Recommend 10 good video games with realistic effects

[Narrator] Oftentimes when we talk about realistic things in games, we’re talking about ones that are annoying or that just suck.

But today we’re gonna talk about some that are awesome.

Hi folks, it’s Falcon and today on “Game Ranks” 10 realistic gameplay mechanics that don’t suck.

So recently we did a video
that’s the exact opposite

of this video and it’s a good video.

There’s a lot of realistic mechanics

that are really more annoying

than anything else, but
that got us thinking once

in a while games
introduce something that’s

both realistic and flat
out makes the game better.

And that’s the type of stuff
we’re looking at today.

Starting off with number 10,
destructible environments.

Now this could easily go
in the number one spot

but we wanna start off the
list with a bang ’cause like

I mean how do you not say
destructible environments?

There’s probably a few
things more satisfying

than a good destructible environment.

Even now in 2022, it’s not
something you see in every game.

Yeah, it’s used like
sparingly all over the place

but not a lot of games go all the way

and really let you cut loose
and destroy everything you see.

Rent Faction Gorilla,

like the whole series is
good, but gorilla is great.

You can go destroy an entire
building with just a hammer

and some explosives
and while you might not

really be able to destroy
a building with a hammer

that’s not necessarily super realistic,

it’s more realistic than

not being able to destroy
a building at all.

It’s not just for show either.

You can smash through walls
to get the drop on enemies.

You can take out sniper towers

by just blowing up the
supports and collapsing them.

You can take out cover,

you want to completely end something

take out a building that just lands

on an entire squadron of enemies.

The destruction really adds a layer

of strategy to those games.

Again, particularly Gorilla.

The Battlefield Series pretty similar.

Not every game lets you destroy buildings

but when it does it’s great.

Especially in Bad Company 2.

We’re getting rid of campers is as simple

as blowing up the building.

They’re in probably the best example, tear

down the entire game is
about creating the most

efficient route through a level
so you can steal something

and get out before you
get caught by police.

(engine running)

It’s a little bit more
visually simple, it’s voxels

but the destruction
simulation is probably some

of the most advanced out there.

And trust me, I’ve wasted
a ton of time on that game.

It’s so fun.

And number nine is last
known position mechanics.

One of the more frustrating things

about old stealth games
that you could caught

by a dude and suddenly every single guy

with a gun knew exactly
where you were at all times.

All the enemies are just somehow connected

by a psychic link or something.

It doesn’t make any sense.

I mean obviously it’s just
simple AI but it’s not realistic.

It also made sneaking in games
all or nothing which meant

that most people would
just unload the entire ammo

cash the second they got caught.

Eventually AI started to improve

and they made it so enemies
were a little less psychic.

But I think the game that
really codified the whole

last known position mechanic
was splinter cell conviction

with that game and pretty
much every other game

that followed they made it so that when

an enemy loses sight of you

your last known position
appears telling you where

the enemies last saw you.

Now instead of just giving up
a randomly searching enemies

try to investigate the
spot they last saw you

and that gives you the
opportunity to flank them.

It’s kind of a simple sounding
mechanic at very least

but it’s pretty essential
for stealth games.

It shows up at pretty
much every single one.

Now from Sniper Lead
to Hitman to metal gear

Solid five to Modern Ninja.

Taking advantage of this
mechanic is almost essential

in the last of us games too.

We’re getting a straight firefight.

Often is it’s just death
on harder difficulties.

I mean this is a mechanic
that is both realistic

and just playing makes
stealth games way more fun.

And number eight is fire
that actually spreads.

If there is one thing that
is almost as fun as blowing

up a building, it is watching
that building burn down.

Now fire shows up constantly in games

but rarely does it behave

in any way that could
be considered realistic.

Most of the time you start firing games is

a burning spot that
eventually times out right

Not burns out, Times out,
you know it’s on or off.

Some games are a little more realistic.

Of course there’s Far Cry 2,

which is well known for
really good fire effect

which is a single Molotov cocktail.

You can burn an entire
field set fire to have

a base whatever and
fire hurts your enemies

just as much as it hurts you.

Now another game from
around that time said pretty

impressive fire effects
was Alone in the Dark.

The remake reboot or whatever that was.

One of its big selling
points is how many puzzles

were solved using fire.

And it’s still pretty impressive today how

reactive that fire could be.

(epic music)

You didn’t think I was just
gonna mention Tear Down

once on this list, did you?

It is a game that has some
pretty impressive destruction

effects but it’s fire effects
are actually jaw dropping.

It’s entirely procedural.

Fire spreads damages buildings
in a super realistic way

and it generates this intense amount

of smoke that honestly
it’s beyond satisfying.

Like destruction, fire’s actually

a really important mechanic
in the game because yes,

it can be useful for destruction

but a lot of buildings also
have fire alarms that go off

if they detect too much fire smoke.

It’s just a ton of fun when games

let you indulge your inner fire bug.

