[Sim]

Most of all, I'm a Civilization addict ... I have been playing Civilization ever since 1993, when the first game was new. I've spent months playing Civ2, and I also enjoyed Alpha Centauri.


The only other genre of computer games I actually play are 3D shooters. I've played Unreal 1&2, Max Payne 1&2, No One Lives Forever 1&2, Medal of Honor, Star Trek: Elite Force 1&2, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Far Cry, FEAR ... now playing Quake 4 and Call of Duty.

The only 3D shooter I used to play in multiplayer mode is Quake 3 Arena, so I can't comment on Counterstrike, Tournament or other multiplayer shooters.

My favourite is Half Life 2, closely followed by the Max Payne games.


So which 3D shooters have you been playing, and which is your favourite?

[Jason Vines]

My favorite shooter ever is the original Half-Life. It revolutionized the FPS genre with its scripted elements, immersive atmosphere, and cinematic gameplay. To me, it proved a welcome step up from old key-hunt shooters like Doom and Quake.

Here's why I don't consider Half-Life 2 the best FPS ever.


No One Lives Forever is my second-favorite FPS ever. I loved its humor, its dialogue, and its characterization, which pulled me into the story. I replayed it recently, and despite its age, I enjoyed every minute of it. I like that players can choose between stealthy gameplay, befitting a lithe spy, or run around with guns blazing, a la Rambo. I wish Monolith would get around to making No One Lives Forever 3 (abandoning some of the "improvements" of 2, such as enemy respawning ).

Call of Duty is the best WWII shooter I've played. I just wish it were longer.

Elite Force I and II were okay, although the only thing that stands out about them is their use of the ST license. The Jedi Knight series, based on Star Wars, used its source material more successfully, allowing players to feel as if they're really Jedi Knights, hacking apart stormtroopers with lightsabers and tossing them around with the Force. And the JK multiplayer is the best of all the shooters, IMO, because it offers thrilling lightsaber dueling.

Doom 3 was nothing special. It had pretty graphics, but they're a resource hog. In terms of gameplay, Doom 3 offered little over Doom 1 from more than a decade ago. John Carmack is too set in his ways, IMO.

[Sim]

Jason Vines, on Nov 23 2005, 12:42 AM, said:

My favorite shooter ever is the original Half-Life. It revolutionized the FPS genre with its scripted elements, immersive atmosphere, and cinematic gameplay. To me, it proved a welcome step up from old key-hunt shooters like Doom and Quake.

Here's why I don't consider Half-Life 2 the best FPS ever.

I have never played the original Half-Life. Back then in 1998, I didn't have a computer fast enough to handle it, so I didn't play 3D shooters. When I finally got a better machine in 2000 (which already was outdated the time I got it -- it was a 300 MHz, iirc), the only game I played was Unreal 1.

I liked Unreal 1 very much, the whole athmosphere was just mysterious and impressive -- this whole new alien word with the strange, semi-Indian culture of the natives ... just great. Unreal 2 was a huge disappointment, because there was nothing at all left from that great athmosphere. The background story about that marine on his ship was just silly, I mean come on, an alien who always has trouble using language correctly, and a Lara Croft-like navigator ... that really killed the athmosphere. Still it was a decent shooter, just nothing special, like part 1.

Quote

No One Lives Forever is my second-favorite FPS ever. I loved its humor, its dialogue, and its characterization, which pulled me into the story. I replayed it recently, and despite its age, I enjoyed every minute of it. I like that players can choose between stealthy gameplay, befitting a lithe spy, or run around with guns blazing, a la Rambo. I wish Monolith would get around to making No One Lives Forever 3 (abandoning some of the "improvements" of 2, such as enemy respawning ).

Nolf is great! A great funny change from the deadly serious athmosphere of other games. I enjoyed part 1 as much as part 2 ... I just never managed to sneak and stealth in part 1 for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I was always discovered. I guess I'm a Rambo.

And they are at least long shooters ... some others are just way too short, like Max Payne.

Btw, have you ever played Max Payne? Besides Half-Life 2, Max Payne really is my favourite. The great soundtrack combined with the blurred cartoon sequences, as well as the gameplay design with the Matrix-like "bullet time" slow-motion, creates a really great athmosphere. I love it. Although it technically isn't a first person shooter, but third person shooter ... but I didn't find it all that different from FPSs.

If you haven't played it yet, you should give it a try.

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Call of Duty is the best WWII shooter I've played. I just wish it were longer.

I have just picked up part 1 because it was on special offer, since part 2 was released. But I haven't played it yet, still busy playing Quake 4.

Looking forward to it ... I heard while the scenery is very reminiscent of Medal of Honor, the gameplay is supposed to be quite different, because you always operate in a team. Let's see. I hope the AI is ok ...

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Elite Force I and II were okay, although the only thing that stands out about them is their use of the ST license. The Jedi Knight series, based on Star Wars, used its source material more successfully, allowing players to feel as if they're really Jedi Knights, hacking apart stormtroopers with lightsabers and tossing them around with the Force. And the JK multiplayer is the best of all the shooters, IMO, because it offers thrilling lightsaber dueling.

