I haven't bought a new FPS for years

[TheRollingStoner]

At least he stopped calling people nasty names.

Thats progress right there, you gotta nurture that or they'll fall back into old habbits!

Yes, I suppose there's always that. Although I think we all know who was the king of the calling of names, the one whose name is not to be spoken by punishment of catapult!

[roundwars]

One thing I do enjoy about Doom is that the player is so agile - ducking and strafing and maneuverability are all vital to succeeding at higher difficulty levels. You can dodge enemy fire, even getting them shooting amongst each other, if you're quick and clever enough.

What I don't enjoy is how the gameplay boils down to 'run through corridor -> press switch -> murder monsters -> grab key -> goto 10'. However, it gets a free pass due to there being literally nothing to draw inspiration from, besides early arcade shooters like Robotron.

I see you've read this essay; it's a favorite of mine as well.

Required reading for this thread, IMO.

[GeckoYamori]

Yeah, I had read that article a couple of months ago but lost the link for it. The arcade-inspired design of Doom is sure as hell going to age a lot better than the cinematic rollercoaster rides.

[The Coop]

For those who have avoided FPS games in recent years, I have some suggestions...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat


Corridor and open room fire fights, open field and compound fire fights, rather nice graphics, hard as hell gameplay (you're not an armor plated robot who can take 500 hits before dying), great atmosphere (even adds in spookier moments at times)... lots of fun. And if you get the "Stalker Complete 2009" and "Clear Sky Complete" mods ("Pripyat Complete" is still being worked on), they look even better with added gameplay elements.

[Elusive]

I see you've read this essay; it's a favorite of mine as well.

Required reading for this thread, IMO.

Gadzooks! I've been uncovered!

Yeah, I had read that article a couple of months ago but lost the link for it. The arcade-inspired design of Doom is sure as hell going to age a lot better than the cinematic rollercoaster rides.

I don't think they have a lot in common, besides the player being a floating camera with a selectable gun strapped to it. Doom popularised (away, nitpickers, I'm perfectly aware of id's earlier titles 'inventing' the 2.5D genre) running-and-gunning gameplay, the aftermarket modding community, and netplay, whereas a game like Halo has had the opportunity of a decade or so's worth of releases to draw inspiration from. The FPS genre's diversified so much; Borderlands, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life and Serious Sam are all strictly FPS', but they're by no means Doom clones. Stops things getting stale.

Not sure where I'm going with this. If I ever play a WW2 game again, though, it'll be too soon.