Paul Frew
A Delicious Mix
May 14th 2008 03:28
When it comes to games, i'm a lover of First Person Shooters and Role Playing Games. So it's no surprise when some of the greatest things since sliced bread are a delicious mix of the two, or FPS/RPG hybrids. Hell mix most things with RPGs and I'll hang round it long enough.
When i mention games like Deus Ex, System Shock 2, BioShock and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (let's also say S.T.A.L.K.E.R for good measure) hopefully give warm fuzzy feelings of great moments in hybrid gaming. Intelligent shooters filled with stats, story and some of the best characters i've found in games to date. "But you hardly meet characters in System Shock 2/Bioshock" you or may not mutter to your screen at me, you do however find countless audio logs detailing others' woes with survival in the hell they are unlucky enough to be stuck in.
I'm not alone when i say this, but I'm a whore for stats, when a game with stats plonks itself in front of me, I'll sit there for some undisclosed amount of time weighing up pros and cons, thinking "will i need another hack skill? but what if i need the modules/skill points for some other weapon or health related skill?!" Mixed with the fact these games contain all sorts of weapons from guns to wrenches and the human mind, I'm in a virtual heaven.
On the topic of mechanics, the games all seem to have very solid gameplay options for combat, giving players plenty of choice to deal with situations how they please, from all combat runs, to trying to kill as little people as possible. The AI in each of the games also challenging enough, even giving gamers the option of making AI play for your side, always a popular choice for giving some back to the enemy.
Artwork, graphics, looks. Each game mentioned has its own style, SS2 in space, Deus Ex in Future New York, Vampires in an alternate Los Angeles and S.T.A.L.K.E.R in Chernobyl. While the newer games look great, each running on engines that allow for higher poly counts, larger texture sizes and other tech like advanced physics, bump/normal mapping, HDR lighting etc, means the amount of effort gone into them looking just like envisioned was massive. BioShock in particular was praised for it's brilliant artwork, pulling off the underwater 50's utopia with critical success. As for the older games like SS2 and DX, they've stumbled upon dedicated fans to update models and textures which allow both games to have fresh looks especially for newer gamers put off by older blocky characters and blurry textures.
Secondary to the fact that these games have fantastic single player stories of their own, each - with the exception of BioShock, due to the lack of a released SDK - have had dedicated community members keeping the dreams alive by putting out their own campaigns. For example, Ponterbee station for SS2 or Burden of 80 Proof/The Nameless Mod(when it's done) for Dues Ex. Those examples show a huge amount of effort to keep these shining examples of gaming fresh.
However, one thing noticeable about these games is that they're all pc games, with the exception of BioShock. Another obvious thing i haven't pointed out is yes, BioShock has no stats. Which brings me to my next point, consoles are killing my beloved FPS/RPG hybrids. The switch to a consoles inclusive release may have lead to them taking away the challenging difficulty along with the chance for a skills or inventory screen. Sure Deus Ex 3 is somewhere on the distant horizon, then the prequel to BioShock comes in '09, where's all the other announcements for these genre mixing games? What if both take the path of their predecessors? (yes, by that i mean Deus Ex: Invisible War - which, pales in comparison to the original)
Even if games like Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4 have experience points and the chance for you to level up, it's not the same by a long shot. I want my stats! I agree getting the extra weapons and perks unlocked in those games each level is a nice incentive, still no strength or agility upgrades from Mr. Clancy yet.
Anyway, enough of me complaining, random trivia time. Both Ken Levine and Warren Spector (who actually worked on the original System Shock, connection!) appeared in their games. Pointless, but true.
Any points or games i may have missed, feel free to shout.
When i mention games like Deus Ex, System Shock 2, BioShock and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (let's also say S.T.A.L.K.E.R for good measure) hopefully give warm fuzzy feelings of great moments in hybrid gaming. Intelligent shooters filled with stats, story and some of the best characters i've found in games to date. "But you hardly meet characters in System Shock 2/Bioshock" you or may not mutter to your screen at me, you do however find countless audio logs detailing others' woes with survival in the hell they are unlucky enough to be stuck in.
System Shock 2 Box Art
I'm not alone when i say this, but I'm a whore for stats, when a game with stats plonks itself in front of me, I'll sit there for some undisclosed amount of time weighing up pros and cons, thinking "will i need another hack skill? but what if i need the modules/skill points for some other weapon or health related skill?!" Mixed with the fact these games contain all sorts of weapons from guns to wrenches and the human mind, I'm in a virtual heaven.
On the topic of mechanics, the games all seem to have very solid gameplay options for combat, giving players plenty of choice to deal with situations how they please, from all combat runs, to trying to kill as little people as possible. The AI in each of the games also challenging enough, even giving gamers the option of making AI play for your side, always a popular choice for giving some back to the enemy.
Artwork, graphics, looks. Each game mentioned has its own style, SS2 in space, Deus Ex in Future New York, Vampires in an alternate Los Angeles and S.T.A.L.K.E.R in Chernobyl. While the newer games look great, each running on engines that allow for higher poly counts, larger texture sizes and other tech like advanced physics, bump/normal mapping, HDR lighting etc, means the amount of effort gone into them looking just like envisioned was massive. BioShock in particular was praised for it's brilliant artwork, pulling off the underwater 50's utopia with critical success. As for the older games like SS2 and DX, they've stumbled upon dedicated fans to update models and textures which allow both games to have fresh looks especially for newer gamers put off by older blocky characters and blurry textures.
Deus Ex yay!
Secondary to the fact that these games have fantastic single player stories of their own, each - with the exception of BioShock, due to the lack of a released SDK - have had dedicated community members keeping the dreams alive by putting out their own campaigns. For example, Ponterbee station for SS2 or Burden of 80 Proof/The Nameless Mod(when it's done) for Dues Ex. Those examples show a huge amount of effort to keep these shining examples of gaming fresh.
However, one thing noticeable about these games is that they're all pc games, with the exception of BioShock. Another obvious thing i haven't pointed out is yes, BioShock has no stats. Which brings me to my next point, consoles are killing my beloved FPS/RPG hybrids. The switch to a consoles inclusive release may have lead to them taking away the challenging difficulty along with the chance for a skills or inventory screen. Sure Deus Ex 3 is somewhere on the distant horizon, then the prequel to BioShock comes in '09, where's all the other announcements for these genre mixing games? What if both take the path of their predecessors? (yes, by that i mean Deus Ex: Invisible War - which, pales in comparison to the original)
Even if games like Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4 have experience points and the chance for you to level up, it's not the same by a long shot. I want my stats! I agree getting the extra weapons and perks unlocked in those games each level is a nice incentive, still no strength or agility upgrades from Mr. Clancy yet.
Anyway, enough of me complaining, random trivia time. Both Ken Levine and Warren Spector (who actually worked on the original System Shock, connection!) appeared in their games. Pointless, but true.
Any points or games i may have missed, feel free to shout.
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