Why are FPS falling into categories?

[DoctorNick]

Well, as has been noted games tend to fall into various tropes of playing mechanics.

You have your shooting, your puzzles, your platforming, your character leveling/customization, etc.

It's been my experience is that the BEST games are ones that focus on a single style of mechanic such as shoot, jump, frantic-click-base-build, take anywhere from a few to a great many elements from another game type, and then polish the fit of the various elements to a bright shiny finish to make sure they all work together.

Not at all unlike making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, taking care to use the bread you like, getting the smooth(or chunky, depending) peanut butter, selecting the right type of jam, and then putting them together in a balanced manner.

An admittedly imperfect analogy, but the best I can come up with on short notice.

Now, I'm sure most of will have noticed that recent FPS'es are all pretty much the same thing:

Halo 1-2-3: Man in armor mowing down waves of generic baddies.

Gears of War: Man in armor mowing down waves of generic baddies.

Half-Life 1-2-Ep1-Ep2: Man in armor mowing down waves of generic baddies.

Dead Space: Man in armor mowing down waves of generic baddies.

All mechanics from one game type, First-Person-Shooting in this case, and little to nothing from anything else.

While on one hand, if the formula you have works, great, but this does tend to lead to waves of generic same-y games. Admittedly I do personally give the Half-Life series a lot of forgiveness here because the characters actually seem to have real emotions and manage to make me care about them.

But if your actually looking for something DIFFERENT it seems to me you need to go back to the sandwich school of thought and find something that mixes otherwise very diffrent game modes.

I'd be the first to admit that I'm not as big of a gamer as I was in years past and my knowledge of current games is a bit limited, what with my computer being NINE YEARS OLD and unable to run modern games and money a bit to tight to make it possible to constantly shell out for brand-new xBox360 titles, so the best example I've actually played is rather old:

Deus Ex.

You can get it for next to nothing off of Steam, the story is fairly interesting, and it does a good job of combining FPS with RPG. As a bonus, the decisions you make ACTUALLY MATTER and make a difference in what happens later on, which is always a good thing in my book.

If we were going to spin off FPS-RPG's into their own individual genre worthy of an allotment of rack-space at the game store then Deus Ex would be the top-shelf game which all others in the genre would look towards for inspiration and aspire to be.

I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants something at least somewhat different at a price that can't be beat.

 

[hypothetical fact]

The problem is that you don't know what you want. Gears of war (not even in first person!) is too similar to Halo but mirror's edge and portal aren't "FPS's". Under this logic if you are shooting in first person then you have played the game before but if you are in first person and are not shooting than it is completely different.

First person shooters are only falling into categories because you have decided that if a FPS is remotely different which is what you want, than it isn't an FPS.

 

[Tarakun]

I'd just like to point out my favorite game from 2007. Team Fortress 2.
In a world where everyone bows before the mighty God that is realistic graphics, Valve said no. They made a cartoony/Pixar looking game that proves that the most important element in a game is the GAMEPLAY.

Team Fortress 2 actually mixes up the combat, giving you 9 different ways to kill your opponents. Say you want to kill another person, you can:

1: Juggle them with rockets until they die.
2: Shoot grenades at them, or lure them into an exploding trap.
3: Light them on fire.
4: Dance around them at top speed shooting them.
5: Snipe them from a distance.
6: Set up a sentry that shoots anyone who goes near it.
7: Pick up the biggest gun you've ever seen and slowly advance on them spraying.
8: Sneak up behind them and stab them in the back.
9: Heal someone else while they kill your opponent.

All of these classes have strengths and weaknesses and that means no one class is better than all the others. Everyone has a role to play, and everyone can do well.

The problem with FPS isn't that its an FPS, its that everyone wants to do the same thing as Halo/CoD. Developers would rather reuse a formula that works than try to do something unique. The FPS genre hasn't used up all its resources; there are still plenty of places they could go from here.

