Shooters and their Sequels

I just look at these newer shooters and think "wow, there is absolutely nothing there that appeals to me." Levels look bleh. Enemies look bleh. Squads? No thanks. What happened to the badass one man army kicking down doors and stopping ridiculous schemes out of 80s action movies? Where are the monsters and weird beasties? Why can't I get a tesla cannon halfway though?
 
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Best "pure" (primarily) SP shooter in recent times, for me, was Crysis. It was just amazingly beautiful and had a decent mixture of freeform versus directed gameplay. I think it's the only shooter I've played all the way through since that Wolfenstein game before the last one. Return to Castle Wolfenstein? I think so.

Crysis 2? Zzzz.

Far Cry was very pretty for its time, but it didn't do much for me. It was altogether too samey.

Far Cry 2 was more interesting with its setting and the non-linear approach, but the checkpoint design killed it for me, especially with those guard camps with respawning.

One game I consider really underrated was Unreal 2. No, it wasn't that great - and yes, it was rather short - but it had some really cool levels and a strong atmosphere. I really liked it, anyway.

I miss a REAL Unreal sequel. As in, not just the engine - and not just a MP Tournament game.

The original Unreal remains one of the most impressive games of my life, in terms of when it was released and what it did technically. I think it went beyond Doom and Quake for me, personally.

Others? Hmm… So many. Dunno. I hate modern military SP campaigns. The same shit over and over. I kinda liked that semi-Bioshock clone from a year back or so. What was it called again? The latest Wolfenstein (also by Raven) was middling at best.
 
The No One Lives Forever series was quite excellent
Seconded! Both NOLF 1 and 2 were excellent games. In addition to being good shooters, they were innovative, stylish and funny (and had great music!). That's something you can't say of many shooters. There was a level where you had a firefight inside a house that was being flown around by a hurricane. Can't say that was a scenario I had encountered in shooters before.

Say what you will of the Halo franchise, but the original Halo (on PC) does rank quite high on my list of good shooters. I liked the story and the universe of it (military sci-fi suits well to shooters, IMO). The aliens/enemies were well done and had character, the weapons were distinctive (even if the assault rifle was quite poor, I used to use it just because I liked the design and the feel of it - I'm a nutter, I know), and the vehicles were something really new for me (I think it was the first time in my gaming life that I drove and flew vehicles in shooters). Those all coupled to solid shooter gameplay with variety and drive was more than enough for me.

Sure, there were things that could've been refined, like the endless library level or the really overpowered pistol, but just thinking about the game reminds me of many great moments I had with back in the day. Like the intro to Silent Cartographer, the total rampage whilst driving a Warthog over the enemies, almost falling to the floor laughing at some of the cries the grunts had (felt sorry for the little buggers), etc. etc.
 
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One game I consider really underrated was Unreal 2. No, it wasn't that great - and yes, it was rather short - but it had some really cool levels and a strong atmosphere. I really liked it, anyway.

I replayed it recently, and it definitely has aged better than I would have suspected - I considered it a rather bland 75%-ish game when released, but I like it more now.

Of course, like you say it doesn't live up to the original.
 
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Seconded! Both NOLF 1 and 2 were excellent games. In addition to being good shooters, they were innovative, stylish and funny (and had great music!). That's something you can't say of many shooters. There was a level where you had a firefight inside a house that was being flown around by a hurricane. Can't say that was a scenario I had encountered in shooters before.

It was a trailer (from a trailer park, naturally) in a tornado, if I may be annoyingly exact. ;)
There was also a level where you had to catch up with a skydiver and steal his parachute, a high speed tricycle chase involving a midget mime, and more overall cleverness than you see in any ten games these days! If only they'd make a new one.

Halo's another one I just don't get. I thought it was a meh shooter at best when I tried it, but if you listen to other people it was Gumby, Jebus, and Batman all rolled into one.
 
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I found Halo interesting, but not THAT interesting. Not interesting enough to buy a sequel.

@Ball_Breaker: My favorite non-3D-shooter Duke game was Duke Nukem 2. But I also loved Hocus Pocus.

@Tornadoes in trailer parks: Vhoa, now you did it! Reminds me of Redneck Rampage which also had a tornado-and-trailers-scene. Didn't you sit on the toilet when the first tornado hit?
That game was great. Too bad the sequel wasn't playable on my comps.
 
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I just look at these newer shooters and think "wow, there is absolutely nothing there that appeals to me." Levels look bleh. Enemies look bleh. Squads? No thanks. What happened to the badass one man army kicking down doors and stopping ridiculous schemes out of 80s action movies? Where are the monsters and weird beasties? Why can't I get a tesla cannon halfway though?

Well said. If I could, I'll shake your hand :).
And btw, look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0sVUFwc9e8
 
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Last modern shooter I played was Dead Space (if you'd call it that), or Bioshock or STALKER SoC? These are all mixed genres… Hmm.

"Pure" shooter I last played was probably Painkiller Battle of of Hell or Quake 4. Loved the first CoD at the time of release, haven't played another one since. I am uninspired by historical FPSs. I prefer something fantastical or futuristic.

I liked the Hard Reset demo, and am tempted to buy it even though it is short.

Metro 2033 is next up on my FPS list, though.

EDIT: Gah, just remembered FEAR and its expansions. Maybe not so memorable…

I still need to play Crysis next time its on sale.
 
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I played Shogo. Fun game, and it was great for its day but it hasn't aged well. Probably one of the better Monolith I engine games.

Anyone play Messiah? I loved that game. The possession was a great concept. Not really a shooter per se but what a great game. Another mentionable from that period was that was very underrated was Requiem: Avenging Angel
 
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Oh yes, Messiah was fun :).
 
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