First-person shootershave been around for over thirty years at this point, and have seen a number of changes and evolutions in that time like any other major video game genre. The basic premise of shooting enemies until they’re dead has essentially remained unchanged, however, there are plenty of mechanics and features on top of this basic experience that have helped to drive the genre forward.
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Not every good idea, however, has made it this far into the genre’s lifespan. Indeed, there’s a litany of features andideas in FPS games that, despite being cool, fun and even innovative, seemed to fall out of favor with modern gaming audiences for the most part. Here is a list ofsome forgotten features of FPS games that deserve a comeback.
6Horde Modes
With the few exceptions like the TreyarchCall of Dutytitles andDoom Eternal, it seems like the bonus horde mode has disappeared from the shooter genre. Even games likeHalohave abandoned the concept, with its ownFirefight mode last appearing inHalo: Reachin 2010.
Instead, the horde mode concept has more or less spun off into its own sub-genre of FPS where that’s the entire game. It’s rather disappointing because in an era where games seem to be offering less and less overtime despite their rising price tag, horde modes really added value to the games they were part of.
5Interactive Map Elements
Gone are the days when players would load into a map and be able to change something about it with the press of a button.Halo 2and3in particular where great when it came to this as both the mapsZanzibar and High Groundboth had gates that player could open at will.Call of Dutyalso flirted with this idea at one point withGhosts,though sometimes the execution left something to be desired.
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This idea added a layer of dynamics to the games it appeared in that helped make the experience fun and memorable. It’s a shame that this awesome feature has by and large gone extinct in modern multiplayer FPS games.
4Parkour Mechanics
For a while it felt like every shooter had to have some sort of advanced movement system that involved a lot of parkour maneuvering.Titanfallis easily the best example of this trend as it was the originator, buta newTitanfalldoesn’t seem very likely to release in the near future, and many if not all the first-person shooters that tried to more or less copy its movement have gone back to their “boots on the ground” roots.
An argument can be made that it simply became too popular and thus gamers got sick of it, there’s no reason that shooters can’t feature some fancy parkour moves every once in a while.
3Alternative Fire Modes
Anyone who’s played theHalf Lifeseries understands what alternative fire or alt-fire mechanics are. One button is dedicated to the weapon’s primary firing mode while another is dedicated to another function entirely. A perfectexample is the SMG inHalf Life 2having both full auto fire and a grenade launching capability.
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Halo Infiniteis probably the only modern shooter experimenting with this concept, although It’s less of an alt-fire and more of an ability to switch between two different modes of primary fire. Other than things like this, however, shooters don’t really feature alt-fire anymore, which is disappointing because it’s a way to give certain weapons extra personality and utility outside their main function.
The ability to take command of a squad and issue different kind of orders to A.I allies in real time is unfortunately much rarer now than it used to be. A good example isStar Wars: Republic Commando, which put the player in charge of a squad of clone troopers with distinct roles, each of whom could be ordered to do different things.
Another great example isTom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, which places a strong emphasis on tactical squad based maneuvering. MorerecentTom Clancygamestend to feature a much more stripped down version of this idea, if they do at all.
1Multi-Character Campaigns
The best way of describing this feature is when a game allows the player to play as different characters either as part of a single player campaign or as a segmented or episodic campaign experience. This perfectly describesAliens Vs. Predator Classic 2000, a game that allows the player to play either a xenomorph campaign, a predator campaign or a colonial marine campaign, with each character having unique abilities, weapons, movement and levels. The oldCall of Dutygames also had separate campaigns for different nations.
Other games have flirted with the idea, such asHalo 5, which featured both aMaster Chief and Lockeside to the main story (with the latter’s taking up the overwhelming majority of missions), but overall this idea has faded into obscurity as FPS games have opted for either straightforward campaigns or for removing them altogether, opting for an entirely online multiplayer experience.
