# FPS that really defined the genre, what do you think?



## VVoltz (Jan 12, 2009)

I'm a big FPS fan but I really don't play games that much so about three years ago I made one commitment to finish three of the games that really defined the whole genre:*
Doom
Half-Life
Halo*
I know I'm several years late but here are some (short) comments about each of those:

*Doom*
I was lucky to finish Doom short after I made my commitment, I used Legacy Doom and my PC, awesome game.
Man, the jump from the few levels of Wolfenstein I played is awesome, so many monsters on the screen, the levels are completely sick (specially the latest ones) and so many weapons! The final boss is a little boring thou.

*Half-Life*
One thing Doom lacked completely was a story, there was no narrative, it was all action. Half-Life you can almost say it feels like a movie, from the initial credits rolling while you get familiar with the controls to the very end.
While the game is full of action there is a lot of emphasis on puzzle solving and adventure, a lot of jumps, you can really see why Portal was so famous, I mean the people at Valve can create some situations that while not impossible can make you think and say "ah!" before advancing, perfect balance of fun and commitment to the game. 
One thing thou the last levels are too difficult and are somewhat un balanced from the rest of the experience.
I finished the PS2 copy, the best one based on the original engine.

*Halo* 
The first time i tried Halo with a friend I almost puked, those ship levels with so many small halls and labyrinth-esque distribution were very de satisfying to play.
I give it a small chance again just after I read the fist Halo novel, created specially for the game, well, now I see why this game was a console seller, from the balance of the weapons to the AI and even the graphics this game sweats quality in all fronts. A superb story telling is joined by an excellent and strategically challenged experience, Bungie IS one of the best developers out there.
The magnitude of the levels really made me see why this type of game was never to appear on the PS2, it was just to gorgeous.
Also, the last level is definitely heads and shoulders above anything that was on it's time, that was in fact the jump from old gen to next gen for FPSs.
I finished Halo in my 360 last night.

Well, again, I know I'm a few years late (in Doom,  a few dozen of years).
But for you what games do you think defined the genre or which ones defined the genre?


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## CockroachMan (Jan 12, 2009)

I started playing FPSs around 1995.. with Wolfenstein 3D.. 

IMO.. 
*Wolfenstein 3D* cause it was the first

*DOOM* brought the genre one step up, with different types of enemies and more complex level design.

*Quake* was the first really 3D first person shooter, making players really having to aim in 2 axes for the first time.. which ended up in the WASD+mouse control becoming the standard. The biggest revolution here, though, was the multiplayer.. I remember seeing friends buying better computers to play a game for the first time with Quake. Quake was the first game I can remember with focus on Internet multiplayer and a good implementation of it.

*Half-Life*, like VVoltz said, before it, people didn't knew how to tell a story in a FPS game. Half Life showed that it was possible to tell a good story in a FPS game, not to mention, using puzzle elements and a great AI never seen before.

IMO, the genre hasn't evolved much since that.. don't take me wrong, I personally think Half Life 2 is better than the first one in a lot of ways, but today's FPSs have evolved more in graphics and physics than in gameplay.. As for Halo, I think Bungie did a great job bringing a quality FPS to consoles, it certainly has it's importance, but I don't see it doing nothing really new.


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## EDX (Jan 12, 2009)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> Half-Life, like VVoltz said, before it, people didn't knew how to tell a story in a FPS game. Half Life showed that it was possible to tell a good story in a FPS game, not to mention, using puzzle elements and a great AI never seen before.


Guess you guys have never heard of system shock or marathon. Those games had a great story long before Half-Life came out.

Marathon is the predecessor to halo. You can grab it for free at source.bungie.org/get  It's a great trilogy of game that has one of the best stories of any game, period. And nobody has ever heard of it...


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## Filter (Jan 12, 2009)

Counter Strike comes to mind.


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## Ferrariman (Jan 12, 2009)

Half-Life, duh


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## Doomsday Forte (Jan 12, 2009)

No love for Faceball 2000?  *shot*

Oooh, Halo precursor for free?  I'll try it.  As for Halo itself...well, I dunno, I think if anything, the fact that it was on consoles was a big point since most of the other games were PC or ports from PC.  I suppose it was more accessible to people hence it moving systems, but apart from that...

