Perfect Dark Zero: How to Make a Good FPS

I'm baaaaaack... My arms are feeling much better, thank you for asking. Umm... good posture FTW!!!1

My 360 talks about me, and if she was perfectly candid, she would have reported something like:

Maclintok wasted a couple of hours last week playing Perfect Dark Zero. Has my owner gone completely mad? What the Dickens was he thinking?? Does he enjoy reveling in mediocrity? I'm going to give him the Ring of Death. That'll learn'im...

Imagine that, my 360Voice shaming me for not only failing to spend time on my Xbox, but also for playing lousy games.

OK, to be fair, PDZ is not a total failure. The game, with its litany of wasted potential and basic crimes against design, simply highlights the foundations of what makes a good first-person shooter. I speak on this not as any sort of authority of course. I am merely a gaming vet who has followed the 3D shooter genre since its inception, beginning with decidedly non-3D classics like Wolfenstein 3D and D00M, all the way up to modern-day titles like Half-Life, Halo and Rainbow Six: Vegas. So while I don't claim to be an expert on shooters, for the sake of this article, I am. Fair? Fair.

Here now, are some helpful pointers for you budding (and experienced) game designers who want to create an FPS that doesn't suck:

• Feeling, feeling, feeling: Much like the rule of thumb for opening a retail business is location, location, location, the feel of a shooter is often times the critical factor that separates the men from the boys. Your FPS has got to feel right. This is mainly the tactile component of the user interface but it also includes the little things like the HUD layout, weapon animations, weapons sounds and the sound of your avatar's footfalls. Every little thing counts and can make or break the experience. Since Perfect Dark Zero is my whipping boy today, I'll prop it up as an object lesson. This game gets the feeling all wrong. The viewing angle feels too close and claustrophobic (also an issue with level design); the diving and cover controls are atrocious; the crosshair is ugly and difficult to aim; Joanna Dark feels like she's gliding instead of running; even the footfall sound effects are erratic and unconvincing.
  
  
• Don't have your FPS be a Jack-of-all-Trades, unless you're Warren Spector: There's a reason why most games are either purely stealth based, tactics-based or all-out action. Having a singular style of gameplay gives your game focus and is much easier to do than mixing and matching opposing design elements. PDZ tries to incorporate stealth and "espionage" play mechanics into what is essentially a linear shooter and it is all done quite poorly. After playing games like Thief and Splinter Cell, there is no excuse for anyone to endure half-baked stealth gameplay. Nice try, Rare, but no cigar. Actually, bad try, and no cigar.
  
  
• Story isn't everything, but it still matters: Let's be perfectly honest here and state for the record that most FPS storylines are utter crap. It's commendable when developers layer on intricate background mythology or complicated plotlines for their games, but all they really need is a pretense/justification to wander around a industrial-military setting and shoot aliens in the face. I think so long as the writers can keep the story simple and create characters you can relate to in some way, that's enough to propel the player forward and get them involved in your game world. Shall we beat up on Perfect Dark Zero again? Sounds good to me. The PDZ "story" is nonsensical garbage, made worse by sub-par voice acting and budget-looking cutscenes. As a player who needs to feel involved on a basic emotional level to stay interested in an entire solo campaign, everything in PDZ is skippable. Voice briefings? Don't care. Dramatic cutscenes featuring stiff animations and shoe-string voice talent? Get it over with already.
  
  Game stories have a long way to go before they are even considered fit to sit in the "young adults" shelf in the booksktore. Great games like the recent Tom Clancy titles have shoddy, cliche-ridden storylines as well but at least they compensate with fantastic game play. There's just enough plot to keep me going and it doesn't ever get in the way of the flow of the game.

FPS's are easily my favourite genres of video games. I could go on & on about the ingredients that make an addictive shooter. And I probably will. But I don't feel like stomping on Perfect Dark Zero anymore today. Hell, I bought this game and I still want to get through the game and enjoy it. It's just that every time I play it, it reminds me how important it is to not screw up the fundamental principles of FPS design.

Have a good weekend everybody! Hug your Xbox.