Erkki

Escort & Stalking missions: did any game ever do them well?

Recommended Posts

I was just reading the RPS Far Cry 3 review; as it started getting into problems with the game, like a stalking mission and "escort missions which didn't impress", I thought to myself:

Has any game ever gotten escort missions right? Or missions where you have to follow someone without them seeing you (lets call them "stalking missions", not sure what the right term is)?

In all the games I've played recently, these missions have been an annoyance. In Dead Island you sometimes have to run back to the NPC being escorted to get them going again. Then it's a problem that they might run too far ahead. Generally, matching your movement speed to the NPC's seems to always be an issue.

In L.A. Noire you often had to tail some car, or a suspect moving through streets on foot. The car tailing always seemed to boil down into two circles with different radii, cocentered around the suspect -- you have to keep your car between the two circles no matter how suspicious the resulting driving pattern will look; just as long as you don't get too close or lag behind too much, you're fine. With the on-foot stalking, there was an additional danger of having to restart because you couldn't hide fast enough when the stalkee decided to look around.

And so on and so on. Even in the venerable Thief games these sort of missions were the worst ones since suddenly your ability to survey the situation ahead was removed (there might have only been one in Deadly Shadows, or were there any in the first two games?) and you may have been forced into quickload/quicksave types of solutions.

So, if these kind of missions usually always suck (or do you disagree?), why do developers keep putting them into games? Is it a pathetic attempt at adding variety when still not having figured out how to create interesting gameplay beyond combat?

Do you have any examples of well-done escort or stalking missions that you've enjoyed playing?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't mind stalking mission so much, as long as they don't wear out there welcome. These days they tend to be preludes to something more interesting, like in sleeping dogs where the stalking was always closely followed by a shoot out or a car chase, it gives a nice pace change to the gameplay.

As for escort mission, i think if you mutate the idea slightly you can end up with some really cool stuff. Like the multiplayer in demon souls, can that be considered an escort mission?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree with Mington in that I find stalking to be generally less bad than escort. I think the problem with escort is it feels like the outcome is taken out of your hands; you always end up thinking to yourself "if I were in control of that NPC I'm supposed to be protecting I would sure as heck make sure I kept the PC in between myself and any threat." but, yeah, that's not what they do. ever.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As for escort mission, i think if you mutate the idea slightly you can end up with some really cool stuff. Like the multiplayer in demon souls, can that be considered an escort mission?

I've yet to play the D* Souls games so I have no idea. What kind of mutation of the escort idea do you mean?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As for escort mission, i think if you mutate the idea slightly you can end up with some really cool stuff. Like the multiplayer in demon souls, can that be considered an escort mission?

It can! The only good escort missions are, in fact, where a player is the escort and PvP is involved.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've yet to play the D* Souls games so I have no idea. What kind of mutation of the escort idea do you mean?

One of the things you can do in those games is place a marker on the ground, which other players who come across it can use to summon you into their world. Once in another player's world, your mission is to ensure that they make it safely to the boss of the area they're in, and then help them kill it. If the player you're helping manages to kill a boss with you in tow, you leave their world with a substantial reward.

I've never really thought of it in that way, but now that Mington mentioned it, it basically is like an escort mission in any other game, except the person you're escorting is a real human being who (probably) won't get stuck running infinitely into a wall while every enemy in the level bears down on them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought stalking missions aren't so bad in the Assassin's Creed, especially with 3's addition of peeking around corners and more adaptive blending. That said, I never really enjoy those elements of games.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Space sims often do escort missions pretty well. Freespace and Freespace 2 had some stupendous escort missions.

I was going to mention Freespace 2, seeing your "escorts" are, more often than not, heavily armored warships with brimming with beam cannons and flak guns that shred most anything, so you're more concerned with your own survival, unless there's bombers, or other warships brimming with beam cannons and flak guns.

Doesn't hurt that capital ship combat in Freespace 2 is one hell of a pretty light show.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Resident Evil 4 is essentially one long escort mission, and i'd consider that to be one of the best games i've ever played.

Or how about Ico?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Some multiplayer examples I recall easily,

Team Fortress Classic had escort maps where one team escorted a VIP from the start of the level to the other, while the other team targeted him. It relied heavily on the VIP player not being foolish. But I recall it being a good time. Payload is basically TF2 super simplified variation of this.

GTA4 has the Cops N Crooks All for One variation, where "one team is made up of Crooks and a Boss, and the other team is made up of Cops. The Cops are trying to hunt down and kill the Boss while the Crooks are trying to protect him. The Cops win by killing the Boss and the Crooks win by getting the Boss safely to the getaway vehicle and escaping." via. I only played it once or twice, and recall the mob boss getting away pretty easily, but I'm probably piss pour at it.

non multiplayer,

Earthworm Jim had the "For Pete's Sake" level where you escort a puppy equivilant of Dr Jekyl across some terrain, if he falls he becomes a bulldog Mr Hyde and chews some life off of you. Frustrating but OK.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, XCOM escort missions were pretty cool and surprisingly non-frustrating.