Yes, Elite Force is not that special, but I think it creates a great Star Trek-feeling. I loved walking around the corridors of the Enterprise-E in part 2! That alone made it worth buying for me, the Star Trek fan I am.

Is Jedi Knights actually a 3D shooter? I always get confused with the SW games ... so Battlefront is a 3rd person shooter/action game, Knights of the Old Republic is an RPG ... I didn't know there is Jedi Knights as well!

Quote

Doom 3 was nothing special. It had pretty graphics, but they're a resource hog. In terms of gameplay, Doom 3 offered little over Doom 1 from more than a decade ago. John Carmack is too set in his ways, IMO.

I agree. Granted, the "bumpmapping" graphics in the Doom3-engine are impressive, that's while I enjoyed playing it. But besides that, the game was solid, but very uninspired. Always dark interiors, no outside levels, always the same look through the whole game, hardly any vehicles. And ok, the shock effects are nice too ... sometimes I really was scared when playing it.

Doom 3 certainly is far from the quality of Half Life 2, Max Payne or NOLF. Just a lack of imagination, and while I complain that other games are so short, I complain that Doom 3 was too long.


Have you ever played Far Cry? The great graphics are just wow. It really looks like a realistic isle in the pacifics... optically, it's the exact opposite of Doom 3. It had everything Doom 3 is missing -- great exterior levels lots of vehicles, non-linear gameplay. The only thing that's really missing, especially considering the high difficulty of Far Cry, is the quicksave-function. But after applying a patch and activating a cheat mode, it finally is available ... I didn't really play it until I discovered that.

Also, FEAR is a nice game. It's not at all original -- the slow-motion is stolen from Max Payne, the idea with the scary little supernatural girl is stolen from the Ring-movies, and the whole story is a mix of X-Files and the Ring ... but still, they produced a very impressive game. Especially the enemy AI is great, the graphics are really great (just vegetation is missing, and some levels look too similar). They especially managed to incorporate a very, very scary athmosphere and subtle shock effects into the game, which almost made me wet my pants when I played it alone at night. Really scary.

This post has been edited by Sim: 24 November 2005 - 03:13 AM

[Jason Vines]

Sim said:

I just never managed to sneak and stealth in part 1 for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I was always discovered. I guess I'm a Rambo.

You're missing out on great conversations between unaware enemies, then. That's the highlight of the game.

Sim said:

And they are at least long shooters ... some others are just way too short, like Max Payne.

Btw, have you ever played Max Payne? Besides Half-Life 2, Max Payne really is my favourite. The great soundtrack combined with the blurred cartoon sequences, as well as the gameplay design with the Matrix-like "bullet time" slow-motion, creates a really great athmosphere. I love it. Although it technically isn't a first person shooter, but third person shooter ... but I didn't find it all that different from FPSs.

I tried a demo of Max Payne, but the third person perspective doesn't work with guns, IMO. I never liked Tomb Raider, either.

Sim said:

But I haven't played it yet, still busy playing Quake 4.

My computer would explode if a Quake 4 disc were even in the same room.

Sim said:

Is Jedi Knights actually a 3D shooter?

For the most part. When you're using a lightsaber, you can place the "camera" behind you to see the moves better. Download a demo here.

Sim said:

so Battlefront is a 3rd person shooter/action game

I play it using first-person.

Sim said:

Have you ever played Far Cry?

I played the first level. It's a bit too cartoonish for me.

Sim said:

Also, FEAR is a nice game.

My computer cried out for dear life when I tried to run that.

[-January-]

Duke Nukem...Coded Arms and Does Tribes Count?

[Cymro]

I played Half Life after Half Life 2 and I was a little dissapointed, mainly because I was hoping for a little more background to the story in HL2, and I hated that weird Xen part towards the end. The end of HL2 rocked though, that ride through the Citadel was great, I loved the look of that game.

When I bought this PC, it was almost state of the art, and was the first PC I could run a post 1997 game on, and the first game I bought was GTA3, I loved the story and that has basically set the bar for me, and I can't get into games anymore unless there's a story and characters in them, so I was very unimpressed with DOOM3. I acctually played the second half entirely in Godmode, hoping to see if there was some sort of story emerged. Unfortunately there was none, so it was a really dull game in the end. You should also consider that I really, REALLY hate the whole concept of "bosses" in games. It got boring after Super Mario Bros, now it's just redundant

The Brothers In Arms games have been good, there was no real story other than fighting the Germans, but you got to know the characters, and the attention to detail in reproducing the places in the War was outstanding. I found it to be a very unconventional FPS, because you HAD to take cover to avoid dying, and there were no power-ups or health pick-ups. most FPSes will have you walking through caves and corridors shooting whatever monster jumps out at you, but BiA is much more tactical, you even had to account for having an unsteady hand while aiming.

I also have EF1 and 2. I liked EF2 better, probably because I bought it first. I loved walking around the Enterprise E. It obviously stole the idea of a Hazard Suit from Half Life though.

