Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

[Dark Jaguar]

I wouldn't call reflexes the primary skill of gaming, so much as adaptability, but I kinda think that's what you were getting at. Indeed, as a kid I started thinking about enemies and why my character would be able to beat them. At the time, I simply came to the conclusion that mobility is the absolute key to any character's superiority, and in a way that's true, but the truth is that it's the adaptibility. While the computer is flying around in patterns, the human is learning and developing their own patterns. They may not have extremely sharp reflexes like the computer does, but they have the ability to develop methods to get AROUND that. For example, facing against dark sims in Perfect Dark, it's obvious that in pure reflex time and speed, the computer wins hands down and always will. One must develop techniques, methods that exploit the complete static nature of the AI's programming, in order to win. Once one adapts to that, they will be able to defeat the enemy DESPITE the superior reflex speed, and eventually it will be a repeatable performance as the human adapts further and further until all the weaknesses are uncovered and exploited. Facing humans is different, but the key is that the game has to give the player the freedom to ALLOW adaptability. If the game limits the ways the player can race, or fight, or shoot, then the replay value against other humans is killed. Just about every FPS my friends and I ever called "teh suck" had the same flaw, not enough freedom. They might have cool weapons with nice abilities, or a neat battle system in THEORY, but if the gameplay in the end only allows ONE style of fighting, there's no adaptability, and the match goes to the one who targetted the other's head first. While that's SOMETHING, it's not enough.

Yeah lazy, I think we pretty much agree here too.