My Thoughts: First Person Shooters
Alright, everyone enjoys shooting people - erm, in games, obviously. Everyone, at one point, should experience the rush you get from running into a room full of enemies in an FPS like Resistance, Warhawk (technically 3rd person, but it handles in the same way) and taking them all out and living to tell the tale (for a few more minutes anyway.
But are FPS’s overrated?
Well, yes, yes they are. Sure, an FPS can be a great game, and some even suck you in with their storyline, but if you strip that away it’s still just shoot-shoot-shoot run shoot. Now don’t get me wrong, I love FPS’s, I own loads, but when an exclusive FPS comes along that people have heard of, everyone goes crazy. At the moment, the exclusive (as far as we can tell)FPS to be released soon is Haze - but why is it so special? What sets it aside from other FPS’s? Timeshift added time altering powers into the mix, which was nice. FEAR added the supernatural very effectively, with clever scripting and cinematic play.
The best FPS I’ve played in a long time? Probably FEAR, and that was 6 months ago, really, most FPS’s are the same, but with different storylines. Timeshift looks interesting (from the demo I’ve played), but it’s still mostly shooting, even if the time powers change the experience somewhat. I’m getting tired of over-hyped FPS’s being the cornerstone of gaming lately, everyone is talking about Haze, and Halo, whilst other games are getting ignored in comparison. Ratchet and Clank Future is an awesome, but there’s nowhere near enough people talking about it. Heavenly Sword was awesome, though short, but I hardly saw this anywhere. Assassin’s Creed is talked about quite a bit, and it’s better than any FPS I’ve played since FEAR (and I’ve played at least 5 new ones).
People need to stop looking at FPS’s for gaming so much, I’d have to say that I prefer Adventure games such as Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank and Prince of Persia to any new FPS, because they’re all the same nowadays - there’s no real differences, whereas Uncharted, Ratchet and the older POP games are really, genuinely awesome.
Also, whilst I’m at it, shut the heck up about Halo - it is without a doubt the most overrated game on the planet. It is just another FPS, there is nothing new to it at all, not even the storyline, and I’m sick of it. Please, let Halo rot in the corner and release something new for a change - NOT another FPS.
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I’ve got to back you up on some points there Gamoc - there are many FPS which are the same, and the water can often be muddied with marketing hype. F.E.A.R. is indeed excellent, but about 4 years old now, and Timeshift is fun, but thats largely because it sits on the shoulders of F.E.A.R, and, well, I hate to say it, but Blinx did it all years ago, albeit in a cutesy kitten form.
However, I find your comments perhaps a little too general - saying all FPS are the same because they all involve running and shooting is like saying all adventure games are the same because they involve puzzles and jumping about - you can basically strip any gaming genre down to a few actions that you repeat over and over.
Halo is an obvious target for those against the FPS hype machine, and it’s very cool to say it’s rubbish at the moment. But I think its unfar to condemn it because its not the life changing experience the very slick marketing campaign has suggested. Having played it extensively before my 360 died I have to say it IS brilliant — the single player is fun, though not amazing, but the multiplayer is so perfectly tuned it’s incredible - I love Warhawk, but it doesnt even come close the multiplayer experience on offer with Halo3.
Of course, Halo 3 isnt the best of the FPS — Half Life 2 and it’s sequels are superior, and superb, as is Bioshock. Unfortunately if you are a PS3 only kinda person at the moment pickings are slim — our best options are FEAR or Resistance - the old or the ugly. I have high hopes, however, this is supposed to be our year, and I’m about to buy UT3 this weekend — fingers crossed 2008 will convince me (and Gamoc!) the FPS on the PS3 isnt a waste of time after all.
Oh.. and one more thing I agree with — I FAR prefer the likes of Ratchet and Uncharted to FPS games, but thats just a personal taste.
Whilst you may be right about cutting any genre down to a series of tasks that you repeat, it is especially true with an FPS. You go through a room, shooting as you go, then there’s a cut scene, then you go through a few rooms, shooting as you go, throwing a few grenades, etc, and a cut scene. And that’s all it is. I am yet to see an FPS that doesn’t do this.