 

[Copter400]

Spoiler: Half-Life 2 Episode 2

For comparison:

Spoiler: Bioshock (ignore the red bits)

I don't think it's physically possible to play those two games, come out and say, "Nope, nope, they're definitely alike." Speaking of which, you should buy The Orange Box and Bioshock.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Yeah, Halo has such a cerebral and groundbreaking plot and so many multifaceted and deep thematic elements

And your quip about reviews is only reinforcing my statement, not disproving it.

Elitist misinformation? These games both proudly revel in being bro games.

I'm very sure you're the perfect person to judge the depth and complexity levels of the Halo storyline. I say that in an honestly ironic manner.

Without fail the worst reviews for a genuinely mediocre (or ever rather good) game will complain about how amazingly terrible the game is. A good or great game will receive reviews ranging from "meh" to "OMFG I LUV!"

The "elitist misinformation" statement is based on arbitrary judgements of quality (likely stemming from your personal unfamiliarity with the control scheme of console shooters and utter unwilingness to attempt familiarization), not from applying an odd moniker to a segment of the games' target demographic.

Finally I'd like to ask you to quit putting post information in leading quotes. It rather annoyingly put multiple messages in the quoted's inbox.

Do

you

see

what

I

mean

?

Instead just put the name as I have done here, thank you.

 

[KaZZaP]

Well I have personally renounced WW2 shooters and im not getting anymore FPS's unless theres somthing about them thats special. Recently bought Left 4 Dead and Mirrors Edge, but Mirror doesn't count as a shooter to me becasue I didnt fire a gun once in that game, and L4D doesn't count because you can grab people with a zombie tounge and thats just badass.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Beause they're being MADE categorical.

Wisdom dispensed, next question! *rings bell*

 

[meatloaf231]

*Elitism*

I'm going to say two things. Yes I am.

Firstly, while both Halo 3 and Gears revel in being bro games, that doesn't make them bad. That just makes them unsatisfactory to you based on your standards of intellectual involvement in a game. The target audience, they're great games. They're simple and fun, and that's generally all the bros are looking for. You aren't part of the target audience. Criticizing Halo 3 for not being intellectually stimulating is like critiquing a child's board book for not having a good enough plot. It's not trying to please you, it's trying to please the bros.

Secondly, saying that you played all the games long before everyone else did is on the same level as saying "I liked X band before they were popular." It's about as elitist as it gets. I noticed you tactfully steered clear of the Elitism thread, too.

 

[minoes]

(I'm open to (POLITE) suggestions on buying FPS titles)

You could try to find "Breakdown" for the original Xbox, and "Maken X" for the Dreamcast (maybe emulated or something).

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

1. Is that the best retort you could come up with? Why not offer some actual examples instead? I would like to hear what you can muster up compared to my best friend who, not only has one game for the Xbox 360 (and that's Halo 3) and refuses to buy another, but loves droning on and on about how cerebral and compelling the plot is. It's almost as hilarious as it is pathetic.

But maybe you can do better

2. Your naive overestimation and resounding trust of the intellectual quality and perception of those working for major gaming review sites is adorable.

3. Wait, since when was I unfamiliar with the control scheme of console shooters? I was the kid who got Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and TimeSplitters long before anyone else did back when I was in elementary school. I've been playing console shooters since, but that doesn't mean I have to swallow the dogma that a gamepad offers the same level of accuracy and ease of use (for me anyway) as a mouse and keyboard.

1. Not my best certainly, I was merely expressing my doubtfulness that you have the necessary experience with Halo's story to be an informed judge of it's quality. Ascendant Justice [http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/hindsight-halo-3/] is a fine reasource if you want to look into it.

But for specifics from myself? Well, I for one enjoy how the events make perfect sense but aren't explicitly explained to the gamer. For a minor example Halo 3 opens with a nighttime view of a fireball descending through the atmosphere; soon a second, smaller fireball can be seen which eventually crashes close behind the camera's perspective. Then it's daytime and marines discuss how far Master Chief fell (2 kilometers they estimate). When gameplay starts the player can see what looks like a Forerunner (they would be the ancient, extinct, and highly advanced aliens) door in a shallow depression. The information is never givin but any reasonably intelligent person can surmise that the Chief took the door and jumped off the Forerunner Dreadnought (which he was on at the end of Halo 2), using the door to give himself some protection from the heat of re-entry and the impact.

