The blog picture comes from here: http://memearchive.net/meme... , and I think it's a fitting way to describe the modern FPS genre. I like shooters. I really do, but I've been a bit worn out on them recently. I have my reasons, but chief among them would be how every FPS these days seems to be a corridor shooter. I grew up on shooters like Duke Nukem, Strife, System Shock, and Dark Forces, games that gave you complex environments to explore with hidden ammo caches, alternate paths, divergent hallways, and all the sort of stuff that modern FPSs omit. After a while, running down the same street with the same column of burned-out cars being blocked by the same pile of concrete rubble gets really boring, and I've wanted the FPS genre to follow the lead of games like Dishonored (okay, not a shooter) and Far Cry 3.
My cynical side is saying "wait and see", but if what I'm seeing is true, I think the Dark Age of Corridor Shooters is coming to an end, and I couldn't be any happier (well, please announce a new Dark Forces, but I'll take SW: Battlefront I guess).
First, there's Killzone: Shadows Fall. I've beaten every single Killzone game, but I'm actually not that big of a fan of the series. I enjoy the games, but I consider them solid B-rate shooters, nothing more. Still, I like them and I was pleased to see a new Killzone announced. When I saw the first trailer (here: http://www.vg247.com/2013/0... I thought to myself "yeah, that looks fun". I figured I'd pick it up after it dropped down to the ~$20 range, but after seeing the footage, I may have to expedite my purchase (footage + interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watc... ) The color palette, the feel, and the semi-openness of the maps gave me really strong Halo: Combat Evolved vibes, and I mean that in a good way. Killzone is actually pretty bad when it comes to scripted, linear areas, so I was mighty impressed they broke out of the corridor and gave us very open-ended maps to mess around in.
Next up is Titan Fall, which blew a lot of people away, and it was my second-favorite showing at the Microsoft conference (topped only by MGS5). The Xbox One gameplay can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watc... . Setting aside the integration of mechs (HECK YES!), it really wowed me with its verticality and parkour-ish movement around the map. During the demonstration, the player jumped, slid, flew up onto rooftops, wall-ran on billboards, and more. I was watching and there were plenty of parts during the trailer where I pointed and said "it looks like you can go in that drain pipe" and "that bombed out house looks like an alternate route". Based on the demonstration, it seems as though the maps will be nice and open-ended, which is never a bad thing, in my opinion.
Lastly, we finally got to see a beefy demonstration of Bungie's new game, Destiny. Brimming with Bungie's signature quality, the game looks like a ton of fun (here: http://www.youtube.com/watc... ) and possibly an early contender for the next big thing in the FPS genre. I'm sure Bungie has plenty of their own ideas, but the core gameplay resembles Borderlands, which isn't a bad thing at all. The weapons look like a lot of fun, and everything in that gameplay demonstration just oozes quality and creativity. Best yet, the maps look massive, perhaps on the same scale of an MMO. Who knows? Either way, Destiny is yet another game breaking away from the corridor-shooter style we've all grown so bored of.
I don't know about you, but I really like shooters. Yet, I get burned out them when they devolve into same-ol'-same-ol'. Hopefully, this new generation of first person and third person shooters breaks out from the rigid, linear molds created during the last gen of gaming.
Those are the three shooters that really stood out to me. Did I miss anything? What FPS games did you like seeing at E3? Do you agree with the premise of my blog? Comment below.
The Honkai Star Rail 2.2 banners introduce Robin and Boothill, alongside returning faces Topaz and Fu Xuan to HoYo's space fantasy RPG on PS5.
Available right now on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC is the latest from a prolific KEMCO team - Horrific Xanatorium; a horror Visual Novel
Gary Green said: You’ll be forgiven if you haven’t heard of the Ar Tonelico trilogy. The previous two games arrived so late in the PS2’s life-cycle that they simply went unnoticed. While most were tinkering with their shiny new PS3s, Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica were being ‘returned to sender’ by your local Game stores. Luckily, you won’t need to have played them to understand and appreciate this third and final chapter, Qoga (pronounced k-yoga) tells the story of a racial war between humans and Reyvateils, a breed of biologically produced female cyborgs capable of reproduction, while still having a digital mind.
Oh my god. I kinda wish this would get a remaster on PS5, it would be awesome. One of my favorite games on PS3.
That and 3D Dot Game Heroes. It's a shame that some stuff is stuck on PS3.
Ar Tonelico 3 is good I still prefer the first AT game. The music is solid in all the games and Akiko Shikata is a very talented singer bringing life to the game. Only annoying part is well I find is Saki I always choose Finnel or Tyria. KOEI so needs to HD remaster the franchise along with Ar Nosurge and Ciel Nosurge since it never came to North America. I would day one the Ar Toneliceo games and Ar Nosurge if they were remastered.
I still have the limited edition of Qoga unopened. Unfortunately it never went up in value like I had hoped all these years.
Titanfall was definitely one of the most interesting games I saw at E3, it sucks that its currently an Xbox exclusive. Hopefully that will just be a timed exclusive and it will land on the PS4.
I encourage you to watch the gameplay of Tom Clancy's The Division if you haven't already. That game is the definition of open. Technically, it's an MMO, but it's done in a way that feels like a huge step forward for shooters.
At least in my opinion.