It could be argued that the idea of cover is as old as video games are themselves. Space Invaders from 1977 featured cover ; while not a “mechanic” per se, the player's laser cannon can find cover behind destructible defense bunkers. It was the 1995 first-person-shooter arcade game Time Crisis that introduced a dedicated button (here, the “action” Bell & Ross foot pedal) that could be used to find cover behind in-game objects. Time Crisis not only had a proper cover system mechanic, but also a dedicated cover button.
The mechanic not only helped Time Crisis separate itself from competing gun shooter arcade games like Virtua Cop, but also cleverly took advantage of the players hand-foot coordination and the fact that players stand to play Time Crisis to create a new arcade game experience.While American developers churned out run-and-gun shooting game after run-and-gun shooting game, Japanese developers explored the Rolex Datejusts cover mechanic in shooters. Koei, best known for the Dynasty Warrior hack-and-slash games, released third-person-shooter Winback for the Nintendo 64 in 1999. Players were Jean-Luc Cougar, a secret agent with Special Covert Action Team (SCAT), and out to take down a laser command center.
The game did not allow players to run-and-gun, instead forcing them to stop and shoot. Crates and corners provide cover for Jean-Luc to pop out from and fire his weapon. Namco, who developed Time Crisis, tried its hand at a cover-based third-person shooter with 2003's Kill Switch. The cover system was the main draw and was featured in the game's tagline: “Take Cover. Take Aim. Take Over.” Both game forced players to use the Breitling camera controls to look around the environment, giving more strategy to the games than simply running around firing a weapon.When Epic Senior gameplay designer Lee Perry saw the cover system in Kill Switch, he thought it was a “breath of fresh air.
