On Gameranx, 10 unrealistic game mechanics that are awesome.

[Falcon] A lot of the time

games are trying to be realistic.

Now, that doesn’t mean
it’s always a success

and with a lot of games that
just doesn’t matter at all.

Realism might not be
what really feels best.

Hi folks, it’s Falcon.

And today on Gameranx,

10 unrealistic game
mechanics that are awesome.

Starting off with a little disclaimer.

Yeah, most things,

even things that we perceive
as realistic in video games

aren’t actually realistic.

Yes, let’s just clear
that right out of the way

so that we can have some fun with a list

full of some awesome
crap you can do in games.

Without further ado,
starting off at number 10,

Bullet time.

When you’re starting off with bullet time

you know this is gonna be a great list.

Undoubtedly one of the
most awesome things ever.

Obviously incredibly
unrealistic, it’s bullet time

and when it’s used well it can be

one of the most satisfying
game mechanics out there.

There’s nothing better than entering

a room full of bad guys
that would normally

mean instant death, hitting
the slow down button

and weaving between bullets

and killing everybody like it’s nothing.

The originator of this mechanic in games

is actually the Max Payne trilogy.

These were heavily influenced by

John Woo’s heroic bloodshed films

and there’s fast, very deadly
gun fights in this game,

but you can use bullet time

to get the upper hand and survive.

There’s no explanation perse
as to why Max has this power

but is there in the John Woo films?

Do we need to be in the
Matrix to do bullet time?

No, we do not.

The idea is that Max
is maybe super focused

but I don’t think that focus is gonna,

you know, save you when
bullets are flying your way,

and somehow he ends up dodging bullets

like he’s in the Matrix, but he is not.

GTA, RDR, and even some
of the Call of Duty games

have bullet time and it can be awesome

in any of those contexts.

Certain games even are
able to explain it away,

like with Sands of Time,
you have literal magic

and in the game, F.E.A.R,
your guy has psychic powers.

For the most part though

there’s no reason given, and that’s fine.

Again, John Woo’s heroic bloodshed films

do not say, oh here’s
why John Woo can do that.

And number nine is perfect dodging.

In real life dodging
attacks would not help.

If you think about it,

dodging in video games is
pretty unrealistic in general.

I mean there’s a reason
why medieval knights

weren’t rolling around
like lunatics in combat.

The way dodging works in video games,

just, it doesn’t work in real life.

Well what actually happens,

you probably get laughed
at and then you would die.

Why?

‘Cause you’re leaving yourself
extremely exposed, you know?

‘Cause you’re rolling around
like Sonic the Hedgehog,

and even he knows only
to do that offensively.

Well, I wouldn’t recommend rolling

at someone either, to be frank.

I think it’d probably result

in the same kind of laughter and death.

But in video games,

dodging generally has invincibility frames

which allow you to
perform impossible feats

like dodging essentially through,

like phasing through an enemy’s attack.

As a game mechanic, it’s
super fun, it’s very rewarding

and allows you to avoid
otherwise unstoppable damage

and keep fighting without
having to break the flow.

I love dodging in games,

it is not realistic though.

So then take in Breath of the Wild

or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

and you got the perfect dodge bonuses

and it makes even less sense.

So because you waited
until the very last second

dodging doesn’t just turn you into

like a different state of matter

that cannot be touched by a solid object,

it also slows down time.

Oh it feels incredible to pull off

but wow does it make no sense.

And number eight, ramps
everywhere and big air.

You know that scene at the end of Speed

where everyone kind of
makes fun of the bus,

making a completely impossible jump,

well that’s basically
every game with a car ever.

Outside of the fact that for some reason

ramps are just all over the place

in what’s supposed to
be real world locations,

the amount of air you get
jumping off these things

is extremely exaggerated in video games

to say the very least.

There’s a reason you don’t see ramps

all over the track at a NASCAR race

and it’s not because it would be

too awesome for people to handle.

In a real life race, it
would always be faster

to just drive around the map

’cause the jump wouldn’t be that big.

The air resistance and loss of traction

would really slow down your vehicle

and the amount of potential
damage to your vehicle

and you, the driver of the vehicle,

would be significant and possibly deadly.

Ramps in real life just
don’t make any sense for cars

but man, they’re awesome in video games.

There’s few things as satisfying
as hitting the perfect ramp

just flying off the screen,

hitting the ground
running and winning a race

or like finding a new route using a ramp

that seemed oddly placed

and it being a massive shortcut

that lets you just thrash everyone.

Totally unrealistic.

But the more ramps the better,

it’s always something fun to ramp

off something high in a
car, that’s just the facts.

And number seven, reflecting projectiles.

A few things out there are as awesome

as a guy who brings a sword
to a gunfight and wins.

It’s one of those common
anime and action movie tropes

we kind of just accept.

But human reflex is not
even kind of a match

for the speed of a bullet.

Of course, when you’re
talking about super humans

like Jedi from Star Wars

or Wolverine from the X-Men,
it’s then understandable.

But there’s plenty of games

where there’s no excuse
for how your character

is able to parry bullets.

