Metroid Prime the last good FPS?

While I don't really consider it a traditional FPS as it incorporates a ton of different elements including platforming and many other elements making it a truly multi-layered experience, it to me was the last FPS that had brilliant, non-linear, almost Hexen-esque level design that HEAVILY rewarded deep exploration, had an awesome as hell soundtrack and the atmosphere was so thick you'd need a sharp knife to cut through it, awesome boss fights and fun gameplay. What the hell happened to games like this? I'd take a Gamecube with Metroid Prime on it over both PS4 and Xbox One with their full libraries combined... A crime that it is a Nintendo exclusive really.

Wolfenstein: The New Order while fairly linear is a great game.

I don't get any satisfaction from mindless, linear shooters, that to me is far from what old school shooters were, sure you get big guns and lots of enemies to shoot but FPS games were about so much more than that, they were about great, elaborate level design, exploration, awesome art directions, great atmosphere and fun gameplay, I tried TNO and pretty much every post 2000 FPS and literally none hit the spot for me, it's sad that this is the conception of 'oldschool FPS' by this industry and by most gamers these days, it's like they've completely forgotten everything that made the genre great.. Hell, even 'the bad' FPS games of the 90's have vastly superior level design to any FPS game released in the last decade and a half..

It was a great game, plenty of stuff to do and a fair challenge as well - wouldn't say it was the last good FPS though

A shooter doesn't need exploration to be good.

While I certainly enjoyed Metroid Prime it's far from the last good FPS games to have come out. There's been a lot since then.

the answer is no...

A shooter needs to have more than just big guns and lots of enemies to be good in my opinion, especially if you're throwing words around like 'oldschool'. I detest the lack of design in FPS games today, I don't have any problem with people enjoying this new wave of FPS games, that's their business but as someone who pines for real design to come back into games it's pretty frustrating knowing that people refer to games like Wolfenstein TNO as an old school shooter.. Exploration comes naturally with good level design which is the most important feature in FPS really.

crysis

Really liked the Metroid Prime games, even Hunters on DS.

However;

Bioshock.

Crysis was cool for the first 2 levels but completely lost all of it's design after, that first mission was such a tease, too bad as it could've been great. Bioshock was pretty much a heavily stripped, dumbed down and overly simplified System Shock 2, it was fine for a play through I guess but wouldn't ever consider playing it again.

@repulsive44552: Won't argue that System Shock 2 is a decent game. With-that-stated it's more of an RPG like the original Deus Ex games. Without upgrades you're doomed in SS2, seriously try it. You won't get far, that's why it's mechanically deeper.

Bioshock upgrades is only for variety and not necessity. And is more focused on a good twitch finger.

The actual shooting fluidity, aim control, UI, and impact of force isn't in the same league as Bioshock.

For story, overall mechanics and puzzles. . System Shock 2 is worth your time over BS.

Everything else, even level design and emotional impact 'save the Little Sisters you monsters xD' I give to Bioshock.

As a FPS? Bioshock is better.

The level design was very linear in Bioshock, you still had to complete it in a sequential order derived by the level designers where as System Shock 2 had multiple objectives you could carry out in any order you please in a large, complex layout. I found the combat rather boring in Bioshock too, there was little variation through-out. While I don't consider System Shock 2 an FPS it features tons of interesting design choices that all games these days could really benefit from.

These type of games you mentioned are extremely hard to develop from my understanding, that is why they`re so rare, otherwise there would be more of them.

I understand what you mean but you should really appreciate games like Bioshock or Crysis as well, because even games like those are becoming rare these days. You must also take in consideration that games are more expensive to make then they were in PS2/Gamecube days, for example.

how does a game lose all of its design?

Agreed. A modern FPS with the essence of old school FPSs.

I know the development process has become overly complex, what took a single mapper a few hours to complete now takes an entire team a week, that's another issue I have with current games, so much effort is poured into detail whoring and absolutely none on design at all, I think graphical engines hit their pinnacle around 2005 which saw a balance of great visuals while being able to create large maps with little limitations.

What's your avatar from Macutchi? It started off as a seemingly open ended shooter but then quickly turned into an uninspired, linear romp...

@hrt_rulz01: Nothing oldschool about TNO.

For me personally, there are sub-categories of FPS (and just about any genre) that fit my different moods. Sometimes I want a simple, linear shooter like Resistance or Singularity. Other times I want to test my skills competitively online. I enjoy puzzle solving like Prey and Portal, other times I like heavy exploration with deep game elements like you describe.

I think you should realize each game has it's own place... it's not like every FPS is trying to be Metroid Prime but failed.

Why's that?

