I've been watching YouTube videos of old 1st-person shooters from my youth and suddenly realised how unexciting newer 1st-person shooters are these days. The only one i've looked forward to in the last few years was CoD4, and now CoD:Modern Warfare 2. Yet when i first got my PS1 back in 1996 the thought of a new 1st-person shooter really got me going. It was about then that they really started to increase in complexity as hardware got better and developers got better at coding them. Compare the list of great 90's shooters below with what's been out in the shops these past few years;
Doom (+ sequels)
Quake (+ sequels)
Terminator: Rampage (+ Future Shock + SkyNET)
Alien Trilogy
Marathon
Half Life
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Jedi Knight
Exhumed
Descent (kind of 1st-person shooter)
I'm sure there were others too but my memory fails me this time of the evening!
The only one on your list that I actually enjoyed was Alien Trilogy, just because it was really atmospheric and anything with Xenomorphs is automatically cool.
It's because every single new FPS out there is pretty much the exact same thing as everything else. You're in a first person view, you use the mouse to aim and shoot people, and move around with the WSAD keys. I mean after a while, any gamer, hard core or casual, is going to start to find the trend very uninspiring. In fact the only company out there that seems to be doing anything about it is Valve. Half-Life 2 introduced a physics engine which made, for a brief moment in time, the FPS interesting again. Then you have Portal which introduced an entirely new twist on the genre. Left 4 Dead introduces immense amounts of replayability and a top-notch co-op system that you wont find in many other places, not to mention level design that subtly changes every time you play. And of course you can't forget Team Fortress 2. An excellent example of how an online team based game can be played when you force everyone to realize how insignificant they are unless they work together. Prey tried... but really, it was nothing but fancy level design and the portals in that game were nothing more than an interesting spin on doors.
Other than that though, I mean a FPS has become as empty a genre as MMORPG's. They all follow the same uninspiring formula anymore, so of course the hype for them has dwindled down to nothing.
I dunno, I've just been running through Crysis and I was completely blown away just like when I first played Duke Nukem or Doom. Nowadays the only retro FPS games I can play are Doom 1+2 and Quake.
But yea Crysis, HL2 and its subsequent episodes, L4D, TF2, Portal... Okay so anything by Valve is just verging on perfect. I can't get into them CoD style games at all.
I was on a "retro FPS spree" last month, played about every game in Marko's list plus Wolfenstein 3D, Heretic and Rise of the triads.
But yeah, it is like Brandon said, the FPS genre got so perfected and fine-tuned they all end up the same. Make the gameplay a bit different and your generic fragger will complain. I find myself having fun with the more tactical shooters now, like the Rainbow Six series.
Started working on one myself with retro-looking graphics but got sidetracked
People are probably going to flame me for this, but Halo improved the genre quite a bit with good vehicular combat. Yeah lots of games before it had vehicles, but Halo was the first I played where the vehicles were really fun to drive.
Wow, shame on me for forgetting Crysis. Very fun game, however my first run through seemed to feel like any other stealth FPS. My strategy felt really cheap, but I always kept on resorting back to it whenever I failed to do stuff (I played Delta mode for the Korean language track), which was to cloak and sneak, then shoot the place up, crouch, cloak, shoot up. Strength was only really good for keeping down recoil, and speed was only good for long distances.
Many of those games remind me of DOS bot disks and running memmaker
It was fun watching the technology grow into full 3D back in those days. Now it seems that we've reached a saturation point with graphics quality. Nice to see them focusing on gameplay and level/scenario design more now.
Originally Posted by Ricky Garces People are probably going to flame me for this, but Halo improved the genre quite a bit with good vehicular combat. Yeah lots of games before it had vehicles, but Halo was the first I played where the vehicles were really fun to drive.
No Halo 1 did change a lot. Mainly for console FPS games but it definitely bucked the trend. All methods of combat felt fresh in that game and the quality of story presentation was quite good too.
I know what you mean about Crysis. It's much easier to be stealthy. Infact at one point I just wanted to see more of the story so I used cloak a few times and crawled through an enemy base. But I guess it's realistic like that. If some dude ran out of nowhere all guns blazing with tanks and soldiers aplenty... He wouldn't last too long unless it's Duke, baby.
I bought the id super pack on Steam a while ago. Wolfenstein 3D, Heretic have aged terribly. W3D is basically a maze game with poor sound quality . Anyone play Rise of the Triads? That was similar in lameness. But I'm surprised that Doom (with a good engine) still holds up today. I even played through the PSP port that has no enhancements at all and the music, atmopshere and gameplay are all still brilliant. I think that was the turning point when they made the genre good. But Spear of Destiny? It's just a slightly different looking map!
I told you my memory would fail me! Yes Duke Nukem 3D was stella (Artois), as were Heretic and Rise of the Triad - all excellent. I'm not saying Crysis and the like are sh*t compared, it's just that it seems like the excitement has disappeared. BrandonC is right, there just doesn't appear to be any where else for the 1st person shooter to go, everything seems like it couldn't be much better, there are almost no more significant leaps it can make to improve upon itself.
Other games i've enjoyed since the original list are;
Quake III Arena (i have 4 copies of it on 3 different formats - one of my fav games ever!)
Soldier of Fortune 2
Red Faction (AMAZING!!)
Again, there are sure to be others i'll remember later!
oh yeah I loved the first red faction, the geo mod thingie was very interesting (could have been used more and better though) but the second one was just a generic 3D shooter which is a shame.
Duke nukem 3D is still for me the best FPS ever made.
Yeah the second one really let the first one down - i played it through to the end but it really did suck compared to Red Faction 1! One thing i did like though, despite the first game having a great multiplayer itself, albeit a differnt style, was the split screen mode - how many arenas?! LOADS!
