Poll: Do you classify Portal as a FPS?
- Thread starter TheYellowCellPhone
- Start date
Genres are fleeting things, and any attempt to categorize anything but the most typical games is going to be hard.
Basically: who cares? Portal is a puzzle game, played through the first person perspective where you shoot a gun, but you wouldn't recommend it as 'a great FPS' without a lot of clarification.
Basically: who cares? Portal is a puzzle game, played through the first person perspective where you shoot a gun, but you wouldn't recommend it as 'a great FPS' without a lot of clarification.
I wouldn't call it an FPS to be honest, i'd call it a puzzle game.
Just because it's in the first person doesn't make it a FPS.
I have thought about this too when I was setting up my steam account, I was trying to decide where to put games like Dark Messiah: Might and Magic and Oblivion since they techincally don't have shooting in them despite being in first person.
Just because it's in the first person doesn't make it a FPS.
I have thought about this too when I was setting up my steam account, I was trying to decide where to put games like Dark Messiah: Might and Magic and Oblivion since they techincally don't have shooting in them despite being in first person.
Ultimatly, this whole argument is a false dilemma. Portal is First Person, which is a very distinct style, deserving its own genre. It is also an action based puzzle game, also its own genre. There's no law saying two genres can't overlap. Think of it as a Venn Diagram. Portal is in the middle.
It's really an FPA (First person adventure), but you're still shooting stuff, so it is still a fps, only, using just the term "fps" alone does not describe the style of the game well enough, and such a term could get the gameplay style confused with that of, say, MW2.
For one thing, it doesn't matter.
And by your standards, Oblivion is an FPS because you have first person combat with projectiles. And it's not a portal gun, it's an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. You need to shoot things to be a shooter. What you're doing is creating a portal, not shooting a gun. Also, you're being a bit weird about this... I mean, it's just a game.
And by your standards, Oblivion is an FPS because you have first person combat with projectiles. And it's not a portal gun, it's an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. You need to shoot things to be a shooter. What you're doing is creating a portal, not shooting a gun. Also, you're being a bit weird about this... I mean, it's just a game.
As an observation, in most shooters, you shoot aliens/nazis/robots 'til it collapses and only approach it after it's shot when you need to loot/teabag it.
From portal however, you shoot walls.... that don't collapse... and that your approach not only by walking, but by falling towards at terminal velocity. That doesn't sound like like they worked on the shooting part so much as the whole "puzzle" aspect that it's renown for.
From portal however, you shoot walls.... that don't collapse... and that your approach not only by walking, but by falling towards at terminal velocity. That doesn't sound like like they worked on the shooting part so much as the whole "puzzle" aspect that it's renown for.
Just because it's played from a first person perspective doesn't mean it is a First Person Shooter. Mirror's Edge is a first person game, but I wouldn't class that as a FPS either, even though you can actually shoot people with guns in it (which is more than you can do in Portal), because that's not the point of the game. Besides, the Portal Gun is just a nickname for the Apeture Science Handheld Portal Device. It's never referred to as a gun in the actual games, to my knowledge. Personally I'd classify the Portal games as First Person Puzzle Games/Platformers. And Mirror's Edge as just a First Person Platformer.
My take is that Portal is essentially the inverse of Metroid Prime. MP is an FPS with Puzzle platformer elements. Portal is a Puzzle Platformer with FPS elements.
"Excuse me good sir, you seem to have gotten your Puzzle Platformer in my First-Person Shooter."
"Nay, my dear chap, it seems that you have let your First-Person Shooter leak into my Puzzle Platformer."
There, I just summarized this argument.
"Excuse me good sir, you seem to have gotten your Puzzle Platformer in my First-Person Shooter."
"Nay, my dear chap, it seems that you have let your First-Person Shooter leak into my Puzzle Platformer."
There, I just summarized this argument.
Funny, I was just having a similar discussion with a friend the other day. 
I would say no. It uses an FPS engine and an FPS interface, but a very stripped-down version of one. There's no ammo management, no shootouts with enemies, and no real competition. "Real" FPSes tend to have a very different feel from Portal, and at the risk of generalizing, they also tend to attract a different playerbase.
I agree with Kiefer13--first person perspective plus object that shoots things does not automatically equal first-person shooter. Portal may play like an FPS, but technically so does any game that allows you to go into first-person perspective while playing (King's Quest VIII, Silent Hill 1 and 4).
I would say no. It uses an FPS engine and an FPS interface, but a very stripped-down version of one. There's no ammo management, no shootouts with enemies, and no real competition. "Real" FPSes tend to have a very different feel from Portal, and at the risk of generalizing, they also tend to attract a different playerbase.
I agree with Kiefer13--first person perspective plus object that shoots things does not automatically equal first-person shooter.
Portal may play like an FPS, but technically so does any game that allows you to go into first-person perspective while playing (King's Quest VIII, Silent Hill 1 and 4).
The sad part, if the portals were projected from magic gloves on your hands (Blue on your right, Orange on your left.), it wouldn't change the gameplay at all, and yet, this argument would not be happening.
No. It's a puzzle game in the first person perspective.
No. It's a puzzle game in the first person perspective.
It's clearly about puzzle solving and platforming.
I wouldn't say it was, neither is Mirror's Edge.
I wouldn't say it was, neither is Mirror's Edge.
