FPS is getting old

[aescuder]

It's definitely hard to defend the lack of innovation in FPSs' these days. I think it's mostly because 4 FPS games gets released every month and most of them just trying to get on the COD or Halo bandwagon. I like me some COD but it really is starting to get old.

I hardly find myself ever complaining about the lack of innovation in RTS games (and other genres) even though SC2 feels more of the same as SC1. I think it's because they got released about 11 years apart...which is plenty of time for me too miss it. I think even the success of Torchlight has more to do with people just bloody missing Diablo so much that they just need that fix. (this was the case for me)

Should the industry try to schedule these things better? much like movies' release dates are dependent on the season and how close they are to other blockbusters? Maybe, I just think FPS games needs to either innovate more or stop producing for a couple years..or both.

 

[aescuder]

also:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/call-of-duty-black-ops/video/6331710/call-of-duty-xp-event-teaser?tag=topslot;img;3


yawn yawn yawn

 

[Gammayun]

The problem isnt just down the amount they release its the popularity of the genre, if you go on any gaming website your most gonna get a stream of info on the latest news on battlefield or call of duty.

But thats whats popular so it sells hopefully when sale for them start to go down you will see a lot of inovation. The just putting out stuff that sells, and much like anything that sell it will lose popularity.

But yes the fps genre has stagnated a bit and needs to inovate, plus put a stop to the damn release one every years because it sells.

 

[Limecake]

This arguement makes me laugh, from what I remember 2 FPS games broke away from the 'modern realistic shooter' formula and both of them were met by fans bashing the games (I'm talking about DNF and Bulletstorm)

while not perfect, at least they were trying to carve out their own niche market in this Battlefield/CoD heavy genre. So if you were a multi-million dollar company head which game would you choose to make?

a fresh new FPS that probably won't be met with open arms by the gaming community.

or

a CoD/Battlefield/Halo clone that you know will sell.

so if we as a gaming community are really this sick of the same old same old from FPS games maybe we should be a little forgiving to the games that try to innovate.

 

[aescuder]

Somebody in another thread actually explained it really well. The FPS genre actually is innovating. The only reason we dont notice it is because so many games are coming out. Go play CoD4 for 30 mins and then switch to black ops and will notice a big difference.

I've played all of the Call of Duty games and I think it's a bit of a stretch to call what they're doing innovation. I'd say they're really good at tweaking, which is important, but I wouldn't call it groundbreaking. I would prolly even give the streamlining of online multiplayer over to Halo not CoD. Now that was innovation...as much as I hate the franchise.


Although I would give them props for perfecting tight controls and balancing (ish) in a beautiful 60 frames per second game.

 

[aescuder]

This arguement makes me laugh, from what I remember 2 FPS games broke away from the 'modern realistic shooter' formula and both of them were met by fans bashing the games (I'm talking about DNF and Bulletstorm)

while not perfect, at least they were trying to carve out their own niche market in this Battlefield/CoD heavy genre. So if you were a multi-million dollar company head which game would you choose to make?

a fresh new FPS that probably won't be met with open arms by the gaming community.

or

a CoD/Battlefield/Halo clone that you know will sell.

so if we as a gaming community are really this sick of the same old same old from FPS games maybe we should be a little forgiving to the games that try to innovate.

I def agree that we should be more forgiving to games that try to innovate and be open minded. Although I wouldn't put Bulletstorm or Duke Nukem as the poster-child for this argument.lol I think there was a myriad of other factors that kept those games from selling well. i.e. Bulletstorm getting bashed in FOX news and Duke Nukem being one of the worst remakes ever.

Borderlands on the other hand...Now THAT is innovation. Despite the Controls not being that tight, story kinda sucked, and having a dumb ending, that game was new and F-U-N!

 

[jacobythehedgehog]

There is alot of different styles of FPS shooters. Just most take the Call of Duty style of game. Look at Deus Ex, Metroid Prime 3: Curruption, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life. These are all very different games but all First Person Shooters and are not like Call of Duty.

Call of Duty has a hell of alot of hype to back it up though. So does Battlefield 3. I have a funny feeling those games will be the same and people will go back to Call of Duty

 

[baddude1337]

I think it's been getting old for quite some time. It's at the point where the major franchises don't need to innovate, just rehash and refine and not actually make any big leaps. Those that try tend to be low budget because the Publisher doesn't want to take huge risks and ends up being crap.

I think the point definitely is that the genre is so over saturated with games in a similar mold. Like your example, Splinter Cell, there isn't really another game out there like it so the many sequels weren't so bad because they were so far apart and wasn't anything comparable on the market, whereas over the coming months we have several big and small named FPS games coming out, all competing for our cash.

 

[an874]

I think this video would be a worthy addition to this discussion. It's a video by moviebob aka the Game Overthinker from his show on screwattack: http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-42-Worst-Person

 

[smartengine]

Nobody misses them point 'n' click adventures... oh wait I do. And I wasn't even old enough to understand English when they were coming out.

Seriously for how long can the masses enjoy FPS', don't get me wrong, I love my CoD, and my TF2 and possibly BF3 (if I get over he problem of Origin), but it's getting kinda boring.

 

[Rawne1980]

This arguement makes me laugh, from what I remember 2 FPS games broke away from the 'modern realistic shooter' formula and both of them were met by fans bashing the games (I'm talking about DNF and Bulletstorm)

I actually quite enjoyed Bulletstorm.

