Modern trends in FPS I do not care for

[RubyT]

What I hate is the trend this trend (coming from consoles and casual gamer accessability I guess) to mark EVERY FRICKIN' THING the player can do.

It pissed me off first in Batman: Arkham Asylum, I think, and most recently in Bulletstorm. Every single time you come across a half-height ledge, the game tells you "press key to jump over". Every button you can press or lever you can pull is marked from miles away "press key to use". Press here to kick, press there to slide. What is that, is the game playing me or what?

Also, I don't care about dead-man-switches. If there's a cutscene where my character has to shoot something or someone, don't bother letting me press LMB. Except if I have choices or options. If the cutscenes just waits for me to press a button, it feels like its only making sure I didn't drift off.

Oh yeah and it's not good gamedesign if two cutscenes are joined by a part where I just walk 20 feet from A to B. Don't bother, just make that part of the cutscene.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

This is never really been a problem of realism so much as a limitation of the controller. Simply put there is no good way to switch between a large number of weapons. The difficulty of performing a simple weapon swap increases as the number of weapons a player can carry at any given moment increases.

I dunno. I thought the HL2 Xbox port had quite a good system involving the D-pad. Which could be streamlined into giving you 4 classes of weapon, and letting you carry one of each at all times - using the D-pad to swap between them.

I also like the idea of a system that gives the player 2 separate inventories, like Bad Company (1) did. You had your standard weapons inventory (which could hold 2 weapons) and the equipment inventory (which could hold 2 pieces of "equipment", which were generally just really fancy and cool methods of making shit blow up). The system limited itself a bit, but I think the potential is still there: have a "standard" weapon inventory for stuff like Assault Rifles and Pistols, and then an "exotic" inventory for bigger stuff such as snipers and RPGs. It would probably work best in a sci-fi setting with lots of imaginative weapons.

I am not saying it isn't possible to switch between multiple weapons; just that as the number of weapons increases the ease of doing so decreases. A 360 controller has 12 buttons and an 8 way d-pad to work with. The vast majority of that functionality is taken by common functions: aim, shoot, throw grenade, melee, jump, crouch, use and so forth. This leaves one with relatively few buttons available for the purpose of swapping weapons.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

I've just played the Bulletstorm demo.

Can I just say, "everything in that demo"?

I'd rather eat my own vomit.

That bad, eh?

Hmm, I may reconsider buying it then.

I thought the game was quiet fun, brazenly juvenile and I actually laughed out loud during the cutscenes. Bulletstrom is a giant FU to all the modern FPS trends as it's colorful, has a developed protagonist, unique weapons and gameplay that's more than just killing people to stay alive but moreso finding optimal and crazy was to kill people. If anything with all the people griping about FPS trends I thought the game would be better received.

I've no doubt it's juvenile, and while I've nothing against that as such I suspect it might get tiresome for me. Seems to me to be another 'bros fighting wars', to quote Chris Remo, only with added nob gag and shooting people in the ass. As I said, I've considered getting it, if only for the novelty and spectacle, but as I tend to agree a lot with root it's made me reconsider a bit.
And I certainly don't mind them being a counter point to insufferable games like every CoD game after the second, I suspect it still has regen health and red jelly on my screen. Could be wrong though.

I did look up some videos tonight and there seems to be a few things I disagree with on a game play stand point: there sure seem to be a LOT of button highlights and random numbers going on at the screen. I'm not fond of that, and it annoys me quite a lot.

Eh, I did just buy a new graphics card so if it goes on sale I might disregard all of the above and buy it. Even if it will pain me no end giving money to CliffyB.

 

[G-Force]

I did look up some videos tonight and there seems to be a few things I disagree with on a game play stand point: there sure seem to be a LOT of button highlights and random numbers going on at the screen. I'm not fond of that, and it annoys me quite a lot.

Eh, I did just buy a new graphics card so if it goes on sale I might disregard all of the above and buy it. Even if it will pain me no end giving money to CliffyB.

Well just to let you know it does have Regen Health but you seem to be way more durable that in other shooters on account the game doesn't want you to camp. Also the button highlights and points can be turned off in the display menu.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

I did look up some videos tonight and there seems to be a few things I disagree with on a game play stand point: there sure seem to be a LOT of button highlights and random numbers going on at the screen. I'm not fond of that, and it annoys me quite a lot.

Eh, I did just buy a new graphics card so if it goes on sale I might disregard all of the above and buy it. Even if it will pain me no end giving money to CliffyB.

Well just to let you know it does have Regen Health but you seem to be way more durable that in other shooters on account the game doesn't want you to camp. Also the button highlights and points can be turned off in the display menu.

See now, that is some good news!

 

[9999squirrels]

You sir, have hit the nail on the head. The fact that you often have weapons on your model you can't use is rather moronic. It either smacks of developer oversight and or laziness (not to start hating but the Pyro in TF2 has three incendiary grenades strapped to him as an example). A lot of FPS need to get back to basics, like in Quake and as you said Half-Life.

 

[monkey_man]

You sir, have hit the nail on the head. The fact that you often have weapons on your model you can't use is rather moronic. It either smacks of developer oversight and or laziness (not to start hating but the Pyro in TF2 has three incendiary grenades strapped to him as an example). A lot of FPS need to get back to basics, like in Quake and as you said Half-Life.

The Grenades were to be used, but Valve deemed it to be inbalanced. And they thought the grenades were going to be spammed like some other games. *cough cough COD cough*. Demo,Soldier and Heavy also have non-used cosmetics. But not using everything on the player isn't bad, Imagine the Pyro without the wiggling grenades. Heavy without the HUGE ammobelt. Soldier without the suicide grenades. Al of those men (yes Pyro's male, stfu)'d be a lot duller. And 90% of tf2 is cosmetic anyway now, with the hats and all. ( I like them btw, they are pretty, especially the Napper's Respite for Pyro with a tf2 logo ).

Anyway - I agree with the OP. FPS's are pretty bad in design at the moment, but they can still be entertaining. And isn't entertainment what games are all about? Right?

 

[Mute52]

I don't care for killstreaks and ranking up systems, i just want to shoot people.

 

[bombadilillo]

Games are being dumbed down for a lazier base. I don't want to have to deal with damage I take, make me always have full health. I can't be bothered to observe the game, make someone give me the bullet points in a cutscene so I know why I'm shooting the bad people. Mass Effect seems like its getting labotomized atm so sucks for fans of the series too.