THE FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER

The first-person shooter, or FPS, is one of the largest groups of games, in which one sees from the character's eyes, and then shoots what one sees from the character's eyes.

This genre started relatively recently--compared to platformers, etc--and started with a PC game called Doom. It reached its renaissance with a game for the N64 (a now outdated Nintendo console) called Goldeneye. A James Bond game, this game even now has not been matched in terms of completely perfectly balanced multiplayer, subtle, powerful and well-planned one-player, and sheer gargantuan mass of secret guns.

Intense FPS's

The shooter, in the eyes of most of the gaming world, was perfected with an XBox game called Halo. Halo is an intense game. Halo sees you, a genetically modified supersoldier, fighting for the survival of you and you men on a strange world. The wonderful thing about this game is, in short, that there are many wonderful things. The different types of enemies are so varied, and have such wonderfully brilliant AI, that the game is rendered completely immune to the common ailment of repetition. Meaning that every time you fight a group of mixed enemies (particlarly on hard, called Legendary), it poses a unique challenge because one guy you might sneak up on one time, will get the jump on you with a grenade the next. And the guns, though dwarved in number by games such as Goldeneye, are so completey ingenious, in that each has its own advantages. The pistol is actually one of the best weapons in the game, when used correctly! Also, in addition to the graphics being wonderful, the sound enthralling, and the plot engaging, the multiplayer is some of the best in the world. It is said that the multiplayer mode makes or breaks a game. And this is certainly true--even after the game is long completed, players are held by the multiplayer. Some innovations include a revolutionary, left-trigger-activated grenade system, making it easy to use grenades, and also way to hit people--an elbow in the back is an instant kill!

The first person shooter is, in general, a very fast-paced and exiting game. Almost every first-person shooter in existance has many guns and a multiplayer mode. Common variations on the theme include team play, and realistic strategic operations-this means something like a Tom Clancy game. As it occurs to me that you are reading this because you are not familiar with these games, I'll tell you about them.

Strategic FPS's

Tome Clancy games, as characterized first by 'Rainbow Six' and later, on consoles, by 'Ghost Recon,' are a very different sort of game than Halo. In Halo, one fights and jumps right in the fray of things, and usually mostly alone. Tom Clancy games involve lots of preperation. In the PC games, one could expect to listen thouroughly to a long briefing. Then, you'd pick your team. You might need electricians, or demolitions experts, or just a bunch of plain old combat units--although you would even want to pick your fighters by which had the most stamina or self control, or the best aim. Then, you suit them up. Camo? Black? Do you want to give everyone light, quiet clothes or heavy armor? And for guns--do you want rapid fire? Or range and accuracy? A silenced gun, or a very light one? Do you want grenades or flashbangs to go with that, or extra ammo? Or a demolitions kit to make and disarm bombs faster? Then, to the planning room. Unless, like a wimp, you choose to go with a default plan, this room poses the challenge of having to plan every single step of your upcoming raid--down to when you open a door. So as you can see, it's much more planning oriented. And that just shows that even shooters can be quite varied.