Has the linear FPS game had its day?

briany

I'm talking about games like Half-Life series, F.E.A.R series, Call of Duty, Medal of Honour, Doom etc.

It just seems when I look around these days, there are choices for FPS games, but they seem to be tending towards multiplayer-based, or bullet-hell (chucking tonnes of enemies at the player without much story context and where I would place the latest Doom reboot series), or heavily incorporating RPG elements and open world and crafting.

What seems to be dying off is the straighforward 8 weapon slots, story-line driven , considerately-paced, meat and potatoes FPS game. The only big one I can see at this time is Metro Exodus. Is it just my perception, or is it that the market for these types of games is just drying up?

Spear

Bit hard to sell a loot box in a classic model FPS.

Osmosis Jones

I don't really think so, the latest series of Doom and Wolfenstein games have been very well received, Titanfall 2 was being paraded as one of the best FPS campaigns in a long time too. Also there is quite a bit of storytelling and anti-consumption/corporation messaging in Doom 2016 it's just mostly contextual.

Retr0gamer

When people think of linear FPS games they think of stale series like Call of Duty. But there's plenty of games that buck the trend. Titanfall 2 brought back interesting gameplay set pieces that used to be what made games like Half Life 2 stand out, while Doom added mechanics that would be more at home in a Platinum character action game and created one of the purest distillations of action games out there.

If anything the genre has been at it's most fertile it's ever been after a long period of stagnation.

Osmosis Jones

Also the latest Prey game is an FPS isn't it? I'd say it's more accurate to say the military shooter genre has had its day.

BeerWolf

Yeeeeeah no. Not at all.

gimli2112

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

I don't really think so, the latest series of Doom and Wolfenstein games have been very well received, Titanfall 2 was being paraded as one of the best FPS campaigns in a long time too. Also there is quite a bit of storytelling and anti-consumption/corporation messaging in Doom 2016 it's just mostly contextual.

Wss going to post yesterday that they need some sort of character progression, both of these do as does TitanFall 2 in getting different Titans to play with albeit on a lesser scale.

The Phantom Pain

The Phantom Pain wrote: »

You have to bear with me - I'm not really sure what you mean, OP.
You say 'linear' but cite Metro Exodus as an example of this? My understanding is that it's very much open world and has all the typical fiddly menu stuff you see in modern games.

Yes, yes it is

It's a complete move away from the original two games because of this

Less focus

Also, Dusk says hello
Ion Fury says hello

Retr0gamer

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Also the latest Prey game is an FPS isn't it? I'd say it's more accurate to say the military shooter genre has had its day.

Prey isn't really linear and has more in common with Immersive sims like system Shock 2.

jim o doom

As already said above; the first two Wolfensteins in the recent reboots were well received and sold well, both games liner, the Doom reboot was linear, well received and sold well pls it's sequel Doom eternal has been enjoyed by any critics who've gotten a go on it, so is also likely to do well.

Even though they have some minor RPG elements and a degree of choice about routing, the recent Deus ex games have been relatively linear as well, as was the Syndicate reboot.

In other words, definitely not. The entire dialogue about linear shooters "not being popular" any more is a pile of crap coming from publishers who don't want to create those games any longer, as those games do not allow for easy loot box implementation, or the "recurrent user spending" that most live service model games utilise.

Fact remains, there's still a market for quality, story driven, linear shooters.

If you haven't played Doom / the recent wolfensteins (I don't know about the third one I believe it takes a different open world co op approach) and Titanfall 2 single player, give them a blast.

Robert ninja

This idea was trending around single-player games as well but sales blew that claim out of the water.

gimli2112

Robert ninja wrote: »

This idea was trending around single-player games as well but sales blew that claim out of the water.

I think EA were trumpeting it around the time they (or their cohorts) were telling us not to buy Battlefield 5.

ZiabR

Not in the slightest. In fact with all of the open world games in the last few years I am delighted to see Linear FPS games. For a few reasons:

1) I don't have the time anymore to sink 40+ hours into an FPS
2) I find that burnout can happen if a game just drags on
3) 1000 side quests are starting to put me off finishing some games

Games like, Doom, Wolfenstein, Titanfall 2, Metro Exodus etc are all amazing games in their own right and dont require mountains of hours to complete.

I would prefer FPS games to take a swing back towards story driven formats and away from the go from A to B but it takes you 15 hours to make they journey because you have to complete 50 side quests on route.

