The Rise, Descent, and Restoration of the First Person Shooter

The First Person Shooter. Now there's a genre of video games that causes all sorts of strong reactions. About the only ones that will get a fiercer reaction might be JRPGs or walking simulators, though for slightly different reasons. The First Person Shooter (FPS) has a history as simultaneously the most extreme and offensive genre and the safest and most tame for reasons that are quite clear to anyone who grew with the genre and its early roots in games like Wolfenstein 3D. It also the most unabashedly male genres.

The main character is usually the most appealing to males, either musclebound men or attractive curvaceous women, utilizing a wide variety of weapons to battle insurmountable armies of soldiers, monsters, or aliens, that wish to take over and/or destroy the world. Levels typically involve much exploration and puzzle solving to get through, on top of it. In other words, these are as pure action adventure games you can get short of platformers.

But because of its roots in 80s action movies, these games are now considered quite offensive, probably more than they were when they first came out.

Me, I've personally never had an issue with putting a bullet into the brain of a demon or enemy agents trying to destroy the free world, but I've also grown up with the genre. Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Duke Nukem 3D were the games I played the most of on my very first PC. I played GoldenEye and Perfect Dark to death on the N64. I was playing Medal of Honor on the PS1 before the World War II fad began and Timesplitters was the first PS2 game I ever owned.

It was one of my favorite genres.

And that's about the time where a lot of my interest died out.

You see, in the '00s video games began harping about becoming "realistic" like other dying mediums such as novels and comics in order to be "relevant" to people who never cared about the medium to begin with. All of a sudden every genre had to "relate" to every single gamer (and non-gamer) which meant dumbing down the content to appeal to the lowest common denominator. In the process of doing so FPS games became the go-to action genre for mediocrity. It was now a safe space hand-holding session for wimps who like watching movies more than playing video games. The "bald space marine" cliche existed for a reason: those games are what choked the life out of the genre. The bombast was gone, as was the fun.

If you want to know what I mean, simply look at the earlier entries in the genre. They may be "dated" now, but they still offer more gameplay and variety than any AAA game the industry drools out of its maw these days. I've spent the better part of the last year using my gaming time on these old relics, and they still remain fun.

Catacomb 3D and its sequels were proto-DOOM with maze-like levels and plenty of demonic enemies and monsters to blast into goo. The Blake Stone games were a James Bond meets sci-fi monster movie in space mash-up. Rise of the Triad is a dime store novel come to life. The Star Wars: Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games brought pulp adventures with the open ended level design and varied enemy types that classic shooters were known for. Strife attempted to blend roleplaying elements with DOOM. And those are just the tip of the iceberg.

Throughout the 90s, the genre only built on these games, constantly improving while holding onto its roots.

Blood: One Unit Whole Blood is one of the best of the genre. It actually might be the best FPS ever made, or is close to it. Wide open levels, satisfying weapons, mad villains and demons of all stripes are hiding all over, and the trashy story about demons killing other demons is delicious. You won't get a purer FPS experience than this. And it still holds up today.

I suppose I could also bring up System Shock, but there would be little point. Other similar games share FPS elements, but are not FPS games, like Thief or Deus Ex, just simply share influences and crossover appeal. But if it wasn't for that genre, they certainly wouldn't be what they are now. I would argue they have more in common with the likes of the older games than any of the games coming out now, however.

It was at this time that genre began going crazy with games like Shadow Warrior, SiN, and Redline, the latter of which is part car combat and Mad Max simulator. And the games kept coming. It's a long way of saying that the genre was built purely on fun and excitement with a very clear focus. You could also mention games like the last two S.W.A.T. entries and Rainbow Six for bringing strategy elements in. There was nothing off limits.

And, as has been said, video games were one of the few mediums that continued impressing and growing into the '00s. No One Lives Forever, Serious Sam, Clive Barker's Undying, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Shogo, Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death, Painkiller, and most games up to the second Star Wars Battlefront had at least something to offer the player while keeping the fun alive. Things were only looking up for the genre. Even the first HD console generation started off on a different note with the first Condemned entry.

But then came along a game called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Now, I don't hate this game. As far as cinematic shooters go, it's still one of the best to this day and it was original when it released. It's very well directed and was impressive for its time. However scripted and shallow the level design might be, it is still well made. But it hobbled the genre and sucked all creativity out of it, damaging the genre for years afterwards.

