# First Person Shooter Apreesh



## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 14, 2011)

The General Music Discussion forum has had any number of genre appreciation threads, so why not the gaming forum? I figure there are many FPS fans lurking these parts, so it'd be a tip-top place to start.

This can be the place to talk about all things FPS related. What are your all-time faves? What do you look for in an FPS? What FPSs have you been stompin' on lately? Any developers you think do it particularly well? What would you like to see _more_ of in FPSs? Thoughts on recent trends?

Stuff like that. If you can imagine it and it has to do with FPSs, stick it all up in this bitch.


I'll kick it off with a recent observation I've made. 

I've only recently acquired a PC worth its gaming salt, and over the past several weeks I've gone a little crazy DLing games on Steam, the majority of which have been FPSs. The observation that came as a result of that is that all of the people who have been telling me for _years_ that FPSs are better on PC than they are on console were completely, totally, 100%, unequivocally...



...*CORRECT.*

I'm enjoying my FPSs now more than I ever did on console, and that's including a few that I've already played on console. I'm lovin' it (ba da ba ba ba).


Generally speaking, I tend to like my FPSs to be weird, quirky, stylish or different from the established norm in some way. Given that, some of my all time faves are:























Lately I've been playing a couple of (IMO) gems:






I'm a complete loot whore, and the infinite number of random guns that are randomly found throughout Borderlands give my boners boners. I know the plot isn't riveting and the gameplay is nothing particularly new or fascinating, but I like the art style alot and.. godDAMN, the _loot!_


Aaaaaand...







It's almost surreal that a game that _isn't_ open-world/sandbox can feel so much larger in scope than games that _are_. It's also uncanny how believable Valve manages to make such a futuristic sci-fi environment feel. The plot is intriguing, the gunplay is fun (at times precise, other times frenetic), and I actually start to feel attached to a protagonist who _never says a goddamned word_.

Seriously, folks. Best FPS ever?


EDIT: Freeman looks like he wants to sex you up on that box art there.


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## ZEBOV (Jul 14, 2011)

Lately I've been playing Halo: Reach. I'd rather play Bad Company 2 on the 360, but my 360 can't read the disc even thought there are no scratches on it. I'm pretty tired of the Xbox 360 because of the crap hardware on the 360's. The microphones are really crappy too. I've bought at least 20 microphones since starting an Xbox Live account several years ago.
In the near future, I'm going to build a gaming PC which will also be used for music production. I'll play Battlefield 3 on it since it will support up to 64 players in a game. As for Modern Warfare 3, I'll play it on Xbox Live because I'll be teamkilling on it, pissing off a bunch of kids, and posting it on Youtube. There are more kids playing on the Xbox 360 than the PC.
Overall, Battlefield 3 is likely to be the last shooter I'll play seriously. Developers used to be very creative with shooters, and now they're just copying from each other. And Treyarch fucking sucks at making games! I wish shooters would be more open, more sandbox, like Armed Assault 2. No game is as sandbox as Arma 2. It's a war game, yet you can ride a bicycle in it, level entire cities with carpet bombing runs (the environments are destructible), be a pilot, be a sniper, be a civilian, be a tank gunner, and so much more.
And the thing about destructible environments, I first saw destructible 3D environments in Red Faction on the PS2, and when I saw that, I figured more games would have destructible environments, but I didn't see destructible environments again until.... Red Faction 2, and then again in Bad Company. As much as I like shooters and especially war games, I'm getting tired of there not being destructible environments. It's pretty lame when I fire an RPG at a sheetrock wall that has an enemy on the other side, and the wall still stands and the enemy is still alive. The RPG can penetrate 10 inches of steel in real life!
I hope other FPS developers learn from Battlefield 3 and make destructible environments, and I also hope they make something more original than fighting enemies that are invading or planning to invade the USA. In just a few years, there have been several games with that plot.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 14, 2011)

BioShock > *

BioShock 2 < *

Cannot wait for Infinite.


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## Tomo009 (Jul 14, 2011)

Tim Splitters!

Too bad there probably won't ever be another seeing as crytek now owns it...

I'm pretty eager to try Battlefield 3 as Battlefield 2 was the only realistic shooter that ever really interested me. Bad Company was terrible, too CoD like.

Halo was fun in the day, but it's been so long with so little change. Then Reach came... another FPS fallen to the CoD copying.

What was also really run back in the day was 007 Goldeneye. Truly classic.

But still Time Splitters was just amazing, I probably played 2 the most just because that was the time when I had the most opportunity to play with friends etc. But Future Perfect was undoubtedly better in every way possible, just not as nostalgic for me seeing as I played TS2 first.


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## sk3ks1s (Jul 14, 2011)

[/thread]


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## Jontain (Jul 14, 2011)

Golden Eye was epic! 

Unreal Tournement was one of the best ever shooters for me.

Something a bit different for an FPS (which i like) is the batshit mental Zeno Clash, very strange world but an awesome combat system.

