Elemental Challenge Day Seventeen: Shooters
5 min read
Duck for cover, NPCs! Shooters come in all shapes and calibers, but the most popular is undeniably the first-person shooter. Today’s challenge covers a wide variety of different kinds of shooters, though we’ve already done shmups, so that means we’re talking about third-person shooters, tactical shooters, the elusive and nonsensical second-person shooters, you name it! So grab your favorite light gun or grubby earpiece because it’s time to tackle one of the most successful genres in modern gaming.
Here come the shooters, a phrase which should really be a lot more frightening than it is here…
The Green Screen Mage
Halo! Hello, just my favorite game series ever! With exceptions… Don’t get me started on Halo 5. Great shooter game though! Good variety of guns, not overly complicated, fun mix up of aliens. Great story, but also don’t get into that with me. I am way too deep in the lore.
The Black Humor Mage
Another recent game, but definitely the most hours I’ve put into an FPS yet: Overwatch. It’s sort of a MOBA and not every character uses a gun, but it’s still an FPS at its core. I’ve had so much fun and rage with the tight controls, cool maps/characters, and especially the team chat. I’ve played a lot of online FPS games before, but I usually stop after a while. Overwatch has been the only consistent online FPS that I’ve played this long, so it’s something special.
The Midnight Mystic Mage (Sublime Reviews)
007 GoldenEye. The N64 was the first system I had basically to myself, and I remember GoldenEye being the first game that I booted up in my own room. There of course are so many great memories of playing by myself and with friends after that. Without having played it since then I have always held it to be the best experience I have ever had with a shooting game. (Honorable Mentions – Half Life 2 ep 2, Halo Reach, Duck Hunt)
The Spoony Bard Mage (Nerd Speaker)
While I did enjoy GoldenEye and Perfect Dark in my youth, shooters aren’t generally my thing. Then came the Borderlands series, with Borderlands 2 being the pinnacle of amazingness. With its irreverent humor, brilliant lore and amazing RPG-style progression system, it’s a gem of a game. So many guns. Also, there’s a pony called Butt Stallion.
The Five More Minutes Mage (Gamegato)
Star Wars Battlefront lets you experience your Star Wars fantasies. It is amazing to walk underneath an AT-AT, or climb into an Ewok village, or become a hero character like Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. While lacking a campaign, Star Wars Battlefront is a very good PvP-centered shooter.
The Hopeful Handheld Mage (Retro Redress)
Call of Duty 4 (Xbox360). The greatest first person shooter of all time in my view. The fact it’s getting a re-release this year says it all. Infinity Ward took the excellent Call of Duty 2, sped it up and changed the setting to the modern day, all to great success. Too much success sadly, as this was the game that would lead to annual Call of Duty games of lesser quality. I feel like every Call of Duty game since has been a derivative of COD4, too scared to change the successful formula but without the quality and originality that made COD4 so good.
The Dapper Zaffre Mage (Save File 02)
I’ll admit, I never thought I’d get into an online shooter as much as I have with Overwatch. Yet, not only does it routinely pull me away from other games (much to the chagrin of people I play those with), it even sucked in a fair number of my friends. I had played others before, but this was the first time I had truly gotten into things like competitive teams and group play. Overwatch has been an absolute delight and I don’t regret playing it.
The Over-Caffeinated Nostalgia Mage (Nostalgia Trigger)
When describing the perfect shooter, I can’t help but draw up comparisons to what is my favorite shooter of all time. That game is Perfect Dark. I mean, the word “perfect” is already in the name! Instead of simply capitalizing on the success of GoldenEye, developer Rareware managed to create a gorgeous futuristic world, packed with all manner of nefarious alien life forms. As if the single player mode wasn’t enough, the multiplayer mode was jam-packed with features, including bots with personalities that affected how they played. If Rareware turned on the oven with GoldenEye 007, they set the whole town on fire with Perfect Dark.
The Rage Mage
Everybody loves Dr. Who. Just kidding. Only people who never shut up like Dr. Who, because they’ll keep talking about their fave doctor after everyone stops listening. If a Whovian tweets without any followers, does it make a sound? So there’s this Dr. Who FPS, proving that yes, Dr. Who can ruin anything, even desensitizing violence. I’m not sure what the actual title is called. Maybe it’s something like Dr. Who: ah gawd just shut up about Dr. Who already? Blast away all those animatronic thimbles with that memory-erasing gadget from Men in Black. Evidently, you could press F1 for Help to find some actually good science fiction to watch.
