Use of speed as a mechanic/gameplay enhancer in games

[Scythuz]

This is a favourite topic of mine and is something I see get brought up from time to time on various sites, it usually results in some pretty interesting discussions.

There are plenty of games out there that use speed as a mechanic, the most obvious is of course the Sonic series but we also have games like: Freedom Planet, Cloudbuilt, Race the Sun.  It probably goes without saying that most racing games fall under this category too.  Those games are just ones that use it as an obvious mechanic though, with boost controls and ways to speed yourself up using other abilities and power ups being vital to making progress within the games.  

Other games use speed in less obvious ways and may not even use speed as a main, required, mechanic for any of it's modes: Virtually any arena fps e.g. unreal and quake plays at a fast rate but they only become this fast once you reach higher levels of skill, games with a time attack mode, speed based classes (glass cannon archetypes in particular come to mind) in otherwise slow paced games.

• What games do you feel utilise speed effectively?
• How did these games accomplish their sense of speed?
• How important is a sense of speed in a game to you?
• What are some games that aren't designed to be played speedily but when they are, the games dynamics and flow change completely?
• In the games you've played, what is your favourite mechanic/ability/power up that relates to control of speed?

 

[Iavra]

Personally, i like to play classes with fast and active gameplay over stronger, but slower ones, even if that means playing underpowered ones. I prefer active defense and quick reaction to passive defenses (which also causes me to die a lot ). This is the most watched video of mine so far and especially the last fight has some really good moves, if i dare say so:




The expansion will bring Chronomancer as a mesmer specialization, which focuses on slowing enemies and speeding up allies, which i'm really looking forward to.

Also i watch a lot of speedruns, though i'm certainly not able to do most of the stuff in there (Portal or HL2 are examples of really crazy runs that must have taken forever to get done right). Also, i know a lot of people hated the last level of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, where you had to

Spoiler

Stop and release time midjump to make walljumps off water pouring down from the ceiling.

That part required decent reaction time and personally i loved it.

That said, i've gotten awfully rusty in fast paced games...i used to play CS 1.6 and UT on lan parties, but i would probably require a good amount of training to get good again.

 

[Matseb2611]

I like how Portal games did it. You make yourself fall a greater distance to build up momentum and then fly out the other side of the portal at the speed you entered it.

I've been also playing this unknown indie platformer game over the past couple of days, called Nihilumbra. It has some clever use of speed too. Like when you use blue colour on the ground, you slide as though it was icy, which means you can build up momentum to jump further.

 

[Iavra]

I meant a real portal speedrun, something like this:

https://youtu.be/mC47O6mKHJY

 

[Scythuz]

I like how Portal games did it. You make yourself fall a greater distance to build up momentum and then fly out the other side of the portal at the speed you entered it.

I've been also playing this unknown indie platformer game over the past couple of days, called Nihilumbra. It has some clever use of speed too. Like when you use blue colour on the ground, you slide as though it was icy, which means you can build up momentum to jump further.

That Nihilumbra mechanic seems a lot like the blue paint mechanic from Portal 2!

 

[Matseb2611]

That Nihilumbra mechanic seems a lot like the blue paint mechanic from Portal 2!

Yeah, it's very similar. It has various colours which do different things - blue makes you slide, green makes you bounce, brown makes you stick to walls and stuff. All this also applies to enemies too, so you'd often use blue to make enemies slide off the edges into the bottomless drops, etc. I guess the only difference is the execution. In this one you apply the colour to the terrain with the mouse in 2D, whereas in Portal it was mostly by navigating the gel sprays with your portals.

 

[Scythuz]

whereas in Portal it was mostly by navigating the gel sprays with your portals.

I had a habit of going too far with that, building up lots of momentum and occasionally getting stuck somewhere because I jumped too high/went too fast.