Cheating in Video Games - Unusual Effects

Unusual Effects

Cheat codes may sometimes produce unusual or interesting effects which don't necessarily make the game easier to play. For example, one cheat in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis makes dinosaurs appear "undead". Another example occurs in the game Dungeon Siege, where activating the cheat to extend the range of a bow also allows the enemies to fire at the same distance, thereby eliminating the advantage the cheat would have given. A cheat may even make the game harder to play; for instance, one could give the enemy special abilities, increase general difficulty, make neutral bystanders attack the player or grant the player a disadvantage such as low health points. Cheats in Grand Theft Auto games can make NPCs start rioting or wield weapons. In Grand Theft Auto III, the player can activate a cheat to enable blowing off the limbs of NPCs, a feature originally included in the game.

Some games humorously penalize the player for using another game's cheat codes; for example, using cheat codes from Doom in Descent only displays sarcastic messages from the programmers on screen. Similar effects occur if codes from Descent are used in its sequels. Codes from Doom used in Heretic give the opposite of the desired effect, such as instant death instead of invulnerability or stripping weapons instead of providing them. The original Doom's "god mode" code "IDDQD" is non-functional in Doom 3, but produces a console message: "Your memory serves you well."

Other codes make purely cosmetic changes—for example, to what the player character is wearing—but do not enhance the progress of the game. Most of the Grand Theft Auto games have a code to change the player character into an NPC. Other peculiar cheats may invoke "big-head mode" (GoldenEye 007, Oni), replace weapons with other objects, or change the colors of characters.

Easter eggs are a related feature. Although such hidden content has no impact on gameplay, these 'eggs' can be found in many games and may even hint at future games in a series or give more information on a topic. For example, Easter eggs in Batman: Arkham City, allude to The Scarecrow, Harley Quinn's pregnancy and other aspects of the comic book world. Others are simply considered strange.