With the arrival of the new Call Of Duty : Advanced Warfare, its good to take a look at what else is there on the multiplayer FPS market for this year’s end. And I, like some other players, want to take a fresh start, far from the usual big hits from the FPS genre.
In this article, we are not really interested in the regular modern FPS, because we are kind of tired of participating in yet another world war, revolution or super secret organization activities. We want something fresh, something unexpected. In a word, we want surprise.
For the past years, the FPS genre has been pretty much dominated by the titles featuring war and the mutual destruction of the nations populating Earth. Call Of Duty, Battlefield, Counter strike to name a few of the tenor. But what if, like me, you want to enjoy something different. A game that wouldn’t be about the past or a seemingly post-apocalyptic future. What if I want war without war. Moreover, if these games could be light-weighted on my wallet, that would be a plus doesn’t it?
To bring to you the information you desire to make a careful choice of the next hour-sink you’ll enjoy, I need to add some precision about my selection process. These games are all FPS that was released on PC during the last two years. I will not focus on the graphical comparisons or even on the solo campaign. Because, if you’re like me, all I want at the end, is to have fun shooting at my friends. It’s what we all want, right? Oh, and, by the way, this list is by no mean a complete list neither a top 5 list. I might have missed a few of the game and I would like to hear from you guys in the comment section down below.
Planetside 2:
You are an avid FPS player. And you particularly like game modes like Large Conquest on Battlefield. But even with 64 players on the map, you still feel like it’s missing something. In fact, you would like to have more than just 64 players. And you would like to have more than just a couple kilometers squares worth of map. What you enjoy is when the fun comes with big and epic. And I think I have just the game for you…
Planetside 2 is an outcast in the FPS family. As a proper sequel of the first Planetside, the only MMO-FPS ever produce, it is one of the gaming experience you won’t forget for a long time. ‘Wait… MMO and FPS?’ you ask? Well, as I said just above 32v32 is good. But what about 400v400v400? Planetside 2 is not about reinventing FPS. Planetside 2 is about bringing FPS in another dimension. As a player, you’ll be impersonating a soldier of one of three factions struggling to survive in the middle of a gigantic permanent war for the planet Auraxis. On four maps of tens of square kilometers designed to represent the 4 continents of the planet, you’ll be playing a big game of strategy, but with a little difference: in this game, IA controlled players does not exist.
If you’re rushing a hill controlled by one of the opposing faction with a hundred player, supported by a couple of tank divisions, and a swarm of aerial fighter, not a single one of them is controlled by the server or your computer. Behind every helmet, there’s a player with a keyboard and mouse on his desk somewhere in the world. A player with the same goal as you: get those pesky enemies of your territory. All of the map is divided into segments of territory, all controlled by bases of various sizes. And each base is a point capture one. The strategy in this game is played by platoon of players (48 of them), and if you want to impact the future of war, you better start acting as a whole before getting stomped and steamrolled back to your HQ base.
The gameplay is based on a rather arcady scheme with little chunks of seriousness. It’s nothing like a fast-paced shooter, but with jetpacks and big exoskeletons, this game is not that hooked to realism. In exchange, you’ll get a system of classes with the same kind of improvement system you could have in an RPG. And even more, Planetside 2 is all about combined arms combat. You can fly (fighters, gunships, troop carriers) and you can tank (light tank, heavy armored tanks, buggies), while the rest of the team is doing the ground work. It’s all about helping your faction win in the end game.
So now, back to the donwsides, this game is not about playing solo, far from it. You’ll get your fun by playing with a huge team. And you’ll also need a nice configuration if you want to run it properly, especially in fights were more than 200 players are involved. Moreover, SOE, the game publisher, is having a hard time killing all the bugs and various performance impairements plaguing the game, making it a flip of a coin whether the game is going to work properly or not the next time you log on. New players, take care, this game can be quite overwhelming at a start. But if you stick to it, you’re in for a hell of a ride.
Finally, the business model is one of a nice free-to-play, with no incentives to buy anything apart from cosmetic upgrades. The all arsenal can be unlocked without paying anything, but it will take you a bit longer than the paying players would. Do not worry though, the starting gear is more then fine for the five classes of all three factions, and some of the best players tend to stick to it more than high-end weaponry. The game is also planned to come out on PS4 somewhere in the first semester of 2015.
Shootmania Storm:
Ah… I have to say. I really like the guys from Nadeo. From their first hit Trackmania, to Shootmania, these developers have always brought something refreshing in the world of both racing games and FPS. Cheap, well-made games where everyone is on equal ground at all time. No upgrades. No boots or special gear. Equality in its purest form. So if you are touchy about balance issues from a few of your previous games, you might want to try their games out.