The Well-Red Mage
Shooters aren’t my favorite genre and I’m known to cast some glorious disdain upon the FPS clone scene but for today’s exercise in community I’m going to eschew my typical anti-FPS snobbery in favor of good ol’ retro self-righteousness. I’m nominating The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner for today’s favorite. This is a background-scrolling rail shooter on the NES that originally came with 3-D glasses, has a 3-D toggle option in the game, a pre-Final Fantasy Sakaguchi was involved with the project and (surprise, surprise) Nobuo Uematsu composed the music for this thing. As if that wasn’t enough, the game itself is actually quite fun, addicting, and retro-tough. I’ll take something like WorldRunner over hyper-realistic hyper-violent headshots any day.
While the gunsmoke clears, let me say thanks for reading! Be sure to let us know your favorites in the comments below. Tomorrow ought to be an interesting trip into the more realistic corner of gaming. See you then!
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WellRed, Lord C too will never play Overwatch.. Summat jus seems Meh! to me…
Also massive Boos & Hisses to all of you who said Cod trash! Go on, keep throwin money at the ****s while good games tank, they’re companies go bankrupt & you destroy the whole games industry!!! *Calms Down*
I’ve already said GoldenEye I believe, so I’ll say Halo1-4 (I’m stuck on 2, ain’t played 3 or 4 & gonna buy 5 & hope! for 6!)
Good shootin, lovely story, but, by the arbiter, was part 2 of Halo 1 a bugger…
Even if you made it past the ‘Long Dark Teatime of the Shotgun’ you’d then gotta deal with areas lookin different cos snow & being rocket snipered every 5 mins.. (It took a while..) 😀
I could say Mass Effect, but I think I’ll want to save that for Action RPGS. I actually had to google “third person shooter,” which tells you his much I play this genre lol, but Tomb Raider popped up, and I used to play that so much, I’d see it when I closed my eyes. Only Tertris and Solitaire can boast the same level of retinal burnout.
I nominate James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing on the PlayStation 2. While I enjoy first-person shooters, I found I enjoyed third-person shooters more. I felt that third-person shooters used a view point that felt less disorientating, used a more tactical gameplay and they were able to use a larger range of actions (such as finding cover), rather than trying to shoot every enemy in the location. The story for the game was quite long and developed, with separate animated sequences spread throughout the game to progress the story and discuss new gadgets and weapons available to the player. This game also used famous actors to voice the characters (such as Judi Dench, Pierce Brosnan, Willem Dafoe, etc.) and used a variety of exotic locations. I enjoyed the gameplay as the third-person perspective allowed more tactical fighting and the game used an interesting combat system (consisting of simple punches, use of weapons and timed button presses to enact impressive looking attacks). The game also used an useful, though slightly ridiculous, Bond sense (which slowed down the game and allowed the player to focus on or aim at specific areas) and a Bond mode, which seemed to transform the character into an undefeatable action hero. I also enjoyed the range of levels in the game, including basic gun battles, helicopter chases, driving missions, a rally race and a sequence where Bond has to pursue a falling ally, and found the level designs enjoyable. I really enjoyed some of the features which gave a cinematic quality, such as the Bond Moments (actions which seemed like something from a James Bond film), the exotic locations, the theme song and the way the game slows down when James Bond is performing a complex move. A particular highlight was the pursuit along a bridge in New Orleans, which was an exciting level. The game also had an enjoyable cooperative mode and some secrets.
I was happy to see some nominations for Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark, I found one of the levels from Perfect Dark to be a highly effective siege level. How do you play 3-D Battles of Worldrunner? Do you control the running character?
Yep, you control the running character, run into the background and it’s a rail shooter. Good fun!
Unreal Tournament 2004. It took everything great about the first UT, then added a robust trick jumping system few games have ever attempted since. It also added conquest modes popularized by Battlefield 1942. With countless maps, models, skins, mods made by the community the game lasted for years in competitive circles, outliving the UT3. Of course since then arena shooters lost popularity in favor of grounded team shooters. But UT2k4 was the first FPS that got me invested enough to master advanced strategies, and even join a team. And should any of my old teammates discover this response, yes I did shoot that green shit at you. (Zounds was great. Movie dialogue at the press of a key.)
