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1992 was a simpler time. Bill Clinton was the commander in chief, Windows 3.1 ran our PCs, and Lethal Weapon 3 hit the big screen. It was also the same year that the video game industry changed significantly. Id Software released Wolfenstein 3D, the original first person shooter. There were first person shooters before Wolfenstein, but they were not comparable to Wolfenstein’s advanced technology. Wolfenstein 3D had a very high-end engine at the time, and could be played on even the weakest computers. The game, despite it’s title, wasn’t actually 3D. It was just a game composed of square tiles with a fixed floor and ceiling height that gave a 3D illusion.
A year later, Id Software would go on to make Doom, the most successful video game of 1993. Doom set the standards for first person shooters. There were tough villains and even tougher weaponry that made the game a fun challenge. Along with this, there was multiplayer support with capabilities of gaming with your friends online. In recent years, however, it seems developers are straying from the standards Doom set.
After the release of Doom, rising developers knew that Doom was the biggest thing on the market and wanted to cash in on it’s success. This started “Doom clones” also known as “First Person Shooters”. Many companies tried to mimic Doom’s success, while others tried to stand out and be more creative. Games like Heretic, Duke Nukem 3d, Blood, and many more represented both advancement in technology and change in design philosophy. It’s safe to say that the 1990s were the decade of first person shooters.
Today, first person shooters are in higher demand than ever before. Technology has improved, but creative quality has been reduced. Developers are all releasing war simulators like Call of Duty. Doom had eight weapons that you could hold all it once, while Call of Duty and many other shooters of today, have twenty weapons that can be held two at at time. Villains are generic. They’re uncreative and unmemorable. Storylines? Though they’ve never been of major importance, most games today don’t try to make the storyline worth reading. Creative soundtracks are lacking, as well. Doom had suspenseful, metal music, each level with a different song. Today games only have simple drum sounds to make certain situations seem important.
It feels like we’re walking backwards when it comes to video game development. While there are many first person shooters of today (Bioshock, Dishonored, Fallout 3) that seem to stand out, it still feels like first person shooters are no longer innovative. It seems as if the days of the first person shooter supremacy is coming to an end.
