After WinBack showed game designers that there was an even more impressive use for the cover mechanic, Metal Gear Solid took the idea a step further, once it launched on November 13, 2001. Solid Snake and Raiden dropped into cover behind walls, boxes, and crates while emerging to return fire. Yet, cover was no longer simply a tool for the player to make use of, it was now a deadly tool within the enemies hands as well. Newly designed A.I allowed enemies to hide behind cover in order to call for backup, throw grenades, or pop out and shoot from cover. Firefights took on a new level of immersion, and yet cover systems were set to find themselves another evolution with Kill Switch.
Once players players began diving head first into the game's paper thin plot it would have been easy to switch Kill Switch off almost immediately, but the team's evolution of the cover mechanic provided gamers with a meaty shooting experience. Kill Switch introduced the idea of blind fire into third person shooter. Now, players were able to safely fire around corners and over the top of cover. No longer was it a requirement to expose yourself. You could simply fire until your hears content and engage in what first person shooter fans label spray n' pray. In addition to blind firing, players could now move between pieces of cover in one swift motion. When firefights became too hectic and you were faced with hordes of enemies, grenades were now a viable option to toss from cover. Players had a wide range of options available to them, and it was the salvation for a game whose every other aspect seemed to fall short of excellence. Kill Switch was an important step in the evolution of cover systems, for the simple fact that it provided a cess pool for modern day cover systems to evolve from. It allowed for an even stronger foundation for Cliff Bleszinski to build upon, and what resulted is revolutionary. Click "next" below to read the last page...