A more major example would be as follows. At the begining of Halo 2 the Prophet of Regret attacks Earth with a confusingly small fleet. Only his flagship manages to break through the UNSC (the human government) defenses and parks over New Mombassa. There's much fighting on the ground and Regret's ship at some seemingly arbitrary time begins to initiate a slipspace jump (slipspace is basically hyperspace with slightly different physical peculiarities). A UNSC ship follows and they come to another Halo. One can assume that this Halo is a very recent discovery for the Covenant otherwise they would already be there in force. Later it is learned that Regret did not go to Earth to attack as he assumed there would be no-one there. Thus one can guess that he was looking for something; and maybe he found something, a Forerunner data storage device or the like and in it found the coordinates of this Halo ring.

That is basically why I like Halo's story, that kind of stuff is everywhere. Plus the voice acting and dialog are better than average and the characters have some depth for a military story.

And since you've ignored Gears of War I'll point out the "destroyed beauty" aesthetic, the feudal Europe in the future type of setting, and the numerous intriguing mysteries.

2. They wouldn't be employed if they didn't provide some sort of useful service, it's not naive trust so much as an understanding of economics.

3. I did say likely, and you did earlier state that you found the controls of the very same games we are discussing now to be frustratingly poor.

 

[vxicepickxv]

The biggest single issue I can see about talking about the FPS genre is that you all run into a major problem with those first two letters. First Person. You can't really change the first person perspective in any FPS, otherwise it wouldn't be an FPS.

All you can do to an FPS to change it is come up with new ideas, stories, graphics and gameplay methods. These would include things like a Portal Gun, Cover, Regeneration, and so and so on. Go play doom for about 10 minutes, then play bioshock.

They're not all FPS games anymore, they're First Person Games, or FPG instead. Now they come in multiple flavors.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Anything mildly original? FPS?

Perhaps give The Ship a try.

An FPS with elements from The Sims plus a bizarre array of weapons makes for a unique experience.

It's cheap as chips on Steam now. You can also check out their website:

http://www.theshiponline.com/

There is a sequel coming!

 

[shadow skill]

1. Is that the best retort you could come up with? Why not offer some actual examples instead? I would like to hear what you can muster up compared to my best friend who, not only has one game for the Xbox 360 (and that's Halo 3) and refuses to buy another, but loves droning on and on about how cerebral and compelling the plot is. It's almost as hilarious as it is pathetic.

But maybe you can do better

2. Your naive overestimation and resounding trust of the intellectual quality and perception of those working for major gaming review sites is adorable.

3. Wait, since when was I unfamiliar with the control scheme of console shooters? I was the kid who got Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and TimeSplitters long before anyone else did back when I was in elementary school. I've been playing console shooters since, but that doesn't mean I have to swallow the dogma that a gamepad offers the same level of accuracy and ease of use (for me anyway) as a mouse and keyboard.

1. Not my best certainly, I was merely expressing my doubtfulness that you have the necessary experience with Halo's story to be an informed judge of it's quality. Ascendant Justice [http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/hindsight-halo-3/] is a fine reasource if you want to look into it.

But for specifics from myself? Well, I for one enjoy how the events make perfect sense but aren't explicitly explained to the gamer. For a minor example Halo 3 opens with a nighttime view of a fireball descending through the atmosphere; soon a second, smaller fireball can be seen which eventually crashes close behind the camera's perspective. Then it's daytime and marines discuss how far Master Chief fell (2 kilometers they estimate). When gameplay starts the player can see what looks like a Forerunner (they would be the ancient, extinct, and highly advanced aliens) door in a shallow depression. The information is never givin but any reasonably intelligent person can surmise that the Chief took the door and jumped off the Forerunner Dreadnought (which he was on at the end of Halo 2), using the door to give himself some protection from the heat of re-entry and the impact.

