Stealth game

A stealth game is a video game in which the player needs to avoid detection. The genre dates back to 1981 with the release of 005 and Castle Wolfenstein, and attained some early success with Metal Gear (1987) and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990). However, the genre was not popularized until 1998, with the mainstream success of Metal Gear Solid and Thief: The Dark Project. The genre's best selling game is Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty with 7 million in sales, followed by Metal Gear Solid with 6 million in sales.

Definition and game design

Unlike most action games, stealth games challenge the player to avoid alerting enemies altogether. The core gameplay elements of the modern stealth game are to avoid combat, minimize noise, and strike enemies from the shadows. There are usually multiple ways to achieve a goal with different pathways or styles of play. Some games offer a choice between killing or merely knocking out an enemy. Players can hide behind objects or in the shadows, and can strike or run past an enemy when they are facing the other way. If the player attracts the attention of enemies, they usually must hide and wait until the enemies give up their search. Thus, planning becomes important, as does trial-and-error. However, some stealth games put more emphasis on physical combat skill when the player is spotted.

Because the player can hide in the dark, light and shadow are important parts of the level design. Usually the player is able to shoot and disable certain light sources. Stealth games also emphasize carefully designed audio, because players must be able to hear the subtle sound effects that may alert enemies to their actions. Noise will often vary as the player walks on different surfaces such as wood or metal. Players who move recklessly will make more noise and attract more attention.

Artificial intelligence is carefully crafted for the stealth game experience, and enemies must have logical reactions to what the player does, such as when the player turns off the lights. Enemies typically have a line of sight which the player can avoid by hiding behind objects or staying in the shadows, and enemies will react if the player accidentally touches them. Overall, stealth games vary in what player actions the AI will perceive and react to, with more recent games offering a wider range of enemy reactions. Often, the AIs movements are predictable and regular, allowing the player to come up with a strategy to overcome their adversaries.

Stealth gameplay

Although games like Thief: The Dark Project are designed entirely around stealth gameplay, other games occasionally pose challenges where victory can only be achieved by stealth. In these situations, players must avoid discovery or combat to complete a mission. In order for a game to include stealth gameplay, the knowledge of the artificial intelligence must be restricted to make it ignorant to parts of the game world.

History

Early stealth games

The earliest games to be primarily stealth based were 005 and Castle Wolfenstein. Sega's 005, an arcade game released in 1981, was based on the spy theme popularized by the fictional character James Bond and his secret agent code 007. The game consisted of many stages, the main one involving stealing a briefcase and exiting a warehouse while avoiding the armed guards. The main character is armed only with a gas canister, which can be used to temporarily disable guards, and must avoid the guard's flashlight beams while navigating a maze to the exit.

Castle Wolfenstein, originally available on the Apple II in 1981, is the earliest home video game to employ stealth elements and have stealth as a focus of the gameplay (not to be confused with Wolfenstein 3D, an early FPS title). Players were charged with traversing the levels of Castle Wolfenstein, avoiding or killing the guards, stealing the secret plans and escaping. While the gameplay was primitive by today's standards, players could use the environment to sneak around guards, sneak up on or avoid guards while they were facing the other way, hold a guard at gunpoint and search him for supplies (dead guards could also be searched), or acquire uniforms to disguise themselves and walk by undetected. Having your weapon drawn while disguising yourself raised the ire of the guards, as well as firing a weapon (either to kill a guard or force open a chest as opposed to picking the lock). While not strictly a stealth-element, the game also employed the concept of limited-resources and acquiring resources from the environment. A player might be able to run-and-gun his way through the game , but would have a much better chance of success employing a deliberate, stealthy mode of gameplay.

The sequel to Castle Wolfenstein, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, released in 1984 for the Apple II, expanded on some of the stealth elements by including a dagger to silently kill guards, allowing the player to bribe guards or acquire passes so the guards would grant access to certain areas, expanding the lock-picking mechanic, and even allowed the dragging of bodies to secluded areas to avoid rousing the suspicion of the guards.

