Today, I'm gonna be talking about some issues I have with shooter games- including first person shooters, and the recent trend of Battle Royale games. I do realise I probably have some unpopular opinions, but I happen to know I'm not the only person with them.
One big problem I have with a lot of shooter games, which I've talked about before, is the obsession with realism. Honestly, I feel like some games prioritise realism over gameplay- in my experience, Battlefield is hard to play because of how quickly you die, and how hard vehicles are to control. I can appreciate that some games to benefit from some aspects of realism- for instance, Total War games are very historically influenced (if not entirely accurate), but not to the point where it gets in the way of fun (I heard one argument that on a real battlefield, it would take time for a command to reach all soldiers in an army, and there would be miscommunication, etc.). It feels strange to me, having the realistic graphics and mechanics of PUBG juxtaposed with things like a magical border, and the ability to heal bullet wounds with bandages or painkillers. There are, of course, exceptions- games like Team Fortress 2, Fortnite and Radical Heights don't go much for realism, instead going for a very cartooney, comical style, with unrealistic mechanics. Although I've never played the latter two, I find them much more enjoyable to watch than PUBG.
There's an issue, though- Battle Royale games in general don't appeal to me. I can't remember where, but I heard a really good point about those games. They use tension to create excitement, rather than a game like TF2 that has constant action. This really doesn't appeal to me personally- I don't like sitting in a room panicking because there might be someone outside with a shotgun. I'd rather shoot a rocket at the ground below me, fly over a wall, then chase after them with a whip while being healed by a medi-beam.
Another issue with shooter games, which affects even TF2- respawn time. In a Battle Royale, it's especially bad- you play for 30 seconds, get shot once, and have to sit in the lobby for a few minutes to get back into the game. The ratio of time spent alive to time spent dead can easily be a fraction, oftentimes due to random chance. In other games, like TF2, it can still be pretty annoying. Some things, like spy backstabs, or sniper headshots, will kill you instantly as any class, and depending on the map and, from what I can tell, chance, you could have to wait upwards of 15 seconds to respawn. The ratio is seldom a fraction, but it can drop pretty low. Insta-kills aside, it is still definitely possible to die in under a second (for instance, a scout fighting a heavy, soldier, demoman, or sentry), though it's oftentimes avoidable (by keeping a distance, dodging projectiles or listening for sentry noises). For other situations, you can engage in a fight, sometimes for 10+ seconds, and then have one or both players decide it's not worth the risk and leave. In a lot of FPS games, 3 seconds is enough for almost any encounter to end in death, but in games like TF2 or Halo, this isn't necessarily the case.
It honestly is hard for a game to properly balance all the different aspects, from realism to comedy, from instant kills to a chance at escape, from tension to action. In my very subjective opinion, TF2 does a good job of this- that said, I'm just one person, and if that game were special for any reason, other shooter franchises would be bankrupt. Honestly, I think it's a good thing that there's so much room for variation- it means everyone can find a style of game that suits their preferences very closely, if not exactly. There are other things to consider too, like time period (with Fistful of Frags being old, Halo being futuristic, Battlefield being contemporary, etc.), the availability of things like vehicles, and whether the players have superhuman abilities (like the jumping/gliding/skiing type motion of Tribes: Ascend), but I won't get into any of those since I don't have many strong opinions on them.
Anyways, that's gonna be it for today- hopefully you enjoyed this post! If you disagree with any of the points or opinions, feel free to say so in the replies; I'd be interested to hear some arguments in defence of Battle Royales, since I personally can't see the appeal, and it would be neat to know why they've grown so popular lately.