And number seven is sliding down ladders.

You know what sucks?

Climbing ladders is boring and it feels

like every game in the world has ladders.

A lot of games are okay about ’em, but

for third person games
it’s like painfully slow

to go up and down ’em.

It’s bad enough when you have to go up em.

But going down a ladder, I that sucks

’cause it’s usually
when you’re backtracking

and the game is too
realistic to make it so just

fall back down without taking damage.

And situations like these, it almost feels

like the game is punishing
you for taking a ladder.

So whoever it was who first made it

so you can slide down a ladder, thank you.

Almost any game with a ladder

these days lets you slide down.

But that was not always the case.

If you ever wondered

if it was even possible to
slide down a ladder, then yes

and it’s also apparently
relatively easy to do as long

as you’re wearing gloves,
like don’t try this at home.

But it’s a real move that
people can actually do even

though I probably wouldn’t do it.

I mean I can also do probably basically

everything in Jackass but I’m not

gonna does that make Jackass unrealistic?

I don’t think so.

But all in all here this is just one

of those times where
making it more realistic

makes the game more fun.

A lot of the time people think

of realistic mechanics is slow or annoying

but this one kind of goes to show you

that’s not always the case.

Sliding down a ladder

while maybe not something
you would actually do

in real life is something
I have to imagine

like a firefighter would do.

And number six is aiming down sites.

This is just a fundamental part of

basically every shooter now.

It’s kind of easy to forget

that it’s not something
that was just always a part

of first person shooters.

Like you know what I’m talking about here?

Pretty much every FPS you
can either shoot from the hip

or aim down sites so that
your shots are more accurate.

But the downside is like you get

a more narrow field of view.

Sometimes it even blurs
like the background

so that the only part you can see

through is the scope depending
on what kind of gun it is.

I know some other games had it

before this one but it didn’t
really become mainstream

in FPS games until the
original Call of Duty in 2003.

Like we often talk about how
golden I was such a innovative

and incredible game.

But if you remember the
aiming system in that game

it’s kind of absurd.

And unless an FPS is just trying
to be intentionally retro,

it’s gonna have aim downsides
nowadays that’s pretty

much how ubiquitous the mechanic is.

And for the most part I don’t mind

but I think it adds like another layer

of strategy to how you decide
to shoot and I like that.

I think it makes it much more interesting

and also having am down sites

(gun firing)

In other words having two
levels of difficulty to shooting

makes shooting from the hip accurately

and succeeding in what you’re trying to do

without aiming downsides
that much more satisfying.

And number five, map updating.

So this one’s really specific, it’s

it’s when the protagonist makes
a note on the map for you.

Like the primary example I can think of

for this one is Silent Hill
’cause it’s kind of rare

that this one shows up, but
like the Silent Hill example

you explore the environment
and the map actually changes.

And I’m not talking about

like the Fog of War reveal,
that’s pretty common in games.

I mean the map, which is a physical object

in the character’s inventory has

like lines and notes written on it

as you explore around like
your character marks hallways

and passages that are inaccessible

doors that are blocked marks
down spots that are important

and like adds little
clues for certain puzzles

like the thoughts that
the protagonist is having.

It’s realistic because seriously

why wouldn’t someone keep notes

on a map if they had one,
especially in this situation?

And it’s a helpful mechanic

because it makes the game
quite a bit easier to

explore these environments
as it saves you the trouble

of having to take all
these notes yourself.

Which hey you could do,
you probably thought

of this already, but the uncharted
games have a similar kind

of mechanic where Drake keeps
a notebook and when you come

across a new puzzle he jots
everything down from the room.

Sometimes you actually see him do it like

in a cut scene or what have you.

And I think that’s kind of to
remind you that it happens.

But sometimes these notes
just make solving the

puzzle a little easier.

That said, it’s not all the time.

Sometimes you actually have
to look at these notes.

They are essential to solving the puzzle

but either way it’s a nice
little realistic edition

the ancient puzzles
that somehow still work

and mechanically speaking
after being hundreds

of years old or whatever, that’s
not maybe super realistic.

But the note taking part certainly is.

And number four, realistic loot mechanics.

Don’t you hate it when you
playing an RPG or something?

You kill a guy in cool armor

and a sweet sword and
you can’t take any of it.

I guess just cause.

I mean it’s really common.

Pretty much every RPG
works this way except

for Bethesda Games like
Skyrim (indistinct) 3 and 4.

These games basically have somewhat

realistic loot mechanics.

Like let’s say you fight a guy
who has armor that you want

you kill him and you take that armor.

It’s realistic obviously ’cause

in the real world there
would be nothing stopping you

from taking everything off that corpse.

You still run to the problem

of fighting enemies that
can fire an endless amount

of bullets at you

and when you kill ’em they’ve
got like three shells on ’em.

But for the most part

if an enemy has a gun
sword or armor on ’em

the games just led you
pick that stuff right up

and it is great, I like that a lot.

