World of Suck

As a hardcore video game player, it's well known that I value game play over aesthetics. But just for a moment, lets step back and LOOK at the games we play.

As graphics have improved, the industry has been pushing more and more realistic models and environments. Recently, one particular thing has stood out at me over and over again. In the drive to achieve aesthetic perfection, logical design has been cast aside. The key example here is armor.

It's not really that complicated to apply logic to armor. Torso and head should receive the bulk of the armor. Limbs and extremities receive less armor in order to allow greater flexibility. All logical, right?

So, explain to me why the foot soldiers in Gears, UT, Quake and other games all put the majority of their armor on their shoulder pads? Why do they wear boots that look to weigh over 40 lbs? Gloves that would do justice to Hellboy? Why do the women expose their bosoms to the world instead of wearing the light chest plate the men wear? Open face plates, but heavily armored ankles??

Seriously?

I dunno. As I'm sitting here looking aqt preview pics of UT3, the thought occurred to me, so I followed it up. All the sci-fi shooters do the same thing. I just can't figure out why anyone would think to design armor that way.