FPS games = unoriginality, but why?

[Samurai Goomba]

What annoys me about FPS games is just that they tend to stick to one or two popular time periods or genres. Namely, WWII and Generic Space Marine SF Land (now with an even bigger, more overpowered gun for you to pick up seconds before the final battle.) Where are the other genres? What about Steampunk FPS's? What about FPSing in a GitS-styled Cyberpunk world? Sure, there was that GitS PSP game, and Deus Ex and Project Snowblind, but that's only three games I can think of... Well, and maybe System Shock (which I haven't played)... What about Western FPS games? What about Tribal African War FPS games?

Really, I think more game devs need to drop the "S" on FPS. If they could just think of their games as being like any other game, only with a unique viewpoint and slightly greater immersion potential, more designers could start creating really amazing games. I'm still waiting for the "Se7en" of games, the "Machinist" of games... You know, an immersive, gritty, superbly-written and realistically violent game that sets out to say something.

And where's all the weapon originality. Timesplitters: Future Perfect EASILY still has the best weapons in any FPS I've ever seen, and very few of them are actually unique to the series. Project: Snowblind also did a neat job, what with all the weapons having a completely different secondary fire option that essentially made it so that just about any weapon could stand on its own as an entire arsenal. Other than that, though, there's just way too much of the "Assault Rife, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Overpowered Seeking Piece of Crap" formula in most of the FPS games I see.

Oh, and Butter-whoops, I mean cuddly_tomato? You might look into Urban Chaos: Riot Response. It introduces some unique concepts to first-person shooters. Probably the most important is the Riot Shield, which provides portable cover, keeping the game momentum going forward at all times. Since you're nearly invincible while using it, reloading is never frustrating. Also, the weapons all feel really powerful and there's a whole NPC system where you can give other Emergency Response teams orders.

Just thought I'd mention it, since it's one of the more original FPS's I've played.

 

[Crazyshak48]

For some reason, my mind keeps going back to Project Snowblind. I think that was for PS2. It still falls in the war/space marine genre (as you're a cyborg supersoldier killing...some bad guys who I don't really remember why they were bad). Mostly I just remember some of the creative weapons and abilities, such as the alternate fire on the shotgun, which fired a barrage of explosive sticky bombs everywhere. I liked Red Faction for the same reason (and the geo-mod didn't hurt either). I loved the railgun in that game. Inventive weapons and other abilities can help overshadow a generic plot, which is one reason I liked Project Snowblind and even Crysis (mostly due to the weapon customization and the zero-g sections).

So if developers are willing to be somewhat innovative with features, then why not with storylines? I agree that the ridiculous sales of these forms of FPS to the twitchy, mindless teabaggers of the world is part of it. I also think that there are relatively few situations where taking control of someone and massacring endless hordes of bad guys is considered to be socially acceptable. If you're massacring humans, they have to be "bad guys" in a war or spy plot, otherwise they have to be mutants or aliens. I think most developers try to avoid unnecessary controversies about their products (Rockstar's antics notwithstanding), so they keep it within plot confines that they know are not going to be brutalized by the press, for the simple reason that everyone else does the exact same thing.

I'm not suggesting that developers start developing shooters about an average everyday citizen going postal in his neighborhood (I guess I'm describing GTA there again), but I think that they could at least try exploring what other sorts of plots might be both fun and (relatively) non-controversial. If they can't do that, then they could try to be more inventive with weapons and specific story twists in the game. At the very least, they could put in halfway decent characters and humor.

 

[ElTigreNegro]

With the exception of Bioshock this is a genre that has never interested me. I have enjoyed the ocassional plays against some friends, but the whole experience just doesn't appeal to me. I find that kind of view hardly of my taste, i want to see the character i'm using, not just his hands.

 

[dead_beat_slacker]

One where you can have cool powers like freezing people, throwing fireballs or flinging electricity around. Perhaps using these to solve some imaginative puzzles too?

They already made a game like that its called Bioshock. Excpet you dont use much those abilities to solve puzzles.

