More Far Cry

[ChimpBoy]

You are indeed matey - CZ is not a polished FPS by anyone's standard (I know I defend it, but that's mainly becuase I think it will be the way CS in general goes, and I have accepted this).  It truly deserves it's 60% rating.

Not sure what you mean bout GTA3 and Medieval War - undoubtedly great and fully deserving of top marks.

My point was - most FPS games seem to score highly in the mags.  If it looks nice and plays like most of it's contemporaries, then it tends to score fairly well (at least low 80's).  My point is that far too often these games show a total lack of originality and are basically iterations of everything gone before.  Of course we have the concept of supply and demand - people like them so they keep getting made.  No complaints here, if people want more of them that's fine with me.  I just rarely buy them cause I'd rather buy a Vice City or NWN.

True - it's very hard to be original in a genre flooded with "me too" games.  But that doesn't mean I want to spend £30 on Far Cry just cause it plays well and looks pretty.  Thats why I prefer something with some kind of innovation or truly gripping story (for example I will probably get Doom 3, not because it's innovative, but because I think it will be a terrifying experience from all accounts - much like AVP1/2, and thus keeping me interested).

I was so dissappointed with UT2003 cause it took out the one mode of play (assault) that was really great fun to play in the original.  True I didnt play deathball mod which was supposed to be fun, but this was a fan mod (I think?) so doesn't really count.

I just bored of stuff like Serious Sam, Black Hawk Down, Soldier of Fortune, Operation Flashpoint, Unreal 2, Castle Wolfenstein, Project IGI, and the list could go on.  Most of which, if I remember rightly got good marks in the mags (SoF 1 0r 2, cant remember which, got 90+ for christ sake, and I got bored after a couple of levels of the same action over and over in different locales).

And yes - I have just soiled my pants at the thought of Thief 3     Welcome back, dear Garrett.  We have so missed you, "taffer"  

[Anonymous]

Here is a forum posting called "It was late and I was bored..."

Mmmm, Thief! The thinking mans game.

I loved Thief - so original and atmospheric. Can't think why I didn't get Thief 2 - must have missed it. I'll buy Thief 3 though.

Ah, wait, I remember, it was sneak in here, steal something, don't get caught. It was pretty much the same every level and thats why I got bored of it. Much like many of the FPSs. The levels are too samey.  To be honest, IMHO the last two original games I played were DOOM and Tomb Raider 1. Everything alse is a clone.

Armed and Dangerous was good though, very nearly a classic (just got a bit samey like all the rest). TBH I think it is impossible to make a game that doesn't get samey after a while. Maybe I'm just easily bored.

Far Cry is a nice change from some because the levels are not constrained, you can approach the problem from whatever direction you want, you don't have to kill everyone and you dont have to visit every point on the map. I guess it will still get samey after a few levels.

Oh, i remember, Chaser was good too but also got samey.

I'm looking forward to Samey 2 which is out soon

[GRIM_REAPER]

Armed and Dangerous

u sure thats not hidden and dangerous? thats a good game not played it for ages tho

[Anonymous]

No, definitely Armed & Dangerous

[ChimpBoy]

Originally posted by BlueBall@Mar 31 2004, 07:29 PM
Ah, wait, I remember, it was sneak in here, steal something, don't get caught. It was pretty much the same every level and thats why I got bored of it. Much like many of the FPSs. The levels are too samey. To be honest, IMHO the last two original games I played were DOOM and Tomb Raider 1. Everything alse is a clone.

I would disagree bout Thief - I never got bored cause, as you say with Far Cry, there were a number of ways to do the level but more importantly I got a great sense of accomplishment by not getting caught or incapping anyone - the true master thief if you will   :ph34r:

I can't disagree bout the second bit - 99.9% of art / music / tv / film / games / is derivative.  That wasn't my point.  

