I finally made time to play Left 4 Dead and it gave me some ideas on what the next step in FPS's could/should be.
Left 4 Dead is the first game I've played which assumes you have a microphone and wouldn't play the same unless you could call out warnings to your teammates. A lot of games are going towards voice chat to give the player more versatility but it could be turned around and made into something players need to use sparingly or at least with thought. Enemies could be made to react to the noise that you and your posse emit like they do footsteps, shooting, car alarms and so on. If you're yelling it will attract more bad guys, if you're whispering fewer and if there is no talking then you can sneak around more easily.
And if you're worried about how much you speak and how loud maybe we could re-introduce keys to use hand signaling, a point and click system of marking where to go or something else I haven't even thought of. Left 4 Dead puts me on edge because I am listening for what is coming, especially the boomers, but real immersion would be closer if I had to pay attention to my own chatter. Maybe it's taking the genre a bit too close to reality so it loses some of the fun factor but it could be an interesting experiment.
Co-op also seems to be gaining prominence in all genres such as the RA3 co-op campaign mode, the prominence of MMO's, and I think there are a lot of games which suffer from a lack of or poorly implemented split screen on consoles. Video games are becoming more social as a broader range of people play and real cooperation is coming into it's own. You could argue that games like Battlefield and Call of Duty require cooperation to capture objectives, however, I've rarely found myself really calling strategy in any of those games unless I'm will friends or clan members.
Left 4 Dead seems to have struck a nerve in the gaming community. Something you can play with your friends which will run on a decent chunk of computers and all the platforms, and a new twist on a well established genre. How do you accomplish something similar with other types of FPS? Maybe Rainbow Six (Ravenshield and before era) gameplay where the terrorists are given time to prepare the setting or the counter terrorists are given the ability to plan a VIP protection run through a city or protecting a political speaker. This gives you short scenarios which can be personalized and it will be different every time you play. If you have to choose a route through a city or set people around a podium to cover all angles then protect against attackers it will force creativity on all the player's parts and constant cooperation.
Graphics are to the point where I'm not sure exactly how much further we can go visually, however, Mirror's Edge has demonstrated that we can certainly change our interaction with the environment. HL2's physics, ME's movement, and an online VS mode would create a pretty interesting game. Create a city block or two of low rises, throw 20 people into it, and have them start jumping, swinging, shooting, and moving stuff around and you have great concept for a game. Give people the ability to set traps, climb up drainpipes, and keep the old standards like sniping and I'd buy it.
Left 4 Dead is the first game I've played which assumes you have a microphone and wouldn't play the same unless you could call out warnings to your teammates. A lot of games are going towards voice chat to give the player more versatility but it could be turned around and made into something players need to use sparingly or at least with thought. Enemies could be made to react to the noise that you and your posse emit like they do footsteps, shooting, car alarms and so on. If you're yelling it will attract more bad guys, if you're whispering fewer and if there is no talking then you can sneak around more easily.
And if you're worried about how much you speak and how loud maybe we could re-introduce keys to use hand signaling, a point and click system of marking where to go or something else I haven't even thought of. Left 4 Dead puts me on edge because I am listening for what is coming, especially the boomers, but real immersion would be closer if I had to pay attention to my own chatter. Maybe it's taking the genre a bit too close to reality so it loses some of the fun factor but it could be an interesting experiment.
Co-op also seems to be gaining prominence in all genres such as the RA3 co-op campaign mode, the prominence of MMO's, and I think there are a lot of games which suffer from a lack of or poorly implemented split screen on consoles. Video games are becoming more social as a broader range of people play and real cooperation is coming into it's own. You could argue that games like Battlefield and Call of Duty require cooperation to capture objectives, however, I've rarely found myself really calling strategy in any of those games unless I'm will friends or clan members.
Left 4 Dead seems to have struck a nerve in the gaming community. Something you can play with your friends which will run on a decent chunk of computers and all the platforms, and a new twist on a well established genre. How do you accomplish something similar with other types of FPS? Maybe Rainbow Six (Ravenshield and before era) gameplay where the terrorists are given time to prepare the setting or the counter terrorists are given the ability to plan a VIP protection run through a city or protecting a political speaker. This gives you short scenarios which can be personalized and it will be different every time you play. If you have to choose a route through a city or set people around a podium to cover all angles then protect against attackers it will force creativity on all the player's parts and constant cooperation.
Graphics are to the point where I'm not sure exactly how much further we can go visually, however, Mirror's Edge has demonstrated that we can certainly change our interaction with the environment. HL2's physics, ME's movement, and an online VS mode would create a pretty interesting game. Create a city block or two of low rises, throw 20 people into it, and have them start jumping, swinging, shooting, and moving stuff around and you have great concept for a game. Give people the ability to set traps, climb up drainpipes, and keep the old standards like sniping and I'd buy it.
