I think the writer has “rails” confused with “linear”. Rail games involve the computer controlling certain movements or a designated path (like a roller coaster). Good example of this are in the games Virtual Cop and Time Crisis. The player cannot explore the environment, he or she only controls the gun as all the walking movements are pre-determined.

Linear is a certain path emphaisezed. For example, in order to save the princess the player MUST go through the front doors.

I think to improve the genre, non-linear gameplay needs to be promoted. Instead of going through the front doors to save the princess, maybe I can climb through the window, find an underwater pipe or “stealth” my way in.

I feel the writer simply just has a certain style of gameplay that he likes and judges other games based on that particular style. He starts off with his dislikes for first person shooters and then gradually works his way to finding a common ground with them. However he then starts to compare games like Assassins Creed to other shooter games, which throws off the article because Assassins Creed is more of an open world action adventure game with swords and stealth kills.
He also does not analyze any, in my opinion, ground breaking shooter games like halo, call of duty etc, so some of his complaints that he listed about some of the shooters are not found in the more popular ones. For example call of duty you will not have the feeling of all the guns feeling just as powerful as the last, or having a problem of realism in a game like Bad company.
From what I have gathered from the writer he wants a game that is team based like Left for Dead and non linear like Stalker or at least having more control of what’s going to happen or when it will happen. The issues isn’t first person shooter vs. third person or repetitive or non linear, its more of having a personal preference, what he likes which happens to be something that’s not as intense as your big budget traditional shooter.

Firstly I feel our friend Josh has not expanded his list of FPS very far. He has yet to try Halo 3 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (two of the most popular online FPS ever) He may find what he is looking for in these. For example in Call of Duty while most of the enemies are in the same spot, there are many times when it is randomized and they could be coming from a number of areas. While the online play does not emphasize the fact that gaining height on someone else will greatly increase your chances of killing them, anyone with a decent amount of playing time in the game knows the higher person usually wins the fight.

I also feel Josh just isnt into the FPS thus it is easy for him to criticize them. Different strokes for diffferent folks, and our friend Josh just isnt a FPS guy. But maybe one day his dream Assassins Creed 2 Stalker, Ratchet and Clank game will come one and he will love it. Until then I think he should broaden his horizons a little bit.

I feel that the author has too specific of a preference of what he is looking for in first person shooters games, or perhaps he is just too picky. I rarely ever get the feeling that firing a gun is too similar to firing a different gun in the game. In most first person shooters today, there are a wide range of weapons. Of course there will be some similarities between guns i.e, firing a fully automatic assault rifle will be similar to firing a different fully automatic assault rifle, but they are definitely distinguishable from each other. I have never once encountered a shotgun that felt too similar to an assault rifle as he mentions however.

Personally, I feel that this guy is a gamer that tries to find the bad parts about the game rather than look for fun parts. He is too concerned with what he feels are negative aspects of FPS games, and that is what ruins the genre for him. Or perhaps his range of FPS games that he has played are rather limited because his list is lacking some of the revolutionary first person shooter games such as the Call of Duty series, Halo, Counter-Strike, the Battlefield series, etc etc. Either this guy is too strict about the games he plays, or he just hasn’t found the right game yet.

The FPS guy is here! So first off i agree with what everyone else is saying, where is COD4:2 and Halo? How about where is Army of 2 as a powerful 3rd person shooter? I feel the graphics are as dynamic as Assassin’s “boring” Creed. Yea i said it!, boring game i feel because stabbing someone in 2 of ways “stealthily” or openly just doesn’t float this guys boat. I commend Assassin’s Creed only for its rich graphics and decent storyline.
Secondly, Did Josh say Max Payne? can anyone honestly say a game based off a movie has ever worked out? more importantly did you see the movie? yikes it was bad.
Back to the main focus (seems like Josh’s jumpy article rubbed off on me) , If Josh picks up the COD series and starts with COD4 then 5 then 4 part 2 he will realize how intense the FPS has become even within this series. Talk about personal you can select your main, secondary, special eqpt., grenades, 3 kill-streaks (activates when you kill the designated amount of people) and a death-streak to counter the amount of hardcore FPS players out there. Given this is the online play I will need to talk about the campaign mode then. The graphics are brought to focus throughout this mode and there is a rail system for short periods of time where you are shown the surrounding areas for detail enrichment. You can sure enough walk around the entire world during these times, however its a shooter game so you will be shot at while doing so. lastly, COD4:2 offers a 3rd person Team Tactical mode in online play, that is variety and that is cool.
Army of 2 encompasses everything a 3rd person shooter should have, play it and you will know what i mean.
RandC is a cool game but the level of realistic game detail now with PS3 and XBOX games tends to catch the attention of buyers I would say. This leaves shooter games like RandC 2nd best if that, unless if you’re a big fan of the series. RandC does not rely on “twitch” shooting where you have to aim precisely but in other games that is the enjoyment you get out of playing it. As for RandC the aiming is almost done for you because of the massive attacking power each weapon has.
One more game has just struck my mind and this one should surely lift Josh’s day up. Dead Space! This game has intense details with a creepy good storyline and the more you play the less you’ll feel “alone” when playing. The weapons in this game are of all sorts, laser cutting, blasting, exploding, shooting, stabbing, bashing, even the occasional “curb stomp” kicking action.
Problems Solved I would say.