 

[shadow skill]

Let me put it this way, when the designers of your primary implement of destruction are more creative than you are even though they actually have to worry about the laws of physics you have a problem. If I know all of the operating parameters of every single weapon before I ever touch the game and you are not talking about weapons that are perfect like swords, spears, maces, and knives, (Bladed weapons really can't go any further, and they have existed long enough to be ascribed magical properties.) guess what, you have a problem. The simple fix is to actually look beyond the popular guns and pick up on the more rare ones or heaven forbid make them up.

When the extent of AI is flanking, you have a problem. In real life the enemy will put bombs in cars and bury ordinance in the road. FPS games need to account for the fact that players probably have the equivalent of decades of combat experience through these simulators so he or she will probably come up with five or six strategies given his or her avatar's weapon load out to deal with flanking. The most obvious partial fix for this at the moment is to institute a system of random or psuedo-random traps.

Except that traps piss off the user, a user who is probably one of the players that sits foamy mouthed as they rush through blowing everything to shit. God forbid you blow up a bomb and throw the character on their back and those 3 seconds it takes to get back up may as well be used to serve a death warrant for the developers.

I know what you mean, Resistance 2 had the right idea but they were just set pieces. I loved the invisible predator Chimera though I know lots of puss- err people hated them even though they were not particularly cheap since they could be killed in one hit. I could have understood if they had, had ten times more health than you (On normal don't know about the higher difficulties.) and were capable of a one hit kill, but Insomniac made it fairly even and still got a wave of hate for that.

 

[Axolotl]

Um.. unless I am mistaken in Fallout 3 you were in first person mode and you shot stuff. And I believed that had originality oozing out of every orifice. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is pretty original as well but I've only played Shadow not Clear Sky.

I think you must be mistaken as I remember no Originality in Fallout 3, it oozed alot of something but it wasn't originality.

 

[PlasticPorter]

There are varieties of Fps's Just most of them are in another genre, you coud call games like fallout, bioshock, Hlaf-life, and even oblivion Fpses. Stop bitching and just play the game, if its a good fps you shouldnt give a shit if the "hero" is a space marine. Its alot more likely for a marine to be holding a gun than anything else. Enjoy the game, if you want variety play something other than an fps, play a puzzle game, a platforming game, stop bitching and just enjoy.

Here Here! There are plenty of very original and innovative FPS titles.

some other great ones

Mirrors Edge is great and im sick of people bashing it even though they've never played it just cause Yahtzee whined about it on his weekly hate fest.
Left 4 Dead kicks ass in that its a Co-Op game that actually rewards teamwork and encourages group tactics as opposed to the standard "lets split up and murder everyone co-op" as well as being the first legit zombie FPS.

take your pick and stop complaining. If you want the best story or action in the gaming industry right now FPS are where you wanna go. FPS are the most immersive gaming medium and as such if done right can really let you get sucked into a story (which I love)

 

[PlasticPorter]

There are varieties of Fps's Just most of them are in another genre, you coud call games like fallout, bioshock, Hlaf-life, and even oblivion Fpses. Stop bitching and just play the game, if its a good fps you shouldnt give a shit if the "hero" is a space marine. Its alot more likely for a marine to be holding a gun than anything else. Enjoy the game, if you want variety play something other than an fps, play a puzzle game, a platforming game, stop bitching and just enjoy.

Here Here! There are plenty of very original and innovative FPS titles.

some other great ones

Mirrors Edge is great and im sick of people bashing it even though they've never played it just cause Yahtzee whined about it on his weekly hate fest.
Left 4 Dead kicks ass in that its a Co-Op game that actually rewards teamwork and encourages group tactics as opposed to the standard "lets split up and murder everyone co-op" as well as being the first legit zombie FPS.

take your pick and stop complaining. If you want the best story or action in the gaming industry right now FPS are where you wanna go. FPS are the most immersive gaming medium and as such if done right can really let you get sucked into a story (which I love)

 

[Galaxialconda]

I miss FPS's that had a sense of humour about them. They didn't take themselves too seriously.

I want the old Turok games back.

 

[rossatdi]

Ok, we have the grizzled space marine with a gun that looks like a piece of construction equipment or the WW2 tough guy with a chin you could crack anvils on.

Anyone else?

