Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra

"Stealth Bastard" and the stealth genre by Mischief Maker 06/26/2013, 12:16pm PDT I made the mistake of buying the latest humble bundle specifically for "stealth bastard" and found the whole thing to be a wash (at least nothing went to child's play). The thing is, there is nothing about Stealth Bastard's mechanics that are objectionable. Your visibility and the robots' vision fields are absolutely clear at all time. The controls are quick and responsive. There are all sorts of interesting things you can do to manipulate shadows and otherwise restrict enemies' vision. Why am I so disgusted by this game whereas I loved Thief and Commandos? I think it's nothing to do with gameplay and everything to do with the setting. There is no thrill of breaking into a rich dude's house crawling with goons, nor sneaking through a Nazi fortress crawling with soldiers. This is a test facility specifically meant for stealth clones to run around in and populated by enemies with intentionally added handicaps. No nervous excitement of sneaking around where you don't belong, in stealth bastard you are exactly where you belong and messages are projected on the walls praising or chastising you for how well you navigate the puzzles. There is no sense of mounting danger the deeper into the base and closer to the barracks you get, in stealth bastard your death will result in an instantaneous replacement by an identical clone with a generous allotment of checkpoints. Dare I say it, I think the stealth genre is one of style over gameplay, and the reason why stealth elements in non-stealth games are such an unwelcome addition. Like Fabio admitted, he ruined Thief by figuring out the limits of the guard AI and murdering his way to the (easy) end. I guess I can understand defenders of System Shock 2 a little better now. Maybe what ruined that game for me was how all the RPG nonsense made the gameplay flaws overshadow the ambience. (That and the shitty ending).

"Stealth Bastard" and the stealth genre by Mischief Maker 06/26/2013, 12:16pm PDT     Re: "Stealth Bastard" and the stealth genre by fabio 06/26/2013, 6:06pm PDT