One of the things I miss from the older styled shooters are the shoot-outs. By shoot-outs, I'm referring to two opponents aware of each other and actively shooting at each other. (I'll be referring to this as shootouts, bouts, encounters, battles, and other synonyms) In past generations, shoot-outs tended to last at least several seconds unless there was a headshot. They tested your aiming and strafing skill. Players would constantly adjust their aiming and movement in reaction to their opponent. Sadly, this style of shooting is much more rare today. In almost all modern shooters, gun battles last usually only invloved a very short flash of bullets. The time after competitors spot each other to the time one of them dies can happen within one or two seconds. I don't like this style of shooting as it devalues each kills and makes them feel shallow.

The difference between modern realistic games & older-styled arcade games.

There seems to be two reasons why gun bouts in realistic, more modern games last so shortly. Both of which are to implement realism I assume. 1.) The players have an extremely low amount of health, and 2.) Most games mandate the aim-down-the-sights mechanic to shoot accurately. I think its simple to see why the first reason makes gun battles end so quickly. If the player's health is very low, then it doesn't take many bullets before death, therefore death occurs very quickly. Many shooters only require two to three bullets to kill a player with the standard gun, which can often elapse less than half a second. Also, most games require that a player aim down the sights in order to shoot with decent accuracy. The problem is when the player aims down the sights, their movement is slowed to walking pace. It's as if by aiming, the ground suddenly becomes quicksand, almost completely stopping your movements. The slowness of the players means that whenever two people are in a one-on-one battle, they move & evade extremely slowly, and are therefore easy targets. The inability to evade bullets of course makes the player die faster, making guns battles last very shortly.

Most shooters today follow realistic route (Call of Duty, Battlefield, Uncharted, etc). In these games, gun battles consist of two players seeing each other, firing for about a second until one player dies, all whilst the players remain in almost the exact same spot they where in when they began the shootout. And since kills only require a few bullets, the player who starts shooting first has a great advantage. Even though Gears of War fis not realistic, it still follows the two traits mentioned above which I dislike. The only modern competitive multiplayer game I can think of that doesn't follow these trends is Halo. There were more games back in the day like this though (Timesplitters, Unreal Tournament, Goldeneye, etc). Many people call these games arcade styled.

Why I like the Arcade Style more

To me, games that follow the arcade route (like Halo) have more layers of depth and skill with every shoot-out. When you go face-to-face with another opponent, no person will get a big advantage for simply making contact first. Bouts usually last at least a few seconds and within that time, a lot can happen. There will be moments where you appear to have an advantage and there will be moments where your opponent where appear to have an advantage. You can evade your opponent's bullets while at the same time shooting back. Also, in most games like this, the player has great jumping ability. This adds a small element of platforming which makes every encounter seem diverse & unique.

This adds a layer to skill as the player has to constantly adjust his aim in accordance to his opponent's rapid movements, as well as his own. You learn the player's style a bit and you adjust accordingly. In games like this, each bout sort of feels like a mini-round with a beginning, middle, and end. Bouts can become very tense and heart-pounding as they go on. Kills feel a lot more rewarding considering the effort they require. Each kill feels more unique considering the diverse range of things that can happen within so much time with so much freedom in player movement

Why I dislike the style of most modern games

But then look at most games today which try to go after realism, and those moments are virtually nonexistent. Gun bouts don't feel duels at all. Gun bouts can happen so fast that their value feels minimum. Killing an opponent doesn't require much effort or skill. When two players become aware of each other, the battles happen in a flash. This is especially bad in CoD. I rarely even see an opponent aim at me before they kill me. Thats how quickly one-on-one matches end. Most consists of two players encountering each other, both players aiming, stopping in their tracks, and shooting until someone dies. All of this usually happens in about 0.5 seconds. Encounters like this are very forgetable in comparison to the battles mentioned earlier.

This makes kills incredibly shallow and insignificant imo. I really don't see how getting kills in these realistic styled gamesare rewarding. All you're doing is pumping three bullets into some guy before he does the same to you. Where's the skill involved? There is no clash of player skill. Gun battles all begin to seem the same since you're doing the exact same thing every time - Stop, shoot three bullets, continue. Doesn't that start to get repetitive? The victor in gun battles many times are simply whoever can begin aiming first and start shooting first.

