First-person shooter Genre

First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- and projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other shooter games, which in turn fall under the heading action game. From the genre's inception, advanced 3D or pseudo-3D graphics elements have challenged hardware development, and multiplayer gaming has been integral.

The first person shooter has since been traced as far back as Maze War, development of which began in 1973, and 1974's Spasim. 1987'sMIDI Maze for the Atari ST was one of the first network multiplayer action games and also saw release on game consoles. The genre coalesced with 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, which is generally credited with creating the genre proper and the basic archetype upon which subsequent titles were based. One such title, and the progenitor of the genre's wider mainstream acceptance and popularity was Doom,released the following year and perhaps the most influential first-person shooter. Half-Life, released in 1998, enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements, and along with its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2, showcases the considerable development of the genre's potential.^[1][2]GoldenEye 007 (1997) was the first landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, with the Halo series heightening the console's commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the first-person shooter is one of the most commercially viable and fastest growing video game genres.

Definition

First-person shooters are a type of 3D shooter game,^[3] featuring a first person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character. Unlike Third person shooters which are seen from the back or side, allowing the gamer to see the character they are controlling. The primary design element is combat, mainly involving firearms. The first person shooter may be considered a distinct genre in itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of the influentialDoom in 1993, games in this style were commonly termed "Doom clones"; in time this term has largely been replaced by "first person shooter". Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, the year before Doom, is generally credited with inventing the genre, but critics have since identified similar though less advanced games developed as far back as 1973. There is sometimes disagreement regarding exactly what design elements constitute a first-person shooter: for example, Deus Ex is sometimes considered a first person shooter, but may also be considered a role-playing game as it borrows from this genre extensively. Some commentators may extend the definition obliquely to include combat flight simulators, as opposed to characters on foot.

Game design

Like most shooter games, first person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these games tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games, and have more accurate representations of gravity, lighting, sound and collisions. First person shooters played onpersonal computers are most often controlled with a combination of a keyboard and mouse. This system is often considered superior to that found in console games, which frequently use two analog sticks, one used for running and sidestepping, the other for looking and aiming. It is common to display the character's hands and weaponry in the main view, with ahead up display showing health, ammunition and location details. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area.

‹