Over the nearly 50 years of the gaming industry’s existence, thousands of first-person shooters have been released. Some, like Doom, Call of Duty, and Battlefield, have become successful worldwide, others even inspired game providers to release their less versatile but still unique titles at Spinando. Yet, there are many games that are not as popular. Let’s see which of these are worth paying attention to and what makes them engaging even decades after their release.
Nitro Family
Nitro Family is a game by the small Korean studio Delphieye Entertainment. It was released on the wave of popularity of early Serious Sam games, the original Painkiller, and Will Rock, cementing itself in the public consciousness as “just another Serious Sam clone.” Besides the similar gameplay of destroying enemies on arena-like levels, the games looked alike visually and used the same engine — the Serious Engine.
The main difference between Nitro Family and Serious Sam (and other similar games) is its heightened level of absurdity. The local analogue of Serious Sam is not a lone wolf lost in dimensions but a married man. The family theme is tightly woven into the gameplay. The main character carries his wife on his shoulders so she can help during battles with hordes of enemies. This lady, who resembles Julie from the action game Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.², handles melee combat and special abilities. Charged with nitrogen, she can leave her perch, dash to an enemy, and deal massive damage.
The couple’s goal is to rescue their beloved son, who has been kidnapped by an evil corporation. The heroes must battle hordes of pigs and chickens, ride through wastelands in a Mad Max style, defeat a clown from the Spawn comics, Muhammad Ali, and Bruce Lee, visit Vladivostok, and see a statue of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanbi. If this cavalcade of scenes ever gets boring, you can take pills that turn enemies into dancing half-naked women.
Despite being a PC exclusive, the combat in Nitro Family only resembles Serious Sam at first glance. The aim-assist system, with its tight lock-on to a selected enemy, is more reminiscent of GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 and other console shooters of that era. The scaled-down battles worked in Delphieye’s favor. For the most part, the firefights focus on insane humor and the ridiculous appearance of the enemies, as well as mocking stereotypes from different cultures.
The Betrayer
The developers from Monolith Studios were known for their unusual first-person shooters and action games until the 2010s. Their “old” portfolio includes cult classics like No One Lives Forever, TRON 2.0, F.E.A.R., and Condemned. After the 2010s, publisher Warner Bros. decided to repurpose the veteran team into a conveyor belt for producing games in the “Lord of the Rings” universe. Not all studio employees agreed with this sharp transition. Some developers left and founded a new studio — Blackpowder Games.
Freedom from publisher pressure allowed the creators to focus on developing games in genres they loved. The Betrayer combines Monolith’s strengths with an unusual visual style reminiscent of Robert Rodriguez’s film adaptation of “Sin City.” The game’s grim, gray imagery is occasionally broken by contrasting red elements. These could be items of clothing, ammunition, effect markers, or the blood of enemies.
The monochromatic color scheme and contrasting red not only play an important role in the game’s story about the colonization of America but also create a sense of mystery, paranoia, and tension even when nothing threatens the hero. By the way, for those who don’t like this palette, the authors included an option to make the game “normal.”
Despite having combat mechanics similar to F.E.A.R. and No One Lives Forever, The Betrayer is entirely dedicated to the process of non-linear exploration of large locations. Making the player constantly shoot bows and single-shot muskets would get boring quickly. Therefore, The Betrayer is in no hurry, offering moments to stand still, soak in the atmosphere, and “listen to the spirits.” The game itself will let you know which way to go. All important items in the shooter emit unique sounds that you must learn to hear.
Breakdown
In one interview, Hideo Kojima stated that Japanese game studios don’t develop first-person shooters due to perceptual peculiarities. Such games often require quickly controlling the camera and reacting to various stimuli in a 3D space. Because of this, the genius claimed, Japanese players get motion sickness and stop playing.
This physiological reaction is one factor behind the genre’s low demand in the Land of the Rising Sun. Many, to avoid discomfort, prefer on-rails light gun shooters where you don’t control the character (The House of the Dead, CarnEvil) or slower third-person shooters (Gears of War, Binary Domain).
But Japanese first-person shooters do exist. One of them is Breakdown, an exclusive for the original Xbox. Taking the aiming system from GoldenEye 007 as a basis, the creators made a game where you control the hero with one thumbstick and the camera with the other. Contextual actions with long animations and story cutscenes in Breakdown are also entirely done from a first-person perspective. And the seamless transitions from non-interactive scenes to interactive ones provide a high level of cinematography — all this long before The Last of Us and Death Stranding.
