When Sony Almost Conquered the Shooter Scene

Eric from GamR Mag writes: "...the truth of the matter is that Sony nearly stole the show from Microsoft when it comes to shooters. Some of these games ended up doing pretty well, a few struggled, and one fell flat on its face."

[slinky123456]

Sony has many exclusive titles in just about every genre, while ms just has a couple in some and none in most.

[ABeastNamedTariq]

I'd have to agree with that. Shooter and racer mostly, IIRC. They're still fun, but.. You know.

[shivvy24]

I really hope someone picks up the Resistance franchise, I was a huge halo fanboy until I got resistance on my 14th bday back in 2007 ! Man I was hooked on both 1 and 2 ! I liked 3 but it didnt feel like a resistance game ! I reckon insomniac didnt have enough to fund R3 so the game was smaller , small mp , no co-op compared to the huge scale in R2

[UltimateMaster]

I really loved MAG, Sony should've kept Zipper Interactive.
They should make a sequel.

[Campy da Camper]

What I like about Sony is they take chances with devs. Some of what I consider this gens greatest games (TLOU, Heavy Rain, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Demons Souls) have been on the PlayStation.

Games with a awesome SP are what I prefer. Sure, mp can be fun but I spend 60.00 on a game that I want to sit in a dark room, wired in to my LED 55" with my Sennheisers 7.1 surround sound headphones and become lost in for hours at a time.

I don't care so much for loadouts and Hollywood voice acting I want a game with great atmosphere and unyielding gameplay. I want to turn off my console and sit there for a few minutes having to process what I just played. I want to be at work physically but mentally day dreaming about how I'm going to tackle that level and research online other peoples comments about being stuck or over burdened by an enemy. This is the sum total that makes a game great.

The order, second sun, knack, the next ND and MM game...this is what excites me to buy a ps4

[AbortMission]

Meh. Resistance shouldn't be milked anymore. R3 was a good ending.

I want new memorable IPs instead for the PS4 and Vita!

[itBourne]

R:FoM was possibly the best shooter of this generation. R2 was trash and not even remotely like the first resistance. R3 was a CoD syndrome game, the story was trash (sp gameplay was fine). Resistance was the best thing Sony had going and whether it was Sony or Insomniac they ruined it. I know at lest 15 people that abandoned Resistance when it came to R2. 4 people that bought a ps3 because of RFoM as well, and didnt like any of the sequels

[I_am_Batman]

@AbortMission: I really have to disagree. If there was anything that I disliked about Resistance 3 it definately was the ending. I really was hoping to get to the world of the ancient chimeras or at least for them to get in the real world. The actual ending was way too predictable. I'm not a huge fan of happy endings just for the sake of it. I especially liked the ending of Resistance 2 because it took me by surprise.

[ohiostatesman]

It doesn't really matter because Sony does not have Halo. The king of FPS games.

[TomShoe]

If I wanted a console that was entirely about FPS games, I'd get an Xbox.

[UltimateMaster]

And I'd agree with you more if bungie was still making Halo.

But so far, Microsoft doesn't have an Exclusive First Party Shooter coming out this year, which is kinda odd. Halo's only coming out next year.

[CrimsonStar]

Xbox 1 : no exclusives for shooters
PS4: KZ-SF , Planet side , and war thunder (think that's what it is called)
Your comment just imploded with an incredible amount of contradiction .

[JBSleek]

That is disingenuous really at the start of this generation because MS is launching without their major shooter games while Sony actually is.

[Fireseed]

Except they don't even have a fighting game for launch... let alone an exclusive.

[JP1369]

Key words: At launch. Over the course of the console cycle it's very likely that Sony will produce more exclusives with more variety. But, you keep pointing to that narrow window of time in which most of their studios and third party partners won't have had the opportunity to release or show their newest products and act as if that's somehow a barometer for the next 5-7 years. How'd that turn out the last three generations?

[WeAreLegion]

Killer Instinct looks good, but it easily could have been a 360 title.

[pr0t0typeknuckles]

I completly agree with you,heck tge reason I like Sony and nintendo mire cause they have a bigger variety than Microsoft.

[humbleopinion]

Actually last gen started quite the opposite: Sony came strong from the PS2 era in JRPGs and action-adventure games (especially platforms), plus they had the ultimate racing franchise, while Microsoft was much stronger in FPS games and Western RPGs.

