Is it really worth it to bash every popular FPS?

[Stephen Wo]

I think people are just trumpeting what Yahtzee says. Now don't get me wrong: I idolize the man. He's a comedic genius, his points are thoughtful and well-made, and good god is the man handsome.

That being said, I'd be remiss if I weren't to point out that, like Jim Sterling, he may be playing a bit of an act. Have you seen his Mana Bar promo? He tells you to stay "twenty feet away at all times; and regard with respect and awe". Now, either the man is seriously saddled with an ego problem, or he's playing his celebrity for laughs (dear god, I hope he is).

Now, it's not just Yahtzee. I think a lot of people are playing that side just to be counter-culture. We've had different levels of that every era. I suppose that this is just the new incarnation of the weaker levels.

Of course, a lot of FPSes are pretty unoriginal. I am damn tired of killing Nazis and Russians. Ooh! Neo-communists as well. What is this, 1968? But hey, I don't mind dropping a spare fiver or ten for a few hours of mindless killing joy.

And, I think there's a lot of great stuff out there! EYE Divine Cybermancy, for example, was a real diamond in the rough. It had great potential, marred by confusion and an outdated engine.
Or ETQW, as well. God how I love that game! I have owned it since 2008, and I still play it and get a fantastic kick out of it. The weapons, the subtle RTS elements, and even how the classes actually mean something! Who cares if there isn't a carefully crafted campaign, it has offline bot support and alien cyborg zombies!

And honestly, I think PayDay: The Heist deserves an honorable mention. The gameplay is tight, the writing isn't that bad, and it's just so damn fun!

 

[voyager529]

Inaugural post...

My friends and I are a bit of a different breed in this regard. Without starting all the console vs. pc arguments, the bottom line is that all of our multiplayer action is done in person at a LAN party, with an ethernet switch and copies of games that still allow us to do this: Unreal Tournament 2004/3, Crysis, CoD4, Quake 3 Team Arena, Half Life 2: Deathmatch, etc. As an aside, there are usually a few girls who attend our LAN parties, so clearly there are some differences between us and the mainstream CoD/BF players.

While I did get Black Ops for Christmas last year, I still haven't finished the single player campaign, and I've never played a game online. One of the things that makes our LAN parties more fun is the fact that none of us really have enough time to play games outside of LAN parties, so knowledge of maps, spawn points, and weapon locations are basically level. We get together, set up the LAN, pick a game, and have fun shooting each other and gloating about it in person; the loser has to get up and bartend between rounds.

More and more FPS games released today forego LAN play, custom maps/mods, and cost more than the games are typically worth. BF3 costs $60 on Steam, and the map packs are invariably deemed more expensive additional content. UT2004 costs $14.99 (though I bought half a dozen copies of the game on disc at Gamestop for $1.99 a pop), UT3 costs 19.99, HL2M is $5 (free if you have an nVidia GPU), Q3TA is $20...and they've all got PLENTY of maps and mods available around the internet for free, and I never have to worry if they pull their servers down. Yes, I know that these games were JUST as expensive upon release, but I can buy them today just as easily as I can buy BF3.

Pointing a gun at something that moves and clicking until it no longer moves is an inherent constant with regards to FPS games, because its their nature. While Bioshock and Mass Effect did better jobs than most with regards to explaining WHY you were shooting at the other people (and, of course, why they were shooting at you), the fact is that there is relatively little innovation that *can* occur in the genre as far as mechanics go. You can make minor alterations here and there like the time grenades in Timeshift (good), the nanosuit in Crysis (good), or the regenating health model in Halo (questionable), but even then there are only so many gimmicks that can go around.

What can change is the 'why', but for that you need a good writing team, and a dedication to making a single player campaign that's 30ish hours long or so. Deus Ex: Human Revolution seemed to have done so, but its clearly not the same market as CoD, since there's no visible means of pulling a "spray and pray", even in situations where that's a perfectly viable solution. More to the point, when BF3 and MW3 are both selling millions of copies (yes, I know MW3 isn't out yet, but we all know it will), why spend all kinds of money on a Deus Ex/Bioshock/Mass Effect level of story, when "you're in Obscurzikstan, shoot any Obscurzikstanians shooting back at you" is all that's really needed and make more money in the process, especially since the haters won't change their tune no matter if it was the "Saving Private Ryan" of war games?

