Can the FPS genre be saved?

[Cmdr_Sdxo]

I'd like the return of old school Rainbow Six and Hidden&Dangerous-esque games that would have enough difficulty and replay value.. I'm pretty pessimistic about the future of FPS games though,what with CoD series being a commercial success....

[Manco]

Don't be elitist and say the COD's are bad, they aren't. They're to games what Die Hard is to movies: No nonsense, pure adrenaline, action rollercoaster and imo there's nothing wrong with a bit of fun.

[Total Fanatic :)]

First Person Shooter, for me a byword for mediocrity, while I like hundreds of others enjoy head shotting enemies, the genre seems to have spent the last (about) 5 years doing nothing, no evolution, no change, nothing has changed,

Graphics, AI and physics? That is all you can really change in the basic formula of an FPS lol...But then there are unique shooters like Bioshock who take things to a whole new level.

while other genres have advanced, diversified and moved on, the FPS genre seems not to have changed, beyond graphics, is their any true diffrence detween Halo:combat evolved and Halo 3?

Yes. More weapons, better physics, better AI, better multiplayer (IMO) and different story.

How can the FPS genre evolve? or am I just barking up the wrong tree?

It can't really stray away from the basic formula, so most FPS games would just be different in terms of graphics and physics. However, as a said, there are games such as Bioshock who are unique.

[Cmdr_Sdxo]

Don't be elitist and say the COD's are bad, they aren't. They're to games what Die Hard is to movies: No nonsense, pure adrenaline, action rollercoaster and imo there's nothing wrong with a bit of fun.

Well yeah, I guess I should've been more elaborate. I don't want to come off sounding like an elitist douché , CoD games are great shooting fun while they last and are very polished too , I can attest to that.

The point was that because those types of games sell better, the old tactical games like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon were changed into that ´action rollercoaster´formula, and you hardly see new tactical shooters these days. I'm not saying that all games should be like that, but that was some variety to the genre and personally my favourites.

[Francebunkerer]

Shooters have become rather bland these days. And you know who I blame for this? Halo. And as of today, Valve as well(gimmickiness of HL2 and the unninovative nature of TF2 should be sufficient evidence for this claim).

My favourite shooters as of today are, in no particular order:
NOLF 1&2
Deus Ex
BF 2
Stalker SHOC&CS

What do these games have in common? They have some actual depth. DX's story is admittedly bonkers but it has an intriguing net of choices, skills and augmentations to be replayable. BF2's commander mode, squad features, abilites of medic/engineer/support and unclocks were very rewarding coupled with the open maps and vehicles. NOLF had an excellent humour, wacky setting and for its linearity it allowed for a number of playing styles, the level design was ingenious and the skill system of the second title added more depth. Stalker had an excellent atmosphere and setting, the only horror elements I've liked in a game so far and complex gunfights.

For the rest I agree with Yahtzee in http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...ation/30-Turok and http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/157-The-E3-Trailer-Park . (Language warning, hooray)

Ah Christ, let's just make funny FPSs again. What's so bad about humour anyway?

[jimmy spong]

1st person genre is in best position right now

think of what happened with rpg and 3rd person shooters

[Stalins Ghost]

Shooters have become rather bland these days. And you know who I blame for this? Halo. And as of today, Valve as well(gimmickiness of HL2 and the unninovative nature of TF2 should be sufficient evidence for this claim).

Agreed on Halo. Halo 1 may have been pretty excellent, but the industry standard it set has basically resulted in everything just trying to be the "next" Halo. Which is entirely regressionary.

Half-Life 2 I don't agree with. Valve's evolution of character based story telling evolves more and more with every game they release. Now they're bringing that to the multiplayer arena with Left 4 Dead.

TF2, again, I loved, and still play now, over a year on. It's by and large, the most polished multiplayer game out at the moment.

[Garnier]

At least we have mods like Resistance and Liberation, and Insurgency. Mods that just want a realistic experience.

I personally don't care for fantasy, and to me innovation is only good if it is innovation towards more realism.

[Personified Boredom]

Frankly, I'm a solid DOOM fan.

If you force me to much more than shoot the dicks off of people, then whats the point?

It's a shooter. I want to shoot things. No tactics. I just want to cause as much physical pain that I can to the enemy with the aid of a bullet.

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

My Great Lord Feloric doesn't under stand why First Person Shooting video games need to be saved. Is their life in danger? Is there competition from other video game genres? It's very confusing to my Lord.

