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Have first person shooters really come a long way in the last fifteen years? Or, have the basic principles of gameplay established in Wolfenstein 3D remained without any real development or primary evolution of the genre? Gamers are getting ready for the release of Crysis, the game which has become the poster boy for DirectX 10. DirectX 10 marks just another evolution in the baby steps of 3D software development taken since its inception. Can Crysis do what Halo 2 will not and provide gamers with the possibility to actually be excited about the possibilities of gaming under Vista? The hype is going to reach critical mass as Crytek will attempt to redefine corridors with their relatively open gameplay and massive DirectX 10 release, Crysis. Even though the FPS genre really has not changed much over the short period of time in which it has been a part of gaming.

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Crysis reminds of turok 64.

Crysis is going to be GOTY in my opinion

Yet if a game changes the paradigm to much it is no longer an FPS Other than hardware one of the constraints has also been AI (for single player game modes). It's usually to stupid and so not interesting, yet if the enemy are to smart they would smash most players and that wouldn't be fun either. If it's large open maps, people get lost and confused, if it's a forced linear path then there's no thinking... It will take some out of the box thinking to change the way FPS as we know it is done.

I think FPS have changed way more than driving games and flight sims have, and more than the bulk of RTS. Afterall C&C3 really is just a prettier version of Dune II. Games like RoN and Empire Earth are similar to Op Flashpoint. The same thing but with so much more depth that the average nub couldn't handle it.

Sports sims are the only ones that have REALLY changed across the board.

I don't think RPGs have really changed all that much. MMORPG is a new genre in itself.

It is really dissappointing that the FPS genre hasnt pushed the boundaries into a more open world situation. This is somthing I really noticed with F.E.A.R. The game claimed to have an open and non linear storyline, but nothing could be further from the truth. All roads led to Rome, so to speak [except for those other roads that led no where, which thus had you back tracking to the road to Rome].

Although I would say a game like Battlefield would be a notably exception [perhaps this is part of the cause for the originals success?] the vast majority of shooters still folllow the same corridor pattern, as you say. Although even Battlefield is quite constrained.

Operation Flashpoint [which I very much enjoyed back in the day, although I didn't get very far and got owned all the time] as you point out is also an exception. This game did not enjoy success, why? I think it is because it went a little too realistic, which made it very difficult not to mention confusing [course I didn't have a mannual on hand, these were the days of being a penniless secondary student, got it off a mate]. It is unfortunate that people might be turned off of this type of game because of one not so great product. Or worse, that game developers would be turned off of it.

It would infinetly great to see a true open ended game, like what we can see some RPGs endeavouring to do [and MMO games in particular], but I think we will need one very maverick game designer to get the ball rolling.

Huxley is gonna push the envelope i bet

I wish every game used large open maps, but developers find tight linear games easier to make, test and sell.



Which appeals to a greater target audience because there are a lot of people that play games as a form of relaxation and don't want to be intellectually challenged.

i dunno about most people but i like to think and live outside the box... give me FPS freedom! i got my dx10 system ready to go

I find the article saying the truth.

Largely a lot of the new games point to one direction: being nicer to look at, but easier & simpler to play. There are of course exceptions to the rule, but the fps genre I find is not one having too many pioneers.

Probably indeed simple players need simple tasks, so their 5-min attention and excitement span can be satisfied

Personally i think most of the games that are coming out are becoming too hyped up, like Crysis for example, it's had that many articles and stuff written about it for ages, and now cos its been thrown around showing all this stuff for ages, i've just lost all meaning of wanting to buy it.

Also i would prefer an open range kind of shooting game, whats the point in all these FPS Games where your in some form of building 90% of the game. it makes it too easy, and too predictable about where to go.

Games like Battlefield, even though i havent played it that much, was good cos its all open, only go in a building like once or twice to capture a point and thats it. other than that its all outside which i thinks great.

Crysis i believe will hopefully do a good job of this, though i have no chance in hell to be able to run it on my comp unless i do a serious upgrade, so im kinda hoping it'll make it to PS3 for me.

Crysis has fantastic graphics I'll give it that, but apart from that I've seen nothing new.

In my opinion, Natural Selection has been the best FPS released in a looong time.

Both bf2 and 2142 wold be better, if there was more support.

im surprised Dues Ex wasnt brought up. I mean it was completely open, but it wasnt a linear game either.

DeusEx and System shock to be exact is a hybrid of FPS and RPG,

funny isn't it... they want advancement in FPS but enough advancement and it's no longer a pure FPS like said before in the thread.

well Crysis have several very interesting system combined into one package which will likely turn it into a very interesting base for modding assuming it is in fact simple enough to mod.

Destructible vehicle components? oh yeah... physics system with adjustable parameter? check... huge terrain? check...

frankly i don't care much about the game's single player one bit, expecting good story from a linear FPS is something i consider as a futile effort (FEAR was amusing for a bit but not exactly for long either), stuff like that is better left to hybrids like bioshock.