Why in the name of Michael Bay are there no other genres of FPS games? I am loathe to speak for anyone except myself but am I really the only one who is getting a bit fed up with this?

Michael Bay films are normally crap but experiencing explosive set pieces are the point of the genre! Plus the best in show is still the Half Life 2 series and that's not overly Michael Bay.

It's not even as if it would be difficult to come up with some alternatives... here:-

Napoleonic wars (a la Sharpe), with muskets and flintlocks.

One shot every minute? That'd be AWESOME.

WW1, up over the trench with 30 buddies, all trying to get to the machine gun nest without getting perforated by enemy bullets.

F5...F10...F10...F10...F10...F10...fucking Germans!...F10...F10...success you are now in the enemy's trench. You now have 3 days to prepare for the inevitable counter attack that will kill you because the fortifications are set the wrong direction.

Pirates, specifically the boarding parts. Running around Friggates and stuff with those awful little pistol things, complete with explodable environments from all the cannon fire.

Again, one shot a minute (at best). It would have to be FPM (first person melee) although it would be cool.

Being in a SWAT team, having to raid random buildings in a city to rescue hostages and stuff. Even driving your SWAT van there and ordering your squad about. (kinda like GTA but with an FPS SWAT motif).

You mean kinda like Rainbow Six?

If they had a go at any of these I guarantee they would generate more interest (and sales) than Medal of Honor:1032 or Call of Duty 17. Is there a valid reason game developers haven't tried something new?

Actually Call of Duty 4 was (more or less) the best loved of the series, was in a newish setting and was all round excellent.

If you removed Gears (because its not an FPS) you don't actually have that many bad ass space marines in FPSs. Also the military background is a logical thing considering!

Half Life -> Research Scientist
Call of Duty 4 -> SAS (not a marine) or Marine (as an attack force)
Far Cry -> Ex-soldier
FEAR -> SWAT like officer
Left 4 Dead -> Posh girl, Vietnam vet, Biker, Officer worker
Unreal 2 -> Sheriff (of space admittedly)
Deus Ex -> UNATCO agent, cyborg
Alien Vs Predator -> A fully fledged badass space marine...but this still goes in my top 10 FPSs for the Marine campaign.
Unreal Tournament -> Athlete
Halo -> Badass space marine (but its the weakest game in the list!)

 

[Wicky_42]

Damn, ate my post.

The problem isn't the lack of settings in the FPS environment it is the lack of innovation. As technology advances we are NOT seeing the equal advancement in gaming that should come with it. Sure everything gets more prettier but that is about it, there is no innovations since the addition of jumping from the ROTT or Doom era.

What we are not seeing is the computers being pushed to breaking point in other ways. There is nothing out there which equals WOW or EQ2 in shear networking requirements, from a server end. Today's computers could handle having to calculate the ballistics of a 15 KM artillery bombardment that has to be controlled by a good commander who understands it is a bad idea to not carry a 1. No game wants to incorporate realistic ballistics which will have snipers requiring more skill then being able to 'twitch game.' None have really large open maps without incorporating NPC elements required to stop making those maps seem like a desert where one squad of seven is running around aimlessly while hoping to find another squad of seven. No game has thought about adding realistic effects to getting shot, believing everyone wants the typical 'built like a fridge' action hero that can take a million bullets and just brush it off as if they where throwing snowballs at him. The biggest that pisses me off... That door is closed, no way in hell your ever going to be smart enough to turn the knob and open it! I hate limitation on the damn maps, as a sniper I need more then ONE open window to fire out of! Can't relocate when you got no where to damn well relocate too....

And so on and so on...

They are too scared to break away from the 'you are a one man army' set up that has become the normal for the genre! None want to explore the possibility of adding large scale warfare that requires cooperation and tactics to win, targeting instead those immature and insenstive people that need to feel they can slaughter a whole room of bad arse marrines before anyone even blinks.

*snip*

There's some good points in there. I for one would love to see some of the ideas from BF2 and Crysis developed and extended - entire cities modelled (much like how Prototype is promising), being able to enter many if not most of the buildings there, with objectives within them being dynamically changed over the course of the battle.