[Chuffy]

Graphics, AI and physics? That is all you can really change in the basic formula of an FPS lol...But then there are unique shooters like Bioshock who take things to a whole new level.

How?

The storyline and atmosphere of Bioshock was pretty unique and engrossing however the gameplay itself was the same old we've seen before. It was an on-rails shooter lacking an sort of depth or even polish, not innovative at all and was in general dumbed-down for a console audience. You could make an argument for Bioshock doing a lot for writing and storylines in games (although it did have plenty of problems in that respect) however its gameplay didn't advance the genre at all.

[xxax]

WTF? I didn't think FPS games needed saving? It's probably the most popular genre ever.

Ya, but think about it, all of them are just same without any new features...

That is why I rarely play FPS...

Em...Any game in a certain genre is essentially the "same". COH, RA3, AoE is basically Command and Conquer.

[HansDuet]

[quote=xxax;3998067]WTF? I didn't think FPS games needed saving? It's probably the most popular genre ever.
/quote]

A zillion flies in pile of cant be wrong?

[Hattori]

But then there are unique shooters like Bioshock Deus Ex and System Shock who take things to a whole new level.

Fixed it.

[xxax]

WTF? I didn't think FPS games needed saving? It's probably the most popular genre ever.
/quote]

A zillion flies in pile of cant be wrong?

Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of . But that's just because its one of the most popular genre's. And i see progress. COD is all about action and scripting, sure it could be better, but i really enjoyed playing through COD4 for the first time. Crysis had the whole open world thingy and amazing graphics. Far Cry 2 had a totaly open world althou its usage was really underused.
I agree that no big leaps are made, but were still moving forward.

I think, if anything, the Adventure game needs saving. It's been kept alive, barely.

[Chaigidel]

take two recent games to see the future of the full FPS game-- left 4 dead and fallout 3 -- both have fps elements generously mixed with well established genres-- the survival horror and the roleplaying game.

games like planetside as well something like that needs to be done again a massive 24/7 war of 3 armies.

[HansDuet]

Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of . But that's just because its one of the most popular genre's. And i see progress. COD is all about action and scripting, sure it could be better, but i really enjoyed playing through COD4 for the first time. Crysis had the whole open world thingy and amazing graphics. Far Cry 2 had a totaly open world althou its usage was really underused.
I agree that no big leaps are made, but were still moving forward.

I think, if anything, the Adventure game needs saving. It's been kept alive, barely.

Crysis was disappointment to me and Far Cry 2- style open world has been done (and done better 2001 Operation Flashpoint) so really nothing new.

Yea, adventure games are pretty much dead..

[Rt. Hon. Gentleman]

Agreed on Halo. Halo 1 may have been pretty excellent, but the industry standard it set has basically resulted in everything just trying to be the "next" Halo. Which is entirely regressionary.

You can't blame Halo for everyone trying to be like it. That reminds me of people knocking Dune II because everyone copied it. Microsoft didn't wave its hands in the air and say "Hey everyone, copy us!"

Besides, I was amazed after playing Halo 3 as to how good it is. As a multiplayer experience, it really is the best. Yes, that includes COD4.

"Prestige" system, my foot.

[gambit]

Doom used to be the most popular FPS out there. But current FPS games are light years ahead of Doom. I loved Perfect Dark, but compared to Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4, Perfect Dark (and Doom) sucks. So FPS games have evolved, and I'm sure in ten years Perfect Dark, Doom, Halo 3, and Call of Duty 4 will suck compared to the FPS games of the future.

I see what your saying but no. No with a big fat fail on top.

Doom is and will forever be one of my favorite games. Just this weekend I was hanging at my friends house. We had CoD4, Halo 2 and 3, Perfect Dark: Zero and some other randoms.

We decided to load up the original Doom through XboxLive Arcade. We jacked up the difficulty to nightmare, turned on the co-op, and spent the next few hours screaming our balls off about trying to fight through hordes of shotgunning zombies, strange pig/demons, floating heads that shoot fireballs and more shotgunning zombies.

Sure the graphics are outdated and you cant aim up. Maybe it's me but when I started a level and heard that classic Doom music blasting, I didnt care.

[HansDuet]

Besides, I was amazed after playing Halo 3 as to how good it is. As a multiplayer experience, it really is the best. Yes, that includes COD4.

Team Fortress 2 over it any day, any place, any dimension.