The state of upcoming FPS

[Menegrothx]

I mentioned Resistance 3, Bioshock Infinite, Metro 2033, Halo Reach and Killzone 3. None of those games fit your definition of "modern warfare".

I think you don't know what you are talking about.

You forgot L4D2 and Tribes: Ascend.
I already mentioned Metro 2033, Bioshock Infinite and S.T.A.L.K.E.R in my previous post. If Quake 2 is a generic shooter because it's a sequel, then by the same logic neither is Resistance 3 nor Halo Reach (4th/5th Halo game) in any way original. The game world of Quake was and still is highly original and unique (I'll give you that so is the world of Halo, and the original Resistance game was a breath of fresh air too).

Even if Killzone doesn't take place in the modern era, it's still a quintessential brown and gray-color palette chest high walls everywhere shooter. The same goes for many modern FPS games in a scifi/near future setting.

I think you haven't played many old FPS games.

[dsheinem]

I mentioned Resistance 3, Bioshock Infinite, Metro 2033, Halo Reach and Killzone 3. None of those games fit your definition of "modern warfare".

I think you don't know what you are talking about.

You forgot L4D2 and Tribes: Ascend.
I already mentioned Metro 2033, Bioshock Infinite and S.T.A.L.K.E.R in my previous post. If Quake 2 is a generic shooter because it's a sequel, then by the same logic neither is Resistance 3 nor Halo Reach (4th/5th Halo game) in any way original. The game world of Quake was and still is highly original and unique (I'll give you that so is the world of Halo, and the original Resistance game was a breath of fresh air too).

Even if Killzone doesn't take place in the modern era, it's still a quintessential brown and gray-color palette chest high walls everywhere shooter. The same goes for many modern FPS games in a scifi/near future setting.

I think you haven't played many old FPS games.

I think I've played the VAST majority of FPS games EVER released, old or new.

You are mixing up people's posts, I think.

-I never mentioned Tribes games for any reason
-I never mentioned L4D games for any reason
-I never claimed that the games I liked after MW2 were "original" just that they were some of my all time favorites. FPS is a genre where the first game in a series is very rarely, if ever, the best...

I don't think I understand what it is you are arguing about anymore, to be honest. You are complaining that FPS games are in a sorry state, I think, but your reasoning is "something something MW2 something something brown and grey something something chest high walls" - right? If you wanted to argue about the shifts in level design philosophy, the slower speed, the consolization of the genre, or the focus on XP-based multiplayer then I think I could understand your claims somewhat. But arguing about "originality" and "story" and "color" etc. is getting you nowhere...

[Ack]

Blaster had been used, but making it your "out of ammo" weapon could be considered novel.

Actually, Hexen had the Sapphire Wand for the mage class, so the idea of having a projectile for an "out of ammo" weapon had been done by the time Quake 2 came along.

So let's see...

Left 4 Dead 2 - American South (horror)
Killing Floor - worldwide (horror)
Dead Island - Tropical island (horror/RPG)
ZombiU - London (horror)
F.E.A.R. 3 - city (horror)
Necrovision - Europe (horror/scifi [alternate history]/WWI)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat - Chernobyl (horror/scifi)
Metro 2033 - Postapocalyptic subways (horror/scifi)
Singularity - Island (horror/scifi)
Aliens vs. Predator - different planet (horror/scifi)
Bioshock Infinite - Flying city in the sky (scifi [alternate history])
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - futuristic world (scifi)
Resistance 3 - postapocalyptic USA (scifi)
Tribes: Ascend - different planet (scifi)
Homefront - USA (scifi)
Halo 4 - space ships and planets (scifi)
Halo: Reach - space ships and planets (scifi)
Crysis 2 - New York City (scifi)
Crysis 3 - postapocalyptic New York City (scifi)
Duke Nukem Forever - worldwide (scifi)
Killzone 3 - worldwide (scifi)
Brink - floating city (scifi)
Red Steel 2 - Wild West (scifi [alternate history])
Bulletstorm - different planet (scifi)
Red Eclipse - worldwide (scifi)
Conduit 2 - worldwide (scifi)
Rage - different planet (scifi)
Serious Sam 3: BFE - Egypt (scifi)
MAG - worldwide (scifi)
Bioshock 2 - underwater city (scifi [alternate history])
Planetside 2 - different planet (scifi/MMOFPS)
Precursors - space ships and planets (scifi/RPG)
Borderlands 2 - different planet (scifi/RPG)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Major cities (scifi/RPG)