But WTF was with the stoopid flat and bright coloured weapon icons?!
And about Red Faction 1 - how cool was the rail gun that could fire through walls?! The mine multiplayer level was really cool too - making holes in the wall and then hiding in them was ace!
Sadly I never had to luck to play a Red Faction multiplayer game, I didn't have internet at the time.
I remember there was a small level included as an extra which consisted of a glass house planted in the middle of the level, I spent several afternoons trying to dig my way up through the walls to reach the top of the level, I don't remember if I ever succeeded though.
Descent was mentioned in the first post. Anyone else remember that? I remember that it had some pretty good level design and for some reason found it more claustrophobic than Doom.
Sorry to keep chiming into this thread with games you might not remember, but games released in 2001 are not exactly old to me.
Originally Posted by Dr. James Originally Posted by Ricky Garces
I bought the id super pack on Steam a while ago. Wolfenstein 3D, Heretic have aged terribly. W3D is basically a maze game with poor sound quality . Anyone play Rise of the Triads? That was similar in lameness. But I'm surprised that Doom (with a good engine) still holds up today. I even played through the PSP port that has no enhancements at all and the music, atmopshere and gameplay are all still brilliant. I think that was the turning point when they made the genre good. But Spear of Destiny? It's just a slightly different looking map!
Haha I only liked the first episode of wolf 3d. After that it got really reallllly tedious and annoying.
"Hai lets make a long hallway with 20 dividers on both sides and place enemies in the erratically." etc
I used to play Doom and W3D a LOT when they came out. Even got a 486 DX2 66 to play doom on as it ran too slow on our 386 of the time . Used to play Qauke (1,2,3), Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Soldier Of Fortune etc a lot too.
Good old days.
I know these are not that old but did anyone like Serious Sam (First Encounter/Second Encounter) ? I loved these games, but they seemed to loose the plot with Serious Sam 2 . Never took to stealth type FPS
Originally Posted by nim Descent was mentioned in the first post. Anyone else remember that? I remember that it had some pretty good level design and for some reason found it more claustrophobic than Doom.
Sorry to keep chiming into this thread with games you might not remember, but games released in 2001 are not exactly old to me.
I remember that, still play it sometimes in DOSbox. I think it has a stunning graphics engine for the time it was released, the enemies actually being 3d instead of sprites etc.
Wolfenstein 3D I really like. I remember when it was released, I was 10 or 11 at the time, and our teacher showed us newspaper articles (featuring screenshots of the then lush graphics) and warned us to never play that foul game. We all went out and bought it that very day
Wolfenstein 3D I really like. I remember when it was released, I was 10 or 11 at the time, and our teacher showed us newspaper articles (featuring screenshots of the then lush graphics) and warned us to never play that foul game. We all went out and bought it that very day
LOL our teachers had a habit of doing that too, although with the GTA series
Almost forgot Goldeneye and Perfect dark. And I am sure there are some other games I am missing...
Descent was an awesome game - the fact that it was true 360 degrees in terms of all 3 axis of movement, along with the narrow, dark corridors and the race for the exit after destroying every level's reactor - genius! Then you had a nice pre-rendered video of your craft escaping the planet's surface to enjoy as you catch your breath... very nice game and the bringer of some very fond memories.....
I'm still enjoying Doom 1 a lot, but I really didn't like 2. I loved Heretic and Hexen, but now I forget the difference... didn't you choose a character type in one of them? I remember a knight who started with badass gauntlets. I remember not liking Wolfenstein 3D so much, either, but I had Doom at the same time and it was far superior. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, however, was great, but did anyone else despise the zombie sections? They were really tedious :/ The final boss was a bit disappointing, too.
Anyone else like Alien vs Predator? The second one is the only one I've played. Even though the game itself is not very good, playing as Alien or Predator was amazingly cool. I even liked the marine, mostly because I love that M41a firing sound...
I need to get some Quake and Duke 3D and blast through those again, I can't remember anything about them.
Old shooters rock.
Only a few modern shooters have held my interest. I did like Crysis up to a certain point, I think where those aliens came into it. I didn't mind fighting the little guys (actually, they were awesome), but everything else was really boring.
I enjoyed Far Cry 2 a lot, I think it's the first open-world game to actually feel intense. Plus the weapon system was great. I didn't mind some of the repetitive missions most of the time, because I'd switch up my weapon loadout, or try different approaches. I think it could've done without those hidden diamonds, they were a bit of a chore.
Oh, FPS games... I could go on longer, but there are actually more good ones than I thought.
Descent was very very good. And as a strange twist of fate I loved the Descent film (nothing to do with the game) too, and someone who liked my games added me on Facebook and it turns out her family made that film. Which was nice.
I wasn't keen on the RtCW zombie bit either. I really liked it up until the cave level, got bored and had to finish with cheats so I could at least see how it ended (poorly). I hope the new CW game is good though. It looks like they focus more on the supernatural element for the whole thing, rather than just shoehorning it in near the end.
Playing Crysis Warhead at the moment (like literally, bro) and it's amazing how more effecient the engine is. I'm running it max settings compared to med-high on Crysis. Love the open nature of these games which is the best form of replayability IMO.
The Descent film is known as the shittiest film ever at the caving organisation I am a member of. I refused to watch it so far I heard they are making a part two?
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. Anyone play Rise of the Triads? That was similar in lameness. But I'm surprised that Doom (with a good engine) still holds up today. I even played through the PSP port that has no enhancements at all and the music, atmopshere and gameplay are all still brilliant. I think that was the turning point when they made the genre good. But Spear of Destiny? It's just a slightly different looking map!
Edited by Dr. James MD
. Used to play Qauke (1,2,3), Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Soldier Of Fortune etc a lot too.
