Shooters tend to be the most criticized category because they are usually all the same and don’t do anything new for the industry. This year some awesome shooters and not all made it on the list. This year saw some shooters that pushed the graphics cards on PCs, showed some astounding multiplayer, but most lacked in good stories. That’s usually what is looked for in the shooter category is mainly a good single-player campaign.
This was a tough one but Gears 3 topped them all mainly due to a good single-player campaign and an amazing finale to an already wonderful story. The multiplayer may not be as groundbreaking, but it’s the overall cohesive and well-balanced campaign that put it at the top. With great characters to follow and some truly awesome weapons to shoot you just can’t put the game down, and that’s what you want in a good shooter.
Technical graphics aren’t so much the art style, but what’s under the hood. Usually, games that introduce new engine or technology tend to be the best. This year was huge for DirectX 11 games on PC which can not be down on consoles. State of the art graphics cards are needed and a few games really showed this off this year. Usually, high-resolution textures, great modeling, lighting, water effects, weather, and other elements make up a good-looking game.
Were you surprised? Battlefield 3 was the only game to truly use DirectX 11 exclusively and completely left out DirectX 9 and 10. While the PC version only got this treatment the console versions looked pretty close. Battlefield 3 sported some amazing lighting effects as well as water and the textures looked real. Nothing really pushed graphics cards harder this year than Battlefield 3 so it takes the cake.
Being a regular human in a shooter has been done hundreds of times, but being a true one-man army with technology built into your nano-suit is something that hasn’t really been done before. Meet Alcatraz. The poor dying soldier or nobody whom the Prophet chose to stick his suit on and kill himself. Now you are thrown into the war that you wanted nothing to do with and are the key to helping stop the invasion of Manhattan.
A lot that you remember from the first game is different now, thanks to the game being streamlined for consoles. You no longer have a power wheel, and two of them have been taken away and put into the other two. You get to switch between armor mode and stealth mode. You can use your superpower moves in armor modes, such as powerful kicks and punches, as well as absorbing long falls. Stealth mode allows you to cloak and sneak up on enemies or just go right in the past without being detected. Both of these are key to staying alive, and you will be switching constantly.
Another thing that changed was the lush jungle you got to roam around in freely. You are now stuck in a concrete world, and the game is more linear this time around. That’s not all bad because you still get to choose your approach to firefights, and some areas are massive. Using your tactical visor, the game will give you options on how to approach the battle, such as certain weapons, high perches for sniping, or complete paths to totally avoid all enemies. This still gives you the sense of battle control like in the first game without making it feel like a Halo/Call of Duty hallway clone.
You have two enemies in the game: Ceph aliens and the CELL army, trying to capture and use your technology for their own good. The story isn’t exactly the most cohesive thing we’ve seen; it wasn’t the first game either. The story is kind of confusing, and you never really know what’s going on between all the characters, and it doesn’t get really good until the last couple of missions. In the middle of the game, there is a lot of back and forth between Hargreaves and Gould, who are two scientists with completely different views. The CELL enemies are just like regular humans, but later on, the game throws countless Ceph at you, and they have different types of Ceph that come after you, from grunts to huge walking tanks. Of course, this makes the game feel very repetitious due to the low enemy type, and the game doesn’t really look different from area to area except for different levels of destruction.
There is a little more to it than just shooting everything in sight. You can upgrade your powers this time around by collecting nanocatalysts from dead Ceph, and the stronger the Ceph, the more you will get. Press the upgrade button, and Alcatraz’s hand will be displayed with five different areas of upgrades on his fingers. A few examples are bullet tracers, longer stealth mode, and the ability to see cloaked enemies. While it does change the gameplay a bit, it doesn’t do a lot to truly enhance the experience. Not to mention the fact that you have to watch your energy meter when using the power because it runs out in a matter of seconds. Using your night vision plus stealth while running will run it down in less than 10 seconds, so you never truly feel powerful or get the ability to upgrade your energy meter.
Of course, you can still customize your weapons with different sights, silencers, and other attachments, but I wish we could use every attachment for every gun instead of each gun getting its own special options. There are some new guns, however, and there are plenty, but they are fun to shoot, so don’t think that the weapon selection is weak at all. There are some other things thrown in, like a few turret sections, and some quick-time events are thrown into the cinematic parts of the game, which are thrilling and very fun, but they are too short and too far apart from each other. The linearity of the game allows this type of cinematic control, and it’s welcomed, but I would have liked to see more of it.
You’re probably wondering about the graphics. Since this is streamlined for consoles, do we get DirectX 11? Do we get higher-resolution textures and extra graphics options? When the game launched, it was no. We got exactly what the consoles got, but a few months later the DirectX 11 patch was released as well as a high-resolution texture pack. With this, the game looks phenomenal and is probably the best-looking shooter to date. Of course, you need a monster rig to run the game with these settings enabled. Even my rig dropped in the single digits during certain scenes, but man, is it gorgeous to look at? The game also supports 3D, so if you have the GPU, then enable it because it does enhance the experience a lot.
Overall, there are a few bugs that can sometimes hinder the game, and it is also very long for an FPS to run for about 10–12 hours. The multiplayer is also very addictive and fun for a while, with perks and upgrades, and there is a good variety of maps available. I had a lot of fun since using the suit powers kind of makes playing an FPS different online. However, it still doesn’t have the addictive quality of Call of Duty or Halo to keep you playing for months or years after release. So, with an underwhelming story and a low enemy variety, just stomach the repetition for a while, and you’ll be treated to one gorgeous and fun shooter.
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Yep! The fact that I forgot about this game until you made a comment proves that.