Happy Friday, which means one thing to this gamer, the internal battle come midnight tonight, wrestling with the decision to game on or get some sleep, usually gaming wins and I end up like a extra from the Walking Dead (even after my first coffee) the next day having went to bed close to 3am, my fellow gamers with kids will understand (unfortunately kids have no pause button) and gamers without well you will reach that level soon enough.
I digress, on to my piece for today, first person shooters, get the formula right for a first person then its like printing your own money. first and third person shooters are everywhere now but rewinding to the 90's, not so much, which for me makes it a pretty special time for this particular type of game.
Now the good thing about gaming is we are not limited to picking just one game, we are allowed to have love for multiple games, but I pose the hypothetical of if you had no other choice which first person shooter would you choose. I have made a list of 3 for todays piece (more than happy for anyone to comment on the post highlighting any they feel would merit being in the company of the titles I have chosen.
Doom (id software, 1993) - PC
I can still recall my first experience of Doom on a very large and bulky looking PC which was probably the size of a smart car back in 1994 I believe. Not being financially privy enough to afford a PC back then as a 12 year old I called on the graces of one of my friends from wealthier surroundings (we all had one, first to have anything new, im not wrong am I?)
First impressions were quite underwhelming if I am completely honest, and to be more frank a bit freaked out, until this point a lot of my gaming experiences were colourful ones on consoles like Nintendo, games like Mario, Excite Bike, F-Zero, Nintendo World Cup, and here we had a dip into the unknown on the PC with doom and it felt like quite a dark game, some rather grotesque looking creatures lots of blood splatter and from my recollection eerie music. 93 was a very different landscape, playing a game like this at 12 gave me the same reaction you probably see form the you tube community buying mystery boxes from the dark web in present time.
The title was ultimately a roaring success boasting some rather big numbers in its first couple of years 15-20million copies) and it went on to have reboots, sequel's and even a motion picture featuring my good buddy Dwayne.
My and my merry cohort of gaming buddies played it for a good while but I don't think any of us ever went back for another play through later in life.
Duke Nukem (Apogee Software, 1992) - PC
Right off the bat this title always for me felt like the poorer less successful sibling to Doom, it was a fairly limited title, I don't recall the game having much longevity, but if there was one thing it had was the right to "let it rain"!!!, Just coming into my teens at the time there was just something about throwing endless dollars at the strippers to get a glimpse of those pixelated breasts...very naughty, the only foyer I had experienced up until that point was sneaking a go at Leisure suit Larry on MS-Dos on a friends dads computer in the late 80s, cant say at that point I understood the game much but I knew it was something I shouldn't have been playing.
Much like Doom, Duke Nukem went on to have reboots and spawned some sequels but for me a title I would not be in a hurry to pick up anytime soon.
Goldeneye
For me the first person shooter genre plodded along with some vanilla titles for a few years until 1997, where rare released Goldeneye, the opportunity to play as everyone's sex pes......secret agent was far too good to pass up. 1997 i was deep into the Nintendo 64 as a 15 year old, football, and gaming were the things i loved best at this point and as you could probably guess this title holds a special place for me.
The game itself is solid. the gun selection, the levels, those damn timed challange's to unlock cheats like DK mode or paintball mode. the aiming system was pretty decent...all in all for 1997 this game felt like a big evolution in first person shooter. The game had its flaws granted but actually quite funny ones... take the soldiers, rare obviously cheaped out here and decided to paste one of 5 people on all the soldiers, no emotion and well just down right creepy..
Like Zelda, Goldeneye is a title i will pick up every few years and enjoy it almost as much as when i first played it, Granted my skills have diminished slightly and some of the timed challenges seem almost impossible (i think i was a Goldeneye Jedi in 1997)
a bit of debate is healthy, so any first person shooters that i have not gotten into feel free to comment. for me the one true shooter has to be Goldeneye.
The Modern Corner
Will a online feature spoil the Fallout series?
I am a massive fan of fallout, to my shame i am new money to the game so to speak, i picked up and played from Fallout 3 on wards so 1 and 2 i have no experience on. I very much enjoy both a very strong story mode and also good online or coop content, but with the announcement i actually have some mixed feelings and ill tell you why....i am just unsure if Bethesda are doing it for the right reasons, they remained steadfast with fallout 4 (from what i read they scrapped a multiplayer feature).
I wonder if it is something they are regretting due to how popular online content is, i mean online content alone has kept Gta V afloat far longer than any of its predecessors, and we as gamer's demand a new title from a series what seems like each year, (no sooner a game comes out there a you tube post with rumours of the next one. So are Bethesda pandering to pressure or purely the pound/dollar signs in their eyes's.
