an action adventure game always comes down to two things. one is fighting, doesn't matter it's gun, cold weapon, or empty handed. the other one is traveling from one area to another. other factors, such as story, puzzles, levels, voice acting, etc, should be included in level designs. if we looked at many other action games. we could do a detailed analysis of each own short comings in either or both areas of fighting and platformers:
1. Oni, it's a great hand to hand fighting games. the developers got inspiration from street fighters. there's no hard lock system, only a very cleverly designed soft lock system. the character can move smoothly through space, had amazing acrobatic ability. however, the platformer gameplay was not incorporated well at all. let's just say, it's randomly designed at best. most of the acrobatic ability was wasted in Oni, imo. in a fight, it would be fun to use acrobatics. however, it's not necessary most of the game. and the lack of the interactivity with the environment was frustrating, and a huge source of my complain about the wasted acrobatics in the game.
2. Blade of Darkness Severance. this game should be hailed as one of the best 3rd person action adventure melee game. the weapon based fighting though flawed, was and still is the best in any games, PC or console unmatched. the game had a hard lock system. but when not using hard system, there's no soft lock system to support the battle. although some claimed it worked better without the hard locks, i could not disagree more. one of the reason was that there's no strafes in the game. navigation without strafes through spaces was ok enough, not the case in fighting though. the platformer ability was kept at minimum in this game. besides few jumps and hanging on to ledges, there's nothing much. this is not much a hindrance to the whole experience though. since the fighting is heavy enough to carry the weight. however, if there's strafes and better designed platformer ability plus a plable level design. this game would be more appealing.
3. Bushido Blades series. this series was a real fighting games with one very special emphasize, which is it's a more fight simulation than an arcadish fighting games. there's no meters, there's only one realistic damage model. one well placed, or timed blow will instantly killed the opponent, or be killed. there are not many fancy combos. the fights usually slows and dull compared with other flashy arcadish fighting games. however, that's where the appeal lies, realitic fighting. as any fighting game, it's viewed from side, not like the ones mentioned before in which the camera was placed from behind a character. the frustrating part of the game was that the defense for the game was automated. so if you can't find a way to break down the defense, the game will be like constantly banging your head against your fryign pane. other frustation of the game was that it's not a action adventure game. i kept wondering what would happen if the camera of the game put behind the characters. the distance of the game character might become hard to perceive. the third frustration of the game that it's not very popular. the platformer ability was very awkward, although implemented. but it's quite adequate for a fighting game with limited stage space to explore.
4. Lugaru. i only have the demo of the game. It's an indie game. there's no lock on system whatsoever. what's very interesting about this game is one gameplay mechanics. It's called "Reflection". the game is basically, attack, defense, and reflection. attack and defense is self explanatory. reflection however, add a genuine new game experience! a well timed reflection will keep the opponent off the balance and throw him afar. if you are "reflected", you also have the ability to stay on your feet, if you timed the reflection well enough. which adds a new dynamics to the game. although it' nothing new, soul calibur already had something like it. it was not found in any other action adventure games. the platformer part of the game was interesting enough. although not very smooth in my opinion.
5. prince of persia sands of time series. This is truly a platformer series. this game incorprated platformer and fighting together. although the fight was not realistic in anyway, and i don't think it would fair well with online competition either. the infusion of platformer and fight however, was something i wish to created for Oni. one of the frustration of the PoP SoT series was it's camera and control for PC. most part of the game was alright, but in some spots was just down right frustrating.
6. Rune. This game was often compared with BoDS. It is much more popular than BoDS as well. there used to be a huge online competition enthusastic crowd. there's no soft or hard lock on system. from my experience, the fighting mechanics was really sad. there seemed to have some combos. but not enough for me to really get into it, except if i want to play online. the differences between Rune and BoDS, is that BoDS is really a fighting game, with detailed fighting mechanics. however, Rune does not. the platformer ability was poor. however, simple running around was more like Oni than BoDS.
7. god of war, devil may cry, ninja gaiden. ninja gaiden was in my opinion worth of mentioning though since it incorporated the platformer and fighting together better. navigation with it's platform ability was ok. not the best, because it's way too fancy even for a console analogue control.
8. Mount and Blade. this game is one that inspires me the most. its weapon fighting and mounted fighting was one reason. it's simple and fun. i loved its defense concept. i wish i could find a way to implemented such mechanic in my dream action adventure game in some ways. however, there's not much platformer ability. but with its design, this ability could be ignored somehow. and since it's a action RPG, this inability was forgivable anyway.
9. assassin's creed. i played the Xbox 360 verions, not the PC version. i am pretty sure that platformer on this game with M/K control would be alright. but i am not sure of the fighting mechanics. however, this game's fighting mechanics probably is not worth mentioning much. way too simple, not much initiation given to players. however, the platformer ability of the game was huge and grandeous. need to find a way to somehow infused within my game! HAHA
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