Well�First Person Shooters weren't very abundant on the N64, but of the few games released they were great. There was the Turok series, Quake II, The World is Not Enough, and more noticeable, the milestone that was and still is Goldeneye, and the equally great follow up in the form of Perfect Dark. Goldeneye was the game that did it for the N64. The game was amazing in every way and helped the N64 notch up a lot more console sales. Goldeneye was near perfect in every aspect. It has spot on graphics, addictive gameplay, a massive selection of levels, a simple and effective multi-play, (only surpassed by that of Perfect Dark), and most of all, stayed true to the film. Now every new FPS game brought out has to face the daunting task of being compared to Goldeneye.

Now with the early arrival of so many potentially great FPS's, like DHV and TS2, making there way to the Gamecube, it got me thinking of where FPS's first originated from, why there are so many on the PC and what direction are they heading in on the Consoles?

FPS's first originated on the PC over 10 years ago under the name of Wolfenstien 3D. This was the first ever game of its kind, and was a revolution in gaming with its lush graphics and animation (back in the day), and was the start of a trend to be followed by many a developer. ID (makers of W3D) continued with their new-found way to the top with many more great games including Doom, Quake and Duke Nukem. These games have now evolved into online multiplayer frag fests along with the addition of new games like Half-Life. With the addition of Half-Life, came more gaming opportunities in the form of downloadable patches and mod's, that open a world of new online games, such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic.

So WHY are FPS's in great abundance on PC's? Well, to start of with the PC is easy to develop games for, and well, with being easy connection to the Internet and an on board hard drive, there are more directions that they can be taken in, as aforementioned, online gaming, patches, mod's. There is also the debate of the controls of the games. Whereas PC's use keyboards and mouse's, and consoles are using limited controllers. So which is better? Well I suppose it's down to personal preference. A full-time PC gamer will no doubt say using a keyboard and mouse is much more responsive and accurate, and a console gamer will say quite the opposite.

So with all the next-gen. consoles released and non-of them Internet ready, it will be a while before we see any online FPS's being released. The PS2 has a wide range of FPS's, and why I ask to myself. Maybe its because of its great controller, some how I don't think so. Maybe it's because it has Internet capabilities and a hard drive adapter, again I don't think so as none of the released games have any Internet options, but then it hit me. As I was getting up I thought to myself that maybe, just maybe there are so many FPS's on the PS2 because its made by "Sony" and it's a "Playstation" and of course it sells bucket loads.

But now what do we see being released for the Gamecube? A bucket load of FPS's so near to the release of the console. The likes of Die Hard Vendetta, Timesplitters 2, Turok Evolution, Metroid Prime, 007 Nightfire, and many more yet to be announced (we all know Perfect Dark is being made).

Now we are into the new age of consoles, where can we see FPS's heading? Some people think that they are getting boring, and repetitive, while others can't get enough of them. Developers need to bring new aspects into the game and make the games more re-playable.

Stealthy bits play a big part in DHV.

Bits Studios, the development team behind Die Hard Vendetta, have added a great new feature to their game. A hostage and hierarchy system, by where you can take a whole group of enemies hostage and make them surrender their weapons by capturing their boss, but if you hold hostage the wrong man the whole squad will sacrifice his life for yours. Also your enemies can take innocent standers by hostage and you must think fast of how to help them.

Almost all the new FPS's are incorporating stealth a lot more in their games. So that means no more running into a room all guns blazing. Its far better to take out 10 guards individually than try to take out 10 guards all shooting at you at once. Also the games are going to require a lot more thinking. Its not just going to be turn a switch off or pick up a package that you can't miss. Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are the only games I can think of that have made me think of what to do and read the info given on the assignment. A lot of games are just move from A to B and shoot a few guards on the way, (007: AUF). Halo managed to pull the "thinking" factor by only allowing you to carry 2 guns at a time.

Timesplitters 2. Just oozes FUN.

As well as being stealthy and challenging a game must be fun. That's where Timesplitters 2 come in with its wide range of around 100 playable characters, including monkeys, and also the weaponry is fun. Using the flame-thrower and setting people, desks, bins and in fact any part of the scenery on fire. Plus hearing the people scream in pain as they are burning to a slow death. You can also use a fire extinguisher to put the fire out and save their sorry ass.

On the same subject of fun in the games, UBI Soft has come up with a great idea to distract from the "normal" FPS's. A lot of people may cringe at the idea, but a cell-shaded FPS based on a French comic strip called XIII. The story is simple. You have lost your memory and you play through flashbacks and try to piece together who you are. This game looks very promising and incorporates many tactics including moving dead bodies to avoid detection and using people as human shields before snapping their necks. I can't wait to play this game.

