History Main / TakeCover

Then the system changed. Cover and systems for using it effectively have become automated to an extent. The first examples of formalization like this in [[FirstPersonShooter First]] and [[ThirdPersonShooter Third Person Shooters]] were "duck," "lean left" and "lean right" keys present for quick peeks and potshots, often inherited from [[StealthBasedGame Stealth Games]]. Pressing a button causes your character to press up against nearby objects, sidle left and right along them, and peek around corners. With another button, one can either fire blindly, or expose oneself to rapidly aim and shoot. A third person shooter with a cover system is a member of the "cover-based shooter" sub-genre.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'', from the same studio, is much the same. The additional counters in this case are the assault unit, melee-focused soldiers that can charge the enemy via teleportation, [[DeathFromAbove jetpacks]], or just utilizing AttackAttackAttack and cut them to pieces with melee weapons (like [[ChainsawGood Chainswords]]), or smashing that cover with heavier units, frequently vehicles. Vehicles can be used in cover also!

%%* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' also made it so that [[GeoEffects certain decorative sprites (trees, outcroppings, etc)]] would grant a defensive bonus to infantry hiding behind/under them.
%% Source?

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' finally got the formula balanced right, and its gameplay is typically heralded as the apex of the franchise. What's a bit ironic is that all three ''Mass Effect'' games not only came out after ''Gears'' had successfully codified the trope, but use the same UsefulNotes/GameEngine (the one belonging to ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament3'') that ''Gears'' did.

* ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' games have had peeking around corners since the first game (like in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''), but ''Vegas'' added the "jump to third person" type, where the player can shoot around the corner (like in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'') and blind fire (like in ''Kill Switch''). ''Vegas 2'' also had a cover penetration system like ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' and ''World at War'', along with shields that could be used to protect yourself while on the move, at the cost of taking one of your weapon slots.

** Despite not being as well known, ''Kill.Switch'' inspired the cover mechanic in not only ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', but also other third-person shooters, like the 2006 shooters ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'', ''VideoGame/RogueTrooper'', and ''VideoGame/RainbowSix Vegas'', as well as the later ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' and ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' which were demonstrated months before the release of ''Gears Of War''.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' (2001) expanded on its predecessor's cover mechanic, introducing a shoot-around-the-corner cover system, where Snake or Raiden can press against walls and aim from behind them, to shoot from around the corner of a wall. This shoot-around-the-corner cover system has also been employed in later [[StealthBasedGame stealth-based games]], like the ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' series, ''VideoGame/EverythingOrNothing'' (2004), and {{Tactical Shooter}}s like ''VideoGame/RainbowSix Vegas'' (2006).
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' features an improved cover system that is more similar to the ''Kill Switch'' cover system.

* In the early 2D StealthBasedGame, ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'' (1990), Solid Snake can take cover from enemy fire using the crouch mechanic, which lets him hide under certain objects or crawl into tight spaces.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' , released two years after ''Gears of War'', uses an almost identical cover system. You can take cover behind walls, barriers, and vehicles (a real-life tactic used by police) but you may want to be careful about the last one since [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars will explode if shot enough times]].