HA12: Task 1 - The Greatest Genre ever!

HA12: Task 1 - The Greatest Genre ever!

In my opinion, the greatest game genre in the world is by far the first person shooter genre. By definition: "A first person shooter (FPS) is a genre of action video game that is played from the point of view of the protagonist. FPS games typically map the gamer's movements and provide a view of what an actual person would see and do in the game."

Specific titles also introduce their own characteristics and differences within the genre such as:

Halo: 3

Gameplay and Gamemodes

Halo 3 is by far my favourite game of this genre and my favourite game in general. It really was (too me) my perfect childhood game and I never knew why. In this clip you can see a battle of the online mode "big team slayer" which is one of the many multiplayer modes of the game, some of which include "Infection" a single player has a 1 hit melee weapon known as an energy sword which can lung at the opposing players this person must literally infect the others and make those players become like him (with the energy sword). The opposing side have shotguns and pistols and must hold off against the "infected" enemy team until the timer runs out , "Team Slayer" essentially Team deathmatch from most other first person shooters except unlike most others vehicles and pickups, powerups and turrets are scattered around the map for instance a player could pick up a larger amount of health that decays over a short time (the overshield) or could fly an alien spacecraft known as the banshee, and "Team SWAT" is a game mode where players can only kill the opposing team with headshots, everybody is given a 3 round burst battle rifle which has a scope that can be used to zoom in, unlike Team SWAT there is no weapon drops or vehicles on the map.




CounterStrike: Global Offensive

Gameplay and Gamemodes

Counterstrike: Global offensive or commonly abbreviated to (CS:GO) is an extremely competitive and popular game made by the Valve corporation. It is a first person shooter game that I play quite often and I'm really starting to get into it due to it's competitive yet simplistic aspect of game play and style. The game itself is really fast paced and lots of practice with accuracy and game sense to master. There are fewer modes compared to games such as call of duty and halo however the "competitive" game mode is where most players find themselves, probably due to the ranking system and extreme competitive side to the game, It involves 2 teams, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists that spawn on opposing sides of the map, the terrorists must then plant the bomb that one of those people spawn with.



Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Gameplay and Gamemodes

Personally I could not create a first person shooter article without mentioning the call of duty franchise (one of the most popular game genres to have ever existed). The Game series itself has had it's fair share of changes from customization of kill streaks to living zombies attacking the player. The game play includes a single player campaign that tells a story in which the player usually takes control of the main protagonist. The multiplayer game mode where players battle (much like they do in halo) except there are different game modes the player can choose from. And call of duty's "third" game mode which has often changed from special ops which is a series of co-operative missions that players can complete that usually take aspects of the campaign. Or as shown below, Zombies game play where players roam often diverse or simplistic maps which have traps/ buyable upgrades/ buildables and barriers they can repair to keep zombies at bay.


The Genre Characteristics

User Interface

The user interface for first person shooters is generically the same. There are usually inventory slots in which the player had devices or equipment they can use, FPS games are known for showing the weapon in the hand of the player these can usually range from bows, guns, grenades, to even knives and the infamous monkey bombs from Call of duty. Whilst some of the genre's User interfaces are similar they definitely have their differences, for instance Halo slick Blue and orange futuristic menu's and HUD's are almost completely different from the black and white less stylish CS:GO menu and HUD, the inventory slots are also mixed around etc so FPS games do have their differences. One key difference in UI for CS:GO is the fact the gun can be swapped around to the opposite side to the screen.

Graphic Style

The Graphic style for most FPS's are generally the same. Some tend too be realistic as possible where as some go for a more simplistic style yet focus more on gameplay such as CS:GO. Halo 3 would be a good game too focus on, it's graphics style is completely different to most first person. Reason being it's futuristic setting has a huge influence on it's graphics.

Narrative Structures & Gender Representation

The way the story is told in each of these games is fairly similar Halo and Call of duty take a single player campaign approach, It uses AI computer controlled opponents in waves and uses checkpoint systems to save a players progress. The genre also uses cinematic cut scenes in order to tell the story from the players perspective although, some of these cinematics transcend into 3rd person. There is an exception, some games such as the new star wars battlefront game and CS:GO include no singleplayer game which means they don't have a narrative structure and are purely created for their competitive and mutli player aspects.
As far as I am aware, only the latest installments of call of duty, and the Halo series post Halo:Reach include the option to change to a female character. There isn't much changed besides voice acting either which I do believe the genre could certainly work on.