Science Fiction Video Games

247

Chapter 10

First-Person Shooters

A

-  (FPS)  a kind of videogame that is

distinguished by a 3D character’s eye view of the world and fast-

paced, oen violent, gameplay that requires players to react rapidly and

acquire physical skills. “First person” refers to the camera position—as

opposed to the third-person view of the main character used in most

graphical adventures and computer role-playing games (CRPGs)—and

“shooter” to the player’s most common action. Later examples of the type

have added a variety of other elements to the gameplay, including puzzle

solution, exploration, and an increasing focus on (usually linear) narrative,

but physical combat is still the core of the form’s appeal. e speed and

immediacy of the FPS make it perhaps the type of videogame most analo-

gous to lm, though it is clearly more closely related to the violent action

of e Terminator (1984) than to the pensive montages of La Jetée (1963).

First-person perspective games based on combat evolved early in the

history of videogames. e rst example may have been Maze War (1973;

also known as Maze) designed by Steve Colley, Greg ompson, and

Howard Palmer, a game created at a Californian NASA center, which

allowed several players to enter a 3D maze drawn using simple lines and

shoot at each other. Isolated examples of similar gameplay appeared over

the next two decades in such works as the tank-combat-based Battlezone

(1980 Atari) designed by Ed Rotberg, Voyager I (1981 Avalon Hill)

designed by William Volk—in which the player must destroy a ship full

of berserker robots—the UK-developed games 3D Monster Maze (1981 J.

K. Greye Soware) designed by Malcolm Evans and Driller (1987 Major

Developments; also known as Space Station Oblivion in the United States),

248 ◾ Science Fiction Video Games

and Ultima Underworld: e Stygian Abyss (1992 Blue Sky Productions)

designed by Paul Neurath, a CRPG with a fantasy setting that focuses on

real-time combat in 3D perspective. e FPS form, however, is gener-

ally regarded as having begun with the American game Wolfenstein 3D

(1992 id Soware [id]) designed by John Carmack and John Romero, in

which the player must ght their way through various covert missions in

a not especially serious version of World War II, including slaughtering

an army of mutant zombies and assassinating Adolf Hitler (who is wear-

ing a suit of mechanical armor). is game has a uidity and immediacy

lacking in its predecessors, partly as a result of technical improvements

that allowed it to use more realistic, rapidly updating visuals; the result-

ing sense of intensity has come to dene the form.

Wolfenstein 3D was followed by Doom (1993 id) designed by John

Romero, John Carmack, Tom Hall, and Sandy Petersen, which made

the form famous, and then by a wave of similar games including Quake

(1996 id) designed by John Carmack, American McGee, Sandy Peterson,

John Romero, and Tim Willits; Unreal (1998 Epic Games) designed by

Cli Bleszinski and James Schmalz; and the broadly parodic and mildly

pornographic Duke Nukem 3D (1996 3D Realms) designed by George

Broussard and Todd Replogle. e UK-developed Aliens Versus Predator

(1999 Rebellion) took something of a dierent approach, concentrating

on evoking a sense of vulnerability more than on carefree mayhem. e

Marathon Trilogy (from 1994 Bungie Studios [BS]) and System Shock (1994

Looking Glass [LG]) designed by Doug Church added linear stories, an

element almost entirely absent from Doom, though this innovation did

not attract much attention at the time. Meanwhile, two concepts popu-

larized by Doom and its successors had a major eect on videogames in

general: competitive (and later cooperative) games between several play-

ers in temporary online worlds and the creation and free distribution

of new content by the game’s players as well as by its developers. Almost

all early FPSs were science ction (sf); a rare exception is the sword and

sorcery Heretic (1994 Raven Soware; 1995 revised as Heretic: Shadow of

the Serpent Riders) designed by Brian Rael.

In the late 1990s, developers devoted considerable eort to expanding

the boundaries of FPS design. Half-Life (1998 Valve) added a credible and

well-integrated linear story, created by the sf writer Marc Laidlaw. e ste-

ampunk and sorcery game ief: e Dark Project (1998 LG; 1999 revised

as ief Gold) designed by Greg LoPiccolo, Doug Church, and KenLevine

introduced gameplay that depended more on stealth and subtle trickery