FPS games with intresting levels

[ExedExes]

Another one to try is Powerslave, available on the Saturn, PS1, and PC. More Egyptian-style mayhem but it has the narration of Don LaFontaine!

[Menegrothx]

I'd like to stress out that I'm going more for style than substance here - FPS games that have unusually themed levels that contrast with the weaponry, enemies and so on. The game can otherwise be as generic&cookie cutter as they come. Think of Quake-esque hectic shooting with scifi weapons in levels themed after medieval castles, Egyptian pyramids, Ancient Greece, Mayan temples and so on.

This machinima gives you an idea of what I'm looking for. It's a WoW machinima, but it has a gun wielding anime girl and an awesome looking cartooney island It was made using Unreal Tournament 2004, does it have levels like that?

I want games that aren't bound by normal logic or realism in any way. In many otherwise innovative or thematically unusual games the level design is very boring and ordinary - I want a more arcadey game experience with death traps, rocket jumping, that sort of stuff. Think of all the crazy stuff you see in all the different platformer games. Look at Speed Highway level of Sonic Adventure. Even though the theme is very mundane - skycrapers and highway at night, it's that wild imaginative level design with all the unrealistic elements that makes it so intresting. There's no way something like that could ever exist in real life. It's against the laws of physics, not to mention that a highway like that would be completely useless for cars. It's a playground designed completely for maximal gameplay joy, it's not designed to mimic real life.
On the other hand most FPS levels try to mimic real life to bring more immersion to the game. For example there's a football stadium level in Gears of War 3 multiplayer, and that's that. It's a football stadium. If you dont count the scoreboard that drops during the second round which might crush you, there's nothing intresting or fun in the design of that level, it's an oval with some hallways. Another example is the airport level in Modern Warfare 2. Since it's made to be believable, the design is very conventional and boring. The level is designed to be like a real airport (on a smaller scale), not like a playground for free for all deathmatch.

I think that the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games did a really fine job of turning realistic modern day levels into huge playgrounds.

Mirror's Edge:
Call of Juarez (series)/Helldorado
Clive Barker's Jericho
The Darkness II
Dear Esther
The Void

How on earth is Mirror's Edge or Dear Esther a FPS? Well there are some shoothing parts that are superficially glued to ME and they're the worst part of the game, but I dont see it as a FPS game since shooting has nothing to do with the core gameplay element of the game - park our free running/first person platforming. ME does have an intresting look/art style, but it's just sky crapers and urban areas - exactly what I'm not looking for. I dont want to see anything that could take place in our current world, whether the game is set in rural Afghanistan or in urban Hong Kong, it's regardless a "modern warfare" type of game to me - a "realistic" FPS game set in the modern time/near future.

I need to check out Call of Juarez though.

I would again recommend The Ball, as it is more a puzzle game with first person trappings, though there is a gun-styled object for manipulating your only weapon. The setting is a mixture of caverns, South American ruins, and volcanoes.

Sounds intresting

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

This has been on my to buy list for quite some time but it's not quite what I'm looking for in this case

Out of the rest of the games you listed, Catacomb 3D and Witchhaven sounds like the closest to what I'm looking for. I'm surprised to see Redneck Rampage being mentioned though. Now there's an unusual theme for a FPS Game

[retrozombieslayer]

Ever play LSD: Dream Emulator?
Yeah. That's what I thought. Talk about unique level design...

[brunoafh]

^ +1

I really need to play this someday.

[J T]

Mirror's Edge:
Call of Juarez (series)/Helldorado
Clive Barker's Jericho
The Darkness II
Dear Esther
The Void

How on earth is Mirror's Edge or Dear Esther a FPS? Well there are some shoothing parts that are superficially glued to ME and they're the worst part of the game, but I dont see it as a FPS game since shooting has nothing to do with the core gameplay element of the game - park our free running/first person platforming. ME does have an intresting look/art style, but it's just sky crapers and urban areas - exactly what I'm not looking for. I dont want to see anything that could take place in our current world, whether the game is set in rural Afghanistan or in urban Hong Kong, it's regardless a "modern warfare" type of game to me - a "realistic" FPS game set in the modern time/near future.

Damn dude! You almost sound kinda mad.
I wasn't sure how much you cared about the S of FPS.

Mirror's Edge has Pure Time Trial DLC that is set in abstract environments. Mostly parkour running still, but run in crazy cubist set pieces



Given that you want some arcade gameplay in a strange setting, you might want to try Xotic:

[J T]

*double post*

[stickem]

darkwatch- cookie cuter fps with western theme, vampire horror, western weapons along with vampire abilities. i enjoyed it. the theme anyway cause there isn't too much exploring. ps2/xbox

[Menegrothx]

Ever play LSD: Dream Emulator?
Yeah. That's what I thought. Talk about unique level design...

It's a cool game but it's not a FPS

Damn dude! You almost sound kinda mad.
I wasn't sure how much you cared about the S of FPS.

Given that you want some arcade gameplay in a strange setting, you might want to try Xotic:

FPS=First Person Shooter, anything else is FP *something*, like Portal is a First Person puzzle game

Xotic looks quite neat!

darkwatch- cookie cuter fps with western theme, vampire horror, western weapons along with vampire abilities. i enjoyed it. the theme anyway cause there isn't too much exploring. ps2/xbox

This reminds me: aren't there guns and first person shooting in Vampire the masquerade? If there is then it might fit the bill as a Deus Ex type FPS/RPG hybrid. I've been meaning to play that game for a long time since it gets so much praise.

[isiolia]

This reminds me: aren't there guns and first person shooting in Vampire the masquerade? If there is then it might fit the bill as a Deus Ex type FPS/RPG hybrid. I've been meaning to play that game for a long time since it gets so much praise.

There are, but I'd hesitate to really label it a shooter. It takes putting some points into firearms to even make them viable (though it's something most character builds probably want to do). The impression I've gotten from it is more that guns are better saved for when you need them. Stealth, melee, and vampire powers are a lot more sustainable than keeping the more powerful guns supplied with ammo.

A parallel might be something like bows or ranged magic in the Elder scrolls games. Powerful, useful, but not exactly the primary gameplay focus.

It's certainly very comparable to the Deus Ex model though, so if you like those games you should definitely try it. Definitely a little rough around the edges, but I felt it was more ambitious than most other games in the style.

[Erik_Twice]

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines has enemies who never miss as long as you are in sight, making it more of a matter of oudamaging them than actually shooting in a skillful way. So yeah, pretty faithful to the original game in that regard