Saturday 22 February 2014

Do FPS Games Need to Go Back To Their Roots?

I spent most of my Friday night hungover, not from the effects of alcohol, but trying to find a game that could cure the itch the Titanfall Beta has given me. With three weeks left until launch I knew I didn't want to play the bug ridden (still) battlefield 4, with its poor netcode and over emphasis on vehicles. 

A few games of League of Legends later and I knew my rage meter was full. It was getting late and nothing in my 165 games on steam (yes I have a problem) was reaching out to me. Then someone mentioned Warsow, in their own words "Warsow is an indie game developed by group of hobbyists." When you arrive on the homepage its easy to draw comparison with Quake 3 Arena, an FPS that many will argue is the genre in its perfect form. There are a few differences, graphics are cartoony and they have attempted to add a Parkour style movement system that doesnt really fit or work in a consistent way. There is an inbuilt server browser than is particularly poor and there is no friends list facility as such. This is an old school FPS in every sense.

From the moment you enter the server and click join you are straight in the action, looking for a weapon that can can cause your opponent to burst into a bunch of Tetris style pixels. You run at blistering pace, and when you press shift, that's when things really get insane...wait no, shift makes you walk because why would you not want to be running everywhere? Game modes consist of hurting the enemy players with whatever you can get your hands on, hurting them whilst trying to capture a flag or hurting them as a team. Rockets, Plasma, Rails, Shells, Melee its all here. There is no lengthy spawn timer when you die, because watching a timer count down isn't as fun as shooting someone in the face with a plasma ball. There isn't any vehicles because that takes away from the skill. There isn't any unlocks because you don't need to be drip fed pointless rewards to want to keep on playing, the game itself makes you want to play.

The best part of the game, JUMP PADS!! How I have longed for you in my dreams. Walk over that glowing pad and you are soaring through the air like an eagle gliding on a gentle breeze waiting to rain death on your unsuspecting victim, until you are beautifully cut in half by someone elses rail gun, and the your innards fall to ground in exquisite pixel form.

Warsow is a fast paced old school arena shooter that is completely free and a great deal of fun. Download and play now on www.warsow.net

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