History VideoGame / OperatorsSide

* FakeDifficulty: Not only does the shoddy voice input system mean that Rio can mishear the player entirely at random, but the game tries to loosely simulate her having a mind of her own by botching shots or doing the wrong order. There's even a high chance that you'll give an order but the game inexplicably puts a high latency on it. Considering she refuses to do anything ''without'' your orders in the first place and you can't speak while Rio's talking unless specifically designated to be able to do so, this is frustrating for a multitude of reasons; ''especially'' in the cutscenes that have a "PressXToNotDie" requiring strict timing for her to do specific actions or else [[NonstandardGameOver die horribly]].

* YouCantGetYeFlask: The game's input system gives its own spin on this. Most of the times this is "Guess the noun" as you are trying to figure out what you should call the items you see. This is aggravated by the game's futuristic setting, which gives many everyday items an unfamiliar appearance.

** ''Series/XPlay'' once found a rather interesting one-Adam, playing the game for the review and frustrated at Rio's particular brand of uncooperativeness, mutters "bark like a dog" into the microphone, and Rio responds, "Little dog, wuff wuff, or big dog, roof roof?" After the segment they actually went to the trouble to explain that no, they hadn't included it as a joke (which they were occasionally wont to do); it was actually part of the game.

* PocketProtector: [[spoiler:The BigBad gets Rio at gunpoint and, after much EvilGloating and JustBetweenYouAndMe, shoots her in the heart with a shotgun as an attempt to replicate how he thought he killed her as a child. And then he gets proliferated from behind shortly thereafter. Turns out the real Philosopher's Stone he'd been seeking was put into Rio's chest wound by her mortally-wounded father, which not only revived her then but stops the bullet now.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Jim's plans would've gone swimmingly and Rio would have been either isolated or killed had he not tossed you into the room that you'd take the role of operator from, effectively making you a SpannerInTheWorks.]]

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Jim Powers seemingly gets offed by Rio in a {{Cutscene|Boss}}, but shortly thereafter he pulls out one last trick up his sleeve by mutating himself with his fake Philosopher's Stone to become a gargantuan beast. [[UnexpectedGameplayChange And then gets an entirely different boss fight from the normal play mechanics.]]]]

** [[spoiler:The BigBad turns out to be a recurring name throughout the game, Jim Powers, who was responsible for ''everything'' that went wrong on both the hotel and in Rio's life. The man named Kraft that Rio had been hunting and Jim were one and the same, with Jim Powers being a translation of his birth German name into English.]]

* TomTheDarkLord: While the BigBad is seemingly a man named Kraft, it turns out he'd changed his name long ago [[spoiler:to an English equivalent you keep hearing throughout your adventure as a supposedly dead guest: Jim Powers. Who has a whole laundry list of atrocities and actions for just about every event in the plot he handily lists off to Rio while giggling like a madman.]]

* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:BigBad Jim Powers doesn't give a damn about who gets in his way, and explicitly shot Rio in the chest as a child when he betrayed her family to steal their Philosopher's Stone research. Something he mocks her over when he shoots her in the same spot again for good measure.]]

* YouCantGetYeFlask: Made interesting by the game's verbal input system. Most of the times this is "Guess the noun" as you are trying to figure out what you should call the items you see. This is further aggravated by the game's futuristic setting, which gives many everyday items an unfamiliar appearance.

''Operator's Side'', released as ''Lifeline'' in North America by Creator/{{Konami}}, was a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game by Sony Computer Entertainment (now known today as Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment) that attempted a new spin on the SurvivalHorror genre by making the player MissionControl. Set in the year 2029, it casts the player as a young man visiting a newly opened, state-of-the-art hotel inside an orbiting SpaceStation. After monsters crash the party, the player awakens inside the station's main control center, with no clue as to how he arrived there or where his girlfriend is.

----

** Series/XPlay once found a rather interesting one-Adam, playing the game for the review and frustrated at Rio's particular brand of uncooperativeness, mutters "bark like a dog" into the microphone, and Rio responds, "Little dog, wuff wuff, or big dog, roof roof?" After the segment they actually went to the trouble to explain that no, they hadn't included it as a joke (which they were occasionally wont to do); it was actually part of the game.

* TomTheDarkLord: While the BigBad is seemingly a man named Kraft, it turns out he'd changed his name long ago[[spoiler:to an English equivalent you keep hearing throughout your adventure as a supposedly dead guest: Jim Powers. Who has a whole laundry list of atrocities and actions for just about every event in the plot he handily lists off to Rio while giggling like a madman.]]