The only FPS I regularly play/ed was UT2004, and...well, that's pretty self-explanatory.  I never did the campaign mode, all of my gametime being taken up by Instant Action.  The sheer amount of add-on junk is astounding too.  Shame that most of the people making stuff for it have lost interest or moved on in general.


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## CockroachMan (Jan 12, 2009)

EDX said:
			
		

> QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I played the second Marathon.. more than 10 years ago.. Halo has a lot of similar elements from it.. ironically, the first Marathon was a Mac exclusive, one of the reasons why the game is so unknown. 

I'm not saying that there was no FPS with good story until then, there were games with good stories like Dark Forces and Hexen. What Half Life created was a new way to tell a story without breaking the flow of the game, the story is all told in-game without cut-scenes, texts, or whatever.. this was something revolutionary in 1998, and it's the standard till today.


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## CyberFish (Jan 12, 2009)

Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Duke Nukem 3D really got the FPS genre started in the mid 90s. Goldeneye really showed how fun multiplayer could be at the time as well. 

Those games IMO really defined the FPS genre. Halo is an over rated version of UT.


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## Hadrian (Jan 12, 2009)

As well as the usual I'd like to mention Medal of Honor on the PSX, the first FPS to truly give a proper WWII feel.  Shame the series burnt out soon after.

Also spare a thought for Maze War which pre-dated Wolfenstein by three decades.  Even Wolfenstein wasn't the first of iD softwares FPS, that goes to Catacomb 3D.

I'm also pretty sure that many of the home computer adventure/RPG games from the 80's are also pretty vital to what we have today, they were pretty limited but the limits also inspire.

Of course when it comes down to it Doom is the best one, its the one I've played the most and unlike Half-Life (which I love) I can dip in and out whenever I want to.  I still have a lot of love for the other games but there is something about Doom that always pulls me in.


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## Canonbeat234 (Jan 12, 2009)

I believe the FPS game I have played was Doom, I love it for the cheat, secrets. It was awesome.


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## Calafas (Jan 12, 2009)

Doom, Quake, and Goldeneye.   Goldeneye was probably the first fps i played when i was a kid quite a time ago, and it had fantastic 1-player story, along with an amazing multiplayer mode, with plenty of levels and weapons to keep me playing for ages.

Doom and Quake, although old games, i've only really started playing recently (thanks to the doom port on the DS, and Quake on the Wii), and i'm finding them both fantastic games, well worth a play, with a multitude of weapons and enemies, definately worth a shot.  *ahem*


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## EDX (Jan 12, 2009)

I agree that half-life raised the bar in suspension of disbelief when playing a video game. It really raised the bar in how plot can develop in a video game.

Anybody ever played Strife? It's a game based off the doom engine with RPG elements. You could interact with characters that had voice and your conversation choices affected the direction of the plot. The only people who played this game were apparently developers, I've seen many interviews where developers cited strife as a major influence on their work.


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## Anakir (Jan 13, 2009)

Goldeneye on N64 for me. I hardly ever play FPS actually.


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## Maikel Steneker (Jan 13, 2009)

I think Wolfenstein and Doom defined the genre. Quake 2 and 3 made the multiplayer really great, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark brought the experience to the consoles (in this case the N64) and Unreal Tournament 2004 made the multiplayer more massive.


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## Shakraka (Jan 13, 2009)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> FPS that defined the genre
> QUOTEHalo


Too bad you're not trolling, otherwise I would've added a reaction image. 

Anyways, the original games that defined the FPS genre were undoubtedly Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Half-Life.  Those were the greatest of their time.  

More recent FPS games that I think defined the genre were Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1/2, and Oblivion with guns. 

And the FPS game that strayed from the standard setting but managed to be an excellent game is STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl.  I would have also added Clear Sky if it wasn't for the fact that I haven't played it yet.


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## DeadLocked (Jan 13, 2009)

Call of duty World at war... miles better than CoD4 IMO... better in every way especially the nazi zombie mode minigame.. really is the only part of CoD5 I like personally because I don't like shooters as much as some but it really adds a new side to the game... Could've been more vehicles though -.- 

Forge on Halo 3 defines it also, only reason I played for months was because of custom DLC


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## Diosoth (Jan 19, 2009)

Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Half-Life, and Halo would be my 5 picks.


