I really liked the health system used in Call of Cthulhu. It used a locational damage system and there were several different types of damage (light and severe bleeding, poison, broken bones) that would impair your ability to function in various ways. Rather than running over health packs, you picked up specific medical supplies like bandages and antitoxins and carried a small number of each in a first-aid kit. Healing your injuries required the proper supplies, and you had to find a safe spot to hide for a few moments while you worked on your injuries.
There were definitely a few times where I only had enough supplies to stabilize my condition after a bad run-in with something nasty. I'd still be alive, but weak and limping until I could scavenge more supplies.
This is probably not appropriate for every game, and the implementation wasn't perfect, but it's my favorite health system in a game so far.

Although I think when id thought of BJ, they were thinking of something along the lines of the more provocative side of Hollywood.

Trauma system. You could heal only a part of your wound, so your total health was lowered (and it was lowered with almost every hit).

I agree, the system had a very desperately realistic feeling to it. The problem is we can't have nano-fuelled super-soldiers busting out bandages and sharps. Its a nice idea, but still, I suppose the compromise is some crazy stim-pak thing.

I don't mind regen health all that much. It pretty much saved my ass when I played COD 4 and it had it as well.

Kind of how some animals are more equal than others, eh?? :animalfarm:

Using Animal Farm in a discussion about video game health mechanics makes my head explode.

Regenerating health can be done right but it's really hard to pull of compared to health packs. COD with no heath packs is extremely hard, and with Regen, it would be a peace of cake. just by hiding behind cover. MOH:AA would be easy on hard if it had Regen. Some of the tenseness was that things could go easily wrong if you were not careful. If your are a great player in FPS games, Regen will most likely make most games easy. Health packs or none forces you to think more and be more tactical. I'm more willing to use different weapons when i have health packs or none then i am when I have Regen.

Regenerating health is easier for developers in terms of level design, at least if you can carry the health packs around with you. It's easier to plan enemy encounters because the player isn't going to use his health packs and spontaneously double his health bar in the middle of a fight.
Personally, as long as it works in the individual game, I don't really care which system is used.

There are at least six different health systems used in games
Reagen = tends to make games easy
Reagen sections of health = Better
Carry health packs= Best IMO
Use only part of health packs= Better
Health packs= old school but reliable
none= Hardcore, mostly in tactical games