This idea may be more suited to DM or CTF type gameplay. Basically through some pickup you would be able to control a enemy for a short period of time.
The most simple option would be some kind of weapon that you fire at an opponent, the moment he is hit you control him. Your character would then be protected from injury or death by becoming invisible or some other system. There could be variations on this theme, one of them being that it is obvious to other players that you control a member of their team. The effect could last for any given period of time or until the character dies, at which point you return to your real character and the enemy previously possessed regains control.
The weapon needed could be collected through almost any means:
- It appears once per round.
- After killing a certain number of players.
- After you have died a certain number of times (to even things out).
- When one team requires only one more flag.
Is this idea good or bad? Easy to do or just too much trouble?
This has been put in some games. To mind, Requiem: Avenging Angel stands out. its a little-known sci-fi religious game where you play an Angel sent to stop man making a terrible mistake that is directed by the devil. As you gain more and more Holy Powers by proving yourself you can do more and more things. Slow-Time, Shoot energy, turn enemies to salt and summon forth brimstone or boil enemies blood in their veins. It was quite a good game despite poor level design. Anyway, one of these powers was Possession where you’d move out of your body and have 20 seconds to locate an enemy. Suring this time your body was vulnerable and you’d be recalled in case of harm. When you entered an enemy you’d be able to use his weapons and abilities and so on and when you died (inevitable as there was a time limit before the bodys soul was destroyed by your presense) you’d return to your own body. It was handy for getting bad-guys to wipe each other out.
It was also a big element in the game Messiah, another Sci-fi-Religious game.
Thanks for the information. I have the game you mention but haven’t had time (who does?) to load and play it, not with all the other games available. Sounds like my idea was almost exactly the same as their implementation.
For those interested more information can be found here:
GameSpot Requiem: Avenging Angel