http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/14/call-of-duty-has-almost-ruined-a-generation-of-fps-players-says-red-orchestra-2-dev/
I especially enjoyed a few of the comments that basically re-visited The History Of First Person RoostersShooters.
I feel that there are sub genres within FPS in general each offering different experiences
Quake Arena, Doom and Half-Life are all usually classified as FPS games but are very different from each other
Quote from: Mr. Analog on September 18, 2013, 10:32:45 AM
I feel that there are sub genres within FPS in general each offering different experiences
Agreed, for sure... but cliffs (for linked article)
Someone in the VG industry (dev of Red Orchestra) points out that since the huge success of rail (or rail-esque) FPS games (Call of Duty being the most obvious), over the last few years more and more "imitators" have come out and essentially dumbed-down the skillset required ... more fun, less dumb, so to speak. Heck, even the CONSUMERS are basically unable to enjoy a game that is too "different" from their lowered expectations of "what an FPS is like" -- see this comment (http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/14/call-of-duty-has-almost-ruined-a-generation-of-fps-players-says-red-orchestra-2-dev/comment-page-1/#comment-457905).
And although many in the comments called him out as "whining cuz you can't make as good a game", others rightfully point out a legit downside concern -- that FPS *devs* are now less and less motivated to do something creative, or to challenge their consumers in the gameplay, instead they are pumping out games quickly and just relying on rail missions and deathmatch to keep the consumers happy. What's the point of doing something "different"?
Some in the comments also praised Red Orchestra and a few other games for being more than just a simple FPS, but with added strategy and skill requirements. But that's not what the 8 year old and 48 year olds want, I guess. Thanks, masses, for your wallet donations, your vast numbers are changing the industry for the worse... And with ridic budgets being the norm now for most even non-high-profile games, I truly fear the old days of innovation and trailblazing are indeed essentially gone.
But imo it's really worth reading the comments (http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/14/call-of-duty-has-almost-ruined-a-generation-of-fps-players-says-red-orchestra-2-dev/comment-page-1/#comments) -- if just to be reminded of which games Back In The Day really changed (for good!) what the genre offers to the consuming public... this comment especially (http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/14/call-of-duty-has-almost-ruined-a-generation-of-fps-players-says-red-orchestra-2-dev/#comment-538651) ("...Doom is basically the most important FPS/game in FPS Genre ever made. it was highly influential not only on subsequent shooter games but on video gaming in general,and has been available on almost every video gaming system since...")
Hard to imagine in the near or far future any more "revolutionary" concepts being introduced in this genre, heck rarely are there even "evolutionary" jumps, more like "hey look, it's the same game as last year but with better textures and/or more ways of using cover and/or hey look weather effects and destructable walls!" :(
The thing I find now is that there is such a vibrant ecosystem of first person games to choose from that there is enough room for smaller games with WILDLY different ideas than "military shooter" to grab some success without throwing huge AAA budgets at them (Slender, Minecraft, Gone Home, etc). I look at a game like CoD and I know exactly what experience I'm going to get, it's sort of like fast food, I get what I expect but it's going to be somewhat bland experience compared to other stuff. For a lot of gamers that's all they want, which is fine, but they are missing out in a big way. I paid a whole lot less for Minecraft than I did for Black Ops II and I can tell you which one I for SURE I've played more, not that I didn't have fun in BLOPS2 but it only offers so much. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though AAA titles dominate sales numbers they don't take away from innovation. They spawn clones for sure and sway marketing decisions of the big dev houses but there's an amazing world of successful games out there that function outside whatever EA thinks is supposed to be popular.
Personally I really miss well put together arena shooters (like UT2K4!!), games like TF2 for sure fill that void of team based or arena combat but there's nothing quite like getting all caffeinated and running around with crazy weapons, thinking fast and getting better solely because you get better (and not because you were grinding or buying weapons)
Ahh memories :) (though I guess I could spin up a server if anyone was interested :D )