Stealth elements were only rarely used again until Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear, released in 1987 by Konami for the MSX2, and shortly thereafter for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Metal Gear sold a million copies in North America, making it the first successful mainstream stealth game.

Metal Gear was followed by two independently-produced sequels that were both released in 1990: Snake's Revenge in North America and Europe for the NES; and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake in Japan for the MSX2 (the latter being recognized as the canonical sequel, being produced by Kojima himself). Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake in particular significantly expanded the gameplay of the genre. These changes included both giving the player more abilities (including the ability to kneel and crawl, hide under tight spaces or inside air ducts, distract guards by knocking on surfaces, etc.) and equipment (mines, a radar to show the location of guards and mines, a dynamic transceiver, tap code decipherment, etc.), and giving the guards greater artificial intelligence (including a 45-degree field of vision, the ability to turn their heads left and right, the ability to hear noise, a three-level security alert, etc.).

While the early Metal Gear games were moderately successful, the concept did not develop beyond those few games for almost a decade.

Establishing a genre: 1998 - present

Although stealth gameplay had appeared in a several games in the 1980s and 1990s, 1998 is seen as a turning point in gaming history because of the release of Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, and Thief: The Dark Project. Both Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu: Stealth Assassins have been credited with popularizing the stealth genre. Thief: The Dark Project is also credited as a pioneer in the stealth game genre. They influenced many stealth game series to come with their core gameplay elements, such as avoiding combat, minimizing noise, and striking enemies from the shadows.

With further releases, many games in the genre have drifted towards action by allowing more direct confrontations, particularly with Hitman and Splinter Cell. Meanwhile, the Metal Gear series continued with a sequel Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a prequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Siren combined the survival horror genre with the stealth genre. Other games that emphasized stealth include No One Lives Forever and Manhunt. In 2007, Assassin's Creed introduced a social element to the stealth game, where the player is able to hide among a crowd of civilians if they take care to blend in.

Other games incorporated a stealth approach as an option to players, notably Deus Ex, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and Bungie's Oni. Many action games, such as Medal of Honor and Syphon Filter, include stealth-based levels. Fatal Frame 3 has a character (Kei Amakura) that must use stealth instead of combat, due to his limited camera capabilities. Some platform games as well such as Sly Cooper use stealth as a main component of gameplay. The Legend of Zelda series often has one or two stealth missions, most notably the first visit to the Forsaken Fortress in The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker. Also in Paper Mario, at some points you had to control Peach and had to stay hidden from guards in the castle when it was controlled by Bowser.

Important games and major series

Important Games

Games that contain gameplay mechanics, game structures, or other landmark achievements that advanced the stealth genre as a whole.

• 005 (1981): One of the first stealth games. First to rely on light and shadow to hide.
• Castle Wolfenstein (1981): One of the first stealth games. First to feature an "alarm" system, and the ability to sneak in plain sight using enemy uniforms.
• Metal Gear (1987): First mainstream stealth game and first stealth game on a console (NES).
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990): First stealth game to include the ability to hide in areas guards can't search, and the first to feature guards that respond to noises other than gunshots, thus introducing the ability to distract guards.
• Team Fortress (1996): First 3D game to have disguises and have hiding in plain sight, and to do so in a multiplayer environment. Though the stealth abilities only applied to the Spy class (the other classes played like a normal FPS), it was still the first 3D game to feature usage of disguises and hiding in plain sight.
• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (1998): First 3D stealth game, and the first 3D stealth game on a console.
• Metal Gear Solid (1998): First mainstream 3D stealth game.
• Thief: The Dark Project (1998): First 3D stealth game on the PC. First 3D game to rely on light and shadow to hide, instead of just line-of-sight. Also the first to use audio, such as hearing footsteps and eavesdropping on conversations, as the primary means of keeping track of unseen foes.
• Deus Ex (2000): First game to allow stealth and action to be equally viable means towards completing objectives.
• Hitman: Codename 47 (2000): First mainstream 3D stealth stand alone game to allow the player to obtain disguises from any enemy.
• Thief II: The Metal Age (2000).
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001): First 3D stealth game to feature a collective artificial intelligence for enemy guards working in squads (where they interact and communicate with each other), and the ability to prevent an enemy guard from calling for backup on his radio after the player is spotted (by knocking him out or destroying his radio).
• Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (2003): First commercial stealth game to incorporate cooperative multiplayer.
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004): First to incorporate stealth based "hide and seek" gameplay into versus multiplayer.
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004): First stealth game to incorporate camouflage as a means of hiding (another form of "hiding in plain sight").
• Shinobido: Way of the Ninja (2006): First stealth game to offer open-ended mission selection. Missions change based on who you are allied with, how much they trust you, and how skilled you are at stealth.
• Assassin's Creed (2007): Introduced a social element to the genre, where the player is able to hide among a crowd of civilians if they take care to blend in.

