This is a sensitive issue for me as it is with most gamers, but don't jump the gun here. The guilty pleasure for me is not so much the escort mission itself but the eclectic relief of pressure and stress once it is over!
Maybe it stems from the thrill seeker roots I have developed while on my travels camping and exploring or maybe it is a deeper sadistic urge to take pleasure from pain, but no matter the origin the fact remains that once all is said and done and the complaining and bitching have died down I truly do enjoy an escort mission for those sweet sweet rewards.
Take for example one of the most excruciating escort's in my recent memory: Raiden escorting Emma Emmerich in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty through an underwater labyrinth with a girl afraid of swimming because her suicidal father dragged her into a pool while her brother couldn't save her because he was sleeping with his step mother... yea I had to throw a WTF!? out there too whilst I was playing. Anyway the mission itself was such a pain in the ass because you had to monitor your breath gauge, her breath gauge (which ran out quicker than yours) try to remember which way to go AND lift her in and out of the water because apparently her aqua phobia caused her to go basically limp while in the damn water. So once you reach the end of this whole big thing you get such a great sense of fulfillment for having completed it without killing yourself or the girl. THAT is the reason I can secretly like escort missions.
Another example and much more simple escort mission is in Fable where you must take part in several escorts anywhere from escorting a traveler through the woods past thieves who want to kill you for your fancy clothes and gold, to taking a small caravan through a death swamp crawling with ravenous Balverines and pissed off fairy pixies who cast spikes at you. These mission frustrate you for a different reason than MGS. These missions make you mad simply for the fact that the people you are escorting are SO DUMB! they just cower while they get cut with swords and don't flee at all! you need to heal them, then fight, then heal yourself, then fight, then heal them again, etc... by the time the whole ordeal is over you are bruised and tired and they are all fine and dandy. But the feeling of pride you get from beating all odds.
Oh to be the hero in a game. Self sacrificing, ever vigilant, and oh so Bad Ass. unfortunately for endless glory saving wee people and escorting the weak through unbelievable odds can be worth the trouble if you just take as much pride and reward away from it as I do.
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I don't think you're going to find much support on this one. Escort missions to me just scream of horrible design when the person you're escorting has no survival instincts whatsoever (hello Yorda). The example you've given of Emma in MGS2 is alright because the lack of survival instincts is explained and believable, but most of the time they're just inexcusable.
oh believe me I am not expecting ANY support on this. to be honest I'm surprised that the first comment was so civil. I spent many years cursing any and all escorts that came up. but we were talking guilty pleasures...and believe me when I tell you I feel guilt for enjoying even one escort mission. haha
I think the concept is sound and it's worked a few times. The part in Doom 3 where you had to follow and protect a guy with a light who was your only source of illumination, dragging MacMillan to the chopper in Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock's role reversal where you assume the role of a Big Daddy. And with those examples I think one can see exactly what you need to make an escort mission work: the NPC in question has to be either realistically incapable of protecting themselves (due to being a little girl or a guy with a lantern) or able to appear competent in combat without detracting from the challenge posed to the player (see badass British sniper).
I think the best escort section I've ever played was the sections with the president's daughter in Resident Evil 4. She had decent intelligence, didn't get in the way of fire, etc.
Worst Case Scenario: Dead Rising
Escort Missions suck, unless they are of the variety where the one doing the sucking is the escort.
Anyway, yeah, they fail.
Resident Evil 4 handled these missions the best. Why? Certainly not because Ashley was smart (I shot her a few times, dumb bitch), but because most of the time, Capcom was nice enough to give me a Big Red Dumpster to lock the hoe in.
Thank God.
Dude FUCK Escort missions/scenarios/levels.
I disagree because of one example of escort/extraction missions done right. Online multiplayer on SOCOM 2. Desert Glory and Death Trap anyone?? YES PLEASE! ;)
I've never seen anything resembling a good escort mission, they're all terrible and exercises in frustration, developers can't make partner A.I to save their fucking lives, they're attempts at escort A.I is about 10 times worse.
Fuck escort missions, any game with one goes in the shitpile asap.
@njyskora: of course he won't recieve much support on this issue. That's what makes it a guilty pleasure, because deep down you do believe you're on the wrong side of the aisle, but damned if you don't like your seat.
@ Kyousuke Nanbu: I get what you're saying, but would you really throw RE4 into the "shitpile"? I have to say, I was surprised at how good Ashley was at finding me. I'd hide the bitch in the red box, do my thing and kill fuckers, and then whistle for her and there she was, everytime.
I'd say they handled it best. At least she follows you, and she has absolutely no problem getting in a box for you. Nice girl, really.
robotech:battlecry
that is all.
100% agree! Great post man absolutely loved it, I always hate to have to have someone who is normally a useless woman screaming at me (Resi 4 sound familiar?) But dear god when there safe and your walking into that sunset with the gun on your shoulder you feel so damn good!