So both focused on their weaknesses: MS started with some action-adventure and platforming efforts with games like Kameo and Banjo, and at the same time focused heavily on JRPG - in fact the Xbox 360 was the best place for JRPGs until about two years ago when MS abandoned them and sony picked up the spoils of war - so now the tables have turned again. Microsoft also delivered PGR and Forza games back to back, and thanks to Sony missing the mark with GT it turned out that the 360 became the best place for racing franchises. Microsoft also put some focus on H&S games (Where Sony completely dominated last gen thanks to GOW and DMC), but after a few failed attempts (Ninja Blade, NNN and losing the Ninja Gaiden exclusivity) they bailed out.

Sony on the other hand focused on shooters: From Killzone to Infamous to Haze to MAG and SOCOM. But nothing in that least could even come close to dethrone Halo... hell - none of the games even comes close to the feature set offered by Halo 3 back in 2007. Not to mention the 360 had some assitance from games such as Metro 2033, PDZ, and (and that's exlcuding 3rd person shooters such as Gears). But it was eventually multiplatform games like COD and Battlefield that made FPS games a non-issue whichever console you owned

But sony also failed to hit one other major genre: the Western RPG. The PS3 practically had none (the closest thing was the ARPG Demons Souls). Meanwhile the X360 had the Fable series (which is only Semi-RPG), built up on the Mass Effect series (which was initially exclusive) and had some other console exclusives such as The Witcher and Divinity 2.

Sony also stayed on top the Platformer genre (with Ratchet and Sly games for example), while Microsoft expanded to the strategy genres (Halo Wars, Toy Soldiers for exmplae) with no real answer from Sony. Both had their 3rd party exclusive stealth-action game (MGS4 VS SC:C) but both have their sequels turned multiplatform so no real dominance here.

At the end of the generation it turns out that both have a varied selection of titles, with the PS3 strengths being mostly H&S and Platformers, while the 360 strengths are Strategy and RPGs. In almost all other genres each console has a fair share of exclusive counteroffers.

But lastly, microsoft also better capitalized on the indie market and small games segments, with Xbox Live Arcade outshining at least in quantity whatever the PSN had to offer. This is probably why Sony identified this as a key weakness of the PS3 and is now moving on full force towards the indie scene with the PS4. This gen is going to be very interesting.

[savaroth]

"with the PS3 strengths being mostly H&S and Platformers, while the 360 strengths are Strategy and RPGs. "

Most of your arguement is actually good, but you forget to mention that MS has left RPG gamers out in the cold now the next gens are about to appear. Sony came with Ni No kuni and Tales of Xillia. MS came with what?

Do agree with your statement that MS did have a good start. Fable, Star Ocean ( THe PS version was better with dual JP/EN audio , but came out a year later )

[humbleopinion]

@savaroth

I actually agree with you - but please note that I was making a distinction between RPGs and JRPGs (who for most part aren't really RPGs in the same sense western games are).

Regarding JRPGs, I clearly stated that "about two years ago when MS abandoned them and sony picked up the spoils of war" - which is exactly whay you are saying. MS dropped the ball here.

But if someone is picking up the Xbox 360, he still has about 4-5 exclusive JRPGs not available on the PS3 to play (although most of them are from 2006-2009). Hell, Lost Odyssey is still one of my most recommended JRPGs to date this gen.

But when Regarding western RPGs - I still stand by my statement that Sony doesn't really have anything exclusive on the PS3 to counter what the 360 offers.

[Amazingmrbrock]

Aww I didn't know they were shutting down the MAG servers. That makes me kind of sad. I haven't played it in a long time but I put a lot of hours into it. I'll probably never throw away the disk just because of all the memories.

[MRMagoo123]

I would rather all devs put FPS games aside for a while and concentrate on different genres this gen.

[shivvy24]

I would like to see more platformers/adventure games

[pr0t0typeknuckles]

Yes,yes,yes

[-Alpha]

I remember I used to be so hyped for Haze. My Halo friends would laugh at me... I had so much faith in Free Radical.

It's unfortunate how these shooters struggled. Resistance and SOCOM should have been so much more. Sony always had SOCOM, it's definitely the biggest disappointment and a title that should have succeeded if not for horrible management and cluelessness from the developers.

[Bigpappy]

The only shooter I really wanted to play from Sony was Socom. I was playing Ghost Recon on Xbox and some of the feature in Socom sounded like they would have added to the fun in Ghost. Doing co-op online missions in Ghost was priceless though. Love those Xbox Ghost. GRAW was not quite as good.

