Thegameveda has been playing the betas for Killzone 3 and Crysis 2 this weekend , whilst monitoring the gathering buzz around Battlefield 3. All these games have one thing in common they are games series originated by European devcos. Some of my coding heroes in fact Guerilla Games, Crytek and of course D.I.C.E.
So whilst I was getting shivved for the nth time by some cloaked Helghan , or Crynet Security Force trooper , waiting another 23 seconds for the insanely addictive map that each of these betas has to play to reload I had an epiphany : I was having more fun with the the one map Betas of EU developed FPS games than full FPS games released by USA developers... This is not new , I had the same feeling whilst playing the Beta of Battlefield Bad Company 2 last year .
The FPS genre used to be owned by USA devcos Valve ,iD and Digital Extremes, and errh upstarts Bungie pre Halo 3 and Infinity Ward pre Modern Warfare 2. Even great Japanese code houses could never make a dent in what was considered THE "Western" game genre , your average run of the mill USA developed WSAD controlled FPS .
Today, USA developed FPS games are simply no fun , with 5 hour single player campaigns (the 3 level original Doom demo lasted longer than most modern day FPS campaigns) , multiplayer on closed servers , and a mandatory DLC tithe on all who chose to go online. Rock star development teams , with a Sophomore album done and break up the band mentality , together with narcissistic celebrity managers that would have impressed Colonel Tom Parker...
The Fall of The USA FPS Empire : The demise started with Half Life 2 , introducing us to the criminally short single player campaign and DLC tithe , but which it turned out had the nice side effect of launching Steam which is awesome for downloading my favourite EU devloped FPS games.....
On the PC the greatest buzz created by any FPS game was when Crytek released Crysis , this is the AAA of all AAA FPS games, the excuse ,justification and raison d'etre for that bank crisis inducing gaming rig purchase that barely runs the menu screen..even today!..... not Unreal 3 , not Half Life 2 , and not anything coming from our heroes Carmack , Romero , or "Jazz Jackrabbit" Bleszinski .
On console Bungie , had great initial success with Halo and Digital Extremes chose to forgoe the FPS genre altogether and go all no neck 3rd person with Gears , the ensuing sequels really just paid the fees to release both softcos from slavery . Will Bungie fly now they are sort of free ? And are you really impressed with Bulletstorm's Unreal 3 Engine stale looks and desperate kill with skill bolt ons attempting to make it stand out from every other Unreal 3 based game?
Meanwhile quietly in the EU developer corner D.I.C.E. have practically saved E.A, Guerilla's Killzone 3 and Cryteks multiplatform Crysis 2 easily outdo COD and Halo , even in their Betas. Go play them and see....
It is no wonder that the big M is readying a 3d hidef re release of the original Halo , they need to relaunch a dwindling brand , as horror of horrors more and more people leave USA developed FPS games to gather dust , whilst innovative no nonsense EU developers push the FPS genre forwards and their games like Crysis 2
, Killzone 3 and eventually Battlefield 3 take up the hard disk space that used to be reserved for the next id , Valve , Digital Extremes, Bungie, or Infinity Ward classic.
All in all the USA developed FPS genre looks stale , I venture even those talented French Canadians will come up with a Ghost Recon or three that will again show up the USA FPS developers ...
Can the USA FPS developing giants of old survive this killstreak from younger hungrier ,talented and now equally funded foreign developers? Or will they be content making iOS and Android apps in their old age? Why not give them a tweet or two and ask them to crawl out of their own egos....
Ahh it takes me back to when I almost reduced Romero to tears , or at least someone who did a good impression of Romero , detailing what made Goldeneye the greatest FPS , and how the game he was demoing , Daikatana , was not , well he did ask me why ....
Right back to my red light sabre coloured controller , there's a backstabbing Helghan I need to wreak thegameveda Playstation Move controlled vengeance upon...
fyi :
the multiplayer Beta of Killzone 3 is live till the 15th of February , with a single player demo out on the 16th of Feb , a whopping 9 days before the release of the game in the UK!
the mulitplayer Beta of Crysis 2 is live now on Xbox Live for 360 owners and rumoured to be coming to a PC soon.
Battlefield 3 had a big hype fest earlier this week , and launches in Autumn 2011.
Rage , iD softwares last great hope hits September 13 2011
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