Future of FPS

2007-11-22

Bigger, larger, better looking. Is that the future of computergames? Are we all forced to buy new huge state of the art computers just so we can play the latest games, without even getting a significant improvement in return?The latest hyped game, Crysis, is really just Farcry 3. Or is it 4 already? Come on, what significant added value does Crysis bring onto the scene? Mowing down trees with guns? Literally? Nice feat, but who cares.All major FPS' being released lately are so simple one might wonder why we are playing games in the first place. They're paying too much attention to the graphical aspect of a game, but too few to the gameplay aspect. Where's the challenge? Where's the Nintendo innovation?Instead of focussing on graphics, start working on AI and gameplay! Crysis, Farcry, Call of Duty 4, Overlord, Alpha Prime, Two Worlds, Bioshock. They're all pretty games, but is there one that's significantly different from the rest? I would have to go for Overlord, rather then Bioshock or Crysis.Better AI, new weapons (ok, pistol, shotgun, rifle, boomboom, we get it now...), different environment (war, mercs) and puzzles (like in Prince of Persia for example! But maybe more subtle).And make the games harder. Give players a reason to kill enemies! Start working with xp for instance. Not with respawning enemies, but just give them an incentive. At this point I don't even bother to kill enemies I don't have to from about halfway through a game. Either that or I just quit.I really hope the computergame industry will focus less on graphics and more on gameplay, originality and challenge.Let's start making games again!