Like, No More Heroes for example,

where Travis can somehow block bullets

with his beam katana ,

or Metal Gear Solid 2

where Raiden can deflect bullets

just minutes after using a
katana for the very first time.

Genuinely it’s really funny

but also badass at the same time.

Jedi can block blaster shots indefinitely,

doesn’t matter how many times

you’re getting shot at, at least in games,

deflecting bullets just
feels good to do too

especially when it requires
some precise timing.

To be fair, not as precise
as it would in real life,

but yeah, it’s not realistic

and it’s not supposed to
be, not by a long shot.

And number six, the double jump.

Oh you know, you’ve thought about it,

you’ve double jumped
in a game and thought,

wow, if I could do that in real life.

Like in so many games the protagonist

has the power to jump off the ground

and then through pure magic,
I guess, jump a another time.

Sometimes games explain it by saying

you’re using rocket boosters

or making some kind of an animation

involving rocket boosters.

And even for 90% of the
games they’re just like,

you know, rocket boosters seems dumb,

just let it happen, no explanation given.

I love the double jumping
platformers, might I add,

because it makes getting
around a lot easier

and a little more of forgiving.

If you miss a jump it’s
nice to have something

that lets you reposition midair,

again, I’m looking at
you Sonic the Hedgehog

in the modern era.

It hasn’t really been
until Sonic Frontiers

where control is actually good on Sonic

that I don’t feel like I’m
flailing around any time I jump.

But I mean he still has
the ability to do this

because whatever.

The double jump’s become ubiquitous

and there’s a reason for it,

it’s too fun and helpful for any game

with jumping not to have it.

It just breaks all known laws
of physics, but who cares?

And number five’s,
takedowns and glory kills.

This is less about the
takedowns themselves

’cause there’s nothing really

inherently unrealistic about that.

I mean, guys are doing takedowns
all the time in the UFC

and I don’t think that’s CGI,

it was real last time I checked at least.

The incredibly unrealistic
thing about them,

at least when it comes to video games,

is that while your heart is doing

this incredibly cinematic
and cool take down,

all the rest of the bad guys

are just standing around
waiting their turn.

In real life these guys would have

some kind of survival instinct

so they’d attack at any
available opportunity.

I don’t know about you,

but if I was worried about
getting my head caved in

by a guy in a bat costume

I probably wouldn’t patiently wait around

while he’s dismantling
a gun in front of me.

In video game terms, the
reason enemies don’t attack you

during a takedown is obvious,

if they left you vulnerable for that long

and you’re getting killed
in the middle of doing them,

no one would do them.

There are games where
you are open for attack

during these moves, like
the early Uncharted games.

And guess what?

Trying to get into a fist
fight during a gunfight

leads to dead Drake, most of the time,

I’m not gonna say every
time, but most of the time.

A good take down move
is just cool as hell.

They make you feel like a
badass when you pull ’em off,

sometimes they even give
you a big gameplay advantage

like healing or ammo in Doom Eternal,

but the way everything just kind of stops

while you’re doing them not realistic.

(characters fighting)

And number four is active reload.

This mechanic is less
universal but no less awesome,

mainly coming from the
Gears of War series.

This active reload mechanic

adds a little risk-reward
when reloading a gun.

If you press the button at the right time

the gun’s gonna reload faster,

but if you miss it the gun jams

and takes a little longer to reload.

This part can be explained at least,

I think the basic idea is

that the standard reload
is doing it slow and steady

but the active reload is the character

trying to reload their
weapon as quickly as possible

and it’s more likely
they’ll make a mistake.

That’s, I mean, on paper,
more realistic sounding,

but here’s a thing that really throws

a monkey wrench into that;

oftentimes when you do a perfect reload

the bullets become more powerful,

like you get a bonus, a buff,

and that doesn’t make any sense.

Now it is a great reward
for getting the timing right

and I’m not gonna even kind of
pretend otherwise with that.

If all it did was make
you reload slightly faster

the bonus probably wouldn’t
be worth the risk of jamming

unless you were really a
frigging badass at timing.

But the damage boost makes active reload

an excellent risk-reward mechanic.

Gears is the series that invented it

but like Battlefront
has it, Returnal has it,

and even the recent
Guardians of the Galaxy

has a take on it.

Active reload, it doesn’t
really make any sense,

but it is a fun mechanic
that makes reloading

a little more interesting.

– Oh, we’re not done yet.

(chainsaw revving)

– [Falcon] And number
three, grappling hooks.

I got some history with grappling hooks,

it was something I called
that was gonna be a big thing.

Once physics had gotten advanced enough

and systems had gotten to a point

where it didn’t bog them down,

I knew grappling hooks
were gonna be a big thing.

There’s a simple reason for
that, they’re fricking awesome.

Now, the Arkham games didn’t invent

the use of grappling hooks in video games

but they have some of the most
perfect ever grappling hooks.

One of Batman’s essential tools

has always been a grappling hook

and those games really
did a good job making them

as exhilarating and fun in the way

that they appear to be in
all the movies and shows.

These days, it’s harder to count games

that don’t have a grappling hook.