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## Filter (Jan 19, 2009)

I love playing the N64 Golden Eye maps on Counter Strike.


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## GameDragon (Jan 19, 2009)

I'd have to go with Doom, Half-Life, and Goldeneye.


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## Hillsy_ (Jan 19, 2009)

Nobody played System Shock 2 or Deus Ex 1???


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## Hadrian (Jan 19, 2009)

Hillsy_ said:
			
		

> Nobody played System Shock 2 or Deus Ex 1???


I wouldn't consider them to be first person shooters, more first person adventure games.  Same with Metroid Prime.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Jan 19, 2009)

PC: Doom Wolfenstein 3d
Multiplayer: Quake 2 (only game i know of that has multiplayer co-op) Counterstrike
Console: Goldeneye, Halo
RPG elements: Dues Ex, Tron 2.0

-BZ


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## Hillsy_ (Jan 19, 2009)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> I wouldn't consider them to be first person shooters, more first person adventure games. Same with Metroid Prime.



True, but System Shock 2 did introduce an RPG element to FPS, wouldn't you say?


Also, what about Heretic or Hexen, the fantasy FPS.  When I played Oblivion, I know its' an RPG; it kept on reminding me of when I played Hexen all that time ago.

I suppose the definition of FPS is changing or adapting, look at Oblivion, System Shock 1 & 2, F.E.A.R(Scifi Horror)  etc.

Look at Serious Sam 2(moreover than the first) or Farcry 1 with there vibrant graphical colours,  each game defines gaming in some form or another.


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## Diosoth (Jan 20, 2009)

Hillsy_ said:
			
		

> Also, what about Heretic or Hexen, the fantasy FPS.



Heretic did add an inventory system for the player and alternate weapon attacks, and Hexen added the idea of going back to old maps. But I'm betting if you asked a lot of people, their names would seem unfamiliar.


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## Dylaan (Jan 20, 2009)

Just want to throw in a vote for Unreal Tournament and the multiplayer side of things. Mightn't have been the first, I'm only young so couldn't be sure, but it's a winner even today! (Instagib = Best invention evar)


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## MistahJelly (Jan 20, 2009)

Yea probably Wolfenstein 3D


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## FAST6191 (Jan 20, 2009)

Bit late to the party it seems but OK. I will stick with the stricter definition of FPS rather than stuff like shining in the darkness and rail shooters from a first person perspective. Overall the main thing I look for is co-op and ability to mod the game (designers are good but mod makers can push it over the top).

Way back when. I never played much doom but Wolf3d and duke nukem 3d (I also liked the 2d platformers) stand out. Many of the games that used the same (or at least the same to the untrained eye) engine also come into it.
Duke3d was the first time I really got into mods as well and it had a co-op mode.

Half life (any version) I have not really played (did not hold my interest) so nothing more than a passing mention. If someone however knows the wild west themed multiplayer mod (it had bots unlike the others) I am would like to know the name.

Deus ex. Most of what can be said has been said. None the less a great blending of shooter and RPG with a good story and cast.

Delta Force titles. I forget the numbers but multiplayer co-op was awesome, I will never forget the first time we organised two teams for sniper cover on a raid.

Star Wars dark forces series. Ignoring the first for a moment it is one of the few games I have played that combine melee and FPS gaming well.

A mention to unreal tournament as it is one of the few older games I will install for network play.

Arcade.
Silent scope. I know I said no rail shooters but this blurs the line a bit for me. One of the only arcade games I will seek out rather than the usual method of which one has the shiniest lights.

Console.
In all truth I never really played that many console FPS titles generally due to difficulty in modding them and the fact superior PC versions appeared.

Perfect Dark, goldeneye was good but perfect dark was a better multiplayer game (both arena and single player co-op). I did however try playing a while back and it was unplayable owing to framerate issues. That did not stop me having to cool my cheapo expansion pack with ice in a bag though back when.

Medal of Honor. I will join Hadrian in this, the AI was pretty good for the time and the . You can keep the sequels though.

Tom Clancy's titles. I have played many (this is console rather than PC) and co-op has been what defines it.

Halo. Give me a break, sure it was better than most of the console predecessors but not a patch on what was available at the time on PC. It might however be that I am bitter about a lack of co-op mode on the PC version.

Everything else was just a port of a PC game.

