Jul 21 , 2007. What needs to be changed in the FPS world?

There needs to be a change when it comes to the FPS world. A big change. The problem is that so many FPS games are being released that they are all beginning to feel the same feel, even if one is set in the past and one is set in the future. Let's take a look at some of the problems.

Sorry Master Chief, but Halo does have a problem. The problem is that the game is centered around a really tough, but dull guy who speaks only a few words, but shoots alot. We love the shooting part, but let's face it. Do you really want this guy at your party? Would you offer him alcohol? And of course, he has to save the world from aliens. Because apparently, aliens have nothing else to do but fly millions of light years to Earth so they can invade a planet filled with people who don't know anything.

The next, more serious problem is the crate. Why is it that in so many FPS, this thing is made of titanium? You can't hurt it with a rocket launcher, grenade, or shootgun. It's just ridiculous. If something is made out of wood, it can be destroyed by metal flying at, well the speed of a bullet.

Now we're going to talk about the grunt. He's got a gun and no brains. He likes to stand there while you blow holes in him. And no, he doesn't feel pain. So just shooting him isn't going to stop him. You've got to kill him. And if you kill him with his buddy standing nearby, well, that's okay. Because in real life, killing someone generates no attention. And they don't let things like alarms or the sound of bullet fire in the distance draw their attention from patrolling their tiny region. Because some other grunt's problems are not their problems.

This leads us to the worst problem with FPS games, the almighty scripted ambush. You enter a location, that triggers an event and you are ambushed. You know, these guys aren't on patrol or eating lunch or anything. They spend all their time just waiting for you to show so they can ambush you. Now that's a great job. Getting paid to wait for a guy to show up so you could kill him.

The last thing we think needs changing in FPS is the spotty physics engine. We kinda discussed this with the crate, but face it. Even games like Crysis have questionable physics. Maybe the 360 isn't powerful enough to handle completely realistic physics, but we hope someday a console or PC can handle it. Bullets should damage just about anything or richochet off of metal and produce sparks. Explosions should knock people over because of the heat and force they generate.

We think FPS games are beginning to hit a barrier. And that barrier is providing a more realistic game with characters we might actually relate to, although we still like Master Chief for being a top-notch soldier. We just wonder how many more games are we going to get with guys like him saving the world from aliens who don't have the intelligence of a 12 year old when fighting, yet have developed technology superior to Earth's top scientific minds.