Gunfights compete with the melee system for the title of Breakdown’s central mechanic. The hero can fight with fists and feet, block, chain attacks, and perform finishing moves. Because of this feature, critics in their reviews called Breakdown “first-person Tekken.” Don’t expect a seamless blend of fists and firearms in the style of the combat ballet from the John Wick films. The authors designed the game with a focus on switching styles throughout the playthrough, rather than combining them.
Coded Arms
The action of Coded Arms takes place in a future where people have learned to connect their consciousness to computer networks. One such network is a military training simulation called A.I.D.A., which is frequently attacked by hackers. The main character is connected to it. His goal is to penetrate the very heart of the digital labyrinth and retrieve some crucial information. The problem is, the longer he explores the simulation, the higher the chance he will never return to his body. His consciousness will become part of A.I.D.A.’s code.
Coded Arms is another Japanese shooter. Unlike Breakdown, Konami’s game does not focus on cinematography and alternating combat styles. Instead, it offers “pure shooting” with roguelike elements. Small levels made of iron and concrete are procedurally generated. Upgrades and items are placed randomly, and the difficulty increases gradually. Perfect design for those who play on their commute to work.
Coded Arms’ story ends after the introductory cutscene and doesn’t remind you of itself until the final credits. The only cutscenes in the game are short intros announcing bosses. The rest is combat and a leisurely exploration process. The hero goes deeper and deeper into a digital labyrinth full of cybernetic monsters and dangerous robots. The atmosphere of loneliness, sadness, and anxiety makes Coded Arms akin to King’s Field, Dark Souls, and Shadow of the Colossus.
Darkwatch
Before becoming part of the massive Call of Duty production conveyor, High Moon Studios created decent games based on Marvel and Hasbro licenses. But in its impressive portfolio, there is one game that stands out from its usual directions. This is the studio’s debut, the console shooter Darkwatch — a completely original game not based on others’ ideas or franchises.
The authors play with different settings, combining elements of western, horror, sci-fi, and steampunk in Darkwatch. Vampires and zombies roam the night prairies, trains resemble the works of H.R. Giger, and the main antagonist is the son of the devil himself.
Blood, stifling air, sand, and death rhyme in the most straightforward way. A cavalcade of borrowed images alternately references Painkiller, Marc Silvestri’s comics, Stephen Sommers’ “Van Helsing,” the “Underworld” franchise, and the film “From Dusk Till Dawn.”
A skillful balance between action, horror, and black comedy is Darkwatch’s main asset. In this, the High Moon game is similar to the recent Witchfire. The shooter is at its best in the first two hours. The authors maintain a high pace of events, irony over their own conventions, and develop the plot quickly. Later, the game slows down, the shooting becomes tedious, and the plot starts to induce yawns. But don’t give up. The middle is just a test on the way to a grand finale.
Urban Chaos: Riot Response
Before releasing the hit Batman: Arkham trilogy, the small British studio Rocksteady developed a little-known shooter called Urban Chaos: Riot Response. As in the games about the Dark Knight, the main setting is the grim streets filled with various kinds of criminals: robbers, vandals, arsonists, and terrorists. But fighting them wasn’t a pumped-up billionaire in a super-suit, but an ordinary riot squad officer.
This non-superhero Batman, on the one hand, operates within the law and takes orders from the command center, but on the other, uses much harsher methods to eliminate crime. Nick Mason has firearms, a license to kill, and orders to open fire on anyone dressed like a punk from “RoboCop” or a cosplayer as Jason Voorhees. For particularly accurate headshots and non-lethal arrests with a taser, Mason earns hero medals and improves his abilities.
Bullets and Molotov cocktails fly from all sides, and Nick’s health depletes quickly and doesn’t regenerate on its own. There are no familiar medkits on the levels either. The hero can defend against mortal danger using an armored police shield, and only medics can restore his health. However, there are few of them in Urban Chaos, and the healing process is hard because you first need to save the character or help them complete a task set by their superiors.
Despite the authors’ meticulous approach, it’s important to remember that this isn’t a tactical simulator but an entertainment shooter with arcade elements. Sometimes you’ll have to liberate streets under the pressure of a ticking timer. And particularly dangerous areas with respawning enemies are best showered with lead from a minigun on a helicopter.