* ButNotTooForeign: Rio Hoeinheim is half-Japanese, half-German. [[spoiler: Turns out this is somewhat plot relevant.]]

* ColonyDrop: Towards the end, albeit not as a TimedMission thankfully. [[spoiler: The BigBad opted to just drop the entire space hotel on Tokyo ForTheEvulz once his research and plans are destroyed; it takes Rio and the player setting the station to self-destruct to prevent this.]]
* ContrivedCoincidence: Rio was just on the space hotel as a means to find answers [[spoiler: about the man that killed her father. It just so happens to turn out that the Philosopher's Stone in her chest had various replicas made by the man who did the deed, who transforms everyone into monsters for the hell of it while Rio gets caught up in the midst of everything by pure accident. On the hotel's ''opening ceremony day,'' no less!]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Rio, the cute cocktail waitress you have to guide and help throughout the game, [[spoiler: was wounded fatally as a child and lost her family due to an associate to her father's research betraying them all.]] Turns out she's followed leads involving this and ended up at the hotel as a result.

* FissionMailed: Throughout the game and even shortly beforehand, the operator is usually required to give a command to Rio or at least say something or another to keep her alive in tense cutscenes. But right before the end, [[spoiler: the BigBad just shoots her outright in a cutscene.]] A GenreSavvy player is probably quick to assume LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt, and it's confirmed not even twenty seconds later. [[spoiler: After she lights him up with her machinegun.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: After the BigBad is filled with lead courtesy of Rio,]] pay attention and you'll notice [[spoiler: he's still moving his head and thus barely survived long enough to go OneWingedAngel]].

* GenreShift: For most of the game, it plays itself up as a sort of sci-fi survival horror. Towards the endgame, however, [[spoiler: seemingly-magical Philosopher's Stones start popping up, there's a conspiracy involving the research on them, and the BigBad's plans reach ludicrous levels amidst revelations about Rio's past]] as the story transforms into a fast-and-loose thriller with light fantasy elements.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: After giving her father's BrainInAJar a MercyKill without him even realizing it was her, and having Naomi [[DiedInYourArmsTonight die in her arms]] only minutes later after all the effort in trying to find and rescue her, Rio suffers a brief but severe breakdown. The operator ends up snapping her out of it, [[ButThouMust not that there are any other options]].]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Naomi, transformed into a destructive psychic monster against her will, nearly chokes Rio to death unintentionally. But hearing the operator call her name from Rio's earpiece snaps her out of it, and causes her to realize that her boyfriend's still alive and yet she's too dangerous to be allowed to live. So she seemingly blinks herself out of existence after affirming for Rio to protect you.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Jim's plans would've gone swimmingly and Rio either isolated or killed had he not tossed you into the room that you'd take the role of operator from, effectively making you a SpannerInTheWorks.]]
* ImprobableAimingSkills: When everything works, Rio's a surprisingly good shot right down to the individual eyeballs of a monster. [[spoiler: The BigBad also remarks that he's not the most impressive marksman but accurately shoots Rio in the heart with a ''hipfired shotgun round in zero-G,'' simply to recreate him shooting her in the heart as a kid ForTheEvulz. It hits her PocketProtector instead. [[DidntSeeThatComing Whoops.]]]]
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: [[spoiler: After getting Rio at gunpoint, the BigBad [[LargeHam openly lists]] pretty much every single atrocity he's committed to Rio's face as well as his overall plans just to be a {{Jerkass}} because he's ''evil''. Though partially {{subverted|Trope}} in that he doesn't fall for WhyDontYouJustShootHim and promptly blasts Rio immediately after.]]
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: Besides Rio, the player, and a small handful of survivors that get rescued shortly after meeting them and disappear from the plot, every other named character dies either by the creatures, or by Rio's hand after they were converted into a monster (excluding Naomi by [[HeroicSacrifice technicality]]).]]

** [[spoiler: Rio not only was searching for information as to who killed her father and shot her as a child, but has the true, original Philosopher's Stone in her chest the entire time.]]
** [[spoiler: The BigBad turns out to be a recurring name throughout the game, Jim Powers, who was responsible for ''everything'' that went wrong on both the hotel and in Rio's life. The man named Kraft that Rio had been hunting and Jim were one and the same, with Jim Powers being a translation of his birth German name into English.]]