@tatman87: I play Quake for my competitive MP fix and I'm not saying every FPS is trying to be a Metroid but failed, I was using Metroid's design as a reference, I'd love to see more games spawn in that vein of giving you large, complex and well designed levels to navigate, a prime example for me would be Doom 1,2 , Duke 3D , Blood styled layouts which are simply non-existent anymore. I find it baffling more than anything really that there hasn't been a single shooter since the early 2000's that has had these elements...

@repulsive44552:

You don't care for wave based FPS games? I really thought Halo4 was a great game. Felt almost like a first person version of Galaga.

@hrt_rulz01: It had awful, uninspired, monotonous, linear level design, complete opposite of what defined old school shooters. As I said there was far more to old school FPS's than just mindlessly running in a straight line and mowing down enemies with big guns.

@Heirren: Not a fan of wave based games, tried them all, Painkiller, Serious Sam all of them and didn't really find much fun in backpeddling in arenas while shooting hoards of enemies. Monster placement was also a huge factor in design which is also non-existent these days as pretty much everything is trigger based.

@repulsive44552: Ok then... Needless to say I completely disagree. I think it's a high quality game with great gameplay and a great story/characters (which a lot of FPSs don't have).

@repulsive44552: a few things crysis brought to the table:

• some brilliant day / night cycling semi open world / vertical missions
• destructible environments that were actually useful in gameplay
• land and sea vehicles
• top notch shooting mechanics, arsenal and gadget set
• ton of different ways to complete your objectives
• the nano suit powers
• the ability to switch between stealth and all out john rambo style seamlessly
• some epic cinematic moments (most of the final third) including the final boss & cliffhanger ending
• the most ahead-of-its-time graphics ever
• brilliant modding tools and a boat load of incredible mods

makes it pretty good in my book

What the ****? Why does have linear level design automatically mean its a shitty game? I like linear games my friend. I don't have to backtrack repetitively for items I don't even need? Those fucking fetch quests.

Maybe to you that slow paced FPS game is the best game ever. But Half-Life 2 is still the best cross generation game and that game was linear as ****. (not good as Half-Life 1 though)

Far Cry 3 is a good FPS and is open ended. Say what you want. Far Cry 2 was also sandbox was boring as shit.

You know the secret. No one plays single player in modern FPS games. People play those games specifically for Multiplayer.

@Alexander2cents: We all have our own opinions, I for one prefer games with complex layouts and brilliant level design as a standout feature, which has been completely non-existent across pretty much every genre since the late 90's and early 2000's, that's a pretty crude and inexperienced way of looking at it, Metroid is FAR from my favourite game of all time, FAAAAR, and I loved every second of exploring Metroid's massive and expertly designed world, your input would be true if the environments weren't diverse, jaw droppingly stunning and if there weren't tons of secrets which contain items you DIRELY need such as Health Tanks, missile expansions, stronger firing modes on weapons, would also be an issue if the game dragged on for too long, in Primes case it's a solid 15-20 hour experience that ends at the right time, you could see that they were heavily inspired by the original Unreal and Hexen in many of their design choices.

I'm not saying a game sucks due to linearity, there are a few that are linear yet still have some pretty clever, well thought out and effective design (eg Half Life 1). I agree, Metroid Prime was slow as hell, one of it's flaws due to controller limitations, I'd love to have seen what those devs could've pulled off if they designed it with mouse and keyboard in mind. Half Life 2 was one of the most overrated, mediocre and disappointing experiences in all my years of gaming by far and Far Cry 2/3 are complete pieces of shit, absolute fucking garbage. I hate this wave of boring, soulless open world games with a burning passion, it's as if they've given up completely with level design and compensate with OPERN WURLD!!!111

Yeah and that's sad, I miss games that had brilliant SP AND MP, sucks that gaming got hijacked by braindead kids who only care about 'SICK 360 NOSCOPES TRICK SHOTZ LOLZ!!!!!11'

@Macutchi: Fair enough, glad you enjoyed it.

Have you played Rise of the Triad 2013? That game is as old-school as it gets. Heavy exploration, tons of secrets, no health regen, fast paced shooting.

@repulsive44552: The Metro series is absolutely excellent. I think it is the best couple of fps games of the last decade.

@tatman87: I have indeed, wasn't much of a fan of it but that's the closest we've come to old school. Might re-install it some time.

Metroid Prime IMO was the best console game of all time

A few good first person shooters:

I enjoyed Killzone 2. The animations are high quality and Killzone 3 looks even better. In fact, Killzone 3 plays well, too, and has varied levels. Doom 3 is a great game on the original Xbox. The lighting is a noteworthy aspect of that game because it made the atmosphere of the game more immersive. You need to mind your surroundings and the sounds of the game to prevent surprise attacks. The PS3 version has lighting that is worse than what is in the original Xbox version.

