True, large scale 100+ player etc maps have usually been team based, for example Joint Operations: Typhoon rising from 2004. I guess the originality is the realization people don't like to be part of a team :)

Well, it does offer team mode, which I'm a part of, but even that doesn't disregard the other things that make this unique. THere is no respawn, which is the truly unique thing, so if you want to wait for your team to finish you can keep communicating with them despite being dead and try to help if you see something, or you can move on and not help. But I believe most play it solo.

Never heard of counterstrike? The unique thing is you do not have to wait. Jump right into the next match since the userbase is so huge. Not having to wait until the match finishes is a huge plus. All those one life games in the past were lobby based. You could back out, but then have to find a new round that's about to start or wait for that to finish. Basically you respawn on a new map, it's actually not that different from respawning in death match except that everyone else starts fresh too instead of having players already walking around with big weapons and camping spawn spots.

It's the ultimate non comittal game, where you failures are instantly erased and you can hit the restart button anytime. It works for the Battle royale genre, in any other genre it would be frowned upon. It basically behaves like a massive online single player game. Yet by using onther players instead of bots, the game gets that much more interesting. (And the hype helps ofcourse) That would be an good experiment, replace the other players with AI and see if anyone notices, keep refining AI until people can't tell anymore. Void-kampff test for game AI.

Still continuing with one of the dumbest rating systems. Having a story category for a game like this. Rest is fine i guess.

My goodness, I even include a rating for you people that can't stop criticizing my system to make you content, and you still troll my threads? Did you not see the NON story based rating? If so, why are you complaining? If not, why are you complaining prior to reading my full writing? If either, why do you insist on complaining about someone else's review style when you can, in fact, just ignore my threads? They all have the "Walrus" name, so it's not like you accidentally clicked this and became triggered. If you don't like me or my review style, then leave us alone. If I never heard positive feedback on this website, do you think I would be posting these? I know it may not occur to you and others like you who constantly troll my threads, but there have actually been people who share enthusiasm about my reviews because story matters to them most of all. 

There are those of us out there that want our games to be like a book with good writing, not just a book with an awesome cover and no substance. If that's not you, get over it and please leave my threads alone.

Never played counterstrike! My reviews are always from my own experience, but then again whose isn't? No one has played every game. I supposed "unique" was a bad word. I should have said "mostly unique" or "not often used," though it is unique from my experience. Still, despite that word, I still gave it an overall bad (story based) or ok (non story based) review.

Sorry. Will ignore your threads from now.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around why it's so immensly popular. Perhaps the combination is unique, or it's simply the runaway success that keeps fuelling it together with all the coverage on Twitch.

The formula is kind of perfect. It has the appeal of a roguelike, that one more go factor. You gain exeperience by playing more and learning the terrain, yet at the same time everyone always starts on a level playing field in each new round. The randomness gives less skilled players a chance to do well, while keeping it interesting for experienced players. AI is not a problem since you're playing against real people, keeping it interesting. Yet it's mostly an individual game so you don't have to worry about team mates, who to shoot, where to go, or have to listen to people shouting over mics.

I don't think a story mode or lore will do any good to a game like this. It's kinda perfect the way it is.

What do you think about Uncharted games?

I have yet to experience one of those games, though I have wanted to. Pretty much if it's not a Nintendo or PC game, I don't have the ability to play it. I've never owned anything playstation and don't plan on it in the future. I did own a 360 for a couple years, but I'm never planning on going back to xbox (especially considering they are more than ever allowing their games to be played on PC).

I'm assuming those games have amazing stories?