head man just because he could. They leave me with barely anything to do. I hear a distant gunshot and think 'OK, you're mine', before the ear piece mutter of "enemy neutralised", the joyful "woooooh! Scored another bad guy!" or something along these lines, and that's before I've even seen the bugger. No! I want to 'neutralise' and I want to "woooooh!".
In Call Of Duty a massive helicopter comes in and machine guns people up ahead. Get me in the chopper for that certified dream action or just bugger off and let the commando deal with this. I'm paying fifty quid to take my anger out on these terrorists and save the world, not to watch (or sometimes just hear) my comrades taking out a good half of them. Man, kids these days don't know they're born. Did some nutter scout ahead and kill those Krang lookalikes for you in Doom? Hell no.
I know what you are thinking. Assassin's Creed? Well yeah, in Assassin's Creed there were a couple of occasions too. One example I will bore you with was when I was attempting to assassinate that madman burning books (and one poor rebel). I sniffed him out, saw his fancy pouches that he carried, got spotted, he ran, I gave chase on rooftops... But then, as I looked down, I could see that one of those big fellas who stand around to help you out (after you save their sister-in-law) was holding him. I strolled up and WHAM! Slid that blade where only Altair knows. It felt good, but I couldn't help but wish for a longer, more satisfying chase that was ended by my own skill.
Sometimes I doubt if the enemies were even there in the first place on Rainbow Six but don't get me started on disappearing bodies.
Bring back the half wits of Killzone I say...
I used to give them the Simon Pegg in Shaun Of The Dead quote: "Feel free to step in at any time!". That wss Killzone 1 when the bloke with the biggest gun ever did nothing with it! At least they kept up with me though. Now I miss those plebs.