Don’t you like to be one-shot by the dreaded shotguns? Is the noobtube a permanent threat to your anger management issues? Then, my friends, Shootmania Storm is the game you want. The basic concept behind the game is to create a competitive environment for FPS battles in arena up to 32 players. In this game, there are no weapons of choice, because there is only one weapon. And your character, a jumping athlete equipped with special running and jumping boots, is an exact replica of your allies and adversaries. In this game, everything is based on a quest for equivalence. Even the maps are perfectly symmetrical, to put the players battling it out on equal ground at all cost.
Additionally, this game is completely open to content created by players with direct ingame tools to do so. You can create a server for you and your friends, create a skin for the other player to see you, let’s say, as Batman for example. Or you can even create your own gaming mode, bending the game to suit your needs and to create the perfect server. From regular deathmatch or capture the pole, two more advanced Infection or Parkour modes.
So, what about the gameplay? The gameplay is about the same as every fast-paced shooter apart for not so few specificities. As I was saying, the only weapon for this game is an energy based canon which changes its firing type and rate depending on the surface you’re standing on. If you’re on regular ground, its a canon with 4 rounds with a short refiring time between the shots and a fast ‘battery’ refilling rate. The projectile is slow, and depending on the game mode you’ll need two or one hits to kill your opponent. If you’re standing on some particular grids, your gun will be automatically transformed in a lightning based sniper with instantaneous bullet travelling time and one-shot capacity. Underground, you have some kind of AOE slow canonball. And so on. It all depends on the map creator and your willingness to take advantage of it.
Now, the game is great fun, a bit messy at times (no knife so the player tend to jump at each other more often), but always a great pleasure to play. The movement system is hard to grasp at first but can be pushed to unlock its full potential (holding space to make a dash forward after jumping, taking teleporters, etc…). The map design is well thought (jumping pads, jumping platforms, ‘skiing’ slopes) and players created maps are really interesting. The community is great. But (because there’s always a but) this game is designed in a too much professional way. Let me explain… This game is clearly a game thought for the ESWC (ESport World Championship) where it shines, and the skill needed to take advantage of all the features in the game can be quite repelling. Its not a noob-friendly game (even for the ‘beginner’ servers) because of the lack of proper tutorial. And the people mastering the skill set necessary to be the world best players take ages to catch up to.
The game is still really cheap (about $20) and can easily become one of the these hour-sink games you find once in a while. You can test it for free for 48 hours before having a one hour limitation of daily playtime.
Natural Selection 2:
Now, let’s take a look at the perfect opposite to Shootmania. Let’s take a look at a game that takes its roots in imbalance. Imbalance? Not just plain imbalance, but controlled imbalance. Let’s take a look at Natural Selection 2.
In every other multiplayer FPS out there, your average playing session will either be impersonating a support member or an active fighter. But either way, you’ll still end up having to yield something to shoot at your enemies. Because that’s how war is done, isn’t it? Be it a giant canon or a small SMG, at the end, something is flying out of your weapon’s barrel to penetrate in a harmful way the skin of your adversaries.
In Natural Selection 2, you don’t get to do this as much as you would on other FPS, simply because the game is based around a simple basic concept: two species attacking each other with the means at their disposal. You’ll either play the Marines, an avatar of any human armed force trying to get an alien infection of their ships, or said aliens.
In this game, it’s not about having the best weapon across all factions, it is about finding the best capacity/weapon for your given specie. The Aliens bite, throw acid or simply charge all the while flying or riding the walls at inhuman speeds (at alien speed in fact… yeah, I know…). The Marines, gun in the hand will have to get rid of the infection, as plain and simple as that.
The map design is also arranged to bring a higher sense of 3D combat. The aliens need to be closer to their foes, and so they’ll use a all skill set of movements proper to their faction: wall riding, incredible jumps or even crawling in ventilation pipes unreachable to humans. Marines on the other end pretty much play the same way any other human factions on a regular FPS would be played, guns blazing, bashing directly in the meat grinder.
Like a lot of other FPS, you can also rely on an experience system allowing to unlock different pieces of equipment. But that’s for the Marines. For the Kharaas (aliens), in addition to increase your resistance or melee attack’s impact, you can choose to simply evolve as another alien form all together, to become a flying bat or something close to a warhorse.
The gameplay is fast paced with a lot of tactical elements put into it. For example, there’s medic classes for the player to choose as well as a battle commander position to direct the flow of battle. The victory is declared to the team that manage to destroy the other team base (effectively breaking spawn tubes and equipments).
Why would you try this game over any other one? Well, this one was basically born and developed from the idea that imbalance is better. Especially on the alien side. It makes the learning curve steeper, but when you master your skill set (depending on the alien specimen you like to play most) the game itself become very much enjoyable, especially thanks to its evolving gameplay based on who, or what, you choose to be. But because aliens are also more difficult to play with, it might not be the race to go for at first, except if you like your challenge. If you’re tired of always seeing a few declination of the same basic movement/gameplay scheme, you might want to feel what it’s like to run on the ceiling like a possessed dog before dropping down on a poor marine to behead.
