THE BORE

General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Stoney Mason on March 10, 2015, 10:34:33 PM

Title: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Stoney Mason on March 10, 2015, 10:34:33 PM
Seems to be a lot of these coming out trying to make this genre relevant again. Does anybody actually care? Serious question.




Cliff Bleszinski's game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzyiBgLxHfU&t=11


Unreal Tournament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR8n2uq5YHs


Toxikk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7GLjlFFdc8


Ratz Instagib

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSHAR6xAZt0
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: BobFromPikeCreek on March 10, 2015, 10:50:51 PM
Seems kinda silly. It's not exactly a genre you can really further evolve. They won't benefit from better graphics since simplicity and minimalism seems to be the preferred approach, and there's not really much you can do with the gameplay. You can add all kinds of wacky guns, but people are always going to use whatever the rail gun and rocket launcher equivalents are.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: thisismyusername on March 10, 2015, 10:56:48 PM
Seems kinda silly. It's not exactly a genre you can really further evolve. They won't benefit from better graphics since simplicity and minimalism seems to be the preferred approach, and there's not really much you can do with the gameplay. You can add all kinds of wacky guns, but people are always going to use whatever the rail gun and rocket launcher equivalents are.

Eh, more of them the better. The only "arena shooter" right now is CS:GO in a fashion and Q3A's Free to Play version.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Dickie Dee on March 10, 2015, 11:17:39 PM
Toxikk
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Great Rumbler on March 11, 2015, 07:34:04 AM
It's a once-popular genre that's fallen by the wayside but still has a niche of die-hard fans. Like isometric RPGs and arcade racers, it's going through something of a revival right now. We'll see whether it sticks or not.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: BobFromPikeCreek on March 11, 2015, 12:39:43 PM
Seems kinda silly. It's not exactly a genre you can really further evolve. They won't benefit from better graphics since simplicity and minimalism seems to be the preferred approach, and there's not really much you can do with the gameplay. You can add all kinds of wacky guns, but people are always going to use whatever the rail gun and rocket launcher equivalents are.

Eh, more of them the better. The only "arena shooter" right now is CS:GO in a fashion and Q3A's Free to Play version.

But is it not niche enough a genre that more arena shooters = more diluted servers?
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Stoney Mason on March 11, 2015, 12:57:03 PM
Seems kinda silly. It's not exactly a genre you can really further evolve. They won't benefit from better graphics since simplicity and minimalism seems to be the preferred approach, and there's not really much you can do with the gameplay. You can add all kinds of wacky guns, but people are always going to use whatever the rail gun and rocket launcher equivalents are.

Eh, more of them the better. The only "arena shooter" right now is CS:GO in a fashion and Q3A's Free to Play version.

But is it not niche enough a genre that more arena shooters = more diluted servers?

That's the problem I see. There is a loud vocal demand on forums but we'll see if that translates to an active playing base in actual numbers.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Bebpo on March 11, 2015, 01:08:17 PM
Wait, I thought you liked Titanfall?
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Sho Nuff on March 11, 2015, 01:14:43 PM
Toxikk is a good name
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Stoney Mason on March 11, 2015, 01:18:51 PM
Wait, I thought you liked Titanfall?

I do but honestly I don't think Titanfall fits easily inside the genre in a pure way. Yeah it has the movement but the guns and mode design have much more in common with COD.

I like some of the arena shooters above also. I just question whether any of them will draw a base large enough to sustain.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: HyperZoneWasAwesome on March 11, 2015, 01:50:05 PM
I think its like fighting games.  There's a healthy demand for the genre, but threading the needle between satisfying the hardcore types and the less hardcore (no casuals allowed at all) is difficult, and over saturating the market makes everyone lose.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: CatsCatsCats on March 11, 2015, 02:07:31 PM
PvZ: Garden Warfare is hours and hours of mindless fun. I keep playing just because I need to catch em all.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Stoney Mason on March 11, 2015, 02:37:44 PM
Doesn't that last Plants Vs. Zombies game count as an arena shooter?