For me, innovation in an FPS isn't about designing some shiny new gun that shoots lasers and boiled eggs or introducing some new gimmick with zero gameplay effect. It's more about seeing where the edge that the majority of fps get to in terms of gameplay, realism, ai etc and then pushing them. An example of an interesting idea that works is the mod 'Project Reality' for BF2, which forces more reliance on team work both in small squads and as part of the larger effort to succeed. Features such as blurred vision from bullets impacting nearby and bleeding out after taking a couple of hits are initially confusing and frustrating, but once you learn the game dynamics they become exceptionally rewarding and powerful - .50 cals and massed rifle fire can actually suppress squads, blinding and slowing them through successive near misses, for instance.

Striking a balance between kick-ass space marine and squishy SWAT tactical shoot is the key to beginning to deliver a more interesting game (your godly power in Crysis eventually begins to grate a little bit, for instance).

Of equally high importance is AI - for something that is so important to the single-player experience, so few games seem to bother putting any effort into it. Why can't the AI learn how you play, and adapt to it? That would truly be innovative and interesting - far more so than some quirky new gun.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

There are varieties of Fps's Just most of them are in another genre, you coud call games like fallout, bioshock, Hlaf-life, and even oblivion Fpses.

Bioshock, Fallout, and Oblivion are not FPSs. An FPS is a weapon-centric game. Those are more RPG/puzzle type games.

Stop bitching and just play the game, if its a good fps you shouldnt give a shit if the "hero" is a space marine. Its alot more likely for a marine to be holding a gun than anything else. Enjoy the game, if you want variety play something other than an fps, play a puzzle game, a platforming game, stop bitching and just enjoy.

I am guessing you are new to forums. Nobody is "bitching". The entire point of a forum is discussion, not solving the worlds problems. I see a severe lack of innovation in FPS games, and being someone who likes FPS games, wondered what other peoples opinions were on this, so started a thread on it. That is what forums are for. That isn't "bitching". If you don't like that topic then what you do is close the thread and find a topic you do like. Spamming it up by asking people not to post ostensibly because you don't like the topic is "bitching" and very rude.

The napoleonic wars one would be very very boring, Different but boring, although maybe if they turned the reloading into a mini game type thing(but that era really lends itself to more of a RTS game). WWI could work. I like the pirates idea, If you could use swords and daggers. The SWAT one kind of sounds like rainbow six though, Maybe if you ramp up the raid planning capabilities.

They were just random ideas I plucked out of the air while making the post to illustrate that coming up with an alternative to WW2/space marines would not tax the average brain, I never intended for people to focus on them too much. How about you are a mutant animal in a research centre who escapes into the big city and goes on the run while being hunted by security forces? How about you are an alien who gets left behind on earth (circa 1950s Roswell style) and has to duck and dive from the CIA long enough to get rescued? Why not make The Terminator as an FPS? Play it as The Terminator and have to hunt down and kill someone, fighting police etc as you go like in the film?

If I ever want to play a decent game where I pick up a gun and kill something, I am more or less forced to do it during WW2 or as an unstoppable space marine. There doesn't seem to be a good reason for this beyond game producers absolute terror of trying something new.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Features such as blurred vision from bullets impacting nearby and bleeding out after taking a couple of hits are initially confusing and frustrating, but once you learn the game dynamics they become exceptionally rewarding and powerful - .50 cals and massed rifle fire can actually suppress squads, blinding and slowing them through successive near misses, for instance.

I dream of a day when we can have realistic suppressive fire. Honestly you never see it in a game for two reason: No one is scared of death and will blindly charge into it anyway... though I still blink every time that happens. And of course in most games there is no reward for suppressive fire. Instead it is punished in most games, be it limited supply of ammo or your position being given away or worse of all the 'can't hit the broad side of a barn' mg effect that comes straight from Hollywood. The blurred vision, I know a few games that do it, is a pain in the arse but it is a good way to reward people who understand that pinning a enemy can be just as good as killing one.

As for AIs... they seem to be going backwards!

