5 Most Innovative FPS Games

When you hear the term ‘First Person Shooter’ (FPS), the first pictures that come to mind are probably those of Doom, Wolf 3D or Half Life. These FPS’ were the ones that defined the genre, and set the bar for all the FPS games you’ve seen till date. Apart from these genre-definers, there are a few FPS’ that have added a little freshness to the genre, so lets take a look at a few of them.

Deus Ex
In Deus Ex you play the role of J.C. Denton—a United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO) agent. The storyline of the game was quite deep, outlined with government conspiracies and corporate espionage. Apart from an involving storyline, the game provided you with the flexibility of a Role-Playing game (RPG), where you could customize your character by using nano-technology augmentations to enhance your physical and mental skills. This was one of the first FPS’ that offered players a good amount of open-endedness, where you could go about doing things your own way, like boosting your gunnery skills to kill people, or enhancing your disabling/hacking skills to control electronic items around you to use them to your advantage. Both, the ability to customize your gameplay, and the ability to charter your own plan of action, were features that were never seen implemented in any FPS before Deus Ex. The game also featured multiple endings, which further added to its non-linear gameplay.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

__PAGEBREAK__**
Thief: The Dark Project**
Thief was based in the medieval age, where you played the role of an extremely talented thief named Garrett who could pick locks, use his silent and deadly bow masterfully, and knock out enemies using his blackjack and hide their bodies. The implementation of stealth in Thief: The Dark Project, made the game immensely different from other FPS’ of its time. The game centered around staying undetected by the enemy, and avoiding combat as much as you possibly could (unlike other FPS’ of its time, which required you to fight). The game’s dynamic lighting allowed for large shadowy areas which were ideal places for Garrett to hide. The NPCs (non-playing characters) could hear and see, so you would have to stay in the dark, and move silently in order to stay concealed. An AI that has sharp sight, and terrific listening skills, was another new feature that Thief got to the genre.

__PAGEBREAK__
Natural Selection
Natural Selection (NS) was a mod made for Half-Life, which, according to me, was the best mod made for the game to date. The game offered no sort of single player campaign and players battling it out as one of two sides; Aliens and Marines. The gameplay on both sides was completely different; as the Marines you’d use guns, set up turrets or use jetpacks to improve your mobility, while as the Aliens you’d use your m