Tribes Ascend:
When a game has more bugs and glitches than we can count, it become pretty much unplayable, and in the long run, it becomes dead. But when a bug in a game makes the game itself more enjoyable, and the developers decide to keep it in, it becomes a gleature.
The Tribes Series is the perfect example of the perfect implementation of a glitch turned into a contribution to the overall gameplay. Introduce in the game Starsiege Tribes, an engine’s physics exploit would allow the player to ‘ski’ all over the map, reaching incredible speeds. This particular movement scheme was not planned in the game at first. But instead of correcting this exploit with a patch, the development studio decided to keep it in for the sake of enjoyment. And I very much like that! In a game, a bug or glitch can be one of the funniest ways to pass some time. It’s true that some people would use it to get an edge in battle (such despicable human beings, right?). But here, we are talking about sliding down slopes at incredible speed while shooting everywhere like a mad man. It is down-right fun. And, instead of simply fixing the problem, the developers saw the potential and decided to implement it all the way in their next games.
Starsiege: Tribes was the first installment of the series released in 1998. The next five games would also feature that so particular movement scheme allowed by a ‘no friction’ mode. Thanks to it, every surface basically becomes a giant slab of ice that you’ll need to ride like a pro to gain inconceivable speed. Strap yourself in suits featured with jetpacks that can rocket you in the sky and you have the particularity of the Tribes series.
Now let’s talk about Tribes Ascend. This game is the oldest game of the list I’m presenting you today by being released in 2012. But, even if the graphics start to feel dated, its the particular movements proper to the Tribes series that still now, in 2014, worth the shot. Fast-paced doesn’t even begin to describe what the battles of Tribes Ascend look like. The maps are arenas arranged to make ‘skiing’ easier as well as more fluid, making possible reaching speeds of a racing car. Add to that mindblowingly powerful jetpacks and planned level design, and you can go as high as you can go fast.
But when it comes to actual shooting, be it in a regular team death match or a capture the flag, you’ll still find your benchmarks. Nothing is too innovative. The class system is based on any other one, with unlockable classes, weapons and armors. The weapon system revolves around the use of various grenade launchers and high-precision explosive bolts, but do not worry, they don’t have the same cheesiness than in other games thanks again to the movement system. Try to launch a grenade at a flying mecha 200m in the air, the results could be quite surprising.
The game is a free-to-play with the possibility to accelerate your experience income through boosts or unlocking the all arsenal with real money. Even from a beginner perspective, you do not feel to much disarmed with the first classes and weapon and it seems worthwhile to actually spending hours in the game instead of money.
So, overhall, great surprise and huge chunks of fun thanks to this so particular movement scheme. The level design is nicely designed to allow a great freedom of movement as well as fast travel over the arenas. Flying tanks are there as well as selection of speeders and moto-jets. Game modes stays the same as in any fast-paced shooter, but you better slide fast if you want to get back your team’s flag.
Gotham City Impostors:
For the last one, I want to present you one of my personal favorite: the over-the-top action-packed Gotham City Imposotrs.
In this multiplayer only free-to-play, you’ll fight over urban arenas during various game modes opposing two teams of 6. You’ll have to choose to play the bad guy (Joker team) or the good guy (Batman team), you’ll have access to 4 game modes. Psych Warfare (similar to a capture the flag), Fumigation (capture and hold three gas tanks to suffocate the enemy with hallucinating gas), Bounty Hunter (kill the enemies and collect coins on their bodies) and finally Team Deathmatch.
Even if this game won’t revolutionize your FPS past experience, it is a good and fun game. Fun you say? Aren’t all games supposed to be fun? This one holds a special place in my heart of DC Comics fan. Have you ever said to yourself: ‘Why can’t I become a super-hero?’. In Gotham City Impostors, while renowned heroes like and Batman and Robin are fighting crime, some citizens want to become just like them, trying unsuccessfully to follow the path of their idols. And the same goes on the other side with the Joker and his group of happy psychopath. So what better way to be just like Batman then to strap a box on your head and wiping rag on your back and start fighting crime.
At the end, this game is not good because of its FPS mechanics, or even because of the fact it’s just a regular shooter, but because of its way to bring to you the gaming experience. Use a half-made grapple! Try to jump from buildings to buildings in your crappy costumes. Even customized, there’s nothing high-tech in there! It’s all just about making a mess of Gotham in such a non-serious way that you can’t not like it. Especially for the fans out there.
After that, this game is just about trying to upgrade your equipment while grinding for the cool looking costumes and gadgets. Nothing too fancy compared to Batman or Joker outfit, you’ll still look like a half-baked distant cousin of the elegant Bruce Wayne, but who cares as long as you can grapple all over the place?
Anyway, just a fun game with a few problems that got overlooked by the way the time spent in the various arenas is delivered to you. Nothing serious, don’t worry, you’re there to play like an idiot and just let yourself go after a day of hard work.
And that’s about it for this time! Thank you for reading up to here. All these games should be played without moderation, and even if you don’t have time to spend on them all, just give them a try! It doesn’t hurt… much.