Instagib
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Instagib is an alternate gametype in many first-person shooter games where a single shot can instantly kill an enemy from any range. All players carry only a single weapon, which usually has unlimited ammunition and can fire lethal shots at incredibly high velocity, but with a slow rate of fire. Since there are no other weapons, ammo or other types of pickups to collect, gameplay tends to be very fast-paced with a heavy emphasis on reflexes, hand-eye coordination and positioning, as opposed to resource management and control. The word "instagib" is a portmanteau combining the word "instant" and gib (a gory body fragment - short for "giblets").
Instagib is also commonly rendered into the verb, (Instagibbed, eg.) for use in certain circumstances where a player in such a game takes enough damage in a single instance to break the normal maximum health threshold. In such circumstances, the avatar is usually rendered into gib immediately, instead of simply collapsing to the floor as a corpse. This commonly occurs through the use of a high-damage weapon, such as a direct hit from a rail-gun or rocket launcher in many first person shooters.
[edit] History
Instagib was introduced in Quake II, and grew in popularity in Unreal Tournament, where the single weapon was a super-powered shock rifle, and in Quake III Arena, where it is played with a railgun with infinite ammunition, and in some cases, the ability to shoot the walls and floor to rail jump. Unreal Tournament also has another weapon, the "Redeemer"; it is loaded with an unusually large missile with a thermonuclear warhead. Upon impact, the missile sends out a gigantic shockwave, vaporizing anyone in the vicinity (the maximum amount of health it is possible to have at any one time is 349 HP and the Redeemer deals about 14000). Though it has instant kill capabilities, it isn't considered an Instagib weapon because of the scarcity of the ammo and because the warhead moves very slowly and can be shot down with any other weapon. The ChaosUT mod has another instant kill weapon: the Vortex. Introduced first in ChaosDM on Quake II, when thrown it sucks in everyone in a range of about 20 metres, gibbing those who touch the center. ChaosUT2: Evolution further refines this type of killing with the Vortex Launcher. Instagib is also available in the open source FPS, Nexuiz has a pre-configured gameplay mode where the player is given a rail gun with 15 shots. Nexuiz takes a slightly different approach as it does not give the player unlimited ammo but rather forces them to pick up fallen weapons to restore ammo. If the player runs out of ammo they are given 10 seconds to pick up ammo drops before auto-killed.
[edit] Usage
Some games have more than a single Instagib gametype, with small variations like the visual representation of the shots, or the addition of a scope on the weapons. Other variations can include limited ammo and powerups such as armor.
Besides regular Instagib, other gametypes can be combined with Instagib, such as Instagib Capture The Flag, Instagib Team DeathMatch and Instagib Last Man Standing.
[edit] External links
- Instagib on Giant Bomb.