Recently:
Stalker (the sequel was good but it lost some of the desolate wasteland feel from the first game). Try upping the difficulty and using some of the mods. Makes for a good game and the desolate wasteland feel thing returns.

Far Cry 2. I will not say it defined the genre (I will probably forget it happened in a few years unlike the others on this list) but for me right here right now it embodies what I think an FPS game should be in terms of weapons, level layout, look and feel, AI and 
People are talking about total conversion mods already and I must say I am very excited about the prospect.

Fallout 3. Not as good as stalker but up the difficult and mod a few things and you get a nice wasteland game. Again some of the upcoming mod ideas look awesome.

Coming up:
We are now getting to what I think FPS games should be like, PC games are now able to be stretched wide enough to encompass my field of vision (coupled with stuff like softTH: http://www.kegetys.net/SoftTH/ ), graphics have been good enough for quite some time and people are starting to produce AI of sufficient calibre, physics is getting fairly good (in terms of breaking things).

Borderlands. I have long toyed with the idea of procedural generation or at least adding some random elements to things (it is one of the reasons I learned to mod/hack things) and in fact it has been used to great effect way back (elite used an algorithm to generate the planets). It also appears to have co-op mode. Whether it will define the genre or merely mark a turning point I do not know.


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## Hillsy_ (Jan 20, 2009)

One game I thought should get an honourable mention was the sadly missed,

'Realms of the Haunting'.

Anyone played this one?

It was a FPS/Adventure game and it was great!  Released around..'96'?


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## Smef (Jan 20, 2009)

Tribes 2 was a classic FPS.  The new Tribes Vengeance isn't nearly as good of a multiplayer game, but it has a fun single-player mode.


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## takieda (Jan 21, 2009)

Wolfenstein 3D, for the obvious reasons, and one less obvious. I spent $60 in long distance charges to connect to the Apogee BBS in order to download Wolfenstein 3D (and a few other classic Apogee games) back in the day when I saw it listed in an old issue of Computer Gaming Monthly. W3D redefined what gaming could be on PC, as well as raised the bar insanely high for shareware games in general. (for those that weren't using computers connectedly prior to 1994, a BBS - Bulletin Board Service - was a single computer you dialed up via modem that allowed you to download files, e-mail other people, etc... each of those systems would usually connect to other servers using the same software and transfer data, updating their databases, etc. so that people could communicate in what was effectively the precursor to e-mail and forums). 



			
				Smef said:
			
		

> Tribes 2 was a classic FPS.  The new Tribes Vengeance isn't nearly as good of a multiplayer game, but it has a fun single-player mode.



While I'm glad to see a mention to Tribes in general, the fact remains that most (nearly 90%) of all people who played Tribes 2 that had also played Tribes 1, went straight back to Tribes 1 after the fallout of the release of Tribes 2. It did everything it could to damage the system they had put into place to make the original great. (virtually destroyed the skiing system by making it easier, but slower, the graphics were too muddy and made things more difficult to see, the number of players, built in, was dropped from 32 to 16 - though this was fixed with mods, mine-discing was eliminated, etc... and then the bugs, OMG, the bugs)

For those that don't know. Tribes DEFIED the genre, as well as defined it. While other games were using the directional keys, Tribes is the first game (that I'm aware of) that used the WASD key system for play (EDIT - Quake is the first, just found it on Wikipedia). It also, to this day, (aside from half a dozen low quality and/or foreign - i.e. non-english MMOFPSs) to host such huge multiplayer games (up to 128 players simultaneously), on maps that spanned several square miles, that also had indoor to outdoor play (something quite common today, but was pioneered by Starsiege: Tribes). And here's the key - the 128 players WORKED... unlike most games that have some paltry multiplayer team based systems, Tribes was DESIGNED for team/squad based multiplayer CTF... While other games were trying to get more people to play Multiplayer, it DROPPED single player like a bad habit, and forced upon its users a learning curve second to none, but with a reward that was/is/ and may always be, the greatest reward one could ever feel. The knowledge, not by dent of congratulations, or by the false ego we boost ourselves with when we accidentally get something done right, but by our own sheer understanding of the quality of our abilities. You HAD to be good to play in the game, and it spawned some of the most beautiful, almost choreographed ballet-like battles to have ever been seen. People knew their place and played it so well that a 128 player game played out like synchronized swimming between two teams of 64 players. There is no beauty greater!