I often rib them for continuing to

use their engine through the years

but that is something that
they just do completely right.

And number three is climbing ledges

and sliding over low covering obstacles.

This mechanic’s about as basic as it gets

but for a long time a lot

of the most basic actions were too much

for the common video game protagonists.

It was very likely technologically imposed

like collision didn’t
used to be what it is now.

And it used to be that waste
high fences or small piles

of debris were enough to stop
somebody in their tracks.

They couldn’t do anything.

Those something there,
even when games started to

include some kind of functional jump

actually getting up on ledges
could be pretty frustrating.

Like remember crouch
jumping and Half Point 1?

Did anyone actually
like having to do that?

Maybe somebody did.

I didn’t though.

When games started to include simple ledge

climbing mechanics, it kind
of felt like a miracle.

Now you don’t have to
perfectly land a jump anymore

because your character
was completely capable

of using their hands.

So you jump toward a ledge
if you don’t quite make it

the player just grabs
the side and climbs up.

Now platform and games aren’t
actually a realistic concept

but if somebody who were capable

of doing all of the
platform and we see in games

weren’t capable of grabbing the ledge

and pulling themselves
up, that would be strange.

But like this I think is even
more in the realism territory.

Having some way to get over
low obstacles and debris.

Like being able to hop fences
or you know, quickly climb

over things in games like
Call of Duty, that’s great.

It was ridiculous that little obstacles

were impossible barriers.

But now they’re the minor inconvenience

they always should have been.

Again probably technologically imposed.

But it’s another example
of where just a little bit

of realism makes games
more fun to play instead

of the other way around.

And number two is swords
that can actually cut.

And a lot of games

swords and braided weapons
are not really realistic.

They might as well be
long narrow clubs instead

of cutting tools because they
don’t actually cut anything.

Now there are rare games
out there that come

along and actually make
it possible to cut things

like a sharp blade would.

But even in those games it’s kind of just

like an occasional thing.

Zombie games like Dead Rising

or Dying Light would let
you slash zombies to pieces

if you’re equipped with an
appropriately powerful sword.

But it’s purely cosmetic

it doesn’t really have an
effect in the game play,

it just looks cool.

With the appropriate cheats activated.

You can slice up Storm Troopers

to your heart’s content in Jedi Night 2.

And I think one of the
only Star Wars games where

you can actually cut things
is shown in the movies.

But even then it’s only when
you’re cheating probably one

of the rare games that
actually lets you cut things

and it’s a real game play mechanic.

And you know what I’m gonna say

it’s Metal Gear Rising or vengeance.

It’s such a ridiculously named game

but it’s also ridiculously entertaining.

It’s a metal gear sound
spinoff where you place riding

and you directly control
the angle of your cuts.

And those cuts are precise.

You can cut enemies and obstacles

and even certain puzzles
are cutting oriented.

There are very few things as satisfying

as taking a tough boss and
then just slashing them

into a million pieces the
way you can in that game.

It is so fun.

To be fair, the level at which

you are able to cut things, not realistic,

but the fact that the blade
actually does slicing damage

and physically changes the
other things and how they behave

how physics works on them, et cetera

that is what we’re talking about
in terms of realistic here.

And finally at number one,
physics, I just mentioned it

in the previous point, but
it doesn’t get more realistic

than just having the fundamental nature

of matter and energy.

Like in video games, physics kind of boils

down to anything that can fall

down realistically in a procedural way.

Environmental destruction
and the ragdoll effect

that type of stuff.

It’s all physics, it’s a graphical effect

but it’s also a mechanic in a lot

of games like go way back to Half Life 2.

Where a lot of the puzzles
are solved by moving around.

Objects are sliding things down ledges.

Grant Theft Auto IV
and Red Dead Redemption

use the Euphoria Physics Engine.

So you could do some pretty
impressive stuff like

cause enemies to get knocked
off balance after getting shot

or help games like the
Outer Wilds have some pretty

realistic physics systems as well.

So just flying through space
can be pretty dangerous

’cause too much momentum
will literally kill you.

My personal favorite use of physics

as a mechanic is probably
one of the most basic though.

The kick, giving an enemy a kick

and sending ’em flying off
a ledge just never gets old.

Physics simulations are everywhere

in video games these days.

They’re realistic or
at least more realistic

than not having a physics simulation

but for the most part they’re fantastic.

A quick bonus for you,
maybe a little less intense

than everything else on the
list though, is animal petting.

Because seriously the fact
that you couldn’t pet a cat

or a dog in a game that included
them just wasn’t realistic.

It doesn’t add a whole lot to the game

and it’s barely a mechanic,
but it just feels right.

And any game that actually
lets you pet the animals

feels more immersive as a result.

And that’s all for today.

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thank you very much for
watching this video.

I’m Falcon, you can follow
me on Twitter @falconthehero.

We’ll see you next time
right here on game Ranks.