Also, an adventure game has many, many opportunities to add something more interesting - for example, the reflex-based button presses from God of War (and, more recently, Heavenly Sword), more intuitive controls and other such things.
I can only see something new in an FPS lately on the Wii, and that’s only because the Wii is forcing intuitive controls upon the developers.
I’ve played Halo 3 online, and I much prefer Warhawk, though the forge thing looks interesting (which is really just stolen from Garry’s Mod). To each their own, I suppose.
Don’t get me wrong, I love FPS games, but I buy them for their multiplayer now, and how good that is, because there won’t be anything really new in an FPS for a long time. I’d say that things that an FPS is a dumbed down Adventure game (in the likes of Uncharted), because Uncharted is, when you think about it, and FPS - but third person, with exploring elements, puzzles and platforming. And FPS is just the shooting part - you can do it well, but it’s still mainly just shooting. Also, it doesn’t matter how old a game is, if it’s good it’s good, regardless of it’s age. How old something is shouldn’t really influence your deceision to buy it, so ‘old or ugly’ isn’t really that hard of a choice.
I cannot believe you guys just posted this without mentioning Call of Duty 4. This is probably one of the best games I ever played and I have most games mentioned above.
Obviously you’re correct about the whole run/shoot thing but the fact of the matter is that no other game has depicted real military combat like this game.
I dont think HALO, FEAR or WARHAWK come particularly close to acheiving the cinematic effect that COD4 has and at the end of the day this is what I personally look for in a FPS.
FPS Are definatly getting boring. I play demos and after 5 minutes I put them down. If it doesnt grasp me from the begining I dont give it a real chance. Halo 3 AMAZING. Im bored of it and may never play it again, but give the man his props. Decest story, excellent action, and unforgetable battles. Then Call of Duty 4, another excellent game. Blows Halo out of the water in my opinion. Ratchet and Clank is a 3rd person shooter by the way!
But at the end of the day you are very right about FPS’s. They are becoming mundane. As a gamer I want to be excited BEFORE the game comes out. I want my mouth to water when I see a commercial for it. Halo had this effect on me. then COD4. I heard over and over again from different ppl to try this game. So the mental hype was there. I dont think we are wrong in demanding more of our games. Especially when they become mundane, unoriginal, and boring as many FPS’s have become.
Yeah, COD4 is another example of an FPS done right - but it’s still the same formula. It’d been done very well, but it’s the same thing again - FEAR was the first cinematic FPS I ever played, and it was bloody awesome. It sucked me in like an FPS has never done before, and I will always love that game, even when I complete it (my PC started going wrong after I downloaded something a while ago and I haven’t bothered fixing it).
COD4 does sound awesome, the cinematic play, modern warfare (for a change), but it’s still shoot-shoot - and FEAR almost was, except there was the supernatural thing. The storyline in COD4 doesn’t really sound like it’d grip me though, regardless of the play.
I’m ashamed to admit I havent even played COD4 yet, and only seen it in action a few times, though it does look brilliant.
Just ordered my copy of UT3 through a brilliant import site — really looking forward to that one!
I think he has a good point. FPS in and of itself is a very a good concept. It places you in the shoes of the shooter, and by extension, in the battle. I know when I play FEAR at 4 in the morning and everyone’s asleep, I’ll spend 5 or 7 seconds just to look around a corner. I have a strong stomach, and it’s still really freaky to me.
Take that Doom.
But the FSP themselves are getting very generic. Personally, I was not a fan at all of Timeshift. The plot was weak, and while the graphics were pretty stellar, we’ve seen time control before and, for me, this game brought nothing new to the table to play with. It’s point and click…… in slow motion I might add. Nothing more to it, really, for me, at least. Game designers are doing all they can to make their new FPS unique. Most are failing. I, myself, thought Resistance was excellent. It’s the best I’ve played in a while. But, please, can we take a new approach.
I’ll tell you one thing, MGS4 has a lot to live up to, especially with the lack of real quality infiltration games. Splinter Cell’s pretty good I guess.