Trigger Happy
65
motion-capture techniques mean that once an animation
has started, it
must
finish before the next one can start.
You can’t change tactics mid-move. That rules out true
feints, which are critical in real fighting sports such as
fencing. Oddly, beat-’em-ups such as the Tekken series
have extremely complex input methods, but threaten to
offer the player far less creative freedom than almost
any other kind of game with a much simpler interface.
Robotron gives you two joysticks: one to move, one to
fire. Simple. But with those tools, there is a huge
tactical potential of feints, misdirections and
apocalyptic vengeance.
The excessively deterministic, combinatorial
template, however, seems to be happily on the wane,
overtaken by newer versions such as Power Stone for
the Sega Dreamcast (1999), where the controls are very
simple and the tactical gameplay is transferred to use of
objects (benches, lampposts) and hilariously magical
power-ups (guided missiles and the like) in the fighting
arena itself; or Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, which mixes
pleasingly simple controls with beautifully judged
tactics. The fighting game, like fighting itself, will
always be popular.