This post has been edited by Cymro: 20 December 2005 - 05:41 PM

[Rorschach]

Unreal Tournament!

[Jason Vines]

Cymro said:

I was a little dissapointed, mainly because I was hoping for a little more background to the story in HL2

When it came out in 1998, Half-Life was the most revolutionary FPS yet released. It dispensed with key hunts, and it immersed players in a cinematic world with exciting scripted events, no loading screens, and brilliantly designed levels. Half-Life's gameplay innovations set the modern FPS standard; the new features of Half-Life 2 only tweaked it a bit. As someone who's played both games when they were new, I rate Half-Life above Half-Life 2.

Cymro said:

You should also consider that I really, REALLY hate the whole concept of "bosses" in games. It got boring after Super Mario Bros, now it's just redundant.

I hate bosses, too. If you can't make a "boss" with with the story--e.g., a Sith Lord in a Star Wars game--then forget about bosses and focus on level design and enemy placement. Those will thrill players more than any boss.

Cymro said:

The Brothers In Arms games have been good, there was no real story other than fighting the Germans

You should try the Call of Duty games. They place you as first an American, then a British, and then a Russian soldier fighting the Germans, without FPS conventions like bosses and mazes, but with thrilling sequences such as Stalingrad, gunning down airplanes with a flak cannon, and blowing up pursuing jeeps with a panzerfaust!

Sim said:

now playing Quake 4

I just got Quake 4; my computer at school can't run it, but my family at home has a computer that plays it fine. So far, Quake 4 seems like Quake 2 with the Doom engine and more primitive versions of Half-Life 2's supporting fighters. I'll post a review once I've completed the game.

[Sim]

Jason Vines, on Dec 21 2005, 05:38 PM, said:

Sim said:

now playing Quake 4

I just got Quake 4; my computer at school can't run it, but my family at home has a computer that plays it fine. So far, Quake 4 seems like Quake 2 with the Doom engine and more primitive versions of Half-Life 2's supporting fighters. I'll post a review once I've completed the game.

I'm still not done with Quake4, I'm somewhere in the middle, I have been "stroggyfied" a few levels ago and I've just destroyed that giant organ (a heart?) -- but I think I won't continue playing for the time being, because I'll be at my parent's house over Christmas, and the computer there is too weak for the game.

Because of the engine, the game feels a bit like "Doom 4" -- very similar to Doom 3, just that they've attempted to fix what was bad about Doom3: In Quake4, there are many levels outside of dark caves, many sequences when you're using vehicles and generally much more variety in the gameplay.

I think it's a solid nice SF shooter, but really not revolutionary. FEAR or Far Cry impressed me much more, actually -- especially because of a much better AI than the one in Quake4.

However, I'm looking forward to the Star Wars game Jason has recommended me. Amazon has still not sent it.

[Jason Vines]

Sim, on Dec 21 2005, 11:22 AM, said:

I'm still not done with Quake4, I'm somewhere in the middle, I have been "stroggyfied" a few levels ago and I've just destroyed that giant organ (a heart?) -- but I think I won't continue playing for the time being, because I'll be at my parent's house over Christmas, and the computer there is too weak for the game.

Because of the engine, the game feels a bit like "Doom 4" -- very similar to Doom 3, just that they've attempted to fix what was bad about Doom3: In Quake4, there are many levels outside of dark caves, many sequences when you're using vehicles and generally much more variety in the gameplay.

I think it's a solid nice SF shooter, but really not revolutionary.

Quake 4, with its emphasis on speed and fun, seems more true to the original Doom than the plodding and slow Doom 3 was.

As I'm playing through the game, though, I miss Half-Life 2's gravity gun.

Sim said:

However, I'm looking forward to the Star Wars game Jason has recommended me. Amazon has still not sent it.

Have you received it yet?

[Bondo]

Shooters are not my forte, but I'd have to agree with No One Lives Forever.

The game really had a great ambiance, and it's sequel, A Spy In HARMS Way, was even better.

But again, that isn't quite a pure shooter. My other favorites: Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4 are even less so.

So that leaves Battlefield 1942. Great game, even if you can't turn the planes worth a darn, or run the risk of hitting the end of the maps.

[iamspen]

I still like Halo 2. Nothing revolutionary in that game, but an excellent story (aside from the ending) and remarkably good gameplay, especially for a console.

Plus, blowing the shit out of your buddies in the living room is great fun.

[Jason Vines]

iamspen, on Feb 4 2006, 03:39 AM, said:

I still like Halo 2. Nothing revolutionary in that game, but an excellent story (aside from the ending) and remarkably good gameplay, especially for a console.

Plus, blowing the shit out of your buddies in the living room is great fun.

I couldn't imagine playing an FPS with a console controller. I've tried before, and even aiming properly is hard.

[Sim]

Jason Vines, on Feb 4 2006, 07:57 PM, said:

I couldn't imagine playing an FPS with a console controller. I've tried before, and even aiming properly is hard.

Indeed. I have no idea how playing a FPS is even possible without a mouse ...

This post has been edited by Sim: 04 February 2006 - 02:10 PM