Joey

 

[Vibhor]

You know people would hate on something else IF THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE!
90% of the games being released are FPS. Battlefield, Bioshock, Sydicate, Call of duty, Serious Sam and Xcom
The non FPS games include Arkham Asylum and Skyrim.(Only counting multiplats here)
See the numbers?

Have to stop you there. Serious Sam may be an fps, but its the exact opposite of today's modern fps. Its not stale, the campaigns are fun, there's no regeneration health or cover system. Sorry as a fan (see profile pic) I just have to put that out there.

Also, its just a perspective. Are we debating fps's or shooters?

Have I said anything about it being bad?
I just said that the game is an FPS. Nothing negative.
Also, I very much know about how Serious sam is different than other FPS games in fact I am a great fan too.

 

[Something Amyss]

Piss off. I asked for intelligent conversation, not trolls. I like some of these games, not all of them. I was asking why we pick on popular games just because they are popular

It wasn't trolling. I'm sorry you're so defensive, but you put yourself in the loaded position of actively defending something with a rather transparent reason of "I like it."

You started from a stance of inequity, and worked from there.

 

[DustyDrB]

Popular games attract more attention.

Some of that attention will be hostile. Fact of life. Or at least, fact of the internet.

If I can put up with people bashing Mass Effect (hi there!) and Bioshock, then you can put up with people bashing CoD or whatever.

There's your answer. A certain rate of discussion on any game will be hate-filled. So you're just naturally going to see more hate on popular things than you are on less popular things.

Not only that, but people are less likely to write their negative opinions on a game if it is unpopular simply because they don't expect many others to know what they are talking about. I could write an essay on how to improve Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, but I won't because only five people played that game and it's not likely to be a thriving discussion.

 

[Something Amyss]

Adding to the conversation, I see. Good job, buddy.

Yay sarcasm!

But your thinly veiled shot wasn't really why I quoted you, it was more another line that caught my eye.

However, I do find it odd that some of them can actually "hate" a certain genre of gaming, as if CoD / Battlefield stole their lunch money or killed their dog.

Except people really don't, and if you understood language you'd probably grasp that most people who "hate" something do so less in the case of "they killed my dog" and more in the case of "strongly dislike." The way one might "hate" brussel sprouts. Few people actually hold serious animosity towards most things that they "hate."

Kinda silly to go pretending otherwise, buddy.

 

[TheGreekGeekPrick]

I was asking why we pick on popular games just because they are popular

Ehm. That doesn't sound like a question. That sounds like a conclusion.

 

[DesiPrinceX09]

Most fps titles are pretty bland to me, so I don't play them; simple as that. I especially don't like the big boys of the fps genres (COD and BF), because they are masterfully bland (imo)and I hate military shooters. I stick with my action/adventure genre and RPG genre to and I enjoy games from these genres tremendously so I don't need to ***** about what I don't like. I say screw you to both COD:MW3 and BF3 because I'm getting Uncharted 3! Adventure games like uncharted have much better story, writing, and gameplay (imo) and while some people hate it, I love it because it has a great single player story. Multiplayer for Uncharted 2 was fun also, way more fun to me than any COD of BF game so I buy what I enjoy. Also AC:revelations, AC; Brotherhood multiplayer was a blast so I get that to. You COD and/or BF payers should keep playing your war shooter if that's what you like, and continue to have fun with it and I sincerely hope you do since you spent money on it.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I agree with bashing any game you don't like, as long as you have a reason for disliking it.

People who don't like Call of Duty because it's popular need to shut up.

If you hate CoD because it's boring, ugly, uninspired, god awful writing and acting, brown/grey as fuck, completely broken multyplayer and that you've actually played them enough to have a valid opinion then your hate is %100 justified.

If "I hate it because it's popular" is your only reason then you're making everybody look bad.

 

[loc978]

Gotta love the series of hate and anti-hate threads that clog up this forum. There's really not much discussion value here, or in any thread like it.

As for me, I can't stand console shooters in general, just because of the controls, and I haven't had actual fun with a new shooter since S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (unless you count the new Fallout games)... but I was a young adult in the late 90s renaissance of PC shooters, so I'm a bit biased.

So I'll bash 'em, but new threads about 'em? Bah, each and every OP of a thread like this or its opposite needs to get over themselves and realize their opinion loses its about 95% of its clout outside of themselves. Same as mine.