Source engine FPS's are always good such as the Half Life Series, Counterstrike, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead etc (Looking forward to The Heist but it unfortuantly looks more like a L4D clone with police and not zombies.)

Both FPS and RTS for me are best played on the PC, games like Halo and CoD i find frustratingly slow and numb, which works well on the console controller but I am afraid its just not for me.


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## teqnick (Jul 14, 2011)

Counter Strike was, and still is awesome (1.6). I played CS competitively for about 4 years, but played 9 years altogether(not including breaks). It's one of those games I can pick up randomly, and be amazing within a few hours.

I really haven't gotten into CoD, or any of the more modern FPS's. I'm a fan of the simple CS guns and layout, and always will be..

p.s, FUCK SOURCE


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## ZEBOV (Jul 14, 2011)

I never liked Counter Strike. The host had too much power, and with my luck, I usually joined a game that had an asshole host. I'd join, kill the host, and he'd kick me out. I played for a few weeks total, and that was 95% of my experience.
I played the shit out of Goldeneye though.


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## Origin (Jul 14, 2011)

I like CS:Source and 1.6, Quake 1 2 and 3 (liked 4 but it's a little too different haha), the Dooms (cept 3. >_>), Wolf 3D, Painkiller, COD2 (not Modern Warfare), F.E.A.R., Crysis, Metro 2033, all the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s except Clear Sky, huge fan of the Half Life series, etc.  I love the immersion and the reflexive controls. Can't get that into any other genre, they just don't give me the same feeling and experience.

I remember my first FPS experience playing Wolf 3D on my Grandpa's Windows 3.1 laptop as a wee one. It was mesmerizing.


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## cwhitey2 (Jul 14, 2011)

Borderlands is pure win, first couple times i played it i thought it was a lil stupid (only rented it for a week) then my roomie bought it and it consumed about a year of my life (besides my guitar). DEFF worth picking up, endless hours of game play, lots of downloads and just pure awesome.


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## sk3ks1s (Jul 14, 2011)

I'm not much of a gamer. But I agree that Borderlands was an awesome game. I love looting. Very much looking forward to the sequel.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 14, 2011)

Anyone remember this from back in the day?






It felt pretty much like a Doom clone, but man, some of the weapons were epic. Plus in RotT's God mode, you actually _were_ God:


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## MF_Kitten (Jul 14, 2011)

ROTT was always so messy and confusing. But fucking awesome at the same time. Such weird level layouts and strange aesthetics.


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## Tomo009 (Jul 14, 2011)

Origin said:


> I remember my first FPS experience playing Wolf 3D on my Grandpa's Windows 3.1 laptop as a wee one. It was mesmerizing.



Wolfenstein 3D was my first "real" gaming experience as well. I was playing it on an old PoS computer (even for that time) in the garage, before we even had dial up internet. Wow tat was a long time ago.


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## Joose (Jul 15, 2011)

Goldeneye

Halo (series, minus Wars)


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## DavyH (Jul 15, 2011)

Great thread.

For all it was short and a bit glitchy, Medal of Honor had some great set pieces (helicopter transitioning to the sniper mission), just IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER. CoD/MW anything, right from the start.

So much for realism.

I absolutely love Borderlands, it's the only console game that feels really like an old PC game and gives the same range of characterisation, customisation and development.

Bulletstorm was good for a few hours of completely mindless mayhem... surprised no-one ever seems to mention it.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 17, 2011)

Holy shit. The reward at the end of the main quest in the Claptrap DLC for Borderlands is a loot whore's wet dream. I seriously gasped out loud when I got it.


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## ZEBOV (Jul 18, 2011)

This is how I like playing.


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## Mexi (Jul 22, 2011)

I grew up in the early 90s when FPS' were really starting to take off. I still remember playing Wolfenstein 3D or Doom after school. ROTT was a blast, albeit ridiculously over the top at times (ludicrous gibs!) and more recently to games like Half-Life 2, which imo is the best FPS ever made. that said, I hate Valve for leaving us hanging at the end of episode 2 without as much as a mention of if/when they plan to revisit Half-Life.


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## ry_z (Jul 22, 2011)

I'm just hanging out, no big deal


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 22, 2011)

Man, I need someone to play the Mad Moxxi Underdome missions with. I either suck too hard to do them on my own, or they were designed to necesitate multiplayer. Either way, goddammit I'm frustrated.


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## highlordmugfug (Jul 22, 2011)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Man, I need someone to play the Mad Moxxi Underdome missions with. I either suck too hard to do them on my own, or they were designed to necesitate multiplayer. Either way, goddammit I'm frustrated.



I would, but I won't really be on much until next tuesday. My gamertag on xboxlive is the same as my username.

Anyone feel free to add me: just let me know who you are when you do.
EDIT: I need more people to play borderlands with anyway, it's usually just me and my friend tim, and since my old xbox died, I'm playing through the entire game again, including the DLC's. Right now I've done none of the DLCs and I'm almost done with playthrough 2.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 22, 2011)

highlordmugfug said:


> I would, but I won't really be on much until next tuesday. My gamertag on xboxlive is the same as my username.
> 
> Anyone feel free to add me: just let me know who you are when you do.
> EDIT: I need more people to play borderlands with anyway, it's usually just me and my friend tim, and since my old xbox died, I'm playing through the entire game again, including the DLC's. Right now I've done none of the DLCs and I'm almost done with playthrough 2.