I hate AIs in all games! RTS the worse, I literally watched my units being shot down because they where to stupid to close the tiny distance between the enemies max fire range and their own in RA3 and don't get me started on the fact they can't stay together as a unit and get picked off by anything that comes along, but I digress. Even FPS they are annoying! They tend to be uselessly following you around as they can not seem to function if they are not in eyesight of you at all times. They still get in the way when your lining up shots, are required to be kept alive even when they run full pelt at the enemy on a whim, shoot you in the back or worse drop grenades on you. That last one annoyed the hell out of me in COD5, clearing out a enemy position only to turn around, maybe light a smoke, and see one of my own guys lob a nicely positioned grenade... right at my feet. Yeah, frustration.

It can't really be that hard to program a AI, even the enemy bots are down right ridiculous. Instead we either get dumb as doornail bots that can't even figure out when you are shooting them in the knee caps from two feet away. Or of course the much loved telescopic sighted bots that can pick you off a mile away even when your standing in the middle of the friggen jungle.

The coding can not really be so limited can it?

But yeah, before I started ranting, it isn't about making a new shiny weapon in the game or trying to think up a story that hasn't been milked to death. It is about taking the technological advances and figuring out ways to use them to advance the genre as a whole. Flashy never sticks in my mind but a game where I had to better myself, learn something new to overcome and master... well that won't either but that is my faulty memory's fault. It will have a better chance of doing so though!

Maybe making a AI that is capable of responding with the same limitations a human player might have could be a damn good place to start.

 

[kdragon1010]

I really enjoyed the FPS based on the Star Trek universe. There also was one based on being the commando guy from the Command and Conquer games that was a lot of fun.

 

[Wicky_42]

How about you are a mutant animal in a research centre who escapes into the big city and goes on the run while being hunted by security forces? How about you are an alien who gets left behind on earth (circa 1950s Roswell style) and has to duck and dive from the CIA long enough to get rescued? Why not make The Terminator as an FPS? Play it as The Terminator and have to hunt down and kill someone, fighting police etc as you go like in the film?

If I ever want to play a decent game where I pick up a gun and kill something, I am more or less forced to do it during WW2 or as an unstoppable space marine. There doesn't seem to be a good reason for this beyond game producers absolute terror of trying something new.

The mutant animal idea escaping from security idea has already been bested by Prototype (if it lives up to its goals) - it has the entire city of New York for you, a pathogenically mutated amnesiac, to free run around, killing civilians, military, special forces 'Blackwatch' and other mutants... and absorbing their biomass to make you even more powerful. I'm really looking forward to this, heh. Though it is third person, and thus technically not filling out this genre.

Terminator has already been done as well - though I think it was crap, being set in the future war, fighting other terminators. Would be interesting to try and work out how to do one set in current times. Oh, and it seems a little inconsistent to be resisting the rise of the unstoppable space marine, but to want a game involving terminators, lol.

CoD 4 wasn't WWII, and it worked well. The thing is, when selling the idea of a game to the publishers or whoever, it helps to be able to reference a game to a recognisable real world event - guaranteed product recognition, good source material from which to base it, generally expected to rake in money. However, the closer to the current day that the event is, the more controversial making a GAME of it becomes. There are a lot of games based in WW II because we've had time to get over it and the Western world won, so western producers don't feel any qualms about recreating it. There are significantly fewer based in Vietnam, possibly because it had a more lasting impact on the American psyche, and the American's didn't win, thus making it less popular. I can't really be bothered looking through every conflict ever and comparing the number of games produced from each, but I think a trend of largely avoiding contemporary events prevails. WWII is perfectly placed at the extent of living memory, as well as being the first war to feature dynamic use of a wide range of weapons recognisable and analogous to modern weapons, thus allowing an easy transition from sci-fi and near future games to them - easier than, for example, to flintlock muskets and the like.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Napoleonic wars (a la Sharpe), with muskets and flintlocks.

One shot every minute? That'd be AWESOME.

3 shots a minute.

And if shots per minute is the only way a developer can make a game fun then they frankly suck at making games.

WW1, up over the trench with 30 buddies, all trying to get to the machine gun nest without getting perforated by enemy bullets.

F5...F10...F10...F10...F10...F10...fucking Germans!...F10...F10...success you are now in the enemy's trench. You now have 3 days to prepare for the inevitable counter attack that will kill you because the fortifications are set the wrong direction.