If you are looking for a good, non-linear first-person shooter, I would suggest Far Cry 3.

Nah, there are numerous FPS games that are still fantastic, and help to scratch an itch of good level design, and exploration imo. Honestly, I may be biased because I've followed the franchise since its beginning, but I'll still stand by the Halo series as being a definitive example of fantastic level design in the campaign.

I don't really class Metroid Prime as an FPS in that same way - the shooting is complimentary to the exploration. This means it transcends that genre to me.

Not the "last good FPS" by any means. But IMO it sits comfortably among the best FPS ever made.

I've tried every FPS since, across every platform and absolutely nothing comes within light years of scratching that itch for me. An honorable mention in terms of gameplay for me though would be F.E.A.R which actually did have some fun combat situations and they at least made a small effort to mostly have 2 or 3 ways to approach them.

@so_hai Agreed, not a traditional FPS and calling it that does it little justice but I'd love for developers to take inspiration from that kind of design, hell, just one damn game, I hate sounding like a whiny brat that doesn't get the toys he wants, but I'm tired as hell of every shooter pretty much being the same damn thing these days.

Hahahahahahahah

Nostalgia can be awful on the mind. To consider Metroid Prime the last "good" FPS is ludicrous even if it is your opinion. This "multi-layered" experience you speak off is mostly backtracking and non FPS gameplay. The game doesn't even allow the player the basic ability to effectively aim and shoot but relies on heavy auto-locking. I enjoyed the game but it is a real stretch to claim this game to be the last "good" FPS. Reminds me of the non-sense that was swirling around when it was launch that its not an FPS its and FPA. It seems like some people try too hard to make this game "special".

Outside that, linearity does not make a game good or bad. Backtracking does not make a game non-linear. Backtracking does not make a game "deep". Also old school shooters were linear and mindless. Kill everything and move to the next area. Finding a key randomly located in the level does not make it less linear or less mindless.

@Pedro: While I do enjoy nostalgic experiences as much as the next person, Metroid Prime has objectively superior design to pretty much every game of that nature released since, I finished it again a few days ago which is why I made this post. I loved backtracking through areas and discovering secrets in them which were inaccessible before due to not having the correct equipment to reach them. There are plenty of really cleverly hidden secrets to uncover - and while that's true that it doesn't get it's non-linearity from back tracking the game is comprised of multiple objectives in a sense such as having to collect all the artifacts which are littered around the map in any order you please to access the final boss fights and some objectives which are up to you to define for yourself such as seeking out all the health tanks, missile expansions and weapon expansions. Agreed about auto-locking, I REALLY wish this was designed around mouse and keyboard... It is a very special experience indeed, they nailed the atmosphere, aesthetics and design flawlessly despite it being on a console and which also to me is still far more visually striking than the bland, monotonous 3 coloured palette shooters of the last two eras. Is it really a stretch to claim this as being the last good FPS?

I agree, a game can be linear yet still have good design, as I mentioned Half Life 1 of pulling that off pretty well, but developers can't even seem to do that anymore. Old school shooters linear and mindless? No, maybe in a sense that there was a beginning and an end but no way linear, this image sums it up perfectly http://cdn.duelinganalogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/fps-map-design.png most 90's games had completely open layouts that comprised of multiple paths that allowed you to find your own way to the objectives while having tons of other areas to navigate through, a brilliant example of this being the original Shadow Warrior. FPS games were always touted as being mindless, stupid people's games but old school ones actually featured really intelligent and well thought out design - so many factors were taken into consideration with design, a psychotic amount actually, enemy placement, resource management, navigation, multiple objectives (in traditional FPS's case would be collecting Keys and finding switches).

These days FPS = running in a straight line, trigger wave of dumb enemies, shoot them all, take cover behind the rock to wipe the strawberry jam off your screen, repeat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q6UQ2QlRH0 Not a fan of total biscuit but this is actually a really good video of his...

@so_hai:

agreed, it's more of a first-person adventure

@AFBrat77: I mean the game is based around first person shooting so technically can be labelled an FPS but as I said calling it that does it little justice as there are quite a few elements which make it up. I'd just like to see more design of that kind in shooters today.

It is not objectively superior to every other FPS since it was released. That is an opinion and opinions are subjective. You are now going back and forth between opinions and implied facts. Its fine that you love the game and believe that no other FPS since 2002 is as good as MP but does not make it objectively superior. From your comments it seems like you have not played much FPS since then. All of the things you stated you love about game can be the same reason someone detest the game and they can use those same elements as to why its inferior. The game is still a linear game. Secrets does not make it non-linear, its just makes it a linear game with secrets. But, if you view linearity as a curse of some sort and that games that are linear as evil then I can understand your hesitation to embrace such a classification for this game. The power ups that you receive in the game re-enforces the linearity of the game. Again, this does not necessarily make the game inherently good or bad. And yes, it is a extreme stretch to say its the last good FPS. You ended that statement claiming the lack of color in FPS when Halo has the full spectrum of colors.

