I finally get what bugs me about FPS games

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

You guys lost me like 4 post up. What sharks?.. When did we go from FPS to real-deal-shooters? HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY?!!!!!!!

[Mr Smith]

Mr Smith's Explains (Part #1):
"Jumping the shark" is a phrase used in the media coined when something is well past it's prime and often producing second rate efforts for profits. The phrase originates from Happy Days when Fonzie jumped a shark on water skis in order to re-capture falling viewing figures.

Edit: In Soveit Russia, shark jumps YOU!!

[GeckoYamori]

Jurassic Park Trespasser deviated from many of the genre's cliches. It also happened to suck ass.

[Elusive]

I've always been irked by first person shooters - something has always struck me as 'off' about them, but I was never able to put my finger on it. The other day, though, it suddenly occurred to me: the cameras are always wrong. When I look around, I can almost always see my own body in my peripheral vision. If I look down I can certainly see most of my arms, chest, stomach, and feet. Yet in almost all (Thief 3 was an exception; any others) FPS games, you have no body - you can look straight down and you're lucky to see your legs, much less the rest of your body.

And when I hold a gun, I can see more than just my hands, even at high port. I can see my arms as well, yet in most FPS games you can barely see the tops of your hands resting on the gun. All this combines to screw up the sense of scale and proportion in FPS games, and it drives me crazy.

Any ideas as to why this isn't implemented? Devs strive so much for realism that you'd think they'd put in this relatively basic concept. And can you all think of any FPS games that actually do realistically portray the player's own body?

I think the problem is you're staring at the end of your gun barrel and shooting at the floor, and not at the other people shooting at you. Perhaps you should just concentrate on moving the targeting crosshair?

[Gentlegamer]

I don't like FPS because you have no peripheral vision and always get blindsided by the enemy.

[mick_aka]

I don't like FPS because you have no peripheral vision and always get blindsided by the enemy.

This has been my only issue with FPS for years, I've seen a few using fish eye type effects to solve this but not very well.

Hopefully the massive increase in PC users having multiple screens might present a more practical solution to this at some point.

[j_factor]

What bugs me about FPS games is usually the controls. The standard dual-analog setup is just awkward IMO, and I was never able to totally get the hang of keyboard+mouse for FPS. It's not an issue for really old FPS games that don't require precision, and it's not an issue for some of the weirder FPS games like Geist. But as far as "normal" FPS goes, the only ones I can really enjoy are a few on Wii.

[Elusive]

This has been my only issue with FPS for years, I've seen a few using fish eye type effects to solve this but not very well.

Hopefully the massive increase in PC users having multiple screens might present a more practical solution to this at some point.

Eh? Unless you play games with your monitors an inch from your face, having two screens won't do any good at all. In the end, it's impossible to render a truly accurate 3D field-of-view on a 2D plane. Unless you want a system like the Virtual Boy to come back, of course. Do you really want to inflict that on the world? Do you?

If it's a game with any thought put into it, though, you won't need to worry about any action you're missing to the sides or behind you or whatever; you'll have other clues put in the game to remind you about your environment. The monsters in DOOM had that weird ambient grunting noise, and howled when they attacked, for example. In Half-Life, the headcrabs have that screech sound when they leap, so you know when to fill your trousers and mash 'em with the crowbar.


"Hooray! With this new fish-eye viewstyle, gamers get a more true-to-life, realistic view of the battlefield! Now, about the three-headed fish monsters from Venus they're battling..."

[TmEE]

I was just gonna say listen the sound.... you can nearly always hear where the enemy comes or goes by just listening.

[Joe Redifer]

If you have 5.1 surround sound you can. Kind of hard to hear them directly behind you in stereo.

[The Sports Guy]

my least favorite thing: the originality. Most of these games, no matter how they try most of them are all the same. I like the classics though, but unless there is something hot, im not usually a fan.

[TmEE]

If you have 5.1 surround sound you can. Kind of hard to hear them directly behind you in stereo.

if you don't see enemy coming but you hear something it most likely comes behind you... I have just 2 speakers, but manage just fine... I need to get another amp and a pair of speakers since 2 is not enough... 4 would be quite good.

[dragonboy]

I like Zebbe's comment about them being all brown and grey crap. The two ugliest "colors" ever invented make every game look hideously ugly, but all of those wimpy call-themselves-hardcore gamers like it just because it's realistic

[TmEE]

Go play Crysis... one of the few modern FPS games where colors are used nicely...

Kick Id software in the nuts for the brown craze... I recently played Quake and it is all brown ... (I don't think there's any earlier FPS which is nothing but brown).

[GeckoYamori]

Heretic and Hexen were pretty brown.