Being influenced by the work (and probably more importantly, the success) of someone else is natural.  I just think it's possible to put a different spin on games and that's what I look for, not necessarily the fact it's a totally new concept.  Being able to approach objectives in different ways doesnt make Far Cry any different to me.  Most games try for non-linearity these days, but end up being fairly limited in this regard, as I think Far Cry would probably be.  I mean really, how many ways are there to do an objective in Far Cry?  At the end of the day, you get the best gun and shoot till no one's left

Counter-Strike, after all, is simply another FPS at a basic level.  It was just tweaked and looked at from a different point of view to give us the game we all know and love.  I think that's my point really.

[A Twig]

Deus Ex was undoubtedly my favourite FPS of all time. There were just so many ways to do things, and even in a seemingly linear level, the first one, take control of the ambrosia shipment in liberty statue, there were at least 3 ways of completeing it.

Also, pretty much the only FPS I have played which simply didnt allow you to run in blasting and still survive. And also the only one that I have replayed all the levels at least twice, my fave being the escape from the prison one, where you start off with a knife i think, and have to overpower the guard, to get his baton and pistol, and then go and get your equipment, then complete the level...

Top top stuff, and when Deus Ex:Invisible War goes silver (i.e. budget ) I may even go and buy that!

[smilodon]

Deus Ex does indeed stand out like a beacon in a sea of mediocracy. Not since half-Life have I been so completely blown away by a game. In most games you regret the things you didn't do such as complete the level, dodge the spear trap, find the power up etc etc. In Deus Ex you regret the things you did do. First time I played it I shot the Rebel Leader on the plane. As I moved on through the game I really began to hate what I'd done. So much so, that I began a second game running alongside the first, where I let him live.

It's odd but I think quite a few people let this one get past them and have no idea what they're missing. And that's a terrible shame, as Deus Ex is one of the top two or three games  ever made.

Still FPS are like racing games, or flying games. If you enjoy the game type then you want more of the same, but different. So you want SOF, COD, MOH, Vietcong etc etc. In the same way that some people enjoy horror films, likewaise some (many) people enjoy FPS. That they score well in games mags is more down to the fact that they are a great format to experience. The FPS view is a natural way to play a game and very popular with consumers. So naturally games developers tend to make more of that type of game, and it's easier to do well with FPS's than to invent a whole new games interface.

Why do people like FPS. Escapism. In a FPS it's not an interactive movie like Mafia, Max Payne, Splinter Cell or Tomb Raider (all great games in their own right). In a FPS you are the character. Their choices are the choices you make, their actions are your actions and what happens to them happens to you. Because they are you. Unlike any other genre, you get to experience the world through them. You get to live a life, if only for a few hours that is nothing like your own. Obviously unless you are a complete sad act, you don't actually think you are that person. But in a small way you do get to escape into a game world. FPS's just let you do so in a slick easy way. Nothing about the inerface gets in the way of the player getting into the game and into the role.

Each FPS offers a new world to explore and a new set of challenges to accomplish. There is nothing really 'samey' about them really.  Granted storming the north bank of the Moscow River ( COD) is not all that different from storming the beaches of Normandy (MOH) but COD is a squad based game and MOH is mostly solo. Both run on rails but both hide that fact fairly well the first time you play. Far Cry is nothing like Deus Ex which is nothing like Theif which is nothing like SOF and so on and so on. Lovers of FPS's can make the destinction. That makes each game a unique experience. And that makes FPS' about the richest most vareied game experience going.

 

[OldBloke]

You should do this for a living Smilo  

[ChimpBoy]

Originally posted by OldBloke@Apr 1 2004, 07:04 AM
You should do this for a living Smilo  

Don't encourage him  I have to live with this

And can you honestly say COD is a squad-based shooter?!?  Sorry, but that game "ran on rails", as you put it, and I felt little or no attachment to them after a couple of levels.  In fact, them dying has little or no impact on the game as a whole.

Also Smilo - not sure bout the fact that FPS offer more escapism than racing games, adventure games, sports games, etc.  Escapism, after all, is the raison d'etre behind allcomputer games.  FPS are not so different in this regard.