In terms of gameplay, linearity typical refers to the options available in the flow of the game. When someone typically calls a game linear they are normally referring to this flow. Some games mask their linearity with "distractions" but the path is still unwavering. Being able to backtrack does not make the game non-linear. While backtracking gives the sensation of complexity it is simply overlapping a linear progression while reducing the level spread. I particularly favor this design when done well. If you are looking for a traditional FPS you can try Hard Reset. Also, Metroid Prime like many other FPS is mindless shooting. The only exception to this are games that allow for a non-lethal option like Dues Ex and Dishonored.

@repulsive44552: Have you ever actually played Spear of Destiny or any other early id or 3d Realms' FPS?

What you actually wanted to ask is, why aren't there more action-adventure first-person shooters nowadays. The answer is, there are. A lot of good examples like Dishonored, Bioshock, Far Cry, Fallout and Deus Ex have been mentioned. A lot more are on their way, most prominent of them being Fallout 4.

I never played any Metroid or Zelda game, but i played a few games which are very similar in terms of their overall design, like Castlevania SOTN, Shadow Complex, Okami etc. And like i said in my post above, these type of games are very hard to create, that`s why there aren`t many of them, simple as that. If you can`t enjoy games like Crysis, Half Life 2, Bioshock etc. then you`re screwed when it comes to FPS games, play other genres you like.

@Pedro: I said it featured objectively superior design over what today is pretty much just straight, point A to B lines, not really saying much to be honest, while it is my opinion that I get kicks off level design rather than only the core gameplay aspects of games, my point was wanting to see more games of that nature. I have played every FPS released since MP pretty much so that assumption is invalid. I mean if you enjoy stripped down shooters that's your choice I guess, but there are plenty of people like me that enjoy complex, well designed levels that require navigational skills to conquer, each level being somewhat of it's own puzzle in a sense. Secrets don't make it non-linear, agreed, but they add a lot to the design if incorporated in well designed levels, hell, look at TNO and that new Shadow Warrior that claim to be an old school shooters with secrets that are just corridors that stray off the railway like path. I'll say it again, linearity can be pulled off well if which the level design is still interesting and well designed but that isn't the case anymore, pretty every FPS now has turned into a mindless, wave-based slogfest. Most of the powerups are completely optional such as the secondary fire modes on guns which aid you intensely in some boss fights, my first playthrough of Metroid Prime I missed a lot of equipment so had a tough time on some of the later bosses playing on veteran. Eh, I never liked the aesthetics of Halo much, the art direction to me always felt pretty flat and uninspired not to mention the horrible level design and dumbed down gameplay mechanics such as regenerating life.

If you take Metroid's design as an example, you're pretty much placed on a massive level with hundreds of objectives to complete, a large percentage of them optional and most of them you're able to complete in any order you please, that's where I defined non-linearity in that experience, sure there was a lot of backtracking and that's not what defined it's non-linearity but I loved returning to an area near the beginning of the game that had a room previously inaccessible due to not having the right equipment, I itched to see what was behind that rock that my cannon in the beginning of the game was not powerful enough to penetrate, the level design was fascinating and the sense of discovery aided the experience as a whole a lot... I hated Hard Reset lol, I detest arena based shooters, those to me are mindless. Mindless shooters are also what I'd label CoD as you pretty much auto-pilot and pick off dozens of the same boring enemies in waves and requires absolutely no skill at all, old school shooters required resource management, good navigational skills, good maneuverability, if you played Metroid Prime like a mindless shooter you'd come off very short.

@buurnaakmer: I just want games with good design that don't feel like I'm attached to some railway track.

@alex839 You're right lol, there's a few games I'm gonna replay/finish and then I think I'm throwing in the towel with gaming as a whole, clearly nothing left here for me.

@repulsive44552: To a degree you were always on-rails in all of the Metroid Prime games in a way that you couldn't reach some things like munitions' capacity increase before you killed a boss or reached a certain point in the game and the bosses themselves were unreachable until a certain progress was made.

What I meant with my previous comment, was that games like Call of Duty and Metroid Prime aren't of the same genre. There is a very distinct borderline between them and they most probably won't be enjoyed by the same set of people and thus we cannot talk about them as one and the same.

From this difference arises different approach in level design. Most modern Call of Duty and Battlefield games are mostly there for the simple sake of just being there to be shown on E3, GameExpo etc,, whereas Metroid Prime was all about single player experience which was worked on more thoroughly and carefully, including the placement and number of hostiles which were there to increase the difficulty of stage.