Were FPS' More Diverse In Previous Generations??

[Alex]

I was wanting to download some old FPS games that I'd had on my PS2 (seeing as they're not on PSN or Xbox Live) and I was browsing when I realised that a lot of the old FPS games on PS2 (and by association Xbox and Gamecube) seemed a bit more diverse than ones now.

It seemed quite a lot of the games had interesting weapons and gadgets (Timesplitters, the James Bond games Perfect Dark etc) instead of the standard pistol, assault rifle, shotgun etc. Gadgets could be used in gameplay instead of just story driven uses.

One main thing I remember is that the story modes were interesting and held your attention and weren't just a piss break for the multiplayer. Also they generally weren't taking the gritty and serious route for the story mode.

In fact I'd go out on a limb and say that multiplayer has generally made FPS' less desirable (for me at least) because of the huge emphasis on multiplayer has made the story modes sub par. I like multiplayer as much as the next guy but I also like to have a good story mode to keep me entertained when I'm not in the mood to play with friends.

So what do you guys think. Am I just on a nostalgia kick or do I have some valid points.

 

[DarksideEric]

I was wanting to download some old FPS games that I'd had on my PS2 (seeing as they're not on PSN or Xbox Live) and I was browsing when I realised that a lot of the old FPS games on PS2 (and by association Xbox and Gamecube) seemed a bit more diverse than ones now.

It seemed quite a lot of the games had interesting weapons and gadgets (Timesplitters, the James Bond games Perfect Dark etc) instead of the standard pistol, assault rifle, shotgun etc. Gadgets could be used in gameplay instead of just story driven uses.

One main thing I remember is that the story modes were interesting and held your attention and weren't just a piss break for the multiplayer. Also they generally weren't taking the gritty and serious route for the story mode.

In fact I'd go out on a limb and say that multiplayer has generally made FPS' less desirable (for me at least) because of the huge emphasis on multiplayer has made the story modes sub par. I like multiplayer as much as the next guy but I also like to have a good story mode to keep me entertained when I'm not in the mood to play with friends.

So what do you guys think. Am I just on a nostalgia kick or do I have some valid points.

No, you have some very valid points and it's probably the biggest reason I don't play FPS games anymore, they're stale, they don't really evolve all that much and their meta never shifts.

I was a giant, giant fan of Starsiege TRIBES on PC in 98-00. It had tons of diversity (especially since it could be modded like most all PC games). Counter Strike, while it has "standard guns," to me doesn't feel anything like the CoDs, MoHs and Battlefields. Halo for a while was diverse (at least for consoles) but has shifted towards what has become popular: Perks and "Soft Class Systems."

Give Shadowrun a try (if you can) or get Team Fortress 2 for free.

 

[ABMorales787]

Nowadays, FPS are stale because of the insane abundance. But back in the day, they were less diverse than today. But it was always the same thing with them. Guns and war. War and guns. Their hooks had to either be how good their multiplayer was or being from a major franchise.

 

[DarksideEric]

Nowadays, FPS are stale because of the insane abundance. But back in the day, they were less diverse than today. But it was always the same thing with them. Guns and war. War and guns. Their hooks had to either be how good their multiplayer was or being from a major franchise.

FPS are generally always going to be about guns and war and war and guns.

However "back in the day" (pre-2001 with Halo) guns were pretty damn diverse, especially since there were often primary and secondary modes of fire for guns and even more especially due to modding.

Flak Cannon from Unreal.
Farsight from Perfect Dark.
Biorifle from Unreal.
Mortar Launcher from TRIBES.
Spinfusor from TRIBES.
Translocator from Unreal.
Laser Cannon from Quake.
Etc.

It's when the realistic games like CoD, Battlefield and MoH started ramping up that gun diversity began to dwindle because people were shooting for (pun intended) realism.

 

[Alex]

Eric has a point

Back in the day most FPS' had weird ass guns you could use to kill enemies with. DOOM had the BFG, Duke Nukem had the Devastator, Shrink Ray etc. Timesplitters had loads. In fact that's why I enjoy Resistance so much pretty much all the guns are unique. The Bullseye can shoot homing bullets, the Auger can shoot through walls and that's just two. The shift to realism has made FPS' duller now you have 5 different version of the same weapon (assault rifle, shotgun etc).

I will say again though the lack of good story modes has truly brought it down because for me there needs to be another reason to play a game besides multiplayer.

 

[Thriller Ant]

I bought a Call of Duty game a few months back because I usually enjoy FPS games and had heard good things about CoD. About 4 hours later, I was done with the single player mode. I literally said, "That's it?" when the final cutscene rolled.

The OP touched on this, but that is the big issue with FPS games today: they are designed for online multiplayer. The multiplayer on GoldenEye was fun, but I can still go back and enjoy the single player for a couple days. Call of Duty (I know I'm picking on them, but that's all the experience I have) couldn't care less about me, the player who only wants to play the campaign and doesn't have any interest in online multiplayer. They are catering to the teenagers who want to pwn n00bs online until the new CoD game comes out and make their parents buy it for them.

 

[DarksideEric]

I bought a Call of Duty game a few months back because I usually enjoy FPS games and had heard good things about CoD. About 4 hours later, I was done with the single player mode. I literally said, "That's it?" when the final cutscene rolled.

The OP touched on this, but that is the big issue with FPS games today: they are designed for online multiplayer. The multiplayer on GoldenEye was fun, but I can still go back and enjoy the single player for a couple days. Call of Duty (I know I'm picking on them, but that's all the experience I have) couldn't care less about me, the player who only wants to play the campaign and doesn't have any interest in online multiplayer. They are catering to the teenagers who want to pwn n00bs online until the new CoD game comes out and make their parents buy it for them.

I would potentially get back into FPS games if they had gameplay length of 30+ hours and diversified the weapon sandbox. Especially if it was a combination of diverse, interesting guns with actual classes like Shadowrun, Team Fortress or TRIBES.

Eric has a point

Back in the day most FPS' had weird ass guns you could use to kill enemies with. DOOM had the BFG, Duke Nukem had the Devastator, Shrink Ray etc. Timesplitters had loads. In fact that's why I enjoy Resistance so much pretty much all the guns are unique. The Bullseye can shoot homing bullets, the Auger can shoot through walls and that's just two. The shift to realism has made FPS' duller now you have 5 different version of the same weapon (assault rifle, shotgun etc).

I will say again though the lack of good story modes has truly brought it down because for me there needs to be another reason to play a game besides multiplayer.

Don't forget Turok's Cerebral Bore.