When, in quake, people accidentally shot a rocket and hit someone flying through the air, and everyone cheered at the coolness of that accidental hit, people in Tribes were flying through the air, throwing a mine at the enemy, then shooting something akin to a rocket at them, then the blast radius set off the mine which happened to be perfectly flying to explode and kill them in mid air... And this happened with such frequency as to rarely be congratulated. You *might* have been congratulated if you managed to time a 5 second mortar shot perfectly enough to hit someone AND explode at the exact same time, killing them. That's how good you had to be, and that's how good so many people got playing that game.

And that's another thing. Flying. EVERY character had jetpacks on that were so well designed that it felt as if all FPS's should have had them from the beginning. The ease of use of the jetpacks made each level, especially the largest levels, become sandboxes to play in. They were not small by any stretch of the imagination, but being able to move with such speed, made the entire experience one of the greatest in gaming I've ever had the pleasure of playing. I still have the game installed on my system 11 years after it was released.

NOW, don't get me wrong, Tribes 2 was an awesome game in its own right, and even Vengeance played better than most FPS's (despite sucking compared to previous iterations of the system), I still feel that Tribes 1 is probably one of the best games I've ever played, and the only game to have gotten me fully into FPS's in general. Without it, I wouldn't have gotten into games like Halo, Portal, Half-Life, Deus Ex, Left 4 Dead, or any of the other multitudes of good/great games that exist out there in the FPS genre.

To add to the greatness that is Tribes - while other non Quake and UT games of the time were simply paying huge royalties to use the respective engines, Tribes was built under its own engine which was, in some aspects, light years ahead of Quake and UT. The netcode was second to none, which inspired the great terms like, "HPB" (high ping bastard - I don't know how many people have ever heard of it - most have heard of the other side - the LPB, or Low Ping Bastard), where people with shoddy modem connections of 28.8Kbps or worse could still play and even dominate in many a multiplayer Tribes match (I know I was regularly on at around 26.4Kbps).

I'm also one of MANY who paid through the teeth for the only real upgrade to dial-up internet at the time, just to lower the ping and give ourselves a little bit more of an edge, and well, to just make the game feel more fluid and responsive - which was still far better than most other multiplayer FPS games. For me, I was paying around $350 a month for ISDN (the precursor to DSL), which still only provided 64k connections (or 128k if you used both ISDN telephone lines simultaneously). There were others who had T1 lines installed into their homes for this game alone.

Yes, we were, and are, obsessed 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





P.S. - as per Wikipedia
Game Firsts

Mods to the original game made Tribes one of the most innovative games for years to come. Most of the mods done to the game would be copied later on by other software titles. Some of the most memorable mods would give users items that were mimicked later by other software titles:

* Grav Gun- Made popular by Half Life 2 and thought of as revolutionary, yet was created in Tribes many years earlier

* Ability to build bases and place base items- A first for a 1st person shooter game- And still has not been implemented to the amount Tribes allows. You can deploy things like doors, wall, force fields, turrets, inventory stations, supply stations, sensors, missile launchers, turret control stations, teleporters, jails, amongst many other items.

* The SEX Mod had machine guns that launched self deploying laser turrets, allowing the user to deploy hundreds of automated turrets anywhere on the map, even while fighting

* The original Warzone mod would let the players build their base from scratch (building, turrets, and stations) and then let the players play with their custom bases.

* T-Mail- A serverside mail system which automatically gave connected players a MailBox/InBox/OutBox/SentBox/Contact List/SaveBox and many other options that popular e-mail systems have all within the games Score TAB Menu.

* Demo Drop- Feature that allowed the game to record your first person game play with an automated format type to save it, convert it, store it, watch through the Tribes gaming client, but moreso it made it to where you didn't need Fraps, or Gamecam or any third party screen capture to record your games. The feature also did not diminish fps or gameplay, making it VERY easy to run and perform on all systems.


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## Licardo7 (Jan 21, 2009)

man, I always wanted to create a topic like this one but was to lazy to do so. 

I say Counter strike (first): I think it kinda changed the FPS online way to play. CS is not all run and gun. It takes some strategy to carry out you mission and some sort of communication with your team because your dead if your not organized. 