As the Gamecube will soon be online with Phantasy Star Online and they are making a keyboard and mouse, I thought, "wouldn't it be nice for FPS gamers to have the option to use a controller or a keyboard and mouse." I personally would like this option. If the Gamecube gets games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament, which are fast paced games. I would rather use the keyboard and mouse as I feel they are more suited to these games where weapon change must be fluid and aiming must be quick and sharp. Whereas the almost all the Gamecube FPS's are using the D-Pad as a way of changing weapons, which is very clumsy and often end up changing to the wrong weapon.

In single player FPS's we are more familiar with the controller, the marvellous invention of the N64 controller and its perfect design for the FPS's. It provided great accuracy and smooth control. I think it will take us a while to get used to using 2 analogue sticks to control our movement in games.

Multiplayer. In some peoples views this is the be all and end all of the FPS genre. A game is not game unless you have a multiplayer and an outstanding multiplayer at that. Cough*Perect Dark*cough. The first outing of a FPS on the N64 was Goldeneye. The gameplay was mainly focused on the solo missions, but there was a multiplayer mode thrown in for good measure. But it wasn't just a good measure, it was a great experience, blasting your friends as Mr Bond himself, a night in with 3 mates on Goldeneye, or just a 2 player against your brother/sister, (lets not get s*xist now). Four years later we were blessed with Perfect Dark. Not only did this game give us exhilarating and demanding solo missions, it gave us with a multiplayer which was deeper than seen before on a console. It may as well have been a separate game it was so huge. It gave us pre-set challenges, (challenges being the fitting word), a fast paced multiplayer game with many options of combat and weapon, and a highly anticipated feature, simulants that we could play against when you were on your own, or add to the combat against your mates. Even though Perfects Dark's solo missions lacked a lot of replay value, with the later alien levels, the multiplayer made up for this in the form of many features allowing for maximum reply value. They don't require you to have your friends around all the time to enjoy the game, you can have an all out with 8 simulants or try your hand at the many challenges. All games to come now face the wrath of having their multiplayer compared to Perfect Dark's, but what can we expect to see in the multiplayer category on the Gamecube?

Goldeneye and PD. Two brilliant multiplayer FPS'.

TS2 can be expected to have an excellent multiplayer. In the original Timesplitters on the PS2 the multiplayer was the main focus of Free Radical Designs efforts, and the singe player mode was more of a rushed effort. From screens of the multiplayer of the sequel you can see there are simulants, and lots of huge and powerful weaponry and the graphics are smooth and well textured. But what about online compatibility for these new games. Well it is highly unlikely that any new game at the moment will support it, but what release is around the corner? Yes! Star Wars: Jedi Outcast. This game is a port of the popular PC game and is set for release at the end of the year in America. Its is not yet confirmed whether or not it will have online play, but we can hope, and if it does it could lead to may more developers moving into online gaming.

All in all the FPS genre is looking good for the Gamecube, with a wide variety to choose from. They are becoming truer to life in stealth and tactics and planning concepts and are no doubt going to keep going strong. Once online capabilities are available and a possible hard drive available for the Gamecube then we will be able to enjoy online gaming against our friends or complete strangers. It will mean that Nintendo has expanded its market once again and given developers another reason to develop for the Gamecube.

A few weeks ago I asked people their view on the FPS's in the forums and here a few selected once below.

Cubeadvance:
The keyboard/mouse combo is awful. A controller is just so much better. I can't wait for Metroid Prime, this will definitely be the standard for years to come. In the same way that Goldeneye was. Mark my words, the GameCube will have the best FPS

Sip:
I think the mouse + keyboard is the only real way to go for an FPS, anything else is a step down. It's playable on a gamepad, but it's limited. Aiming with a mouse works really a lot better than aiming with an analogue stick, at least for me, it's easier and more precise. I like it that there are some FPS's coming to the GameCube, I'm really looking forward to Turok and PD0 (if it ever comes). Multiplayer is definitely important for a FPS, and of course online play is the way to go for that. So I guess online play is pretty important. I think FPS, and RTS too, really are PC genres though, it's where they shine.

Nintendo:
A cool control thingy for a FPS/FPA would be the C-stick 180 turn from res evil. For those of you that dont know, the c-stick can be used in res evil to do a quick 180 turn. Its so useful especially if your in a tight space. And it could be on any button, even z.

Schpickles:
The problem with the FPS is that the PC really drained the genre of its life starting at around the time of Quake 3's release. It was cost effective to use powerful engines suck as the UT or Q3 game engines, and the end results looked impressive, but ultimately lacked much game. The reason so many of us look at GoldenEye with such Rose tinted specs is that at its time it was a total breath of fresh air - it was easy and accessible to play and, most importantly, fun.

AI can offer what we all look for in a game: A challenge that we ultimately win. Losing isn't fun. Logging onto CS for the first time is a miserable experience - no-one will tell you what to do, everyone laughs at your lack of experience, and you are dead before you even know you are being shot.

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