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: One of your side objectives is to find Naomi, your player character's girlfriend. She was personally turned into a creature by the BigBad and experimented on behind the scenes to become a powerful psychic monstrosity, and ultimately kills herself once she realizes you're safe but her powers have been unintentionally hurting others.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Rio wants to be an ActionGirl real bad, but without your orders she'll [[RunningGag die horribly]]. This also is exemplified when the commander of the rescue team ([[spoiler: really a mercenary squad sent to cover up the events]]) is attacked by a psychic alien that stops all of his bullets. Despite pleading for him to run, if the operator doesn't have Rio book it herself, she'll stay behind and both promptly die. Despite her knowing ''full well'' that she can't beat it and having been running away just beforehand!

* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: BigBad Jim Powers doesn't give a damn about who gets in his way, and explicitly shot Rio in the chest as a child when he betrayed her family to steal their Philosopher's Stone research. Something he mocks her over when he shoots her in the same spot again for good measure.]]

''Operator's Side'', released as ''Lifeline'' in North America by Creator/{{Konami}}, was a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game by Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment that attempted a new spin on the SurvivalHorror genre by making the player MissionControl. Set in the year 2029, it casts the player as a young man visiting a newly opened, state-of-the-art hotel inside an orbiting SpaceStation. After monsters crash the party, the player awakens inside the station's main control center, with no clue as to how he arrived there or where his girlfriend is.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Jim Powers seemingly gets offed by Rio in a {{Cutscene|Boss}}, but shortly thereafter he pulls out one last trick up his sleeve by mutating himself with his fake Philosopher's Stone to become a gargantuan beast. [[UnexpectedGameplayChange And then gets an entirely different boss fight from the normal play mechanics.]]]]

* FakeDifficulty: Not only does the shoddy voice input system mean that Rio can mishear the player entirely at random, but the game tries to loosely simulate her having a mind of her own by botching shots or doing the wrong order. There's even a high chance that you'll give an order but the game inexplicably puts a high latency on it. Considering she refuses to do anything ''without'' your orders in the first place and you can't speak while Rio's talking unless specifically designated to be able to do so, this is frustrating for a multitude of reasons; ''especially'' in the cutscenes that have a QuickTimeEvent requiring strict timing for her to do specific actions or else [[NonStandardGameOver die horribly.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: After the BigBad is filled with lead courtesy of Rio,]] pay attention and you'll notice [[spoiler: he's still moving his head and thus barely survived long enough to go OneWingedAngel.]]

* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: After giving her father's BrainInAJar a MercyKill without him even realizing it was her, and having Naomi [[DiedInYourArmsTonight die in her arms]] only minutes later after all the effort in trying to find and rescue her, Rio suffers a brief but severe breakdown. The operator ends up snapping her out of it, [[ButThouMust not that there are any other options.]]]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: Besides Rio, the player, and a small handful of survivors that get rescued shortly after meeting them and disappear from the plot, every other named character dies either by the creatures, or by Rio's hand after they were converted into a monster (excluding Naomi by [[HeroicSacrifice technicality).]]]]

* NonStandardGameOver:

* PuzzleBoss: One early boss involves watching a near-invincible monster's movement pattern and having Rio throw a homemade Molotov Cocktail at ''just'' the right moment. Get the timing wrong, or wait too long, and [[NonStandardGameOver what follows]] [[TheManyDeathsOfYou isn't pleasant]]. [[note]]The time limit factor is particularly annoying, given that she lights it ''before'' a fairly long cutscene where she reviews your plan yet ''again''.[[/note]]

* TooDumbToLive: Rio wants to be an ActionGirl real bad, but without your orders she'll [[RunningGag die horribly.]] This also is exemplified when the commander of the rescue team ([[spoiler: really a mercenary squad sent to cover up the events]]) is attacked by a psychic alien that stops all of his bullets. Despite pleading for him to run, if the operator doesn't have Rio book it herself, she'll stay behind and both promptly die. Despite her knowing ''full well'' that she can't beat it and having been running away just beforehand!

* YouCantGetYeFlask: Made interesting by the game's verbal input system. This is further aggravated by the game's futuristic setting, which makes it difficult to know how you should refer to the items you see.

* YouCantGetYeFlask: Made interesting by the game's verbal input system.

