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Why? Something I'd like to coin "the Micromanagement / Gofer factor", or MGF for short. It corresponds to the level of task micromanagement and/or object gathering there is in an FPS. Games that rank high in this tend to have a very constrained flow, and get tagged as a "railshooter" In Crysis, it started out at a moderate level, but then spiked up very high as the game went along. FarCry was a lot more lenient; it would give objectives, but would leave the means for achieving the goal relatively wide. The Call of Duty series would have a very high MGF, since every single level is chock full of objectives (up to 15 or so in a single level!), and you're forced to stick with your squad, discouraged from exploring the levels. In contrast, a game like Doom 3 has about 3 or 4 objectives per level, and they're relatively easy to remember, and lenient with regards to the means of achieving the goal. There is the Enpro plant, where the player is urged to rush through the level, but then after achieving the primary goal, the player is allowed to backtrack through the major level segment at their own pace. This introduces a dynamic to the gameplay flow, allowing for variety, and to make a certain section of the game stand out.
The MGF is not to be confused with the ammo / armor / other resource management that is commonplace in FPS games; this is a separate element that is affected by the objectives in varying levels.
Some other MGF examples (in my opinion):
Doom 1 / 2: Low (get the keycards, exit the level; simple, and gets old after a while, but otherwise unconstraining
Quake 1: Low (basically the same reasons as Doom 1 / 2, but with a higher emphasis on ambient sound and lighting
Quake 2: High (introduction of the objectives tablet with "do this, do that")
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Medium (one or two main objectives per level, paced to allow exploration in most levels)
Painkiller: Medium-Low (a return to the game mechanics of Doom, but the levels have triggered closing doors to form "arenas" of combat in the level, which adds a little micromanagement)
Deus Ex: Medium-Low (objectives spelled out, but the player is encouraged to find their favorite way to fulfill them
So judging from this, I wouldn't like Call of Duty 4 very much, since it's guaranteed to have a very high MGF
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Nevermind that the missions (or "levels") in Crysis tend to be long and objectives change as circumstances change, I just don't get the mindset that games giving you more to do is bad. I guess I would understand it if in your long and wordy post you just said that the stuff they asked you to do in Crysis wasn't very fun for you, but its seems like your idea of fun revolves around not really being asked to do very much in each level, so that you essentially would like to run around in a big empty space with the only instruction being to get to the other end of the map. Especially when you consider that many added objectives in Crysis are optional and not required, AND the ones that ARE required tend to help disguise the fact that while you are in a large open space with a number of ways to traverse it, the game is fairly linear from mission to mission. I guess maybe if they played all of the instructions at the start of each level, rather than giving them to you as you go, you might like it better?
Ridiculous.
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