This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Tojo940: I personally think that a funner title for the article could be something along the lines of "Protect the idiot level".
Kimiko Muffin: At what point do the ally-NPCs in Half Life 2 stop functioning? They seem to work perfectly well right up until the Citadel (which has no ally-NPCs who aren't major characters) ...
Xander77: I can personally attest to the NPC's no longer reacting once the gate is open and Alex gets kidnapped.
Nevrmore: The Metal Gear Solid 3 example is really a double-edged sword: If you wanted to make it through the areas steathily, you could forget it unless you knocked Eva's bitch-ass out. She would constantly lag behind you, make noise to alert enemies, and her stamina decreased about twenty times faster than yours. Of course, if you just decide to hell with the stealth and charge through the areas, yes, she's pretty good about taking out the guards with her SAA, even though she tends to get injured a lot...
Guest: The author of the Mech Warrior 2 entry seems unaware that four-legged 'Mechs have in fact existed in the Battle Tech boardgame the computer version is based on for a long time. Certain construction-related drawbacks just make them a lot less common than the bipedal designs.
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How about those escort missions where the dude you are protecting kicks more ass then you? The red-dressed girl in Resident Evil 2, Natayla in the jungle level of Goldeneye...and escorts that you are glad to see dead, like the first idiot you protect in Perfect Dark 64.
Would Slippy from Star Fox count? It feels like you're escorting him.
Nirual: Not really, since he isn't mission critical in most cases. The only exception being Sector X, where he shows up regardless of his previous state and is only around for like 10 seconds before you either kill the boss for good or the boss knocks him out. Besides, he's quite a Memetic Mutation victim. Granted, he does get in trouble slightly more often than the others and has the most enemies on him in all-range stages when he does but it's far from making any of the Starfox games into a "Escort Slippy" ordeal. Especially not in Command.
Austin: I don't really understand how the plot would've been the same for the Max Payne 2 example if the escort mission hadn't happened, since that leads to Max getting ambushed and getting back together with Mona for the last level.
Xander77: Winny would still be dead, Max and Mona would still be going after Lev, presumably into the Manor.
TMX: I don't know whether it counts as an example or a subversion, but Farah tagging along with you in the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time definitely counts.
Triggerhappy: Why no mention of HAWX? every mission is an escort mission- I'm not kidding.
