I think it's nice that 2K Marin are given their own thing instead of having to retread Bioshock, but at the same time the name X-Com calls to mind an era where games had all this awesome gamey stuff in them. Bioshock already stripped all of that annoying actually having to understand what you're doing out of System Shock 2, and now with Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 pretty much calling the design shots, it seems everyone is scrambling for their own linear thrill ride with as little player agency as possible.

It's not surprising then that games are trending towards the *experience* type deal, but it's a bit of a kick in the balls specifically when games that used to pride themselves on being tactical and outright strategy games turn into one of those games. Syndicate is bound to follow suit aswell.

They're both interesting universes and it's definitely possible to re-imagine their respective themes and re-apply them with a different approach. X-Com shared a lot of its fascinating allure with Bioshock, "Terror from The Deep" especially, and Syndicate's bleak, "clean" futuristic outlook will make for at least a visually interesting experience. It's also easy to imagine how the tactical elements of both can be stripped down and converted into more immediate upgrade mechanics akin to how Bioshock streamlined SS2's skill tree business to the point of near insignificance.

I suppose to experience something akin to the real X-Com and Syndicate, one will have to await the "Torchlight" equivalent of both. The wheel will turn eventually I'm sure.

Because FPS are about a bajillion times more immersive, and when you're crafting a world and an experience meant to affect YOU as the player, FPS is a far more effective tool to use.

I think RE4 is atmospheric and it has an effective building of tension, but I wouldn't necessarily call it immersive. When someone runs up to you and smashes you in the face with a lead pipe in Condemned there's a different brand of pants-crappedness there, one that I reckon is more akin to immersion, personally.

I think third person games across the board should be used to give the player a degree of control that first person games lack, and it's also a useful tool for sculpting an iconic main character. If you don't desire either of those, there's really no reason to just place a camera behind a dude. That's how you end up with Brute Force. For all intents and purposes a first person shooter, but there's a dude running around blocking your view.

I get that, because that is the characteristics of a genre that I ALSO enjoy, but the FPS genre has its own set of benefits, ones that can't be replicated.You're still grasping for a game character here though. FPS takes that out of the equation entirely.

If you think of your on screen avatar as a beacon more than a character, it's easy to identify why things attacking/gravitating towards/interacting with that beacon puts it outside of "yourself". It's happening to an on screen representation of you.

The first person perspective places that beacon INSIDE OF YOU. That... came out a bit wrong.

But still! It kinda does. Enemies in the game are responding to the guy behind the screen. In Fatal Frame/Project Zero, the perspective switches to first person when you use the photo camera for one specific reason; to have things attacking *YOU*, instead of an on screen representation of you. The effect is, when you go into the only mode you have of attack, you're exposing yourself in the process.


There is a reluctancy to let go of the clearly defined protagonist, especially if you're coming from consoles instead of PC. It's actually pretty much a western design philosophy to let you inhabit the main character as opposed to putting a fully voiced, fully designed dude in your lap. As you say, though, it is a different philosophy and it is a different genre, and it complements the ideas perfectly. Bioshock lives and dies by your sense of "self" and perspective, and all the truly great first person shooters have capitalised on that sensation.

Thinking back to the execution scene in Modern Warfare sends a shiver down my spine every time. That and the Jenny thing in The Darkness are both incredibly powerful plays on perspective, scenes that would've been rendered absolutely pathetic in third person.