A more major example would be as follows. At the begining of Halo 2 the Prophet of Regret attacks Earth with a confusingly small fleet. Only his flagship manages to break through the UNSC (the human government) defenses and parks over New Mombassa. There's much fighting on the ground and Regret's ship at some seemingly arbitrary time begins to initiate a slipspace jump (slipspace is basically hyperspace with slightly different physical peculiarities). A UNSC ship follows and they come to another Halo. One can assume that this Halo is a very recent discovery for the Covenant otherwise they would already be there in force. Later it is learned that Regret did not go to Earth to attack as he assumed there would be no-one there. Thus one can guess that he was looking for something; and maybe he found something, a Forerunner data storage device or the like and in it found the coordinates of this Halo ring.

That is basically why I like Halo's story, that kind of stuff is everywhere. Plus the voice acting and dialog are better than average and the characters have some depth for a military story.

And since you've ignored Gears of War I'll point out the "destroyed beauty" aesthetic, the feudal Europe in the future type of setting, and the numerous intriguing mysteries.

2. They wouldn't be employed if they didn't provide some sort of useful service, it's not naive trust so much as an understanding of economics.

3. I did say likely, and you did earlier state that you found the controls of the very same games we are discussing now to be frustratingly poor.

I found the characters to be quite flat really, then again I'm not like the Valve dick riders who wouldn't know the difference between a plot and an actual story if it hit them in the face. I would guess that if I found Half Life's story (Not plot.) poorly executed I am not liable to find the things that you mentioned particularly engaging as they were never delivered well in Halo. It's also kind of ironic that you cite scores from reviewers to justify that somene else's statements are elitist misinformation. It's as if you admit that you do not have your own opinion on the quality of the game in question.

You understand economics? Really do you? You are going to use one of the most illogical constructs ever invented by humans to justify the use of other people's opinions above those of any other single individual? It's like telling someone the sky is green because a thousand people say it is! Its not as if the people reviewing games are any more qualified to do so than you or I. What makes the review scores authoritative? Absolutely nothing save for the fact that they told you they are (implicitly) in order to generate revenue for themselves.

I won't go into depth here but as someone who uses Southpaw to play console shooters I can state as a matter of fact that both Halo 3 and Gears of War 1 (Haven't bothered with two.) had control schemes designed by complete morons. What with effectively impossible contortions one would have to do to play these two games at various times if you wanted to use anything other than the defaults.

Onto the actual topic of this thread:

The problem with FPS right now is that you know absolutely all of the weapon parameters before you have played the game. You know which guns will be effective and which ones will be nerfed before you play; and the genre itself does not know how to tell a story or is afraid to even attempt to do so. Every other genre has simillar problems (Though not to the same degree by far FPS are the worst.) but all of the top tier manage to differentiate themselves. Take the stealth genre: Splinter Cell (before the devs started drinking fail juice this was in the top tier for the genre.) Metal Gear, and Tenchu are all stealth games but not a single one of these franchises play alike save their most base elements. (The things that actually make them a part of the same genre.)

 

[crimsondynamics]

Anything mildly original? FPS?

Perhaps give The Ship a try.

An FPS with elements from The Sims plus a bizarre array of weapons makes for a unique experience.

It's cheap as chips on Steam now. You can also check out their website:

http://www.theshiponline.com/

There is a sequel coming!

Avast ye land lubbers! Man the deck, raise anchor and sound the foghorns!

Where did you see this though? It's not even on their official website!

 

[Nutcase]

The problem with FPS isn't that its an FPS, its that everyone wants to do the same thing as Halo/CoD. Developers would rather reuse a formula that works than try to do something unique. The FPS genre hasn't used up all its resources; there are still plenty of places they could go from here.

Exactly.

You picked TF2 as an example, but for all its upsides, it's also a sequel to a 12-year old game and retains a lot of its predecessor. Tribes and Natural Selection would be examples of actually breaking the mold in class-based MP, but I am hard pressed to think of recent examples of the same.

Even the much-maligned WW2 games' single player has not explored but a small corner of what is possible. There would be a ton of new gameplay (not just setting and plot) in playing the part of e.g. a Panzergrenadier, a Panzerjäger or a Gebirgsjäger. Co-operating and communicating with armor, supporting it, ordering fire support and assaulting from inside armor would be fun. Even such a basic and critical infantry tactic as covering fire is pretty much absent from current games.