There is a fine balance between games that are to short or to long. It has to be cheaper for Developers to just focus on a story driven, linear FPS so I don't get why more don't do it.

Linear FPS is far from dead.

gizmo

ZiabR wrote: »

There is a fine balance between games that are to short or to long. It has to be cheaper for Developers to just focus on a story driven, linear FPS so I don't get why more don't do it.

The problem is that it's not cheaper for developers to focus on a story driven, linear FPS rather than a more open ended one full of side quests. Generally speaking, the reasoning is something along these lines; if you're making a linear experience clocking in at 10-12hrs, there's an expectation the player will be moving through a series of relatively unique environments which will be full of relatively unique assets and experiences as they progress through the game. Conversely, if you have a larger, more open ended environment which the player will be spending more time in doing those side quests, you can get away with far more asset reuse since the area will more than likely be thematically the same throughout.

Since content creation is, by and large, the most costly aspect of game development due to not only to the time required to build assets to modern standards of fidelity (especially when they'll be viewed from a first person perspective) but also the fact there are so many people involved across the various stages of the content creation pipeline, it follows that, should one want to do some kind of gross cost per unit of playtime calculation, the linear single-player FPS would be somewhere around the bottom of the list.

As for the health of the genre in general, the Bethesda titles area are a pretty good example of that right now in the AAA space. As I said on the Youngblood thread - Dishonored is "resting", Prey never made much of a mark and Wolfenstein II sold markedly less than its predecessor. We still get the single player mode in DOOM Eternal thankfully but it's also had its traditional multiplayer mode replaced with the 2v1 Battlemode and while they've said more demons and maps will be added for free after launch, you can bet your first born that there'll be a wide selection of paid skins for both characters and weapons available to go along with them.

Thankfully the indie scene is picking up the slack with a slew of classic linear FPS titles which have been released over the last while - Wrath, Amid Evil, Ion Fury, Project Warlock and Dusk. Prodeus is still to come and it looks ****ing awesome and MAXIMUM Action is in Early Access and looks like it'll finally scratch that itch I've had since The Opera mod for Half Life.

Homelander

I find myself less interested in them nowadays with all the MP titles like Apex, Overwatch, Rainbow Six and whatever else, but every now and again I love a solid, linear, uncomplicated shoot-em-up with great set pieces. Wolfenstein's a good example, Doom, some of the Call of Duty titles, Far Cry to a certain extent (not linear, but entirely SP).

Recently bought Ion Fury and it's really amazing, most fun I've had playing an FPS campaign in ages. Would recommend it to anyone looking for a fast paced shooter that you can easily play in 20-30 minute bursts.

Orderofchaos

Currently downloading Titanfall 2 on PS4, 5.99 for ultimate edition. Haven't played anything for a while so looking forward to a good blast.

MadYaker

Orderofchaos wrote: »

Currently downloading Titanfall 2 on PS4, 5.99 for ultimate edition. Haven't played anything for a while so looking forward to a good blast.

I enjoyed 1 and 2. Sadly the games have kind of died on PC and last time I checked there weren't many people playing it, might be different on console though.

deceit

Orderofchaos wrote: »

Currently downloading Titanfall 2 on PS4, 5.99 for ultimate edition. Haven't played anything for a while so looking forward to a good blast.

Titanfall 2 is the best fps campaign released in years.

J Mysterio

Rainbow Six Siege continues to be very popular. Hit 50 million players this month.

awec

J Mysterio wrote: »

Rainbow Six Siege continues to be very popular. Hit 50 million players this month.

It's a multiplayer game?

Canis Lupus

J Mysterio wrote: »

Rainbow Six Siege continues to be very popular. Hit 50 million players this month.

Is you drunk?

J Mysterio

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Is you drunk?

I might have been high.

awec wrote: »

It's a multiplayer game?

Missed that bit...

Orderofchaos

deceit wrote: »

Titanfall 2 is the best fps campaign released in years.

Yea, just finished it, good game. Really enjoyed it and even though it's a few years old it still looks pretty good on the PS4. Worth the 6 Euro.

Temptamperu

Orderofchaos wrote: »

Yea, just finished it, good game. Really enjoyed it and even though it's a few years old it still looks pretty good on the PS4. Worth the 6 Euro.

It was worth full price. Even though I got it on sale for 40.