[Asuka]

As mentioned above i would like developers to take a break from FPSs this gen and focus on other genres. I would like to see more story driven games, more rpgs, and some new rts's. Would love to see GG create a TPS with rts elements(ala kz:liberation) for ps4. GG still has one unannounced next-gen project other than kz:shadowfall

[Rimeskeem]

resistance, killzone, and MAG were not bad at all maybe could have been better but honestly they were all good

[YNWA96]

I loved Resistance 1 & 2, #3 just did not do it for me though... The first modern warfare and black ops changed the landscape too, but was the bar set too high? Have not had the same buzz since. Halo was good, but its the same as before. I hope killzone 3 is good. Battlefield is good too, but more of the same. I need Fallout to be honest... I do not know what they can do at this stage to freshen up FPS'ers.

[ginsunuva]

Who said they were bad?

Stealth trolling.

[StockpileTom]

RIP SOCOM... can't wait for H-Hour

[WeAreLegion]

Same here. Ready to download my PS4 copy!

[NateCole]

My first game on PS3 is Resistance. Such a great game and time. Loved how hopeless everything was and the large scale battles i have not seen on console before. Even with so much going on the game did not slow down one bit. Last but not least the amazing amazing weapons. The Fareye yes!

[TheFallenAngel]

Resistance: Fall of Man, one of the best shooter of last gen!

[younglj01]

MAG = Most underrated shooter of this-gen....

[GUYwhoPLAYSvideoGAME]

not sure about 1 and 2(both of which i've beaten), but resistance 3 was the most fun i had in a first person shooter this gen

[WeAreLegion]

One of the best campaigns ever made.

[TheFallenAngel]

Why was the 360 a better shooter console? I had great shooting games on my PS3. Resistance: Fall of Man kept me busy for months, then COD4. Such an ignorant article. Also Uncharted had a great multiplayer.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

No definitely not, they weren't even close. Resistance is awful and the Killzone series has its ups and downs.

[Hicken]

The sales and fans seem to say otherwise.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

If sales are the only judge of quality then you must love Justin Beiber.

[Swiggins]

I wouldn't call Resistance awful, not by a longshot. I enjoyed the campaign in all 3 of the games to the fullest. Multiplayer wasn't the best in any of them though, with Resistance 2 probably being the best of the series.

Killzone campaign and multiplayer is fantastic, I don't know what you're talking about. 3 might not have been as good as 2, but it was still very high quality.

Please don't use that fallacious Justin Beiber argument as your justification. Must I remind you that sometimes popular things are popular for a reason.

[Hicken]

Are they the only judge of quality? I certainly don't see those words in my comment.

Sometimes, you try too hard. Not as bad as some, but too hard, nonetheless.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

@Hick, Personal insults. Always the last resort of those with no valid counter argument.

@Other Guy. Oh ok, so the "sales = quality" argument is only valid when you say it is. Got it. In before a "no, but, I, etc" style reply.

[nigelp520]

Planetside 2
MAG
Killzone 2,3, Shadowfall
Resistance 3

[wishingW3L]

MAG was really good but like always, the lack of hype and marketing killed it right out of the gate. People didn't even gave it a chance... Other great games that suffered the same fate were Warhawk and Starhawk.

[xc7x]

it was more to it than that,had an unfriendly interface,few options with play modes,takes forever to upgrade weapons

[Xsilver]

Santa Monica is working on a first person shooter if rumors are true so i wanna see what they hit me with.

[Insane087]

mag was my favourite shooter this gen but the learning curve made it difficult for noobs! acq/dom were amazing and proxy chat needs to be added to all competitive game imo it deserves sequel no matter what the cod babies say... the hit detection clan setup and lobby system put most fps' to shame

[Discod99]

Ha ha what?!? They didn't even come close. Resistance and Kill Zone are one above mediocre at best. I'll take 1 Halo over both those games.

[iliimaster]

the dual shock is not a shooter controller... maybe it is if you have never played a shooter for xbox but the dead space in the thumb sticks kill me .... too much unless things change ALOT the new controller looks more of the same they need to just come out with a similar controller for 40$

as far as resistance when they went away from the narration that was so great in part 1 it never felt the same... and 3 looked cartoonish and too dark.. but i do want another one for ps4 this is one of my favorite franchises

[Hicken]

... the deadzone in the DS3 is far smaller than in the 360, meaning you have to move the sticks less to get a corresponding motion onscreen.

[xc7x]

they were king of 3rd person shooters with PS2

[Bolts]

This is a great article. It really showed how Sony made a huge push to win the shooter war, and they got their ass kicked.

Killzone and Resistance were decent games, but MAG, Haze, and Socom were huge bust. They had quantity, but the quality were lacking. In the end the Xbox clearly won the FPS genre based on the huge popularity of Halo and multiplat advantage of CoD and BF on the 360.

From the look of things, Killzone 3 is about to get man handled by Titanfall too. On the bright side, the amount of free to play shooters on the PS4 is simply staggering. This could be good or bad depending on your preference.