 
I play it on PC/Steam .

I _do_ have it on 360, but only the vanilla game. I got the GotY Edition with all the DLC when it was on sale on Steam early this month. So far the Mad Moxxi DLC is the only one I've had any trouble with at all. Well, I haven't tried to fight the Clamerax yet, because it has a recommended starting level of 61, so... yeah...


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## highlordmugfug (Jul 22, 2011)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> I play it on PC/Steam .
> 
> I _do_ have it on 360, but only the vanilla game. I got the GotY Edition with all the DLC when it was on sale on Steam early this month. So far the Mad Moxxi DLC is the only one I've had any trouble with at all. Well, I haven't tried to fight the Clamerax yet, because it has a recommended starting level of 61, so... yeah...


My laptop overheats easily, so I deleted it off of here.

Crawmerax is an asshole, with 2 people leveled enough (especially if you use the cliff glitch) he's a pushover.

The only problem I had with the Moxxi DLC was finding the time to play the longer ones  Me and my stepbrother beat all of the shorter ones, and 1 of the longer ones (the second bit you unlock) and I only went down once (Brick) and him twice (Mordecai) the entire time.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 22, 2011)

highlordmugfug said:


> My laptop overheats easily, so I deleted it off of here.
> 
> Crawmerax is an asshole, with 2 people leveled enough (especially if you use the cliff glitch) he's a pushover.
> 
> The only problem I had with the Moxxi DLC was finding the time to play the longer ones  Me and my stepbrother beat all of the shorter ones, and 1 of the longer ones (the second bit you unlock) and I only went down once (Brick) and him twice (Mordecai) the entire time.


 
I haven't been able to get further than the 4th wave of any of the shorter ones by myself. I realize I'm no pro, but still. It's frustrating. I'll be chuggin' along at a good clip, then get the "no shields" bullshit and have to fight that Lance boss with the Eridian Cannon or some shit. The game _wants_ me to fail. I'm level 45 with some serious fuckin' guns, it should be cake. I can make it through the Lance Circle of Death rounds were you end up having to fight a fuckin' Lance Tank on _foot_, but there's always some bullshit thing to trip me up in the Underdome.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 24, 2011)

I tried Left 4 Dead for the first time today. I gotta admit, I'm much more impressed than I expected to be, considering it has a few strikes against it in my book from the get go. It doesn't have a deep or interesting story, the characters aren't well developed at all, it has 28 Days Later zombies instead of Romero zombies, and it's primarily known for its online multiplayer. Those are all things that tell me I _shouldn't_ like it, and yet...

And yet...

Goddammit, it's just *fun*. It's both eerily creepy _and_ maddeningly intense (though I think I prefer it rolled back on the intensity at times in favor of creepiness, but that's probably because I haven't tried multiplayer). I'm sure my mom must've cast many a sidelong glance at my room, prompted by the cacophany of

*BLAM* *BLAM*

*RATATATATATATATATAT*

"No no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT"

I'm still not very good at it yet, but I'm still enjoying it. More than my AI companions - who I keep shooting - are enjoying it, though.


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## The Grief Hole (Jul 24, 2011)

Goldeneye coming out for the 360. Multiplayer rockets in HD anyone?


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## beneharris (Jul 25, 2011)

if you've never played serious sam (the first 2) or painkiller, you can't call yourself an FPS lover.




nevermind the somewhat dated graphics of painkiller. go get it now.

Also, the No-one Lives Forever (1&2) series is pretty great, but super old.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 28, 2011)

Did anyone else feel kinda let down by Half Life 2: Episode 1? I don't know if it's just because I was just coming down off of the "Holy balls, that was awesome" high after finish HL2, but HL2:e1 just felt kinda... flat. Also, an escort mission? _Really? _Goddammit. I recently started Episode 2, and I hate to say it but my hopes aren't set that high anymore.


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## Mexi (Jul 28, 2011)

episode 2 was WAY better than ep.1 you won't be disappointed.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Aug 10, 2011)

You know, I was mostly digging HL2:e2, but now I'm on the part where you defend the missile silo from wave after wave of Striders and Hunters, and it is supremely irritating. Adding challenge by increasing the number and difficulty of waves of enemies they throw at you seems like a really cheap ass thing for game developers to do, and frankly I thought Valve was a little better than that. _Especially_ with the Half Life games.


Though they _have_ done their fair share of throwing cheap ass wave after wave at people in some other series *coughL4Dcough*.


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## TheFerryMan (Aug 11, 2011)

bioshock and borderlands are two of my favorite FPS and the 64 golden eye game i dominate in too this day. 

truth betold i don't really like the realistic first person shooters like call of duty, and halo bores me for some reason. 

no idea why. 

also. Borderlands 2? Yspls.


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