Uncharted 3 introduced an amazing one,

Halo Infinite has a fantastic grapple,

Sekiro, Ghost of Tsushima,
list goes on and on and on.

And the grappling hook is always fun,

it’s never not fun.

They’re never realistic though.

In video games, grappling is super easy

like just point at the
grapple point and go

but in reality it would
not work like that.

The tiny little grapple
that Batman famously has

is silly compared to how a
real grapple gun looks like.

The thin string would just snap

and the proportional power
needed to launch the grapple

requires some kind of combustion

or air power that couldn’t be concentrated

in a little like TV remote looking thing.

Hey Batman, you’re gonna
turn on your Amazon Fire TV?

– No, I’m going to scale this building.

I’m Batman.

– [Falcon] Getting back to what

a real grappling hook is like,

forget the small gun part of it I guess,

and think about how difficult it is

and how much power it requires to actually

get caught on a surface
and drag yourself up.

Even in games where the protagonist

is using just a rope hooked
to a metal grapple head,

the chances one of these things would

immediately hook onto anything that is

strong enough to not
fall, it’s next to none.

In most games, all you have
to do is jump and hit a button

and your character’s
gonna pull a giant rope

right out of their butt

and immediately make the perfect throw

and hook onto something that
not only supports your weight

but also deals with the fact

that you’re exerting force on it.

This is not a complaint,
I love grappling hooks,

I love the fact that they come

out of their butts and do it
perfectly, that’s wonderful.

It’s such a fun mechanic, seriously.

And number two is wall running.

So games have increasingly
drawn from parkour

to expand the possibilities
of traversal options.

And while any free running
stuff you can do is cool

I think that most agree that
one of the most badass things

anybody can do in a video
game is wall running.

Certain games do it
more realistically like,

Sands of Time or Mirror’s Edge,

where you can run on walls

but you very quickly run outta momentum

because you’re running on a wall.

But there’s just as
many where you can just

full ass anime run on any
wall for as long as you want.

Unlike in the real world where
things like gravity exist,

in video games, it’s whatever.

Alex Mercer, the Hulk or Spider-Man

can just run on walls endlessly.

Spider-Man at least has a reason for it,

he can stick to the wall, but
they’re superheroes, right?

Now on the flip side,

games like, Call of Duty Infinite Warfare

and my personal favorite Titan Fall 2,

just lets you run on walls
for as long as you want

without really giving you a reason.

In Titan Fall, you can do anything;

you can double jump,
rocket slide, wall run

and it feels awesome, all of it.

Why do something boring like taking cover

and shooting at bad guys

when you can do something impossible?

It looks so cool and you
can’t do it in real life,

like I get why this unrealistic
thing is fantastic, right?

(upbeat heroic music)

And finally at number
one, loot explosions.

Playing God of War Ragnarök,

I’m reminded of this,
probably one of the gamiest

but best mechanics out
there, the loot explosion.

Play any game and you
can go back a long ways,

you will know what I’m talking about.

You’ll fight a tough enemy,

you manage to take ’em down

and your award is a little multicolored

explosion of equipment
or loot, money, whatever.

Like even just an item drop after defeat

is a small version of this and it’s silly,

at least Fallout made you rummage

through their pockets after they were dead

but that’s not what we’re talking about.

Like why does killing a demon suddenly

cause a shower of magic
swords and breast plates?

Was he carrying that stuff around?

No, he was not.

Like it makes more sense
when you’re fighting an enemy

that uses armor and weapons,

but hey, that demon was
just blowing fire at me.

Well, what if it was a dragon

or something else like a pot guy?

I’m looking at you FromSoftware.

Like, why do they have that stuff?

Why are they stashing it?

Do they need it?

And why does it just appear
in a magic explosion?

Is it the 4th of July?

I don’t, actually, that’s
not an appropriate question,

it’s definitely not the 4th of July

because this is not a special thing

that only happens once a year,

it happens a lot,

and it just makes zero real world sense.

Still it makes perfect video game sense

’cause you just achieved
something difficult

so you deserve a big flashy reward.

By that logic, at least
it makes sense, right?

And that’s what matters,
that everything makes sense.

(Falcon laughing)

We know that’s not true
because we made this list.

Couple of bonuses for you.

Rocket jumping.

What else needs to be said here?

You fire a rocket at your feet

and instead of being immediately
eviscerated by shrapnel

you’re propelled into the air

and get a big boost in your jump.

It’s video game logic at its finest.

Don’t ever do it, it’s stupid.

The last thing we want to talk
about today is fast travel.

You know how when you go on
a family trip to Disneyland

you have to drive a bunch of
hours or fly a bunch of hours?

Yeah, the flying’s way
better than the driving

but it sucks waiting.

How about if you could not wait?

How about if you could just teleport?

The implication of fast travel

is you’re just skipping
the stuff that is boring,

but a lot of the time the
game clock stays the same

so they don’t really
explain it good enough.

The answer to what is going
on here though is, who cares?

I’d rather be able to
teleport around for no reason

than actually walk the length of Skyrim

when I just need to get something

from another place briefly.

That’s all for today.

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I’m Falcon, you can follow me
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