I think I've arrived at a crossroad in my gaming life. One that I have slowly been traveling to. The final destination which even I wasn't privy to until just recently when the telling signs up ahead gave me pause as I tried to look for an alternate course, like a man lost on a road trip and inevitably stopping at a local gas station for directions. I hate to say this but the once enticing genre of FPS has become less and less appealing to me.
Sad but true. I almost feel like I need to turn in my imaginary
Hardcore Gamer's License for even uttering such a thing out loud yet it can't be helped. This isn't coming from a bloke who hates or is indifferent to shooters either. I have always had a love and fascination for them. Some of my favorite games have been FPS, as seen above in the collage I whipped up for this post. I just have slowly become disenchanted with them. It seems recent generations of console libraries are overflowing with them and still more are being made to add to the massive inflation of them.
I'm not saying they are all garbage because that is not the case but for every quality game like
Halo or
Team Fortress 2 you'll have more mediocre affairs like
Haze and
Blacksite: Area 51 jostling for more position in the marketplace. But even the good ones to me are getting stale. Surely I can't be the only one that feels this way as more and more game developers are creating in-game incentives
ala perks, customizable characters, clans,and what not to get you to do the same action over and over again... shoot something or someone dead.
While reading
Jim's pieces on the concerns of many
Left for Dead players of the too soon upcoming sequel, a quote from a Dtoider sprang forth and made me think. Part of the quote was this:
"I feel that there isn't enough change in gameplay to warrant a full sequel to L4F. The tiny amount of new features in L4D2 could have easily been at least a paid DLC, and the first one could alway-..."
What I immediately thought, aside from the brouhaha created in Jim's posts was, can't you say that about
every popular FPS, its sequels and/or its inevitable clones ? Perhaps my age is dulling my killer instincts, making me look for something else to gauge my skills, aside from who can turn around the corner and is able to pull the trigger quicker first. Or who can yield that elusive ribbon or armor before their fellow friend. It's just starting to be the same for me. Maybe all of these shooters may not be looking the same but they're beginning to
feel the same to me.
I think that's why I've been playing RPGs lately non-stop. It seems I may finally beat
Persona 3 by the end of this month yet.
inFamous has finally saw play from me and I still can't get enough of
Scared2. I hate to say this again but I have come to the conclusion that I'm tired of shooting people dead.
Anybody up to play
Street Fighter or
Burnout with me?
(# 0) on 06/07/2009 16:42
(# 1) on 06/07/2009 16:46
I think part of the problem is that a lot of the best games of the past few years have been shooters (compared proportionally to other genres).
Also, I didn't pick up Burnout Paradise til last year and HOLY MOSES! I can't believe I didn't get it sooner. Normally I'm not into "racing" games but Paradise is sexy as hell. If I had a PSTriples I'd play :D
(# 2) on 06/07/2009 16:51
(# 3) on 06/07/2009 16:53
'Jimbo, if I had Street Fighter, I'd already be on with you now. I'll have to get back into Burnout sometime, but be warned, I don't have a mic.
(# 4) on 06/07/2009 16:57
(# 5) on 06/07/2009 17:14
(# 6) on 06/07/2009 17:34
(# 7) on 06/07/2009 17:37
(# 8) on 06/07/2009 17:38
Shoot them alive then! Play Trauma Center! Or the medic class in KZ2 and ONLY use the revive gun!
(# 9) on 06/07/2009 17:42
My glory days of FPS games ended after I retired from Goldeneye.
There are so many damn good games outside of the FPS genre to enjoy.
Also, I'm not very good at FPS, yet I still enjoy them from time to time.
Y0j1mb0, there is nothing wrong with tiring of a certain genre of game. It's all about preference and choice, sir. There are so many great games out there, don't feel bad about ditching the FPS genre.
Embrace the change!
Change is good.
(# 10) on 06/07/2009 17:45
Your love for the FPS will come back in time and maybe, just maybe my love for the RPG will return as well.
(# 11) on 06/07/2009 17:46
(# 12) on 06/07/2009 17:52
Also, try Audiosurf.
(# 13) on 06/07/2009 17:53
(# 14) on 06/07/2009 17:56
The problem is there aren't many choices for online play with a conclusion so open as FPS.
There need to be more online RTS aside Blizzard's, maybe a Pikmin online or an Age of Empires with a wider selection and no bullshit dial-up IP adress entries. I wonder how many other genres can make an online play as addictive. MMORPGs are an example, but just way too cyclical.
(# 15) on 06/07/2009 18:09
Not completely but I have no real attachment to them other than some are really good and that most people/friends still play them so its the easiest way to have a good co-op/multiplayer experience.
(# 16) on 06/07/2009 18:19
Y0jimb0, try to play the Wolf3D hack where you play as Noah and shoot "food" into "hungry animals" to pacify them on your "ark." =P
(# 17) on 06/07/2009 18:21
You know I'm always down to play Street Fighter, so I can Jump+HK, HP, EX Hurricane Kick you dead. Occasionally.
(# 18) on 06/07/2009 18:27
(# 19) on 06/07/2009 18:30
Animal Crossing : City Folk?... :)
I think it's the flailing idiots that adorne the FPS's Online... Via XBL or PSN.