Red Orchestra 2 - Europe's eastern front (WWII)
Army Rage - Europe (WWII)
Operation Wolfsburg - Europe (WWII)
Wolfschanze 2 - Europe (WWII)

Far Cry 3 - Tropical island (modern)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - worldwide (modern)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - worldwide (modern)
Call of Duty: Black Ops - worldwide (modern)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - worldwide (modern)
Medal of Honor - Middle East (modern)
Medal of Honor: Warfighter - worldwide (modern)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - worldwide (modern)
Battlefield 3 - worldwide (modern)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - worldwide (modern)
Call of Juarez: The Cartel - Southeast US (modern)
Mission Against Terror - worldwide (modern)
Rogue Warrior - worldwide (modern)
Sniper: Ghost Warrior - South America (modern)
Terror Attack: Project Fateh - Middle East (modern)
Terrorist Takedown 3 - worldwide (modern)

GoldenEye 007 (remake)
Perfect Dark (graphical update)
Halo anniversary edition (remake)
Quake Live (broswer-based version)

Ace of Spades - no real setting to discern

These are many of the FPS released since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's release, grouped by setting. Most of these are actually based around science fiction settings of alternate stripes, be it space operas, postapocalyptic, alternate history, cyberpunk, dystopian, time travel, etc. Only occasionally did I flag all the differences. If anything, we should probably be more concerned with the vast number of sequels appearing, not the settings.

Yes, modern settings do occur often, but they are mostly led by the glut of Call of Duty games. And even among the modern-based FPS, there is variance in setting.

Note, I'm not making any claims about the quality of these games. Some are excellent, while others are downright terrible. But there is actually quite a bit of variance here. Probably most surprising to me is how few WWII-based FPS there are anymore. It really shows how the focus has changed (and how it will likely change again in the coming future)

[fastbilly1]

Any of yall play Ace of Spades yet? I am really intrigued by the game, but worry that you need to play it on a big server for it to be fun.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

There's an apparently older, better version available for free floating around on the internet.

[fastbilly1]

There's an apparently older, better version available for free floating around on the internet.

Word is that the older version is very hacked and doesnt have the zombie mode.

[Ack]

Sweet, Flying Wild Hog is working on a new version of Shadow Warrior!

[tintinmayo]

Which category does Star Wars Battlefront fall in? It was pre-MW2 but it had a lot of modern FPS stuff in it, like the limited (and class-based) choice of weaponry, squad based and vehicle combat.

Another modern FPS that hasn't been mentioned in the thread yet is Bulletstorm. It was all sorts of awesome and I love the way it lets you be creative with your kills (and even scores you based on it). The stages are mostly brown or mostly blue and grey, though. But that fight with the huge ass alien dinosaur was totally worth it.

EDIT: sorry, I missed Ack's post. He mentioned Bulletstorm already.

[Xeogred]

The one genre I stick with most in the long run and will probably continue to do so. Can't say I've cared for online since CoD4 and Bad Company 2, nothing has really pulled me in for longer than a few weeks at a time since. I'm waiting for something though... I definitely can't do L4D or TF2 kind of stuff at all. Bad Company 2 was pretty much perfect, loved the game types, big open maps for long range combat (I prefer that to CoD/Halo's small sized maps), etc. I never got around to BF3, but now BF4 is around the corner... dunno.