Everyone ended up copying its success. Shooters had to be "realistic" and "down to earth" while at the same time doing away with health packs for hiding behind cover until your bullet wounds simply go away. The absurdity sells itself. And this was the main problem with this new focus.

Every weapon needed to be "aimed down" on with iron-sights which both obscured the screen and slowed down the action tremendously. Again, in the name of realism.

Enemy types as well were now standard humans with no real differential AI or placement in a level. Monster closets were about as complex as enemy encounters ever got. Because of this change, strategy was practically gutted from any firefight, and level design was streamlined to compensate. Enemy types all having the same weakness (headshot) and body type (normal fit humanoid) cut down on the crazy enemy variety the genre was capable of and had indulged in.

Wide open levels were replaced with one single hallway. This was pared down from DOOM's traditional labyrinth-like designs because players could get lost and need event triggers and explosions to keep them engaged and their eyes on the screen. This despite near two decades of history showing the audience was fine with the original approach.

Whereas in early games you could carry ten weapons+ including crazy gizmos such as alien guns that could fire through walls, chainsaws, super shotguns, and portable wall turrets, you were now limited to two that were limited to realistic military hardware. The reason given for this was because it was "more realistic" and for "game balance" because creative weapons might be too imaginative for gamers and take them out of their fantasy experience. Also, so developers didn't have to extensively test balance between weapons and the levels themselves.

And all this was in the service of streamlining and "casualizing" for the audience.

Certain people blamed consoles for this. They were wrong. Games like GoldenEye and Perfect Dark existed solely on consoles and had big levels, a large set of crazy weapons, and multiple scaling objective for players to tackle long before Call of Duty existed. Even the original Halo: Combat Evolved had it. Not to mention the Timesplitters games. Games like Quake, DOOM, and Half-Life were all ported to consoles with no problems. They did not need any of the things Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare made standard, and it is revisionism to say they did. The dumbing down was purely due to hopping on a trend train that ended up gutting much enjoyment from the genre while finding a convenient scapegoat. It had nothing to do with the limitations of consoles, but the limitations of developers.

Around the time Halo and CoD hit fever pitch, the genre lost its way with clone after clone aping their original success. They all followed the same template, they all had the same aesthetic, and they all played exactly the same. This continued for years as the entire industry became bereft of originality or depth. New consoles came out, and the same bad decisions were still being made. It looked as if the FPS was never going to reclaim it's former glory.

But then a strange thing happened. DOOM 4 was announced, and not only was it announced, but it was against everything modern shooters had become.

Originally it was going to be another CoD clone. id Software even had a concept of it they showed around. But it sucked. It was predictable, safe, and forgettable. It was the anti-DOOM and against everything the genre was supposed to be. At some point they realized just how far the genre had fallen and decided to change course. So they went back to basics. They got to working on a classic DOOM game the way it would look if made on modern hardware. They decided to update the old formula and forget current trends.

And it ended up being one of the best shooters ever.

How did they succeed? Well, I'll leave it to the Razorfist review to tell you.

*WARNING: NSFW language*

It was a massive success.

DOOM 4 is one of the best FPS games I've ever played. The levels are open, the weapons are satisfying, the art style is fresh and engaging, and everything is just plain fun to do. It was as if they went back to 2005 and pretended the intervening years didn't happen when Halo and CoD were the only influences in the genre. This is exactly what FPSes needed.

It remains to be seen if id's masterful gambit has paid off yet or if it will be ignored as soundly as John Wick's success has been by Hollywood, but I would hope someone is watching. The genre is turning it back around.

However, smaller developers and publishers got the hint. For instance, there is Ion Maiden from 3D Realms and Voidpoint. A new shooter made in the old engine of Blood, Shadow Warrior, and Duke Nukem 3D, it uses modern tricks in the genre while still adhering to the roots that made the genre a success in the first place.

But they aren't alone.

Amid Evil and Dusk from New Blood Interactive. These are classic style shooters designed with modern sensibilities, but still retain what built the genre in the first place. Taking up from where the AAA industry has dropped the ball, these creators went back and reinvented the wheel, only giving it spiked tires and built-in machine guns. They are reminding gamers just where the genre came from.

This is a long way to saying that you don't need to give up. Just because things might have gotten off the track does not mean they will always stay that way, or that no one else realizes the problems going on. Times are changing.

Eventually it all comes back around again.

So keep your chin up. A real revolution is on its way.