Not in my opinion. It belongs in the school of shooters like team fortress with some battlefield in it.

But I think there is a definition problem that exists. Is an arena shooter something that highly resembles Quake or Unreal Tournament and specifically ignores a lot of the changes in the shooter genre in recent years. Or is it just a broad catch-word that means a shooter that embraces a fast pace, movement. What about weapon pick-ups/versus loadouts etc.

I mean Halo was inspired by Arena shooters but now its a mix of an arena shooter with a lot more modern elements. COD advance warfare has elements of an arena shooter but its also cod with progression, modern weapons, etc.

Most of the shooters in the op are very much in the vein specifically of those 90's shooters.

Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Positive Touch on March 11, 2015, 02:57:14 PM
dudes I'm gonna play the shit out of these games
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Positive Touch on March 11, 2015, 03:07:41 PM
i want old-school gameplay with populous servers

I also want no universal banning so I can troll contentedly
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Am_I_Anonymous on March 11, 2015, 03:09:44 PM
Man I really, really, suck at arena shooters damnit.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Positive Touch on March 11, 2015, 03:12:28 PM
gotta go kb/m or go home
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Stoney Mason on March 11, 2015, 03:26:09 PM
I think the genre is fine although I will admit my tastes have changes. When I was younger I loved these kind of games. I can still sit down and if I have the time put in a 2 or 3 hour cod/battlefield/titanfall session. Not as often as I use to but its still possible.

But if play a modern arena shooter for longer than 30 minutes, my interest starts to rapidly wane. I don't think I necessarily want a small arena. I like the idea of a bigger arena like a lot of the unreal tournament maps or something in the style of big team battle in halo. But if its just a tiny indoor map over-stuffed with people in a free for all, that gets old for me fast.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Am_I_Anonymous on March 11, 2015, 03:33:28 PM
I think the genre is fine although I will admit my tastes have changes. When I was younger I loved these kind of games. I can still sit down and if I have the time put in a 2 or 3 hour cod/battlefield/titanfall session. Not as often as I use to but its still possible.

But if play a modern arena shooter for longer than 30 minutes, my interest starts to rapidly wane. I don't think I necessarily want a small arena. I like the idea of a bigger arena like a lot of the unreal tournament maps or something in the style of big team battle in halo. But if its just a tiny indoor map over-stuffed with people in a free for all, that gets old for me fast.

For me I like to be able to hide
spoiler (click to show/hide)
camp
[close]
and pick off people who aren't paying attention.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: CatsCatsCats on March 11, 2015, 04:24:37 PM
Oh so you really are bad at shooters :teehee
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: Bebpo on March 11, 2015, 05:24:13 PM
Doesn't that last Plants Vs. Zombies game count as an arena shooter?

Not in my opinion. It belongs in the school of shooters like team fortress with some battlefield in it.

But I think there is a definition problem that exists. Is an arena shooter something that highly resembles Quake or Unreal Tournament and specifically ignores a lot of the changes in the shooter genre in recent years. Or is it just a broad catch-word that means a shooter that embraces a fast pace, movement. What about weapon pick-ups/versus loadouts etc.

I mean Halo was inspired by Arena shooters but now its a mix of an arena shooter with a lot more modern elements. COD advance warfare has elements of an arena shooter but its also cod with progression, modern weapons, etc.

Most of the shooters in the op are very much in the vein specifically of those 90's shooters.

I guess for me I still see games like Titanfall as an Arena shooter.  I sort of define the genre as fast paced twitch-based FPS while running and jumping and moving at high speeds around a small/medium sized map with no real single player and just being about the frags.  Slower stuff like Halo does feel a bit different and games like Battlefield feels quite different.  I agree the rpg progression stuff & stats does set the "modern" FPS apart, though I feel the core gameplay is still similar.
Title: Re: Return of the Arena Shooter
Post by: BobFromPikeCreek on March 11, 2015, 09:46:40 PM
"Arena shooter" is a tenuous genre at best. What arena shooter games really are are just UT/Quake 3 clones.