Perfect Dark! Perfect Dark! Ha it does indeed have perfect in the name. I love that game so much.
I have so many wonderful memories of playing it and Goldeneye with friends in elementary school. I did play and love Perfect Dark more though.
I must ask: Do you think Perfect Dark was a better game than Goldeneye?
Honestly, Goldeneye had plenty of issues, and while it reinvigorated the genre, it has not aged well at all. I think Rareware took everything they learned from Goldeneye, and as is commonly the case with console lifecycles, and improved upon it, milking as much juice from the console as possible. Bad draw distances? Much better in PD. Graphics? Far improved. Framerate issues? Well.. unless you filled the multiplayer map with PerfectSims all armed with Slayers (the rocket launcher of PD), it ran pretty great.Granted the single player campaign required the Expansion Pack if I remember correctly, but still, just goes to show that Rareware had the chance to improve and get the most juice out of the N64.
The story mode was great and the sci-fi setting was great for the time, you can get away with bad realism when you’re killing monsters, after all! I think the only reason I liked story mode in Goldeneye more was because of the obsession with the movie at the time of release, but Perfect Dark still remains top dog for me, some 17 years later.
Of course, like you mention, multiplayer was where it was at. I don’t remember going anywhere when I was in … fifth grade maybe? … without my trusty banana yellow N64 controller and memory card in tow! It was as abundant as Wiis became in college dorm rooms many years later. Haven’t had a multiplayer like that ever since – hoping the Switch can be a contender one day! 🙂
Definitely Borderlands for me. It’s honestly one of the only shooters I’ve played to completion. Also, GoldenEye brings back some good memories!
~Ryan from Games with Coffee
Hi there! It sounds like you’re like me, shooters aren’t exactly your favorite? GoldenEye does indeed bring back a lot of memories, but I was surprised to see it name dropped so much in the comments. Thanks for sharing!
Borderlands rekindled a love for shooters that I didn’t know I had! Collecting all those fun weapons and mowing down hoards of freaky mutant things was a blast. Can’t say the same for the second installment but the first was definitely my jam!
Reblogged this on Sublime Reviews and commented:
We are in No Man’s Land today on day number 17 of the Elemental Challenge. It is nothing but Shooters so pull out your pistols and ask yourself, Are you feeling lucky? You are not obligated to but may also then call yourself a Punk if you so feel the desire. I got nostalgia for 007: Goldeneye in this category though I am not sure how well it holds up today, swing in by The Well-Red Mage and let’s have a shootout!! Er…. discussion.
I’ve always been terrible at shooters, but I spent many great hours screwing around in Halo with friends. My husband is currently obsessed with Overwatch haha. He’s even started watching the world cup competitions for it.
That thing is going to be a national pastime soon!
In one hand I have Halo. In the other hand I have Gears of War. Both series are two of my favorite in modern gaming and I’ve put hundreds of hours in to both series. But since I can only choose one game here (I don’t want to trap myself in the coming two weeks), I will go with Halo: Reach. Still my favorite Halo game in terms of campaign, co-op, multiplayer and just sheer customization. It is kind of the total package.
Haven’t played either so I’ll just have to take your word for it! 😀
I’ve got two Halo games sitting on my shelf but the will to crack into my 360 wanes with every passing day.
I’m going to have to be unoriginal in this category. I’m terrible at shooting games. I have trouble following the flow of combat, and often find myself stuck in a corner shooting in all directions except where there are enemies! I have really gotten into Overwatch, though! There’s just something great about the teamwork it requires to succeed at your mission. That, and the wide variety of abilities and different weapon types helps me be a functioning member of a team even if I can hardly aim!
When I was in elementary school, I used to play Golden Eye with my friend. We would run around the game shooting out all the lights and changing the weapons to paintball mode or rocket launchers just to wreak havoc on the environment. I am happy to see that it made the list!
I think in a few more years there’ll be nobody on Earth who hasn’t played Overwatch… except for me and a few residents of third-world countries. 😉
Reblogged this on Retro Redress.