Yes. I understand it is impossible to institute some kind of time distorting mechanic/plot development/feature into games. This is the reason I spent most of Call of Duty 3 sitting in a tent and walking from France to Germany.

Pirates, specifically the boarding parts. Running around Friggates and stuff with those awful little pistol things, complete with explodable environments from all the cannon fire.

Again, one shot a minute (at best). It would have to be FPM (first person melee) although it would be cool.

It depends on how it is done. Remember it is a video game, it doesn't have to be ultra-realistic. Realism is a vastly over-rated gaming feature, as the recent games have demonstrated.

Being in a SWAT team, having to raid random buildings in a city to rescue hostages and stuff. Even driving your SWAT van there and ordering your squad about. (kinda like GTA but with an FPS SWAT motif).

You mean kinda like Rainbow Six?

No. I mean not like Rainbow Six. While I liked R6 :Vegas and its sequel they were very much highly structured set-pieces. Even if they weren't grizzled space marine/WW2 soldier, there was even less innovation in those games than Halo. Once you worked out where the enemies spawned and were the cover was it became less like a game and more like work. Ok, I walk up this corridor, slide along the wall, kill two men on the right behind the pillar, order my squad to stack up on that door, go around to the side, shoot machine gunner, order men to break in... etc.

In any case, as I pointed out earlier, those examples were not given much thought and not really intended to be the focus of this discussion. The point was a lack of anything really new. If you look at another genre (RPGs for instance) we have come from Diablo and NWN to things like WoW and Fallout 3. Games which don't just have random monsters to kill, but towns, villages, people in them sleeping, and eating. Factions, races, all those things. The FPS hasn't really moved on a whole lot from Doom.

 

[fd18e3d0-816e-11e4-b4a9-0800200c9a66]

It's like he's never played the TimeSplitters series. Just wait for the fourth game, that will show you there is still originality in FPS's.

I have played Timesplitters, featuring a grizzled space marine as its central character. It was different in taking a tongue in cheek approach, that I grant you, but it still didn't bring anything to the party that we haven't seen before. Anyway, I thought the forth one was cancelled to the demise of Free Radical?

not according to Wikipedia they didn't [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Radical_Design] you'll notice they let people go but they didn't shut down. The genius of TimeSplitters wasn't in the story but in the mini-games or challenges you could play to unlock extra characters. Like the mission where you unlocked the gingerbread man and chef, I don't remember why you were there but you had to fight with a chef and his ingredients, or the one where you fight flaming zombies at the circus. the story didn't make any sense and the space marine was a farcical look at the character, the games excellence came in it's ridiculous characters and odd sense of humor, that was the important part.

i have to agree with this, the sheer amount of random characters made it far more enjoyable to play than say halo or cod. What other game is there where you can be a lone sock with two fingers for legs fighting against a horde of zombie monkeys. The was also map maker which allowed you to build custom maps and campaign missions. I hope the fourth one will be good and not just a quick job to try and get some money in to cover for the flop that was haze.

Timesplitters 2 is my favourite FPS, closely followed by Future Perfect

 

[SnowCold]

Since when Original=Good?

 

[BigbadaBEEF]

It's like he's never played the TimeSplitters series. Just wait for the fourth game, that will show you there is still originality in FPS's.

I have played Timesplitters, featuring a grizzled space marine as its central character. It was different in taking a tongue in cheek approach, that I grant you, but it still didn't bring anything to the party that we haven't seen before. Anyway, I thought the forth one was cancelled to the demise of Free Radical?

not according to Wikipedia they didn't [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Radical_Design] you'll notice they let people go but they didn't shut down. The genius of TimeSplitters wasn't in the story but in the mini-games or challenges you could play to unlock extra characters. Like the mission where you unlocked the gingerbread man and chef, I don't remember why you were there but you had to fight with a chef and his ingredients, or the one where you fight flaming zombies at the circus. the story didn't make any sense and the space marine was a farcical look at the character, the games excellence came in it's ridiculous characters and odd sense of humor, that was the important part.

Also check the free radical website, Haze didn't do them much good, so theyre ditching the haze engine and making a new one for timesplitters, the monkeys WILL return!!!!!