I was discussing iOS games with a fellow iOS gamer at work today. Bullet Time HD, Deadlock Online, Lara Croft, and a few others. He dislikes the top down 3rd person camera in these games. He prefers over the shoulder 3rd person camera (Shadowgun, Dead Space) and First person FPS. Why are so many people turned off by top down games? What's the problem with top down 3rd person camera view? I know it's a personal preference...I just don't understand the hate that some have to game of that type.
I would have to say it's because of how restrictive views like that can get. You see a lot more ahead of you in third-person, as opposed to top down. This was the reason I didn't like Bullet Time as much as I could have, or many dual stick shooters (Minigore especially). I just feel the views are too restrictive and don't let me see as far as I want to. But! Something like Beat Hazard Ultra I have no problem with - because the screen size is the size of the playing field. I just don't like feeling like I'm about to be ambushed because the damn camera doesn't let me look around.
I feel like I can see more of what's going on around me in top down view games. Especially with "Deadlock Online", I think the top down 3rd person camera perspective works awesome with the game. Same goes for "Bullet Time HD".
I agree. It really has nothing to with the view area: you can obviously see more from a 3/4 view than from over the shoulder, particularly enemies coming behind you. I think the real issue is immersion, which some people find difficult to achieve from an isometric perspective.
Well said! Couldn't agree more with you. Do you get immersed in TPS games like Dead Space and Shadowgun or First Person FPS games like Modern Combat, NOVA,etc?
Both, on ios the game I've gotten immersed into the most is Deadspace. Many of the first person shooters controls, and stories are their flaws imo
You can only see more of what's behind you, and maybe side to side, but that depends on the perspective itself. I feel like I can see more in ShadowGun than I can in Bullet Time. Except behind me, that is.
Well yeah, but in a game like ShadowGun I don't even need to look behind me. It's part of the design, really, depending on what you need to see in the game. I'm okay with both views, I just prefer the more "normal" views.
