Video Games are often grouped with films and books in the category of "narrative media," which is fitting for the most part, but one of the things that makes video games so unique is that you don't need a narrative to have a good video game. Even in movies like The Expendables, where the story takes a backseat to the 'splosions and the fight choreography, there is still a reason why Terry Crews is blowing people to hell with an automatic shotgun. There is still a story. Sometimes, you don't want a story. Sometimes, you just want to be a robot killing other robots. No, I'm not talking about Transformers, because even that had a story, believe it or not. I'm talking about games like TEK
There are 2 game modes in TEK, "Gladiator" and "King of the Hill," the latter being far from aptly named because it plays more like a halfassed game of domination in [insert any FPS ever here]. Both modes had their ups and downs, but I found Gladiator mode to be more worth my time because there was an actual difficulty curve and it felt like I was getting closer to achieving my objective. Sure, in KOTH, there's a progress bar, but you're just fighting the same two enemies with the same weapon (because you were smart and picked up the insta-kill fire sword as soon as you saw it).
Anyways, what I really want to talk about is the mechanics. Literally the first thing I thought when I played The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (which I will defend to the bitter end as one of the top 3 best Zelda games of all time) was "boy, these mechanics would work great with a keyboard and mouse." If only I had known that somewhere between the years 2008 and 2009, that vision had already become a reality. TEK allows you to swipe your mouse across the screen to determine what angle you want to slice your opponents at...in theory.
Props for being innovative, but the mechanic just doesn't feel right. You'll have to fiddle around with the mouse for a full second before you get anywhere close to the angle you were after at first, which is a real bummer in the heat of battle. The slashing is so delayed, in fact, that the other mechanics being seamless is actually a bad thing. I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out: if the stabbing and blocking mechanics were as difficult to work with as the slashing mechanic, the gameplay would have at least been consistent and balanced. As it stands, though, not only is stabbing just as effective as slashing (or more so, depending on which sword you're using), there's literally no strategic reason for you to ever slash. Instead of manipulating the game mechanics to achieve a goal in the game, you're manipulating them to provide yourself a false sense of fun...which is never fun.
It might not seem like it, but I actually love TEK. It has its flaws, believe me it has its flaws, but it's still a solid game with an innovative mechanic with a lot of potential. This is definitely one of those games I would love to see updated. If it were, I might even pay to play it. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay bloodthirsty
Links
Bloodbath...er...Oilbath: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=16268