Story was a bit lack lustre but the gameplay and various ways to kill people shaped pixels was really fun.

First time in an FPS i've been able to drag someone to me in slow mo with an electro whip and then boot them into a cactus.

I like to give new games a try that do something different and sometimes I really enjoy them.

Borderlands was another.

Duke Nukem can forever be damned after making me wait 14 years for a game that wasn't very good. I was praying for that game to blow me away. I couldn't even finish the damn thing it was that bad.

 

[aescuder]

I think this video would be a worthy addition to this discussion. It's a video by moviebob aka the Game Overthinker from his show on screwattack: http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-42-Worst-Person

I like the analogy of wearing headset in FPS games is like 4chan in the matrix.lol

great post! I completely forgot that MovieBob had this other show.

 

[Jdb]

I'm looking forward to Borderlands 2, Hawken, and Natural Selection 2 coming out next year. Those games should freshen up the FPS genre.

 

[2733]

the main thing that keeps fps games from changing is that they have more or less gotten as good as they can be, further innovation often leads to a drop in quality, if it's not broken don't fix it. Bulletstorm and Borderlands changed up the formula a bit, and bodycount played well enough in the demo, the lean thing however does need some fine tuning.

also FPSs are not allowed to stop being popular until I get Timesplitters 4, whoever is in charge of that better get on it or I will come to his house and loudly fart in his face until he does.

 

[Waffle_Man]

It's definitely hard to defend the lack of innovation in FPSs' these days. I think it's mostly because 4 FPS games gets released every month and most of them just trying to get on the COD or Halo bandwagon. I like me some COD but it really is starting to get old.

So, by your own admission, the "lack of innovation" is due to the fact that so many games are being released and not necessarily because shooters haven't changed at all?

I hardly find myself ever complaining about the lack of innovation in RTS games (and other genres) even though SC2 feels more of the same as SC1. I think it's because they got released about 11 years apart...which is plenty of time for me too miss it. I think even the success of Torchlight has more to do with people just bloody missing Diablo so much that they just need that fix. (this was the case for me)

Again, isn't this more indicative of the adverse effects of saturation rather than an absolute lack of innovation? And doesn't that also mean that stagnation isn't present in just FPSs?

Should the industry try to schedule these things better? much like movies' release dates are dependent on the season and how close they are to other blockbusters? Maybe, I just think FPS games needs to either innovate more or stop producing for a couple years..or both.

Considering that the current paradigm of shooters is only about four years old, essentially having been cemented by call of duty 4 in 2007, I'd hardly call that stagnation, essentially since interesting blends between FPSs and other genres are seen frequently. Hell, DXHR just arrived with Bioshock: infinite, Dishonored, and the next Stalker game just over the horizon, so it isn't exactly like there isn't anything to look to for a recent or near future example of ambitious projects that aren't in the Call of Duty model. Even then, that's without adding third person shooters and first person RPGs into the mix.

 

[SeeIn2D]

Somebody in another thread actually explained it really well. The FPS genre actually is innovating. The only reason we dont notice it is because so many games are coming out. Go play CoD4 for 30 mins and then switch to black ops and will notice a big difference.

I hope you mean a big dip in form and quality.

Anyways OP: I agree with the quote I just commented on. The FPS genre may seem like it's getting stale and old and not innovating anymore, but the problem is that there are so many of them coming out, that the ones that actually are innovating are getting essentially watered down by the others that are trying, and most often failing, to become Call of Duty clones. And that is the main cause of the perception that FPSs are getting old. Not only are most FPSs not doing anything new, they are also not mimicking any different games. Even the copies are lacking in any difference because they are all copying the same game.

 

[Immortal_Engines]

I think this video would be a worthy addition to this discussion. It's a video by moviebob aka the Game Overthinker from his show on screwattack: http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-42-Worst-Person

You are aware that episode is considered one of Moviebob's worst GameOverthinker episodes?

 

[The Funslinger]

Pretentious, much?

FPS is far too vast to generalize like that. First Person or Third Person is the essential decision in most games (barring RTS games and things like Tetris) I'd say TF2 is far different from Call of Duty. Even Halo, which you mocked is different from many others. Metroid? Oblivion (and soon, Skyrim?) Yes, those count. But it's also an RPG. You're just generalizing. I don't think any actual genres are going to die. Puzzle games are still going strong in their own ways. Things like Tetris. So First Person games, the game type that gives you the closest viewpoint to the action (therefor being seen as the best point of immersion) isn't going anywhere.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

I will stop bagging on the genre when somebody seemlessly mixes RTS and FPS together.

I will then live in peace forever.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I think this video would be a worthy addition to this discussion. It's a video by moviebob aka the Game Overthinker from his show on screwattack: http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-42-Worst-Person

Bob doesn't know shit when it comes to FPS games, he comes off completely foolish in that episode. I especially hated his stereotypical FPS player shtick in the anti-thinker episodes.

There's plenty of innovation going on the FPS genre, perhaps not with the huge titles like Call of Duty or Battlefield (Even then you can argue they're doing many interesting things) and completely writing off an entire genre based on one type of game in the genre is ridiculous.

It's like how people on this site constantly bash JRPG's when the only games they've played are Final Fantasy games.