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Saltimbanco

Best Third-Person Shooters

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I was talking about Third-Person Shooters yesterday, I guess I am sort of in the mood for playing some. It has been a while since I last played one.

Figured it would be a good idea to expand the discussion. See what other people think of the genre and what games they like.

First of all, I believe that despite TPS games dominating the industry for a good 5 to 7 year period, they haven't been analyzed to quite the same extent that, say FPS games, have. You might find some think-pieces grumbling about cover-based systems, but there doesn't seem to be quite the direct antithesis to them, in the same way, that modern FPS games with regenerating health and cover are contrasted with 90s FPS shooters with health packs and bunnyhopping. Or at least, I haven't seen quite the same battle lines drawn between cover-based TPSs and run and gun TPSs.

This leads to the question: What are the best Third-Person Shooters you've played? What makes a Third-Person Shooter work for you? Do you see yourself favoring one direction over another within the genre? Or do you think they're all mostly the same?

I have to say, I have always been mostly lukewarm on the genre. Particularly during the height of its popularity. When it felt like whenever a developer had a certain idea or property they were interested in, when it came time to ask "Okay, but what is the gameplay like?", the answer was inevitably "I don't know. Make it a Third-Person Shooter, I guess". Even with regards to games I did undoubtedly enjoy, like Red Dead Redemption, mechanics-wise I mostly considered them to be just passable.

So I stopped to think about what my favorite TPS might be, and I think it is Shinji Mikami's Resident Evil 4. Which is curious, one of the granddaddies of the genre, certainly influential, is still one of my favorites in the genre. And I'm not usually one for nostalgia. What's different about it?

I think the thing with me is that I was never such a fan of either cover-based TPSs or run n' gun TPSs. I find the gameplay a bit too stale in both cases. Either you stay behind cover as much as possible, only pop out to shoot, or to move to a different cover; or you spend your entire time running to avoid shots while trying to land your own. Or at least that feels true for the skill-level in which I play at, if you play online at a high rank, your experience might very well be different.

Resident Evil 4 is an interesting third way because it limits your movement when shooting. You often have to run from enemies and reposition, but you can't shoot them while you do it, nor can you run forever. At some point, you have to stand your ground and shoot while the zombies are running straight at you. It's tense. It rewards skillful play as well. Ammo is scarce, and well-placed shots to weak points can disarm enemies, or open them up to melee attacks that both conserve ammo and do a lot of damage. I think that's what I really love about that game. It's the tactical choice of when to move, when to shoot, when to go for the body, when to risk going for the weak spots, when to close in for a special melee move.

As much as I love my walking simulators, I also love my mechanically-complex, over the top Japanese action games, and Resident Evil 4 I think is one of the very few examples of those sensibilities being applied to a shooter instead of a hack n' slash/beat 'em up.

Resident Evil 5 was not as creative and fun as RE4 in my eyes, but I do think it was still mechanically sound, at least in so far as combat mechanics. And Resident Evil 6, though it's maligned by many for ditching horror pretty much completely, as an action game and a Third-Person Shooter I think it's great. The TPS games outside of the RE series that I can think of that I would put on a similar level would be Shadows of the Damned and Vanquish, the latter being a much more fast-paced game though, both of which are also Shinji Mikami games.

This is just my personal feelings towards the genre, but I'm curious if anyone else has similar views or, if they don't, what exactly separates a good and a bad Third-Person Shooter in their eyes.

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If you took a poll I think Max Payne and Max Payne 2 would be at the top or near the top of a lot of people's lists. The Grand Theft Auto games also sort of count.

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Splatoon is a fantastic third person shooter, though part of it is that it sort of feels more like a regular third person action game (not all the weapons are shooters), and therefore also focuses on movement/platforming. The single player campaign is really just a platformer with shooting involved (kinda like Portal in that sense). The multiplayer is super fast paced, though it can reward making effective use of cover as well, especially when sniping is involved.

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7 hours ago, TychoCelchuuu said:

If you took a poll I think Max Payne and Max Payne 2 would be at the top or near the top of a lot of people's lists.

 

Yup. And as much as I love the GTAs, the third person shooter-aspect of them are really only servicable, nothing to write home about.

 

I like my third person shooters to have a blend of action and stealth, and incentivise moving and attacking instead of covering and defending. Quick melee-kills and slo-mo are a plus.

 

Along with Remedy's games, I'd put Naughty Dog's games up there(TLOU especially), the new Tomb Raiders, the Watch Dogs, and Mafia 2&3.

 

 

I like this somewhat grounded, down-to-earth action, where your hero is vulnerable but still a badass. Where do have to be stealthy and plan your attack a bit before opening fire. The quiet before the storm makes it all the more thrilling when the bullets start to fly.

 

I only ever played the demo of Vanquish, but it didn't do much for me. Not a big fan of Platinum's over-the-top style, and I don't like spectacle-fighters in general.

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Hitman 2016 and Blood Money are fantastic although they are more stealth than shooter.

Just Cause 2 & 3 are absolutely bonkers but have probably the best systems for moving around an open world.

 

Spec Ops: The Line is cover based but does a better job than most shooters of having an interesting story.

 

Ghost Recon Wildlands has a terrible jingoistic story but I found sneaking around in the jungle and stealthily taking out outposts to be super enjoyable.

 

I loved my time with Mercenaries 1 but I don't know how easy it is to play these days, Mercs 2 wasn't as good.

