The Sims (PC)
Star Wars: Battlefront (PS2)
Hitman: Blood Money (PS2)
Everything or Nothing (PS2)
Rise to Honor (PS2)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (XBox360)
Behold, the sequel to the fastest first person shooter ever made. This was back in a time where the offline FPS player's preferences were respected. It seems today that most shooters consider their offline options as obligatory measures that they'd rather not deal with, whereas Free Radical makes it their bread and butter (especially since TimeSplitters 2 is strictly offline). There are many options available: a story mode (including co-op capabilities), a very customizable arcade with AI bots to play against as well as human players, an arcade league with ranked challenges, a challenge mode, and a map maker (please let me know of another FPS with a map maker, as I am not aware of it). This game has real replay value and is not limited to when the next sequel comes out and every online player upgrades. Another consideration is the fact that it has the old-school life meter, whereas in most modern shooters there is no such thing: one can be shot infinitely as long as he has enough time to heal. Admittedly, neither of these is very realistic but they seem to change the way the game is played and how difficult it is. I'm not saying the latter isn't difficult, but it is difficult in a different way. If I play Call of Duty on veteran difficulty, I find myself using very limited guerrilla tactics, where I get off a couple shots, duck and heal, and repeat. This isn't very fun and can be frustrating. Completing missions on this difficulty is a task requiring mostly patience and luck, while playing TS2 on hard, which also requires patience, is fun and gives a sense of accomplishment. It is shooters like the Timesplitters series that challenge the notion that newer FPS games are an overall improvement over those of yesteryear.
Honorable Mentions:
Red Faction (PS2), Unreal Tournament (PS2), Nightfire (PS2)
No comments:
Post a Comment
You're on the mike, what's your beef?