RELOAD! WHERE’S MY GOD-DAMN CLIP!
In this day and age majority of you know what a First Person Shooter is. For those of you who don’t a First Person Shooter, also abbreviated as FPS, is a style of game where the player is required to shoot targets and/or enemies seeing all the action through the eyes of the playable character. This genre has been traced back to the 70’s where a game called ‘Maze War’ was released. They quickly advanced through the years bringing out the classic ‘Wolfenstein 3D’, ‘Doom’, ‘Duke Nukem’ ‘Golden eye 007’, ‘Half life’, ‘Timesplitters’ carrying on to modern day classics such as ‘Halo’ ‘Battlefield’ and ‘Call of Duty’.
Before FPS games became really competitive and popular, on earlier platforms such as Playstation, Playstation 2 and Microsoft Xbox we used to have to play split screen mode with friends and siblings. To the minority who are not aware of split screen, imagine an old bulky TV no bigger than 24″ then split that horizontally in half, or even worse, split it into quarters – This is how the older generation of gamers used to play. We would have to physically sit next to the person we were playing against and share the same screen and console.
FPS is an extremely competitive market there are so many developers out there competing against each other to produce the better game. For me, there are a few vital things that make the game good. Firstly the game controls need to be smooth. When I’m asked to shoot targets under a certain time limit, I need the game to enable me to be at my best, this means no clunky movements. A good example of this is a recent game “Titanfall 2” to be able to run, slide, jump, wall run, aim and use equipment such as grapple hook to scale terrain in a nice smooth sequence provides enjoyable gameplay. The transitions between each movement work really well.
Secondly Storyline, it’s all well and good having smooth controls, but if the storyline isn’t intriguing and gripping then the controls are pointless, I need the game to keep my attention and want me to progress further. There are many good FPS games with a gripping storyline. For instance Bioshock, an interesting storyline with more than a few thrills on the way. A good story line for me needs to provide a balanced challenge, nothing too easy and nothing too hard.
First Person Shooters have always been my go-to style of game, they’re simple, fun, challenging and very competitive. So I would like to share with you, my personal top 5 FPS games that I couldn’t put down.
Battlefield 1:
Well for me ‘Battlefield 1’ has advanced a lot, whilst keeping the “battlefield” playing experience, the campaign showing multiple war stories about the history of war really caught my attention. Instead of following the crowd who seem to be producing advanced war fighting they brought it back to the original. Plain and simple, Tanks, biplanes, old school vehicles, guns and horses. The one aspect of the game that really stands out for me is this “realistic” bullet drop. Having to think about your aiming instead of point and shoot really is a nice feel and gives the game that bit of an edge. Making that “pinging” noise via a head shot from over 300ft away makes it that bit more special.
Rainbow Six Siege:
Rainbow Six Siege, one of the most tactical Shooters I’ve played. ‘Ubisoft’ have done themselves proud with this one, other than ‘Vegas 2’ another game from their series, this one was impressive. It is mainly an online game, but certain aspects of the game allow players to play offline for instance “Terrorist hunt” this requires the player to hunt down a limited amount of enemies. I mainly love this game as you are required to think fast, as the wrong action can leave you and your team in jeopardy. This tactical shooter isn’t just a run and gun, there are multiple entry points even through walls, floors and ceilings (browse this site to learn more about how to maintain them professionally). This gives the game suspense, not knowing when or where the enemy team are going to hit you.
Halo 3:
Third on the list is an all-time classic, ‘Halo 3’ I spent a lot of time indulging in this game. From the gripping campaign to the extremely competitive multiplayer. Graphically the game was impressive in 2007 with vibrant colours from the armour and laser pistols. Bungie really outdid themselves with this. Being able to ricochet a sniper bullet off a wall and kill someone around the corner took some luck and “skill” The competitive side to this game really was based on skill level. So if you saw someone with a high rank then you knew you were about to have a good challenge. To level up, you had to be good. If you do bad then well, you’re simply demoted a rank.
Unreal Tournament:
‘Unreal Tournament’ developed and published by ‘Epic Games’. This is another game that is solemnly based on competitive head to head multiplayer deathmatches. There is, however, a single player campaign but its just the same as multiplayer but with bots. Playing the game mainly on PC, it requires speed and accuracy to be able to actually get somewhere. Given weapons such as rocket launchers, Enforcers and rippers each with two firing modes. Allowing players to rip the enemy to shreds especially when picking up perks such as “instal” allowing one shot kills. Who doesn’t love being overpowered?
Team Fortress 2:
Finally, last but not least, “Team Fortress 2” a game that I spent probably the most hours playing. Developed by ‘Valve corporation’ shows simplicity at its best. It’s colourful, simple graphics are pleasing to the eye, with its simple aim and shoot mechanics this game provided a lot of fun for many hours even more enjoyable with friends. The game is simply red vs blue, 3 roles containing 9 classes. Offence – Scout, Soldier and Pyro. Defence- Demoman, Heavy and Engineer. Support – Medic, Sniper and Spy. Each class provides a specific role on the battlefield so each player is just as important as the other. The game requires you to play as a team to get the objective done. The main aspect of this game I enjoy is every character has its strength against another character, yet it has its weakness against others.
So there you have it, my top 5 FPS games I’ve really enjoyed over my gaming period. This isn’t as easy as I thought as there are so many great games that i wanted to add into my list. Such as “Overwatch” “Half-life” “Left 4 Dead” “Borderlands”, “Call of duty” and “Crysis” but I really needed to think “What games made me want to go back and play them over and over?”
Got any thought on the above? I would love to hear what your top 5 FPS games are and why in the comments section below;