''Operator's Side'', released as ''Lifeline'' in North America, was a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game by Creator/{{Konami}} that attempted a new spin on the SurvivalHorror genre by making the player MissionControl. Set in the year 2029, it casts the player as a young man visiting a newly opened, state-of-the-art hotel inside an orbiting SpaceStation. After monsters crash the party, the player awakens inside the station's main control center, with no clue as to how he arrived there or where his girlfriend is.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: Surprisingly, quite a few commands/questions avoid [[NoFourthWall breaking the fourth wall]]. The first such example is asking Rio how to open the door to the room she's stuck in, which she will give (completely useless to the player) instructions on how to activate the door.

''You may be looking for the mobile game series ''VideoGame/{{Lifeline}}'' instead.''

Instead of controlling Rio directly via a gamepad, the user gives her commands over a USB headset, with scripted voice commands such as 'shoot [the] [[AttackItsWeakPoint head (or other weak point)]], 'dodge left/right/back', 'turn left/right', 'stop', 'run' and so on. The player can also direct Rio during cutscenes, make small talk, and even restore her health by playing tongue twisters with her.

* JustBetweenYouAndMe: [[spoiler: After getting Rio at gunpoint, the BigBad [[LargeHam openly lists]] pretty much every single atrocity he's committed to Rio's face as well as his overall plans just to be a {{Jerkass}} because he's ''evil''. Though partially [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in that he doesn't fall for WhyDontYouJustShootHim and promptly blasts Rio immediately after.]]

* MacGuffin: [[spoiler: The PhilosophersStone and its fake recreations,]] which drive the entire plot of the game. Turns out that [[spoiler: Rio is also a MacguffinGirl since the real stone had replaced her heart.]]

* [[spoiler:PhilosophersStone: Invented by a distant ancestor of Rio, protected by her family and currently inside of Rio herself as a replacement for her heart as a last-ditch effort from her dying father to save her life as a child once they were both shot. Imperfect copies of the Stone are responsible for transforming the humans aboard the hotel into alien monstrosities in the BigBad's pursuit of perfecting a recreation of it.]]
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Jim Powers seemingly gets offed by Rio in a [[CutsceneBoss cutscene,]] but shortly thereafter he pulls out one last trick up his sleeve by mutating himself with his fake Philosopher's Stone to become a gargantuan beast. [[UnexpectedGameplayChange And then gets an entirely different boss fight from the normal play mechanics.]]]]
* PocketProtector: [[spoiler: The BigBad gets Rio at gunpoint and, after much EvilGloating and JustBetweenYouAndMe, shoots her in the heart with a shotgun as an attempt to replicate how he thought he killed her as a child. And then he gets proliferated from behind shortly thereafter. Turns out the real Philosopher's Stone he'd been seeking was put into Rio's chest wound by her mortally-wounded father, which not only revived her then but stops the bullet now.]]
* [[PressXToNotDie Say X To Not Die]]: Certain scenes and puzzles are glorified quick time events, and if you don't time your command or say it as soon as possible, Rio can either sustain damage or instantly die. Considering the FakeDifficulty above, it's possible to fail these even if you ''do'' say the commands right. Also see PuzzleBoss below for a specific example.

* TomTheDarkLord: [[spoiler: While the BigBad is seemingly a man named Kraft, it turns out he'd changed his name long ago to an English equivalent you keep hearing throughout your adventure as a supposedly dead guest: Jim Powers. Who has a whole laundry list of atrocities and actions for just about every event in the plot he handily lists off to Rio while giggling like a madman.]]

* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: [[BigBad Jim Powers]] doesn't give a damn about who gets in his way, and explicitly shot Rio in the chest as a child when he betrayed her family to steal their Philosopher's Stone research. Something he mocks her over when he shoots her in the same spot again for good measure.]]

''Operator's Side'', also known as ''Lifeline'', was a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game by Creator/{{Konami}} that attempted a new spin on the SurvivalHorror genre by making the player MissionControl. Set in the year 2029, it casts the player as a young man visiting a newly opened, state-of-the-art hotel inside an orbiting SpaceStation. After monsters crash the party, the player awakens inside the station's main control center, with no clue as to how he arrived there or where his girlfriend is.

* MissionControl

* ContrivedCoincidence: Rio was just on the space hotel as a means to find answers [[spoiler: about the man that killed her father. It just so happens to turn out that the Philosopher's Stone in her chest had various replicas made by the man who did the deed, who transforms everyone into monsters for the hell of it while Rio gets caught up in the midst of everything by pure accident.]]