Poll: Third-person versus first-person for shooters

[Brawndo]

Which do you prefer? I think that while first-person allows for better aiming, third-person provides for greater immersion because I feel I am actually playing a character and not a floating gun. My main issue with third-person is that it allows you to see around corners or over obstacles that you would never be able to see in first-person, which is a problem for competitive online play. Still, Socom 2 is probably one of my favorite shooters of all time and it was a TPS.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

It depends on the game. I can't imagine playing Gears of War in first person and Modern Warfare 2's third person mode was fucking awful.

 

[weker]

Third person gives a better sense of character for me, so if I am looking for a story driven game, third person all the way.

 

[ResonanceGames]

I grew up playing Quake, Doom and Jedi Knight, so it's first person for me.

 

[Soggy Toast]

It depends on the game. I can't imagine playing Gears of War in first person and Modern Warfare 2's third person mode was fucking awful.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head right here.

 

[Jegsimmons]

i prefer first person, but on the other hand the only thing keeping me away from third person are those damn cover mechanisms that make the controls clunky and annoying.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

It depends on the game. I can't imagine playing Gears of War in first person and Modern Warfare 2's third person mode was fucking awful.

yup agreed.

depends on the style of the game and how everything works.

although i will say it is easier to get the camera "right" in first person most of the time, between mw2 and countless others, they just...ugh, the person who did the third person camera had no idea what they were doing.

. Still, Socom 2 is probably one of my favorite shooters of all time and it was a TPS.

i might just love you OP

that camera in socom 2 was by far the best it has ever been. and that game was so much fun...i haven't put as many hours into any other multiplayer than i did that game. i clearly had an addiction to it.

 

[ChupathingyX]

It really depends on the game;

Modern Warfare 2 in 3rd person was horrible.

Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal in 1st person was horrible.

 

[AD-Stu]

Depends entirely on the game - anything that involves more than basic jumping / climbing / etc only really works in third person, for example.

 

[JaceArveduin]

as said, depends on the game. I like both views on SW:BF2, thouh usually leave it on 3rd

 

[skywolfblue]

I prefer third person. I find it gives a lot better spatial awareness.

 

[Sixcess]

I prefer first person for pure shooters, but third if there's a fair amount of other gameplay such as exploration; dealing with npcs, puzzle solving, climbing, platforming (especially the platforming)

That said I'm not really a fan of cover based shooters to begin with - which is what I mainly associate third person shooters with. It makes for a lot of really contrived level design as every location is inexplicably furnished with the requisite number of chest high walls. Mass Effect 2 (though I quite enjoyed the combat) was really very obvious about that in places.

The only game I play where I switch between first and third is Fallen Earth, and in that I'll go third person for everything except PVP seeing as that's by far the most challenging combat and first person gives me better control of my aim.

 

[loc978]

First-person for frantic run and gun (favorite example: Unreal Tournament)... third-person for games with cover mechanics (favorite example: Winback. Fuck Gears).

 

[Vault101]

3rd...definatly

I dont know...I like to "see" the charachter in action, and of ocarse it doesnt get the game "shoe-horned" into the catagory of FPS

 

[plugav]

Generally, I prefer my shooters to be FPP, but I was surprised to discover how much I liked the system in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I played that one more as a stealth game, though (and who didn't, eh?), and the TPP wall-hugging let me look past my cover and around corners, so that might be the reason.

 

[Phisi]

First person if I have a choice usually unless it is absolutely horrible but I would occasionally switch to third person in Fallout when I got bored of rooming the wasteland and wanted to to see what I looked like.