 

[IKSA]

Cod, Halo, BF are the ones ruining it FPS like Deus Ex:Human Revolution and probably Serious Sam are great eaxamples what good FPS is like

 

[repeating integers]

Cod, Halo, BF are the ones ruining it FPS like Deus Ex:Human Revolution and probably Serious Sam are great eaxamples what good FPS is like

Why exactly are they ruining it? I'd like to see more multiplayer FPS games like Battlefield. A game that actually emphasises teamwork and tactics over lone-wolfing? Yes, we need some more of that. And I'd also like to see more singleplayer FPS games like Halo, where there are a whole slew of vibrant colours, interesting visual designs and varied enemies (and not too much overscripting).

Can't speak for CoD, haven't played it (enough).

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Most fps titles are pretty bland to me, so I don't play them; simple as that. I especially don't like the big boys of the fps genres (COD and BF), because they are masterfully bland (imo)and I hate military shooters. I stick with my action/adventure genre and RPG genre to and I enjoy games from these genres tremendously so I don't need to ***** about what I don't like. I say screw you to both COD:MW3 and BF3 because I'm getting Uncharted 3! Adventure games like uncharted have much better story, writing, and gameplay (imo) and while some people hate it, I love it because it has a great single player story. Multiplayer for Uncharted 2 was fun also, way more fun to me than any COD of BF game so I buy what I enjoy. Also AC:revelations, AC; Brotherhood multiplayer was a blast so I get that to. You COD and/or BF payers should keep playing your war shooter if that's what you like, and continue to have fun with it and I sincerely hope you do since you spent money on it.

You're my new best friend!

OT: I stopped bashing FPSs because I don't care anymore, and it's not worth my time complaining about how boring I find them, or how much I think the story is crap. I will say though I like the Resistance series, mainly because of the developer and the guns, and that's pretty much the only one I will defend.

I'm more excited about seeing Uncharted 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations coming out than Battlefield 3 and MW3, I can't even tell you when those two come out, around this time of year.

So, you can keep them and defend them all you want, and I will be over somewhere else not caring.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I think you, like many others, may be somewhat confused.

Each person hates a DIFFERENT popular franchise. Very rarely do you see someone who hates them all. However, when you have three of each person commenting, it can appear that everyone hates everything.

Just quoting you to tell you that you have one of the best .gif avatars I've ever seen.

Why thank you! I loved that scene so I went over to the Avatar store and threw out a request and Carmel Frappe had it completed in minutes. It was amazing.

 

[Aeshi]

Well what are they supposed to do otherwise, judge games based on stupid things like how good they are?

Also if you dare bash anything not cool-to-bash on the Escapist you'll get banned.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

This is how the escapist works. It will not change and threads like this are way more common then the threads they complain about.

 

[DesertMummy]

I wouldn't mind it if they actually fucking change things before they charge their customers another 60 buck. And trust me, there is no change between CoD games, at all. Also, the fanboys are the most annoying people on the planet.

 

[IKSA]

Cod, Halo, BF are the ones ruining it FPS like Deus Ex:Human Revolution and probably Serious Sam are great eaxamples what good FPS is like

Why exactly are they ruining it? I'd like to see more multiplayer FPS games like Battlefield. A game that actually emphasises teamwork and tactics over lone-wolfing? Yes, we need some more of that. And I'd also like to see more singleplayer FPS games like Halo, where there are a whole slew of vibrant colours, interesting visual designs and varied enemies (and not too much overscripting).

Can't speak for CoD, haven't played it (enough).

BF has very many problems that are just very bad desing but its still ok and Halo has so many reasons that I wont start listing them but the biggest one must be helth regenating wich it brought to mainstream and every game started copying it.

 

[Soviet Steve]

"Can everyone please stop expressing their opinion if I disagree with it? It's really annoying to hear opposing viewpoints."

No.

 

[repeating integers]

Cod, Halo, BF are the ones ruining it FPS like Deus Ex:Human Revolution and probably Serious Sam are great eaxamples what good FPS is like

Why exactly are they ruining it? I'd like to see more multiplayer FPS games like Battlefield. A game that actually emphasises teamwork and tactics over lone-wolfing? Yes, we need some more of that. And I'd also like to see more singleplayer FPS games like Halo, where there are a whole slew of vibrant colours, interesting visual designs and varied enemies (and not too much overscripting).

Can't speak for CoD, haven't played it (enough).

BF has very many problems that are just very bad desing but its still ok and Halo has so many reasons that I wont start listing them but the biggest one must be helth regenating wich it brought to mainstream and every game started copying it.

Not Halo's fault everyone had no imagination and just decided to copy it for easy monies.