Watching Rage and Bethesda's latest trailer got me thinking about special abilities in games.
At various points the player releases a spider type bot to which shoots at enemies. It looks great for getting enemies who wont budge from cover but then I thought, I bet at some point they get released on you.
It annoys me when in a game you come up against an enemy who has the same powers as your own. A cogent paradigm would be Superman 2. Superman has to fight other cryptoian's who possess the same powers as his own. How annoying, invincible people fighting each other is like the long big punch up but not funny. Also it demystifies Superman's character and makes him less special. You want to feel like he is unique.
There are two games which approach this problem in very original and different ways. The first thing which popped into my mind as was the companion cube in Portal. Its just a box like in tomb raider but it feels like so much more than that. Partly this is because your ability to use it is unique and your enemy, Glados could not be less like yourself.
The second game is Metal Gear Solid, the original that is. That seems like a strange choice as your enemy is your clone but even Liquid is a marked difference from snake. Your encounters with him are many and varied and when you finally face him mano-a-mano, it is just that, and a war of attrition. The most significant 'enemy' or boss fight is however with the Ninja. His weapons and skills are so different to snake's but this makes it such a compelling battle. It makes you think Snake is unique, but also the the Ninja is unique aswell.
Thats what I want in a game, I want to feel my character is special.
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