10 Video Game Abilities Developers Always Get Wrong
4. Dogfights
EA
On paper, there shouldn't be anything that's as exciting in a video game than getting locked in a dogfight with an opposing player. If you prize yourself on being a great pilot, utilising real techniques to get on your opponent's six should be one of the most gratifying experiences in multiplayer. However, those familiar with PVP dogfighting will know that's a lot easier said than done.
One of the most frustrating things about dogfighting online is that confrontations tend to devolve into one manoeuvre where one player locks into one turn at a slow place, their pursuer matches their speed and direction, and then both just end up going around in one big loop until the other gets bored and falls into the other's sights.
This is less prevalent in titles like Star Wars Battlefront II, where space debris and opposing ships keep players on their toes and force them into different flight patterns, but it's still an issue in games like Battlefield where there's nothing but open air separating opposing aircraft.
What's the solution? Well Battlefield V seems to have addressed it somewhat (if you slow down and turn for too long your craft also begins to descend), but it still feels as though we're a ways away from consistent air combat in a video game.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