 

Smashing buildings in Red Faction Guerilla is pretty fun

 

Red Dead Redemption was far superior to any of the GTA games I've played in terms of shooting

 

If you can tolerate the sense of humor Saints Row 3 & 4 can be a good time

 

 

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For me what makes Third Person shooters special is the possibility of an advanced movement system. Moving around an open world with freedom is the main appeal of any third person game to me. As such, Just Cause 2 &3, Saints Row 3 & 4, Splatoon, Max Payne, Vanquish, and their ilk are the ones that I love the most. If I'm flying from firefight to firefight in a way that feels good and pulling ridiculous stunts along the way, I'm usually going to let a LOT more slide than I would with other games.

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Somebody smarter than me ought to write something about how the popularity of third person action/shooter games tracked against the popularity of those games on consoles. It always seemed to me that third person games feel better when controlled with modern game controllers rather than a keyboard and mouse - though no doubt a great deal of work has been put into them making them feel that way over the years.

 

Resi 4 is an interesting example because the aiming in that game feels very unique compared to similar third person shooters of the era. With that laser sight, you felt like you were holding one end of a very long pole that extended infinitely in front of Leon, and trying to sort of maneuver the far end of that pole into the face of your enemies was a game in itself. It felt deliberate - an extension of the 'awkward deliberate' movement popularised with the tank-like movement controls in the original Resi games, perhaps.

 

I really liked The Evil Within. It is a game that actively delights in brutalising the player, even more so than Resi 4, but if you're up for being brutalised I would recommend it. The combat is still super satisfying when everything clicks but it can also be quite overwhelming. Or you might just go straight to the second one, which has been received well and is apparently a bit more accessible (though I haven't played it yet).

 

Nier: Automata has a neat, unique take on third-person shooting: you're doing melee combat with the face buttons but you're also locking on and firing constantly with this little drone that floats behind your head with the triggers. It's something like an extension of the way the guns are used in Bayonetta to distract enemies and carry on combos, but they do a bit more damage here. (I like also that the camera actually seems to be locked to the perspective of the drone, and not to the player-character's eyes - it raises the question of who's controlling whom in this situation.)

 

Splatoon got a lot right in terms of the feel of movement and shooting. It helps that the weapons are splashy (splatty?) but I also really liked the subtle use of motion controls - you still use the analogue sticks for moving and turning, but you make little adjustments to the angle of the controller for fine tracking of your aiming. Interestingly, I think they patched this in to the Switch port of Doom - a sign, perhaps, that motion controls are catching on again...

 

Tomb Raider (the 2013 one) is an obvious choice for a game that did everything very well. I love the way Lara tucks herself into cover in that game without you having to 'snap' to it. It's another one where the sequel is also quite good where, inevitably, I haven't played it yet.

 

Oh and Metal Gear Solid V is probably the ultimate refinement of third-person stealth and shooting. I don't know that it's been surpassed yet in terms of mouthfeel (handfeel?). Just extremely smooth and snappy where when you get good you feel like you're unstoppable irrespective of the equipment you're carrying.

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From almost the first moment, I have never liked FPS as much as TPS. For example I played all of Blood in Third Person. I grew to learn that about  the centre of his chest was where you aimed and I played it just like that - no cursor just intuition. I also played most of Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear in third person and they were definitely my favourites at the time. The closest I can get to explaining it is the way that people like to toggle their field of view in FPS, the Third Person shooter allows for that wider field of view and, like Miffy mentioned, easier navigation through environments. Dead to Rights Retribution is a good example of a game where shooting and Melee worked really well in conjunction, and in a way that would not have worked in First Person. Another thing that was very predominant in FPS's was the lack of weight to a character, TPS often offered a solidity to movement missing in that genre.

 

So, although my love of third person definitely did continue on consoles - that is not where my love of them started.

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RE4 is really very good. I thought Dead Space did a good impression of it, too, in a post-Bioshock kinda way. I wonder how it would hold up now.

 

And I did enjoy the first Gears. Not enough to play any of the sequels, but the first one was a big chunky Snickers of a game in co-op.

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On 19/03/2018 at 10:04 AM, marginalgloss said:

I don't know that it's been surpassed yet in terms of mouthfeel (handfeel?)

 

Game Feel.

 

In general, most of the time I prefer first-person perspective, but there's times when third person works better:

 

  • When you're watching your character perform awesome feats (the Max Payne example)
  • When the narrative is about the character on screen (Uncharted, Tomb Raider). We get to see them emote!
  • When the gameplay requires certain actions (like Uncharted/Tomb Raider's climbing sections - First Person platforming is uniformly terrible. Or Just Cause's wingsuit flying, where it would be difficult to sense direction in FPP)
  • When you want to look at your user-generated character - it's always bothered me in games like Fallout/Skyrim that you spend time creating a character, but don't look at them. Mass Effect (does Mass Effect count as a TPS? the gunplay feels like it, especially in 2 and 3) gives you the chance to look at your character, so that the customisation options matter. Also, Saint's Row goes all out on the customisation - it's probably the best part of the game.

 

 

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Objectively speaking, Gears of War 3 probably had the best 3rd person shooter mechanics of all the ones I've ever played. 
Saying that, the ones I've had the most fun with are PS2 classics such as Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Freedom Fighters or Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.

 

I think the jump is a useful distinguishing factor between good and bad 3rd person shooters. I hate the floaty jump that allows you to still shoot you get in some games.
Either have no jump or make it feel like a distinct manoeuvre. 

 

Resi 4 and MGS2 were brilliant, although I've never really thought of them as a 3rd person shooters!

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