Far cry(one): I think this game should be in here because it told it's follow up sons that it's not just one path that you HAVE to take. You can go off the path, go some where also on the island or go to a high up place to snipe people and to carry you mission how every you want to. It could ether be sniping people from far away, or just heading in there shooting every thing, or even a tactical way and take then one by one silently.

Left 4 dead: I think this will give future games to make the game decide how good you are and not just let you keep it at one level and stay there. 

Far cry 2: This gives the future games the ability to have a completely huge free rome environments. 

I know these are some newer games but I hope these games can effect newer games in the future. 

P.S: Dam you takieda, you got me in trouble by my mom, she saw the word SEX and freaked out. She can be such a B**** some times.


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## takieda (Jan 21, 2009)

Licardo7 said:
			
		

> I say Counter strike (first): I think it kinda changed the FPS online way to play. CS is not all run and gun. It takes some strategy to carry out you mission and some sort of communication with your team because your dead if your not organized.
> Read my last post... Tribes defined this gamestyle, nothing before or since has had such an immense level of team based tactical warfare. ;-p
> 
> 
> ...


Ouch, I'm sorry man... that was posted directly from wikipedia though.


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## Smef (Jan 21, 2009)

Ahhh, Tak, I never played Tribes 1, so I can only speak about T2 and T:V.


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## VVoltz (Jan 21, 2009)

Such great comments!

I do agree some old FPS are overlooked:

Tribes
Medal of Honor
Marathon

Did any of those really incluenced the whole genre?, in a way some of those created sub generes inside the FPS universe!


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## takieda (Jan 22, 2009)

VVoltz said:
			
		

> Such great comments!
> 
> I do agree some old FPS are overlooked:
> 
> ...



I'll try to make this as short as possible. As I've never played the other two (sadly, I would LOVE to play some Marathon, but just don't have the time), Tribes is all I can really comment on in this case.

I do feel it influenced the entirety of the genre, greatly, as (though CTF was part of most FPS's) it brought Capture the Flag, and other Cooperative Team based strategy styles, to the forefront. Most people played Death match, or some variant before Tribes, and few games were really embracing Team play.

Secondly, it is also one of the first games to have open outdoor and indoor environments, and showing that that was capable on a very playable level has made it a near mandatory addition to a great deal of FPS games.

One other thing that it had a hand in - it's netcode... the netcode on Tribes 1, and surprisingly improved on Tribes 2, was so phenomenal for its time that no other game could claim such smooth play, even with lowly 28.8k inet connections. This created a need for improved netcode across the board for most other games, and most couldn't comply. However, id Software (I believe with Quake 3) managed to create a different system for networking that allows seemingly instantaneous response - almost exclusive of someone's ping (though if the ping was too high, it would destroy its effectivity entirely). While I applaud that new system, I can't help but feel that Tribes created the need for that in other games.

There is ONE area I wish it influenced more - jetpacks... dang I miss me some jetpackin' action... I really miss it. I mean I *REALLY REALLY* miss it. There was nothing so liberating as being able to fly around massive levels, without having to use cantankerous vehicles.


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## FAST6191 (Jan 22, 2009)

@takieda I will have to confess I only dabbled in tribes (demo discs and cobbling together what passed for internet in the UK circa 1999) from what you said I think you should have a look at Savage - Battle for Newerth:
http://www.s2games.com/savage/

It is free and there are almost always games going on, it is very much team or nothing and there are some decent building aspects.


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## agentgamma (Jan 30, 2009)

Super Noah's Ark 3D? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



*shot*


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## R2DJ (Jan 30, 2009)

I think it's...Medal of Honor! My first FPS game. So much fun but I kept dying.

I also remember Small Soldiers which freaked me out a little bit (because of the music, not the game)

Both from PS1


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## VVoltz (Feb 5, 2009)

R2DJ said:
			
		

> I think it's...Medal of Honor! My first FPS game. So much fun but I kept dying.
> 
> I also remember Small Soldiers which freaked me out a little bit (because of the music, not the game)
> 
> Both from PS1


Oh, Medal of Honor games were sooo god for its time. Finshed both, could never finish the extra missions of Underground versus those mutant Nazis.
Too bad the series went down after so many sequels, I'm glad they didn't come up with a Medal of Honor: Vietnam.