Others are arguing about the modern warfare crap which I'm definitely sick of, but yeah it's actually been a great last few years for us single player oriented fans I'd say. Fallout New Vegas, Deus Ex HR, Rage, Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite, Skyrim if you want to count it, etc.

I have no idea why but Borderlands 2 didn't really pull me in, I still need to get back to it and finish it sometime. Only made it to level ~15 or something before I got bored, but I loved the crap out of the first one... and saw nothing but good improvements with 2, but I don't know. Just didn't pull me in somehow.

I'm still interested in Metro Last Light, but after THREE attempts at going at it with the first game, I just give up on it completely. Stalker kind of killed it for me. The combat just doesn't feel very good, the guns, etc... but still I'm keeping an eye on Last Light.

I thought the last Wolfenstein completely sucked, especially with that weird blue vision thing you had to keep using, that was like the first time I've ever felt kind of nauseous playing an FPS, I couldn't even finish it. Funny Raven struck gold with Singularity for me though, up to that point I've pretty much never liked their stuff that much all the way back to Heretic... a lesser Doom, Jedi Knight II... lesser sequel to an amazing game, Quake 4... Doom 3 was better, etc. lol, but yeah Singularity is top notch and pretty underrated I'd say. All that said, I'm interested in the new Wolfenstein since it's new devs and curious to see where they're taking it. I remember seeing a comment once of someone throwing the idea around of Wolftenstein going the open world route to an extent, I actually think that'd be really cool in its weird setting.

Irrational Games will probably continue to only do single player FPS's, so I can't wait to see what they do next, most definitely hoping they finally make a return to sci-fi. I'm sure we're gonna get a new Deus Ex down the road from Eidos Montreal and I'll welcome that, but until then we've got Thief 4 coming which I'm very perplexed about, but hoping for the best. Dishonored 2 I'm sure is going to happen, they've made that pretty apparent by now. What comes after Elder Scrolls? Fallout baby... hot damn I can't wait for the next one, I'd rather Obsidian develop it, but heck I still sunk 80 hours into Skyrim even after hating Oblivion. I just hope Bethesda get some better writers this time.

And of course I'm pumped for Doom 4, even though recent stories suggest its development has been pretty bumpy (scratched twice or something?), and I'd really love to see Quake come back too, but instead of the sci-fi stylized ones like 2 and 4, it'd be cooler to see them take things back to the neo-gothic style of the first game. We really haven't seen anything like that since... well Quake and Unreal I guess. I'd really love to see some kind of FPS in this day and age with the weird dark fantasy/sci-fi mix that these games had. Hell, how about Epic bring back -single player- Unreal? Gears had its time, how about another shot at Unreal?

Looking back on Halo 4, I'm gonna say Reach was a lot better and left a bigger impact. As short as Reach was, 4 was shorter, and really brought nothing new to the table outside of epic graphics. 3 new enemy types, that's it? It definitely got boring after awhile, even through my first run. And the music doesn't even begin to compare to Marty's work. Maybe this new trilogy will finally kill the Halo steam for me, but who knows.

Oh and yeah all this stuff and more will be out before Half-Life 3.

[J T]

I remember when Quake 2 was a generic shooter.

1990s generic games took place in cool, unrealistic fantasy/scifi worlds
2010s generic games take place in the real world

Guess twice which I prefer for my escapism

I know its half joking, but we have of fantasy environments in games these days, and there were a bunch of real world environments in 90s games...

Strangely, we always pay attention to the most currently realistic games because they represent the cutting edge in high-fidelity graphics, but we forget all of the prior realistic games because in retrospect they are rather bland looking as technology marches forward.

The opposite seems to happen with the fantasy games where we wax nostalgic for the older games and how we remember them being so cool (in part, because they required a good bit of imagination), and then the new fantasy games never seem to live up to that romanticized past so they get ignored for a few years.