Favourite game features thread

Favourite features of games

This thread is for the discussion of your favourite game mechanics. I personally enjoyed Transport Tycoon on PC for its ability to have different tactics. The game you need to get a good transport system for trains, planes, buses etc under your construction. However, you can also buy shares in rival companies, buy rights to transport in cities which forces competition out, rebuild roads to get popular (maybe also block rival buses as your trains move around on tracks). This is something Locomotion misses and if that game had had these features along with online play it would have been an instant hit for me.

A favorite feature of mine is when developers allow there to be custom games in the games they develop.

When I say custom, I mean the games fan developers make are wholly different from the overal game. I'm glad Blizzard created the map creator so custom games such as DotA, Helms Deep, and Enfos can be made in Warcraft 3. They're fun games that are very popular and are a nice change of pace from the standard mode of play online.

A balance must be made for an RTS to be complex, and yet to be good to pick up and play.E.G. Civ IV on PC can be quitte daunting for new players, while Civ Rev on consoles is a bit oversimplified, you cant please everyone, but there should be some way to get more of a middle ground.

Also, I'd like to see someone come up with a way to make RTS'S good on consoles (If it can even Be Done.....)....Tried BFME and Kane's Wrath.......I wasnt Happy......

I agree with this. A reason I didn't play Starcraft was because I felt Starcraft had too steep of a learning curve. But it can't be too easy either.

I think Warcraft 3 succeeds in this area.

You can't complain about the SC that Blizzard made...it is one of the most balanced rts game ever....all the factions-terran,protos,zerg...have advantages and disadvantages...for example....zerg have a hard start...with the spawning pool costing 200 crystal...but the have a high growth and low prices....terran...fast development...and they can lift buildings in case of a rush..and let's not forget the tanks in siege mode....protos quick to develop...high prices...slow units....except for the zealots and dark templars...

I really like a game to be well ballanced..for example...has anyone played War of The Rings(rts)...good very strong and a few units...bad...lots of units very week....so witch do u think it wins?...if u want another ballanced and hard game...try...Warlords Battlecry...or Dawn of War...Discipoles II - Rise Of The Elves

I have to agree with Cathad 100%. While Starcraft might have a learning curve... i consider that it had enough choices to make it a uber-balanced game early and late. I've been beaten and i've won by all factions whether late or early. Unlike Command and Conquer, where i feel the GDI is a massive killer if you let them in the late-game.

Anyways... a different CONCEPT i like is the ability of games like Fallout 3, KoTOR, Oblivion or Mass Effect, etc to change the interactions characters have with you based on your good-evil alignment. I think it's one of the more interesting development in those types of games. That coupled with the abilities-based concept of those type of games means you can usually solve quests or situations a multitude of ways. I like that. It makes replayability higher...

I love starcraft but then I probably have played a simplified version of it baring in mind I played it on a friends N64 many many years ago. No doubt the pc version was far more complicated. Other than not being sure what to do sometimes, I never found the game to be too difficult and none of the factions seemed to outclass others too much. Zerg are powerful though.pai-may

I would say try Red Alert on PC or any of the other Command and Conquer games before going into Supreme Commander. Supreme Commander I found a bit over complicated with the resource gathering and I just can not fathem it. That and the extreemly long build times is frustrating.Garfield360UK

I should try and get it online, I just find it unbelivably hard agains easiest AI. I have watched the tutorials but it seems a very long process and the AI just seems to have a huge army really fast which I dont understand as how can they balance power and resources so fast?Garfield360UK

Hmm, what do you mean about the energy, do I just build storage stations in stage 1?

I do use arteliery in stage 2 usually to attack at long range and choppers to carry units to near the enemy base but last time I did that they countered me with about 30 units and wiped me out.

Hmm, what do you mean about the energy, do I just build storage stations in stage 1?

I do use arteliery in stage 2 usually to attack at long range and choppers to carry units to near the enemy base but last time I did that they countered me with about 30 units and wiped me out.

Garfield360UK

AAAAh, that explains it. I had got a load of mines and power plants but it seemed I never had any money. Now it is clear, its like the ore on Red Alert 1 where you had to build storage towers to keep it otherwise you would never go over a set limit?Garfield360UK