Instead of taking a trend found in the game industry, I'm going to try something a bit different and examine the trend of a certain genre. I'll be looking at what games are credited to defining it, it's best and worst times, and a preview of things to come. This week, I'll be looking at the First Person Shooter.A brief history
The first FPS games to be made were Spasim and Maze War in the early 70's. Spasim is claimed as being the first FPS, but Maze War would really layout how FPS games are played. Maze War had many characterics found in modern FPS games, including being in 3D, having many players play over a network, having players represented as avatars and using a map to find them. The gameplay was of course simple: find the other player, shoot him, repeat. During the 80's, the home computer market would boom, so many FPS games were released. Even though FPS games were played in a 3D perspective, they wouldn't truly be 3D until the 90's.
In 1993, Id software would release Doom, a game that would reign at the top of the genre for years. Doom was to first to have a truly immersive 3D look and allowing players to create their own mods (which were called "WADs"). The biggest aspect of Doom however was it's innovation for network multiplayer capabilities. Even though games were able to do that before, Doom took it to a mainstream level and created a following dedicated to just the multiplayer (especially LAN). Much like GTA's popularity, games that tried to follow Doom's style were regarded as "Doom Clones", so FPS games would have to find new ways to define the genre.
Even though Doom was reigning surpreme, many great FPSs would come seemingly year after year, and it still does even to this day.
Who and what defined the genre
Maze War – The gameplay was very simplistic, but it was basically the same way FPS games would play. Decades later, Maze War is still remembered at computer conventions such as the Vintage Computer Festival
id Software – These are the people behind Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake, three of the most innovative games of the genre. Wolf 3D would begin how modern FPS games are played today. Doom dominated the genre with it's many innovations, most notably it's multiplayer. That however would soon be surpassed by Quake, which allowed players to play against each other over the internet thanks to QuakeSpy (now known as GameSpy). These franchises are still going strong today.
Goldeneye 007 – Even though great FPS games were always coming out, they were all for the PC. Consoles would either have terrible games or ports of PC versions. That is until Goldeneye suddenly showed up, providing a great control scheme, smart AI, and a vast amount of multiplayer options. Goldeneye goes to show that it's possible that licensed games and console FPSs can be made to not suck.
Half Life and Counter Strike – HL was one of the very first FPS games to use a narrative story for it's single player mode and tell it continously within the gameplay without the use of cutscenes. Counter Strike was a mod for Half Life that became the most played FPS game, and it still is several years later.
Halo – Much like Goldeneye, this too was a console FPS that would go on to greatness. It inspired later FPS games with it's features including having only two weapons, the shield-based health, and the use of third-person vehicles. Halo (and now it's sequel) are used for Major League Gaming.
Best Time for FPS games
It seems every year or so we see a mega-hit FPS game get released. But in my opinion, I think FPSs were really at their peak from 1997-99, when the very best and most influential FPSs were released. 1997 saw the release of Goldeneye, which proved that not only can a licensed game actually be good, but a console FPS can actually be good. Goldeneye's style would eventually be used for another N64 FPS in 2000, Perfect Dark. 1998 saw the release of Half Life, where the single-player game had a narrative focus on the action. The success of that game led to many FPSs to do the same thing. The game also spawned the mod Counter-Strike, the most popular FPS of all time. That year also saw the releases of Thief: The Dark Project, which successfully showed off it's stealth elements, and Starseige: Tribes, which greatly influenced the massively multiplayer aspect of FPS games. 1999 saw two mega-hit FPSs released: Quake III and Unreal Tournament. Both had major success and continued spawning sequels. FPS games were definitely on top of the world in the late 90's.
Worst Time for FPS games
Even though FPSs on consoles are good these days, up until Goldeneye was released in 1997, FPSs on the consoles were either non existent or not very good. I mean, can you really name a great FPS game that was released before Goldeneye on the consoles? I believe the reason for this was because consoles didn't become truly 3D until 1996, while PC's went 3D several years before. Even after Goldeneye was released, the consoles wouldn't have such another mega-hit FPS until Halo four years later. These days, with consoles now going online with services such as Xbox Live, FPSs on consoles can be just as popular as on the PC. But it was a totally different story from the early 90's.
Next genre definer?
There's no doubt FPS games are going to continue to become a powerful genre in the game industry, so the real question is: what will be the next FPS game in the future to be credited as a genre definer? Over at the forums I noticed a topic for one game that can possibly be it: The Crossing.
The Crossing
Publisher: TBA
Developer: Arkane Studios
Release Date: N/A
This game could potentially define the genre by being the world's first "cross-play" PC shooter. What is "cross-play"? Here's the simplified version from 1UP:
In the simplest sense, story missions are single-player shooting with an exception: Naturally intelligent human opponents take the place of A.I. There are two types of players: Elites and skirmishers. Elites are gamers playing the game in story mode. They're beefed up, heavily armored, and heavily armed. They have to be able to hold their own against a swarm of skirmish players. Skirmishers are gamers who typically play on multiplayer maps: well-trained, rank-and-file soldiers playing primarily to have some quick fun and increase their rank through defeating the occasional Elite. Skirmish players can also invade story maps and "possess" A.I.s ala Agent Smith in The Matrix.
According to the developers, they are essentially trying to merge the single player and multi player worlds into one game. The AI in this game will almost become non-existant, because all those "bots" will be real human players. Just think about it...a game where the AI will truly not be programmed or predictable. That's basically why people love to play multi player, and now it will be applied to the single player game. Not only can this define the FPS genre, but how games of any genre are played. But with no publisher so far attached to the game, it'll be a very long time before we see this game get released.
So that was my first attempt at doing a genre. Let me know what you think and I'll see you next time with another trend in the gaming world.
[credit: Wikipedia, The Hitman JE, 1UP, Gamevideos.com]
