History Main / RocketTagGameplay

** Watch a 3.0 / 3.5 (or {{Pathfinder}}) fight between two [[GlassCannon Rogues]]. If one of them gets the initiative and pulls a Sneak Attack or two, the fight is already over.

* Most FirstPersonShooter games with a "sniper" class will often revolve around [[SniperDuel being able to spot and pick off enemy snipers before being spotted and shot oneself]].
* Many also have "[=InstaGib=]" or "One Shot One Kill" mode where all players are given an overkilling weapon, making everyone effectively OneHitPointWonder.

* A party in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' consisting solely of DPS ([[TemptingFate especially an]] [[TotalPartyKill all-rogue party]]), with no healers and no tanks. Impossible to do in Dungeon Finder to prevent [[{{Griefer}} griefing]], still can be done outside of Dungeon Finder... though the advisability of such is very, very questionable.
** One of the [=WoW=] expantions, "Wrath of the Lich King", did this by accident. Due to a few miscalculations gear scaled up so fast that the healers had effectively limitless magic for healing. Thus damage capabilities were increased to the point where any character could be killed in seconds, so that the healers had to be healing quickly and proactively to keep anyone alive. As a side effect [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] combat became a game of rocket tag where any class could die kill another in seconds with a lucky crit.

Compare GlassCannon, OneHitKill, OneHitPointWonder and type 2 MutualDisadvantage. Contrast the inversion, PaddedSumoGameplay

* ''VideoGame/Divekick'' takes this to the extreme, with every character able to win with only one well-placed dive kick. The only way to not die it to avoid that kick.

* ''VideoGame/DiveKick'' takes this to the extreme, with every character able to win with only one well-placed dive kick. The only way to not die it to avoid that kick.

* Master-type enemies (things like Hive Tyrants and Daemon Princes), and to somewhat lesser extent Elite ones as well, in {{Deathwatch}} and BlackCrusade tend to be like this. Since both the players and the enemies can do huge amounts of damage, the fight generally come down to who goes first and who can dodge/parry better.

* The {{Achron}} metagame has gone through this at various points with strategies such as chronorushing (rushing chronoporting tech, which lets you send an army back in time, to hopefully wipe out the opponent before they can even do anything). It is possible to defend against, but it's usually easier to just counterrush and try to wipe them out even faster.

* In ''CityOfHeroes'', the Blaster class is your classic GlassCannon: all damage, no mitigation. Get enough of them together, though, and you realize that [[MoreDakka damage works just fine as mitigation]].
* [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown XCOM: Enemy Unknown]] is like this, at least towards the start of the game. The enemy units have three hitpoints, which can be dealt reliably by any non-pistol weapon you have available. Your troops also start with three hitpoints, and your enemies are armed with pistols that shoot ''plasma''.

* Master-type enemies (things like Hive Tyrants and Daemon Princes), and to somewhat lesser extent Elite ones as well, in {{Deathwatch}} and {{BlackCrusade}} tend to be like this. Since both the players and the enemies can do huge amounts of damage, the fight generally come down to who goes first and who can dodge/parry better.

* High-level gameplay in the ''{{Disgaea}}'' series and other NipponIchi strategy [=RPGs=]. Due to the way attack vs. defence is calculated damage increases exponentially as levels rise, so more or less any battle over level 500 or so means you either kill your opponent in one shot or die in their response attack. It's actually possible to take multiple hits in the fourth game by stacking defensive abilities, though.

* Master-type enemies (things like Hive Tyrants and Daemon Princes), and to somewhat lesser extent Elite ones as well, in {{Deatwatch}} and {{BlackCrusade}} tend to be like this. Since both the players and the enemies can do huge amounts of damage, the fight generally come down to who goes first and who can dodge/parry better.

* Most FirstPersonShooter games with a "sniper" class will often revolve around being able to spot and pick off enemy snipers before being spotted and shot oneself. Many also have "[=InstaGib=]" or "One Shot One Kill" mode where all players are given an overkilling weapon, making everyone effectively OneHitPointWonder.

* ''{{Pokemon}}'', especially in earlier generations, has a metagame role called the "Sweeper." The purpose of this monster is to one-shot the entire opposing team due to a high speed stat, insane damage, and good coverage on the ElementalRockPaperScissors table. The best counter for a Sweeper? A faster sweeper that can one-shot it.

* The ''{{Unreal}}'' games have the [=InstaGib=] modifier, as described above.

* Shadowrun

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' seesaws between this and PaddedSumoGameplay due to its lethality issues. It's trivially easy to throw an attack at someone that is absolutely certain to kill them instantly, resulting in whoever attacks first winning easily... unless the enemy uses one of the game's perfect defenses. Once everyone is using an impossible-to-bypass suite of perfect defenses, the game changes from Rocket Tag to PaddedSumoGameplay, with no attack ever doing more than making the opponent pay a tiny amount of the game's equivilant to MagicPoints.

