If Hidden Properly, You'll Never See This Title - Maybe

Though I've played a few of them, I don't know whether I'm a fan of stealth-based video games. Like most things, it depends on the execution, as well as story, the characters, whether there are irritating glitches, and so on.

I did love Thief: Deadly Shadows, the most stealth-oriented game I've ever played. You don't have to be sneaky in that game if you choose. You can run haphazardly over tile or metal floors, stabbing people with your knife, or shooting them with fire arrows, but it'll make life much harder*. It was the same way for Goldeneye. Nothing said you had to use silenced weapons, but it made things easier. I don't think a game has to present stealth merely as the option most likely to keep you from getting shot. Beyond Good and Evil would have certain parts of the game where you could not be spotted, or you'd die. Even so, I still tended to enjoy those parts (as well as the rest of the game), and there were stealth optional parts as well.

Recently, I've been playing a couple of games that each have some stealth elements, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. They don't have much in common beyond the stealth aspects, and they don't employ it the same way. With Riddick, it's largely an option. You can sneak around, but if you're spotted, you can always try running for cover, or just start stabbing and/or shooting people. Dreamfall is more similar to Beyond Good and Evil. There are times where you have to make sure you aren't spotted. Or you'll die.

Despite the restrictiveness, I'd say I prefer Dreamfall's stealth parts more. That comes from it being easier to understand what you need to do to remain stealthy in Dreamfall, which is partially related to the camera. Riddick is a first-person perspective, while Dreamfall is third person. Cameras in both games can be rotated, but in Riddick, it means turning the entire character, while Dreamfall allows your character to remain stationary. Also, the 3rd-person perspective provides a wider view, and gives me a better idea of whether I'm concealed or not**.

The last time I played Riddick, I failed miserably in my attempt to slip past some guards. They were on a walkway above me, and I couldn't see them. I could hear them, but I couldn't determine whether they were facing me or had their backs turned to me. With other guards roving, I had to take my chances. I was spotted immediately, and only narrowly made it through, Riddick much the worse for wear. That's frustrating, as I'd prefer to take little damage, which means being stealthy, but it doesn't seem to be working.

With Dreamfall, the last stealth bit was in an octagonal hallway patrolled by a couple of security spider drones. There I could spin the camera to watch behind me, so I could see if the laser eye of the drone was approaching. I don't have to turn my character around to look back that way, which could potentially be the sort of movement that draws attention (or at least costs me precious time if I need to flee). Plus, the security drone's laser eye thing gives me a clear picture of what to avoid if I want to succeed.

I think Riddick's stealth aspects are hampered by the fact the game can go from stealth, to hand-to-hand combat, to first-person shooter in a second, depending on the situation or the player's preference. With Dreamfall, the stealth stuff exists in its own sort of bubble. The combat parts of the game come along rarely, and they stay separate from the stealth, so that conflict in styles isn't an issue.

* Not that I'm adverse to those tactics, I just tend to use them only when I'm confident the person I'm about to loudly kill has no companions nearby.

** Riddick does have a visual trick, where if you're hidden from view, the screen will turn a shade of blue. That doesn't help if a guard comes along and shines a light into the shadows, and not being shaded blue doesn't mean someone sees you right then, but it's something.