First Person Shooter Round Up

2011 looks to be year of the FPS and I like First Person Shooters as readers of my tweets and blog will know - so it should be a good year for me. This little post is my round up of the FPS in my world and on my radar at the moment. So in no particular order:

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Its had its problems and patches and now it has its DLC. My relationship with Black Ops (Slack Ops) has been a little cyclic to say the least - in the first few days it was full on fun then the problems started to materialise. Lag and hit detection seemed to be a big issue, assuming you could even get into a game! A few patches later and suddenly I couldn't get enough I have since been round the ranks 3 times, levelling up is still an addictive process in COD for me. 3 times might not sound like much but I don't get that much gaming time in.

The new weapons and perks in this game have kept it fresh and I still learn new ways to play everytime. The RCXD, decoy grenades and explosive tip crossbow have been super fun and I should really get around to downloading that First Strike DLC to play some new maps.

Unfortunately for Black Ops my time is now being spent on KillZone 3.

KillZone 3

Wow! I love this multiplayer and have gotten into KZ3 way more than I did KZ2 (even though I bought all the map packs). The class system is limiting for COD fans but when you look at the COD classes they are fundamentaly just different guns; with KillZone 3 each class has unique attributes that actually change the way you play and the way the other team will have to play against you.

The maps at first seem huge but when you realise you need space for your drones to fly around and jet packs to lift off you quickly realise that the air space is getting full and you need to find somewhere to hide.

I could go on all day about this game - but for now my fave moment was running from one end of Turbine Concourse to the other while disguised to assassinate the enemy target without one single shot being fired at me. Each class has its own merits and have a very real role to play in each battle. This is THE best FPS around at the moment.

HomeFront

I can't say much about this currently as the game only arrived yesterday and I have fired it up for about 15 minutes. More feedback from me over the weekend (if i can turn Killzone 3 off). The reviews have been less than favourable and I herad that THQ's stock value dropped by 20+% as a result.

Crysis 2

For me Crysis 2 was always going to about the single player campaign first and secondly it would have been fun to play some Multiplayer in New York. recent news of the demo being pulled for some connectivity issues is damaging to this game ahead of its immenent release.

I think I will be waiting for either the demo to be fixed to make my own mind up, or if the game gets excellent reviews then my interest may grow again. Problem is that Brink is out in May and this promises to be a game changer!

Brink

Splashdamage are breaking the mould with their MINGLE Player game (Multi/Single player mix) and the SMART technology for free running around the maps. Brink looks exciting and innovative and looks like as well as taking on the critics with its genre defining (or should that be genre refining?) ideas it is also not taking itself seriously with OTT characateurs and comic book like graphics.

Can't wait!

BattleField 3

Ooh - now this is exciting. DICE have been working hard over the last few years with Battlefield Bad Company and Medal Of Honor. Both had great Multiplayers - I am still playing BFBC2 occassionally and the support for that community continues. So far we have only seen a few single player videos of BF3 but it looks amazing and the new Frostbite 2.0 Engine seems to have improved the destructable environments to a much higher level. The action looks tense and very realistic set in modern warzones, much like Medal Of Honor.

Medal Of Honor

I really enjoyed this game but no-one else I know did! Simple as that so I sold it along with my old Call of Duty titles a few months back. The campaign was OK, some good thought gone in to some missions (the sniping was awesome fun) and great action. It was short and not very difficult.

BattleField Bad Company 2

I still play this from time to time, but I fear its getting close to being put on ebay. KillZone3, Homefront (possibly), Black Ops (occassionally) and Brink (hopefully) all mean that I can't see me finding the time to play this game.

The large maps and awesome sound make this a must for all to try. Maybe I will play it some more - as I haven't really got stuck into the Vietnam add-on and I still haven't learnt to fly one of those bloody helicopters!