Anonymous asked: I'm getting awful tired of Counter-Strike remakes (CoD, AA and the rest). Are there any fun-based FPS games coming out soon, or should I just stick to TF2? I'd love for solid multiplayer over a singleplayer only game, but both is obviously better
I’m sure anyone who is interested in this kind of thing is aware of the big titles coming out with multiplayer this spring— Bioshock 2, MAG, Bad Company 2, etc. There are, however, a handful of lesser-known first-person games (not necessarily shooters, and not necessarily multiplayer, but still cool-looking) that I’m excited about this year, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to spread the word about those.
Zeno Clash is already out on PC, but Atlus is publishing it on Xbox Live Arcade this March. It was a finalist in last year’s IGF awards and was spoken of very highly on Idle Thumbs and 1up.com. It looks like a unique take on first person action games.
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity is another game that came out last year, but it didn’t get as much press as I thought it might. This one is PC-only, but is on my short list of games on that platform that I need to check out. It’s not a FPS, but it’s first-person and so I’m including it here anyway.
The Unfinished Swan looks like an interesting puzzle-based game with FPS mechanics. Details on this game are unfortunately few but I hope we find out some more detailed information about it soon.
Natural Selection 2 is a multiplayer FPS that’s going to be on Windows, Linux, Mac, and Xbox 360. I had a lot of fun with the original Natural Selection in 2003-2004, so I have high hopes for this sequel. This could be the next multiplayer PC game after TF2 that I actually play!
Lost Planet 2 is probably the big-budget game I’m most excited about this spring. (It’s also third-person, but obviously at this point I’m taking liberties left and right here) Lost Planet 1 was polarizing, and it definitely had its flaws, but once I replaced the awkward default controls with something that better matched modern shooters on the 360, I had a lot of fun with it and its beautiful environments and cool boss battles. The sequel looks like an improvement in almost every way mechanically and graphically and I feel like it’s being marginalized because it’s by a Japanese developer instead of the Western studios that dominate the shooter genre.
Red Steel 2 is an interesting case. The first game was definitely underwhelming; after trying it out at a friend’s house I decided it wasn’t worth buying, but the past year has seen a lot of big franchises turn things around in a major way, and it would be cool to see that happen with a Wii franchise that didn’t live up to its potential on its first outing.
—Casey