Also about Small Soldiers, I think that was a 3rd person shooter, wasn't it? I remember the game was sup par, I hated the fact you played on a different planet and not in Earth.


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## U-said-it (Feb 9, 2009)

The one that "Defined" the genre? = DOOM, not Wolfenstein

Now there may have been more than added to it, or even "redefined" it, but DOOM is the granddaddy of them all.

I'll give props to the Medal of Honor series, for introducing along with Goldeneye, hit sensitive, anatomical reactions. It was pretty funny seeing those d*mn Nazis tossing back, or kicking, my grenade for the first time as well.


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## epicelite (Feb 10, 2009)

http://www.renegade-x.com/


The game they are remaking there. C&C Renegade.

Greatest game of all time, no question!


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## DKAngel (Feb 10, 2009)

Im thinking the ones that made it for me was Action:Quake 2 and also the original Unreal tornament the games after those ruined it and now every single game that comes out these days is an fps and they are getting worse and worse


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## Flawsdraw (Feb 10, 2009)

Goldeneye 64, probably my fav FPS of all time, not overly keen on FPS think they all a bit similiar the only other FPS i dont mind is Resistance and Resistance 2 remind me a bit of the CoD gameplay but at least not a WWII game


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## ComplicatioN (Feb 14, 2009)

Combat Arms ive been glued to it


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## SgtYutz (Feb 14, 2009)

Everyone should try breakdown, awesome fps for the xbox where everything you do is in first person.
it was a great step forward but didnt sell 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




link


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## Giga_Gaia (Feb 14, 2009)

No FPS defined the genre, they are all the same, just with different guns and different characters. They all have the same goal, kill anything in sight, there is no story whatsover at all.

In other words, FPS are all the same.


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## Satangel (Feb 14, 2009)

Giga_Gaia said:
			
		

> No FPS defined the genre, they are all the same, just with different guns and different characters. They all have the same goal, kill anything in sight, there is no story whatsover at all.
> 
> In other words, FPS are all the same.



No story? Try CoD 4, Half Life 2 and Far Cry 2.
And probably some others too, but I can't think of any


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## Louisiana (Feb 14, 2009)

Giga_Gaia said:
			
		

> No FPS defined the genre, they are all the same, just with different guns and different characters. They all have the same goal, kill anything in sight, there is no story whatsover at all.
> 
> In other words, FPS are all the same.



There are indeed minimal differences between most FPSs. The lack of difference is not in story, however, but in mechanics.


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## Louisiana (Feb 14, 2009)

Also, I'd say Doom, Half-Life and Halo defined the genre.


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## Awdofgum (Feb 14, 2009)

Doom and Wolfenstein 3D started it out.
But I think Duke Nukem Forever redefined the genre.


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## ipumuk (Feb 15, 2009)

milestones:

quake - it turned fps into a sport
half life - it turned fps into a story

also kind of important:
call of duty 1 - it invented realistic enemies (enemies performing on scripts)


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## Licardo7 (Feb 17, 2009)

Absolutely System Shock 2. Like they said before, it gave RPG elements to the FPS genre. Also, as far as I know, it was the first to introduced jamming and breaking guns to the FPS genre. These things gave Fall out 3 and Far cry 2 it's unique things. It also had an awesome story so I wouldn't say Half life was the only one to give FPS a story. It also benifited the horror FPSes. Remember the awesome atmosphere that scared the living crap out of you 7041314233 times!!!! I mean the cool computer voice that popped out of no were just freaked me out. And the worst sound you can ever hear in the game is the alarm sound you hear when the security cameras catch you. 

This game practically started the survival horror FPS genre. This was a really good game.


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## Rod (Feb 17, 2009)

Giga_Gaia said:
			
		

> No FPS defined the genre, they are all the same, just with different guns and different characters. They all have the same goal, kill anything in sight, there is no story whatsover at all.
> 
> In other words, FPS are all the same.


In other words, you have never played TimeSplitters Future Perfect


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## Cablephish (Feb 17, 2009)

I believe that, it was Wolfenstein that started it all. Games like Doom, and Heretic made it better.

Doom made it better in terms of level design. Bet you didn't notice Wolfenstein was only a flat one-level floor per level. And Doom made it better by creating more than floor per level. They had stairs and stuff, made it more complex that way. Also, the weapon sways in Doom when you walk. Wolfenstein it remained stationary. Heretic did all of that, but they ALSO made it so you can look up and down, which I see as pretty revolutionary. After all, these ARE the games that did it first, so they deserve some recognition.

