<COMMENT>PC Gamer</COMMENT>
<P><B><JC><DC=57,163,202>Editorial: Puzzles vs. Problems
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<P>My last playthrough of Hitman 4: Blood Money got me thinking about the idea of problem-oriented game design. I'd like to think the idea is mine, but first of all it's doubtlessly been formulated differently by many other people before, and secondly even if I were the first person to put these ideas into words, entire games seem to have already been based on them. Hitman 4 being the best example I can think of right now. Better, even, than Deus Ex.
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<P>The idea is that you can approach the creation of a challenge for a game in two ways: You can treat it as a puzzle, where there is only one way for your player to overcome the obstacle you place for him, or you can treat it as a problem where no specific solution is given, just a premise and a set of tools. Let me exemplify.
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<P>Half-Life 2 is a fantastic game which is heavily puzzle-oriented on several levels. Most obviously, the ordinary run 'n' gun shooter gameplay is frequently interrupted by an honest-to-God puzzle - generally based on some aspect of Havok's impressive physics engine - which you have to solve in order to proceed through the game. On a somewhat higher level, the whole game is extremely linear and gives you only one choice in how to handle enemies: Kill them. The only choices you have in Half-Life 2 is whether to search for hidden items in certain nooks and crannies or just run past them, and which weapon to kill your enemies with. It's a great shooter, but it's definitely not going to ask you what you want to do.
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<P>By contrast, Hitman 4 puts you in a situation and presents you with a huge array of tools and tells you simply "Kill this guy and find the microfilm he's hiding." The tools at your disposal include going in guns blazing, sneaking past guards and security cameras, distracting guards into leaving their posts, climbing over walls and through windows a'la Splinter Cell, conning your way past obstacles with good old social engineering, neutralizing enemies or civilians more or less discretely and donning their clothes to pass effortlessly through restricted areas, or poisoning food and letting servants do the rest of the job. To take the optimal route through each level, you'll usually have to use many of these techniques at different times in a mission, but often it's possible to choose a single technique and stick with it, it'll just be a lot harder. Additionally, Blood Money has a scoring system to steer you in the direction of playing the game like the developers want you to (so if you go in guns blazing, you'll barely get paid), but once you've completed a mission by the book, you can always go back and play it again as a regular terrorist, blasting through to your target with full kevlar and a pimped-out assault rifle.