On Bullet Sponges

Editor's note: I don't hate a lot things in life. Cold pizza, amusement parks, and the word "guava" all irritate me, but not to the point of hate. Having said that, I can unreservedly proclaim that I despise bullet sponges. When an enemy eats all my bullets and asks for seconds, it pisses me off. Apparently, it annoys Corey as well. -Omar

Any individual responsible for including bullet sponges in a game should be slapped in the face. We’ve all encountered them, and we all gnash our teeth at their presence. Unnecessary sponges can ruin an otherwise great single-player campaign. Nothing bothers me more. I'm kicking ass and taking names until a seemingly invincible foe halts all my progress. They drive me crazy, and I can’t figure out why they exist. I’d like to rant about my hatred for some of the worst bullet-sponge offenders. They include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: Once you get past the pretty visuals and compelling dialogue, the game turns to crap. What I mean to say is that if I had a dime for every bullet a single man could take to the chest, I could buy Naughty Dog and fire the person who worked on the damage system.
• Call of Duty (The complete series): Of course it’s on my list! I don’t know who started the craze, but Infinity Ward and Treyarch have carried the torch high and proud.
• Gears of War: It isn’t as apparent right away, but Gears of War employs some of the most worst damage absorbers ever. Emptying an entire clip into an enemy isn’t enough. You should stick them with a grenade and then hit them with one of those exploding arrows — if you're lucky.

Right about now, you're probably saying, "So don’t play the games if you don’t like them."  Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy. The games I mentioned all contain mechanics and/or narratives that I enjoy. Ignoring these games isn’t an option. If I avoided every game that features enemies who take an excessive amount of damage, I'd never play anything!

For me immersion stops when I encounter an NPC that eats AK-47 rounds like candy. And what’s the use of playing a game if it doesn't immerse me?

I think I should list a few games that I feel got everything right. I’m sure people are going to disagree with my choices, but what would the Internet be without disagreements and (hopefully) peaceful resolutions?

• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway: I know removing a man’s leg from his torso isn’t all that hard in a video game. I’m pretty sure it works as follows:

  1) The player throws a grenade.
  2) The game realizes the grenade is well within a pre-defined (kill box) area.
  3) Cue awesome slow-motion, leg-separation animation.

  Or maybe it's an extremely difficult process. Either way, Gearbox did a great job. I never once felt like I wasted an entire ammo belt on an enemy. Developers take note.

• Dead Space: Not only were you able to dispatch the limbs of horrible space monsters quickly and efficiently, but you could stomp their heads in when they came crawling after you. A game with limb removal, head stomping, and NPC’s with the ambition to continue an attack after the loss of their limbs? Dead Space was too good to believe.
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2: Again, I can’t remember a single time when I had to blow through an entire clip to kill an enemy. I only hope that the next installment in the series retains its realistic health system.

I base these conclusions on my opinion and common sense. I know we're talking about video games, and I shouldn’t get bent out of shape over the amount of damage an NPC can take. But hey, I pay good money to have a great experience! My idea of a great experience doesn't include me pumping 134 rounds into an NPC clad in armor crafted by God himself.

I want NPCs to react as realistically as possible. Some developers are taking the initiative, and I appreciate that. Others aren't, and I’m not sure why. If you hadn’t guessed, I’m all about immersion. Developers should understand that nothing rips the player out of an engrossing experience like the realization that they are playing a video game.

Fix it, please, and thank you in advance.