I honestly like to play Killzone 2 Offline.
(( Then again I fail to talk online because I'm completely anti social. But who does like crying babies, drug deals, & PPL who don't know that Homosexuals or Anti-Semitics exist? Oh while you play your games!?!! ))
BUT seriously y0j1mb0... Do you need the next level in FPS goodness. (( Revive & Shoot Dead AGAIN option? )) I might consider going online again. LOL!
(# 20) on 06/07/2009 18:33
(# 21) on 06/07/2009 18:43
I was hoping that would be Capcom's Mystery Game #2
Nope! Just some fucking lame image of RE PSP. I couldn't even believe it when I found out later that day "it was confirmed as the #2 mystery game".
(# 22) on 06/07/2009 18:59
I'm not sick of FPS games myself, but I do make sure that after I play an FPS game, my next game is always some other genre. Actually I think in general after I play a game the next game I play is always another genre of some sort.
Maybe you and I should just play a couple of chess matches together. How about tonight?
(# 23) on 06/07/2009 19:32
As for your other argument: Marginal updates aren't just for FPSes. The recent Left 4 Dead brouhaha is over the same treatment that Madden NFL fans have been quietly suffering for years.
@Pwnanobrien: Vonnegut FTW.
(# 24) on 06/07/2009 19:38
fuck.
get on SF4 360 you old fuck
i'm so tired of fps's. PLATFORMERS, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE.
(# 25) on 06/07/2009 19:41
When I was watching the new Modern Warfare videos from E3 I kept thinking man that looks cool, then when I saw the trailer for The Last Guardian I was like holy crap that looks cool too.
(# 26) on 06/07/2009 19:50
(# 27) on 06/07/2009 20:13
sorry you kinda opened the floodgates in the back of my head.
but because were baraged by a new shooter every 2 seconds where never given the chance to miss it. Unfortunatly because western development apparently is code for make more shooters so the ADD crowd will throw money at us, this trend won't stop for a while. The shooter crowd is a easy target with todays financial issues , easy targets are the way to go.
(# 28) on 06/07/2009 20:15
The next one I'm solidly intending to buy is probably MW2, but before and after that, aside from MAG, nothing comes to mind as a shooter I actually care about past the "I'd like to know more about it" stage. I don't care at all about Section 8 because they really haven't convinced me there's anything about it I don't already get; if they want to sell a copy of that, they'll need a kick ass demo.
I am glad to play any other kind of game though. I've been enjoying the difficulty and overwhelming Japanese-ness of Trash Panic, InFamous kicked ass, I'm ready for Prototype to kick ass provided the developer avoided making it Hulk: Ultimate Destruction in a hoodie because I already have H:UD and that would be kind of upsetting.
(# 29) on 06/07/2009 21:19
(# 30) on 06/07/2009 21:24
(# 31) on 06/07/2009 22:05
As for FPS's, I'm not going to lie, I find it difficult to go for very long without some TF2, but I have gone through similar phases of boredom with them. Perhaps the ability to so easily do whatever the hell I want in most since my primary FPS platform is the PC.
(# 32) on 06/07/2009 22:06
Forgot to finish my though,
(# 33) on 06/07/2009 22:16
Outside of that, I stick most of my main game time to EVE / Homeworld / RTS / Adventure games.
(# 34) on 06/07/2009 22:27
And some of Char's blogs say you have HD Remix on the 360, I would gladly play with you on that. But it might RRoD!?!?!?
(# 35) on 06/07/2009 22:39
On a serious note, I haven't picked up a new game like Red Faction because of this. Nearly 75% of the games on the PS3 are shooters and I'm getting pretty sick of it. Hell, even Valkyria Chronicles has guns. Luckily, I've got a few games without them like Cross Edge and Disgaea 3.
(# 36) on 06/07/2009 22:57
Despite getting my PS3 back, I actually haven't touched it just quite yet because I own mostly shooters. I've been making a dedicated push to clear my RPG pile that's built up over the recent years. I'm about to finish Rogue Galaxy, but I still have FFXII and Valkyrie Profile 2 to play. That's easily about 200 hours worth of RPGs to knock out. Thankfully it's summer and I'll have plenty of time.
(# 37) on 06/07/2009 23:01
But seriously there are too many FPS games. You know what where missing this gen, a good ol'fashioned car combat game. Sure your still shooting things but at least its not in first person. Hopefully well be seeing that Twisted Metal on PS3 sometime this year.
(# 38) on 06/07/2009 23:02
(# 39) on 06/07/2009 23:08
(# 40) on 06/07/2009 23:15
PSN: TheCleaningGuy
(# 41) on 06/07/2009 23:37
(# 42) on 06/07/2009 23:46
(# 43) on 06/08/2009 00:09
(# 44) on 06/08/2009 00:15
That's the power of Y0j1mb0!
(# 45) on 06/08/2009 00:19
My internetz are back. We will fight this week!
(# 46) on 06/08/2009 00:35
(# 47) on 06/08/2009 03:01
I feel so sorry for you.
(# 48) on 06/08/2009 06:46
(# 49) on 06/08/2009 08:57
Sometimes a break is all you need.