In terms of 'defined the genre', the game which deserves its picture next to the definition, it's probably Goldeneye 64, awesome game.


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## Joey Ravn (Feb 17, 2009)

Giga_Gaia said:
			
		

> No FPS defined the genre, they are all the same, just with different guns and different characters. They all have the same goal, kill anything in sight, *there is no story whatsover at all*.
> 
> In other words, FPS are all the same.



CoD series, *Half-Life series*, Halo series (sshhh, doesn't matter if you like it or not), Deus Ex series, DooM series, Bioshock, FEAR, Rainbow Six series, Soldier of Fortune series, System Shock series, Turok series, Perfect Dark series, Resistance series, No One Lives Forever series... yeah, no story whatsoever at all. Trolling much, eh?


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## Moots (Feb 18, 2009)

Early FPS' defined the genre, Wolfenstien was little more than mazes with guns and nazis.

Doom 1&2 really took it to the next level, if you were a kid when these games came out, they were the first of thier kind, and were scary as hell, growls and snarls from monsters you couldn't see yet, a basic lighting system all added up to a hell of an experience, one that if you were not there when doom 1&2 hit would be lost on you. 

Quake followed up, and while I don't think the series really changed the FPS genre it did keep pushing the envelope for graphics.

Half Life really took the Shooter to the next level, it was scary, it had a good story, and in my opinion was one of the first games where people really took a love to the main character (Gordon Freeman) who with his no dialog and quiet confidence clearly painted the way for Master Chiefs character type. Half Life 1 was amazing, interesting new monster types, cool weaponry etc. Not only was half life amazing but it spawned one of the most sucessful mods in history, counter strike, which eventually got gobbled up and went retail.

For those of you saying Halo, lets get one thing straight, if Halo were not a Console shooter it would have left little t no mark on the FPS genre. It just happened to be the next decent-good shooter for consoles since the amazing Goldeneye(which showed the world that FPS and multiplayer on a console was more than do-able) Halo brought very little to the table in regards to influencing the genre, no stand out mechanics, story line was meh, and the only shining point was that people adored MC, couple this with some of the earliest easy non local console mp and halo has been a sucess. Huge series.  Nothing about halo says "Im a genre changer" except maybe showing the world a whole new level of fanboyism, and possibly starting the spark of the console fanboy wars on the level at which they operate now.

As for new FPS games that will make a mark on the genre. Portal is one for sure, love it, or hate it, some say it was too short. Portal brought something new to the genre, good story line, great environment (Behind the testing walls, with all the wall scrawls),  great personality to the end boss, and a fantastically comical and catchy end tune. The game play is where it stands out. Nothing has been like portal, it was a completely new experience for FPS players, which was great especially if you’ve been playing FPS games since 1990.

Another Game I’d like to point out is Medal of Honour, sure it’s a tired series but I think they really brought the WW2 genre(Which is played out big time) to a new level. And lead to the countless WW2 shooters.

Just a brief insight into the genre on my part.

And for the guy who said FPS games have no story, you clearly aren't paying attention.


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## Friendo (Feb 26, 2009)

Perfect Dark got me into FPS

EDIT: This thread is kind of old. Sorry about that. lol. :/


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## nIxx (Feb 26, 2009)

Definatly Half-Life first game with scripted events and had a few of the best gameplay ideas ever.
And then i would say FarCry.


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## noONE (Feb 26, 2009)

Apart from the obvious ones like Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM and maybe Half Life, i think that Battlefield 1942 (and partially Codename eagle from the same company before it) kind of revolutionised the FPS genre, by adding massive battlefields (with up to 64 players!) free to roam and with free to use vehicles that anybody just could jump into and use it for their benefit, there was tanks, Planes, boats(incl submarines), you name it, you could parachute from the planes right into a fight etc. and with mods you could play loads of varied stuff, including flying helicopters and mods for modern time combat.
There were 5 different "classes" to be, sniper, assault, anti tank, medic and engineer which made the gameplay varied and more fun.
I was hooked on BF1942 and all its mods from end of '02 to like '04, early '05 and also bought some of the follow up games.


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