Major Series

• Metal Gear series: A major pioneer of stealth gameplay, which popularized the stealth game genre in both the 2D and 3D eras and added gameplay innovations with each game in the series. First game to feature guns.
• Thief series: Pioneered 'first person sneaking' (as opposed to 'shooting').
• Deus Ex series: Open ended FPS-RPG hybrid, which provides sneaking and action based solutions to objectives.
• Splinter Cell series: Best-selling, critically acclaimed. A sneaker set in the modern day with an emphasis on gadgetry and black-ops espionage.
• Syphon Filter series: Established as a hybrid containing both sneaking and shooting based levels; in later games the player is often allowed to play the game however they please (although by sneaking through the level the player is better rewarded, and obviously eliminates the risk of dying by enemy gunfire).
• Hitman series: Open ended game where the goal of each mission is to assassinate a target or targets (with some other sub-objectives).
• Tenchu series: Ninja game incorporating stealth as the main focus of its gameplay. The overall score on each level is roughly determined by how many stealth kills the player has subtracted by how many times the player has been spotted.
• No One Lives Forever series: A stealth-oriented FPS featuring a '60s spy theme.
• Sly Cooper series: A stealth platform game featuring anthropomorphic animals pulling off elaborate criminal heists. It is known for using mini-games for things such as safe cracking or computer hacking.

Other stealth-based games, or games featuring stealth elements

• Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (1998)
• Aliens vs. Predator (1999)
• Hidden & Dangerous (1999)
• WinBack (1999)
• Drakan: Order of the Flame (1999)
• Project I.G.I.: I'm Going In (2000)
• Gothic (2001)
• Aliens versus Predator 2 (2001)
• Headhunter (2001)
• Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (2001)
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)
• Jet Set Radio Future (2002)
• Arx Fatalis (2002)
• Europa 1400: The Guild (2002)
• Prisoner of War (2002)
• Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002)
• Sly Cooper (2002)
• Drakan: The Ancients' Gates (2002)
• True Crime: Streets of LA (2003)
• I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike (2003)
• The Great Escape (2003)
• Rogue Ops (2003)
• Beyond Good & Evil (2003)
• Manhunt (2003)
• Aurora Watching: Gorky Zero (2004)
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004)
• Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (2004)
• Second Sight (2004)
• Spy Fiction (2004)
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004)
• Batman Begins (2005)
• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (2005)
• Cold War (2005)
• Fahrenheit (2005)
• Sniper Elite (2005)
• Stolen (2005)
• Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006)
• Forbidden Siren 2 (2006)
• Call of Juarez (2006)
• Sneak King (2006)
• Assassin's Creed (2007)
• BioShock (2007)
• Call of Duty 4 (2007)
• Crysis (2007)
• Dark Sector (2007)
• Death to Spies (2007)
• Manhunt 2 (2007)
• Penumbra: Overture (2007)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007)
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
• Call of Duty 5: World at War (2008)
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009)
• Velvet Assassin (2009)
• Saboteur (2009)
• Data-Fly (2009)
• Cipher Complex (TBA)
• StarCraft: Ghost (TBA)

External links

• The Unseen History of the Stealth Game