I suppose i just hope that they pull it off, If games could be in the Queens honours list it would be Sir Fallout and i would hate to see that reputation tarnished by a ill fated dip into the online pool. I think my blind loyalty to the series will see past any potential failure and play on anyway (and officially for the record) because Bethesda are a kick ass team i have every faith it will be amazing.
Love to hear your thoughts.
I digress, on to my piece for today, first person shooters, get the formula right for a first person then its like printing your own money. first and third person shooters are everywhere now but rewinding to the 90's, not so much, which for me makes it a pretty special time for this particular type of game.
Now the good thing about gaming is we are not limited to picking just one game, we are allowed to have love for multiple games, but I pose the hypothetical of if you had no other choice which first person shooter would you choose. I have made a list of 3 for todays piece (more than happy for anyone to comment on the post highlighting any they feel would merit being in the company of the titles I have chosen.
Doom (id software, 1993) - PC
I can still recall my first experience of Doom on a very large and bulky looking PC which was probably the size of a smart car back in 1994 I believe. Not being financially privy enough to afford a PC back then as a 12 year old I called on the graces of one of my friends from wealthier surroundings (we all had one, first to have anything new, im not wrong am I?)
First impressions were quite underwhelming if I am completely honest, and to be more frank a bit freaked out, until this point a lot of my gaming experiences were colourful ones on consoles like Nintendo, games like Mario, Excite Bike, F-Zero, Nintendo World Cup, and here we had a dip into the unknown on the PC with doom and it felt like quite a dark game, some rather grotesque looking creatures lots of blood splatter and from my recollection eerie music. 93 was a very different landscape, playing a game like this at 12 gave me the same reaction you probably see form the you tube community buying mystery boxes from the dark web in present time.
The title was ultimately a roaring success boasting some rather big numbers in its first couple of years 15-20million copies) and it went on to have reboots, sequel's and even a motion picture featuring my good buddy Dwayne.
My and my merry cohort of gaming buddies played it for a good while but I don't think any of us ever went back for another play through later in life.
Duke Nukem (Apogee Software, 1992) - PC
Right off the bat this title always for me felt like the poorer less successful sibling to Doom, it was a fairly limited title, I don't recall the game having much longevity, but if there was one thing it had was the right to "let it rain"!!!, Just coming into my teens at the time there was just something about throwing endless dollars at the strippers to get a glimpse of those pixelated breasts...very naughty, the only foyer I had experienced up until that point was sneaking a go at Leisure suit Larry on MS-Dos on a friends dads computer in the late 80s, cant say at that point I understood the game much but I knew it was something I shouldn't have been playing.
Much like Doom, Duke Nukem went on to have reboots and spawned some sequels but for me a title I would not be in a hurry to pick up anytime soon.
Goldeneye
For me the first person shooter genre plodded along with some vanilla titles for a few years until 1997, where rare released Goldeneye, the opportunity to play as everyone's sex pes......secret agent was far too good to pass up. 1997 i was deep into the Nintendo 64 as a 15 year old, football, and gaming were the things i loved best at this point and as you could probably guess this title holds a special place for me.
The game itself is solid. the gun selection, the levels, those damn timed challange's to unlock cheats like DK mode or paintball mode. the aiming system was pretty decent...all in all for 1997 this game felt like a big evolution in first person shooter. The game had its flaws granted but actually quite funny ones... take the soldiers, rare obviously cheaped out here and decided to paste one of 5 people on all the soldiers, no emotion and well just down right creepy..
a bit of debate is healthy, so any first person shooters that i have not gotten into feel free to comment. for me the one true shooter has to be Goldeneye.
The Modern Corner
Will a online feature spoil the Fallout series?
I am a massive fan of fallout, to my shame i am new money to the game so to speak, i picked up and played from Fallout 3 on wards so 1 and 2 i have no experience on. I very much enjoy both a very strong story mode and also good online or coop content, but with the announcement i actually have some mixed feelings and ill tell you why....i am just unsure if Bethesda are doing it for the right reasons, they remained steadfast with fallout 4 (from what i read they scrapped a multiplayer feature).
I wonder if it is something they are regretting due to how popular online content is, i mean online content alone has kept Gta V afloat far longer than any of its predecessors, and we as gamer's demand a new title from a series what seems like each year, (no sooner a game comes out there a you tube post with rumours of the next one. So are Bethesda pandering to pressure or purely the pound/dollar signs in their eyes's.
I suppose i just hope that they pull it off, If games could be in the Queens honours list it would be Sir Fallout and i would hate to see that reputation tarnished by a ill fated dip into the online pool. I think my blind loyalty to the series will see past any potential failure and play on anyway (and officially for the record) because Bethesda are a kick ass team i have every faith it will be amazing.
Love to hear your thoughts.
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