* In ''MagicTheGathering'', the Vintage and Legacy formats are notorious for this, but the worst offender was Standard play just after the release of Urza's Saga. During the Urza's Saga block, it was a common joke that "early game" meant the coin flip to decide who went first, "midgame" was the decision to mulligan, and "endgame" was the first turn.

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons''. In 1st Edition ''Advanced D&D'', there was no limit on the damage that could be done by spells, so (for example) a Fireball cast by a 20th level magic-user did 20d6 (20-120) HitPoints of damage. This meant that at higher levels of play, whichever side gained initiative would probably win the fight. The designers of 2nd Edition decided to put level caps on most of the damaging spells to prevent one-round wipeouts. This also happened between two editions of ''Basic D&D''.

* ''{{Exalted}}'' seesaws between this and PaddedSumoGameplay due to its lethality issues. It's trivially easy to throw an attack at someone that is absolutely certain to kill them instantly, resulting in whoever attacks first winning easily... unless the enemy uses one of the game's perfect defenses. Once everyone is using an impossible-to-bypass suite of perfect defenses, the game changes from Rocket Tag to PaddedSumoGameplay, with no attack ever doing more than making the opponent pay a tiny amount of the game's equivilant to MagicPoints.

** ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 3.5 edition is often accused of Rocket Tag gameplay. Not only because damage outstrips hit points (and [[http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872838/Little_Red_Raiding_Hood:_A_Tale_of_38;_Guide_to_the_3.5_Dragoon Hood]] is merely one example), but because of an excess of spells which instantly kill or cripple their targets. In fact, it was possible for every one of a caster's spells of 4th level or higher to be very direct "instant win" spells. For example, ''solid fog'' (a 20' radius) meant standard movement was limited to 5', or 20' if the target ran as fast as he could in a straight line and remembered he could do that. ''Evard's black tentacles'' tried grappling all creatures in the area (in a 30' radius, natch) and usually succeeded. Add ''stinking cloud'' (another 20' radius) to taste, which prevents those who fail their Fortitude save from acting and you have yourself a killer combo. At level 7. In ''core''. (In general, spells of level 3 and below can't plain win fights like this, but a failed save against a ''grease'' or ''color spray'' or ''glitterdust'' or ''web'' means you're pretty much screwed while the caster's friends & minions quickly beat you to death.)

** If you plan to play a mid level or high level caster/manifester against a non-caster/manifester, expect to win because you have ''options''. Even if the game is stacked against you, then you ''are'' about as smart in real life as your character is, right?
** Watch a 3.0 / 3.5 (or {{Pathfinder}}) fight between two Rogues. If one of them gets the initiative and pulls a Sneak Attack or two, the fight is already over.

* A party in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' consisting solely of DPS ([[TemptingFate especially an]] [[TotalPartyKill all-rogue party]]), with no healers and no tanks. Impossible to do in Dungeon Finder to prevent [[{{Griefer}} griefing]], still can be done outside of Dungeon Finder... though the advisability of such is very, very questionable.
** One of the WoW expantions, "Wrath of the Lich King", did this by accident. Due to a few miscalculations gear scaled up so fast that the healers had effectively limitless magic for healing. Thus damage capabilities were increased to the point where any character could be killed in seconds, so that the healers had to be healing quickly and proactively to keep anyone alive. As a side effect [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] combat became a game of rocket tag where any class could die kill another in seconds with a lucky crit.
* ''EnchantedArms''. You could generally wipe out RandomEncounters in two, maybe three, rounds if you weren't ambushed. If you were, you were likely to have half your party dead by the time you regained control. As an amusing consequence of this, bosses actually did less damage than the {{Mook}}s you'd been killing to get to them.

* In high-level FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance play, especially in multiplayer, there is really only one stat: speed. Thanks to a series of [[GameBreaker balance-annihilating skills,]] first strike generally wins. The amount of damage a character can take or deal is irrelevant with Viera Assassins covering half the battlefield in a single turn and instantly killing their target 85% of the time or more, or Moogle Gunners blasting insanely powerful Ultima Shots at ludicrous ranges.
** Likewise, the original ''FinalFantasyTactics'' lends itself to this sort of thing. By the end of chapter 3 it's a common strategy to stack damage-boosting equipment in every slot, and it's very difficult to build a character that can survive more than a round or two against a high-level Ninja or Summoner. And that's before you start dual-wielding Knightswords, driving your Brave stat as high as it can go and making your attacks ignore evasion.