This post is intended at the time where was abandoned the “casual” style of the first FPS, like Doom 1 and 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad, Blood type 1 and 2…. with boxes like you get items, where doors open by themselves… labyrinth levels, inventories things out “impossible”… etc… and a realistic approach where realism never becomes full or “justified”. The type, retrieve face life by item type you have health-kits for the face or bullets scattered there or other thing of value, or just “get” health-kits you heal in a nanosecond… where the death not it contextualized and not passed bill… etc… but inside this “atrocity” of violence was adorned consistency in excess. Where the genius with madness lies, as the Joker himself.
But this kind of 90s FPS was changed from 2000 by now known as an FPS on rail or “scripted” Call or Duty type or Halo type where life recovers the little face time if we do not receive damage. Where the linearity of the maps is absurd. Where a corridor is cut by four cardboard boxes… or a fence showing some place to go, but can not. A gate or door with a lock that can not be broken?? all this kind of stuff… frustrating in a modern shooter. Or where the provision of a map so it is no more evident than in the previous decade, with a lever as EXIT and Doom himself. If not in the ridiculous to be realistic, to recreate reality, we open a door, we melted to black and then carry that door magically and can not be opened without… sometimes suddenly put boxes behind.
But what bothers me is not this, because as a designer can understand the limitations of time, money or machines can cause these solutions. It is true that before levels were limited by technology simple. And a door or access was not available was covered less frequently or with more forcefulness. The spaces are more detailed and more realistic areas architectures that limit mobility solutions player with such ugly. Another issue are the games open world … that another day.
But what bothers me more, is to mask the real violence and militarism, we see on the news with pantomimes, which is the end of the video game. Where the death of other human beings in a real environment or death for the same protagonist is worthless or a joke. I do not like this simplification in any art. War is something I hate, that I believe is the last thing we should let it happen or never… In another sense, this type lose the essence of the 90s, in the mechanics of such simple and fun exploration towards wanting tell us a story that sometimes it’s the same as always… or nothing. I’m not against the stories. But if you want to try a game of reality you must work a good story and design maps with logic and sense. Where there because everything that touches this there. If what you want is to entertain and point, I think the story is secondary, but it should affect the game itself. Map design and mechanical progression. And a longevity should last between 14 and 30 hours, as before. I’m not against a set of 8 or 10 for anything. But you need to spend the dough on being pretentious and tell a story of a film or designing maps and mechanical fucking for a good length of play.
Now, however, they have become, and wisely, the previous style 90. justifying violence and debauchery, as entertainment in the 80s and 90s where prejudice and the limits were exceeded the standard pattern. Madness and healthy and fun under control. Where art, design and originality were on the agenda to be a new world, video games, and a time where you could go beyond the boundaries to discover new things. For the player of the time it was all play and have fun without heating the head and point. And he was there as an option unused concept today. And now he has rescued this style. Sounds good, I like.
These days I’m playing FEAR saga. The first part and expansions. And especially in these abuses its expansions found that both kill me… in the first half spend less, where they are justified by landslides or better just as we passed, or before explosions, and so justified that we can not go through there. It is possible that in the expansions these easy and cheap solutions for the smaller budget of those provisions and less experienced development team here are used Timegate worse too.
Understanding that there is no perfect art or the perfect creation. I think the solution is to simplify and narrow, like so many things in life. F.E.A.R. One does it very well, as did Half Life masterfully before. The latter even better, on both of its sides.
If I have to stay with types of FPS over time to write them in this order:
Doom, Quake, Half Life, Thief, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, FEAR, Far Cry, Bioshock. The Crysis not get it because I have still pending. Even Metro would, I’ve played quite recently, with very good solutions to its linearity.
Finally, if we can find a clear cause of these problems in the FPS genre classic PC. It is for its expansion in the world of consoles, and limited specifications. Many of the design decisions that have been taken in this cut is because of the growth of this market. It is normal, a PC expands over time in power and not console. So, the creators no limits are put in a game that tries to create a world. As against this the game that always suffering a PC gamer, every so often must suffer. Unable to play a particular game up.