I can't think of stalking or escort missions that I have found particularly successful.

The most hilarious premise for an escort mission (if you can call it that) I can remember was in Uncharted 2 (or 3) where you had to help your pal out of a tight spot after he was wounded. Apparently it's the bullets in cut scenes that really get you. Very much a video game thing, but it still made me giggle.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Skyrim did the escort stuff pretty well by basically making them non-existent: the people would always just run straight at you, no matter how far ahead you got.

I also agree that Resident Evil 4 was excellent in that regard.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
GTA4 has the Cops N Crooks All for One variation

You now made me sad that we no longer play GTA multiplayer.

WE HAD SO MANY GOOD TIMES

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There was a game that came out on the consoles a few years back, i can't for the life of me remember the name. The whole game was a typically annoying escort mission slog. You play as an immortal warrior man who has to look after your sorceress partner

found it! Knights contract. it's like the game disappeared off the face of the planet. Somebody needs to take one for the team, play this then report back.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Space sims often do escort missions pretty well. Freespace and Freespace 2 had some stupendous escort missions.

Absolutely. There's nothing like escorting a convoy in the X-wing games, breaking off to fight off a enemy ships, and then after an intense dogfight turning around to see your convoy extremely far away, and facing another incoming wave of fighters.

I think the secret is to not make the player hate the object they need to escort. If you're dealt with an AI that makes untrustworthy decisions it ends up frustrating. But if done well, it can be exactly what's needed to raise player investment in an encounter and give them an opportunity to be a hero.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just to be a bit annoying but isn't capture the flag essentially a escort mission? :D

I mean all the elements are there, a person you need to get from point A to B, external threats & so on

One way of looking at this I'd suggest would be to consider what makes a good flag carryer in any game like that, which is imo is something like this:

A good flag carrier (the escortee), knows where they going, keeps pace with the group of defenders, can defend themselves, will retreat when outnumbered, knows when to make a dash for safety and has some limited survivability.

Now in some games you may want a flag carrier who just has such speed that it ignores most those rules. But certainly I think in general if I'm playing multi-player and I'm in a group where the flag carrier shows the above qualities, it's pretty much always a enjoyable game.

I think the people who have brought up XCOM have raised a interesting example, because we have perfect control over the Escortee in that game (side stepping most of the problems).

I think when you look at both of the examples the problem in the end lies with harsh failure states and consequences, rather than with anything with the basic mechanics they try and execute.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I think it's all down to the AI whether the escort or stalking mission will suck, Yorda was useless, but the enemies you encountered was so weak you took them down with a damn stick, so it wasn't that bad. In RE 4 it was like in Ico where they just slowly drag her away, which is much less frustrating that killing the escorted. I think the girl in Enslaved actually knew how to fight but simply wasn't as good as you?

I've been thinking it about and I've done a lot of more escort mission that I thought I did, I only remember the bad ones more easily.

As for stalking missions, I don't remember that many, Retro City Rampage had one which tried to make it funny by saying how boring they were and forced you to drink coffee every few seconds to stay away, which make the mission as annoying as he claimed them to be. It's like in that Eat Lead game were they say "Hey, doesn't this suck in games?" and does it anyway. *shrugs*

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There was a game that came out on the consoles a few years back, i can't for the life of me remember the name. The whole game was a typically annoying escort mission slog. You play as an immortal warrior man who has to look after your sorceress partner

found it! Knights contract. it's like the game disappeared off the face of the planet. Somebody needs to take one for the team, play this then report back.

Already did:

http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2011/05/knights-contract-review/

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That trailer has very little to do with the actual game.

I did really like the game because it felt so very different to most of the things I've played. There is a level of Japanese game design that can verge on utterly frustrating. I wrote a companion piece inspired by another blogger called 'The Eleventh Colossus'.

All the links are below:

http://badgercommand...nights-contract

I can see why you would not have purchased based on that Destructoid review (and he isn't wrong - that boss fight is tough) but it actually made me more curious about the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You now made me sad that we no longer play GTA multiplayer.

WE HAD SO MANY GOOD TIMES

Particularly with cops and crooks. God, it was fucking years ago that we played that stuff. Wish I still had time for some weekly thumb games.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I played World of Warcraft for a while, so I know about the actual best escort mission in gaming.

By the time the second expansion had come along, they'd basically given up on the idea of a guy walking slowly along a path and made the "escortee" someone who could fight a bit who followed you. But the best escort mission was completely different.

It was given by a guy named Harrison Jones, and he escorted you.

Specifically, he escorted you through a trap-infested ruin, where he did most of the fighting while you tried to kill one pissy little monster. He ran so much faster than you and had to keep waiting on you to keep up, and he would run into side rooms for treasure while you got attacked by monsters, and so long as you survived for long enough he'd run back and polish them off for you. And then he gave you a cut of the proceeds!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now