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Cardboard Box Realtor
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Hobb's End
Posts: 7,648
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What Makes A Good First Person Shooter: A Series
Since 1994 when I first played Doom II on my dad's PC I have always been a fan of first person shooter games. However at the same time I dedicated a lot of my time to the LucasArts adventure games like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and ToonStruck (not made by LucasArts). These games helped utilize my inquisitive nature and love of puzzles, while games like Duke Nukem, Doom, and Quake helped vent my anger and essentially allow my brain some rest while I just let follow a simplistic instruction of "shoot everything on screen". All this changed in 1999 when I got valves masterpiece Half-Life for Christmas, along with a computer capable of running it. Half-Life channeled my First-Person-Shooter action craving, but also brought to the table platform gaming, as well as the odd puzzle. Not only that, but it forced me to rethink my strategy of killing everything on the screen, now there were friendly A.I's who were detrimental to my survival, by either offering offensive assistance or giving me access to the next area. For the past decade now I have been a die-hard Half-Life fan, playing almost every expansion that has come out for it (I missed out on the PS2 one). Not only that, for the past 10 years I've been trying to figure out what makes a good FPS and the trends I've observed. Here are a few games that I felt have really had a profound effect on the genre of gaming, along with a quick explanation of why.
Half Life Series
I'm not sure if there's any series out there that even comes close to hitting as many points as this series does. It's got a compelling story that is shrouded in mystery, likable characters who actually feel like they all contribute, and a protagonist who's well received by almost everyone despite the fact he never says a word. Yes, the silent protagonist approach seems to have really worked out well for Valve as Gordon Freeman has reached almost mythical status and become a loved character, despite the fact he has never uttered a word. The fact that Gordon isn't a macho soldier that leaks testosterone out of every pore really helps this series differentiate itself from the rest. While like everything else it's not infallible, the long waits between games coupled with the fact it does tend to follow a bit of a pattern, I mean how many times are Valve going to make us do a see-saw puzzle? Regardless of a few minor complaints, the fact that Valve have managed to work a well written story with amazing voice acting and action sequences but with slow down periods that involve platforming and puzzles really help push Half-Life to it's own.
Call of Duty 4
I'm sure a few people are scratching their heads and wondering why I chose this title of say... Call of Duty 1 or Call of Duty 2. While I can say that I really enjoyed both titles, by the time I played them I was already bored to tears with World War II first person shooters. I did like the teamwork aspect in the first Call of Duty, for the time, the A.I. was fantastic. The thing I loved most about Call of Duty was that it completely disregarded the "Lone Wolf" approach that games like Wolfenstein 3D and the Metal of Honor series went for. Call of Duty also let you experience the War through the eyes of a British and Russian soldier, escaping the tiresome "America Won The War" feeling that every other game seemed to encompass. Call of Duty 4 took all that and put it on a grand scale. It changed up the timeline to the not too distant future, and gave a far more unique vision of what War is really like. After the incredibly starting tanker mission, I was then jumped into the body of the President of an unnamed Middle Eastern country that had just staged a coup. The only control I have is the ability to move my head as I'm driven across this city as tanks and soldiers start rolling out. Innocent civilians are being shot in the street. I know my fate is sealed, then I'm tied up to a post and a Desert Eagle is pointed in my face, then everything goes dark. The thing Call of Duty 4 does best though is giving off the feeling that WAR IS BAD. In most War FPS' you're this unstoppable bad ass who can take legions of bullets without even breaking a sweat as you triumph over an unmistakable evil. In Call of Duty 4 both sides that you play (American Marine and British SAS) are portrayed in less of a positive light and in what I can only imagine is far more realistic. Not only that, but there is a certain element of danger in it as SPOILER the American Marine you play, Sgt. Jackson, gets killed off halfway through the game in a nuclear explosion. You had just committed a heroic act of saving a downed helicopter pilot and you're flying away in your own when a nuclear blast goes off, downing your helicopter and killing the entire crew. The screen turns a crimson red and you're left dragging your body around, looking at your strewn comrades, the vacant and lifeless looks on their faces, until you yourself finally succumb to your wounds and radiation poisoning and die. Never before had I played a game where the main character actually died right in front of me despite me doing everything the game told me to do. I was completely helpless, I couldn't save him, no matter how well I played the game, I was doomed to an untimely death. There is no patriotism being shoved down our throats, there's nothing but a pile of digitally rendered dead bodies, including our own. Even the end of the game ends on a sour note as SPOILER your British SAS members, people you get attached to, are executed right in front of you, and even your own fate is left in the unknown. No game had ever really put these main characters in any real danger, especially when they're right in front of you in the game and not a cut scene. Call of Duty 4 really leaves a sour taste in your mouth as far as war is concerned.
I'm going to continue this series, but as there's quite a bit already there, I'll let you sit and digest it, comment on it, your own observations, and your arguments against me.
Enjoy!
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