Summary

I miss when most games arcade styled and involved players engaged in personal battles that actually felt significant. I miss the fast-paced evasion by both players. I missed how every bout incorporated elements of platforming. I miss the skill required with all the chaotic movement going on. I miss how simply putting your crosshairs on an opponent didn't guarantee a kill - the challenge was keeping your crosshairs on him all while he tried to dodged you. Where kills felt valuable. Where every shootout involved you and another actually battling for positioning and struggling desperately to aim decently. I don't like this "aim, shoot for two seconds, repeat," strategy required by most games.

TLDR; In older arcade styled games like Halo, Timesplitters, Unreal Tournament, etc, shootouts lasted longer, were more unique & diverse, required more skill % were thus more rewarding, implemented platforming, and felt important. In many newer styled games which go after realism like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of War, etc, shootouts last very shortly, are exactly the same as each, require very little skill, and are pretty forgetable.

Thoughts?

Sometimes I like the fast-paced action of CoD, and sometimes I prefer something with less immediate action. Battlefield 3 for example, battles don't always last very long, but sometimes they can.

I remember having an intense dogfight with this guy on Kharg Island. It lasted probably 5 minutes, but it felt like 20. The upper hand exchanged between he and I a few times times, but he finally managed to shoot down my jet. I hadn't had such a rush playing a game in a long time.

Afterwards we exchanged messages with 'good fight' and the such. It is still the best dogfight I'd been in, and it was awesome, even though I lost it.

Nope.

*Goes back to playing Battlefield 3*

Depends on the skill celing.
But yeah i kinda prefer Mp on arcade shooters where the skill really put the newcomers and pros in totally different levels.

if there is not room for both there is not room for variety. I miss "shootouts" from the Goldeneye era, but overall Halo still brings this style to a large extent especially in the smaller maps. I think it is funner when playing with a small group of people locally, but via the internet in huge matches I prefer Cod's style of quick draw skills that demand you stay alert.

That being being stated, after finally playing modern warfare 3 I feel like activision needs to just make it online only and continually add downloadable content. The Multiplayer just feels and looks the same. Glad I did not buy it new.

I fully agree and pretty much stopped playing shooters since CoD and Halo. Halo already felt slow to me, CoD killed my interest.

We used to have the best battles in Half-Life death match and Unreal tournament. Fights would last several minutes, both knowing the layout and location power ups perfectly. Escape was also possible, for example with a huge jump with the energy weapon, jumping on a train or behind a trap. Running backwards while navigating through the level became 2nd nature. That also left room for fun tactics, putting traps on doors and around corners to chase people into. The levels themselves also had a big variety of built-in traps.
We also used to restrict ourselves to only using pistols to have the best parkour like chase shootouts through the levels.

Unreal tournament also had some great ideas to level the playing field. One of the options made the player ahead fatter, thus easier to hit, while thinning people behind in score.
I also miss the silly weapons, for example the shrink ray from Duke Nukem 3D. Get hit enough and you shrink to the size of a mouse for a few seconds. Run like hell zigzagging all the way while your opponent tries to stomp on you. The old technology also made for some interesting gameplay. Portals and water were not see through, but you could shoot through them provided a whole different dimension to battles. And the elevator shoot outs in Duke Nukem 3D were the best. See someone go in an elevator, call the button to recall in back down and get ready, great fun.

chocoloco said: if there is not room for both there is not room for variety. I miss "shootouts" from the Goldeneye era, but overall Halo still brings this style to a large extent especially in the smaller maps. I think it is funner when playing with a small group of people locally, but via the internet in huge matches I prefer Cod's style of quick draw skills that demand you stay alert. That being being stated, after finally playing modern warfare 3 I feel like activision needs to just make it online only and continually add downloadable content. The Multiplayer just feels and looks the same. Glad I did not buy it new.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be both. I'm actually saying the opposite. I don't necessarily want there to be less 'realistic' styled games, I just want more arcade styled games, since the sub-genre is pretty barren as of now.

absolutely. I Perfer all games with an arcade essence. I only play Arcadey shooters

SvennoJ said: I fully agree and pretty much stopped playing shooters since CoD and Halo. Halo already felt slow to me, CoD killed my interest. We used to have the best battles in Half-Life death match and Unreal tournament. Fights would last several minutes, both knowing the layout and location power ups perfectly. Escape was also possible, for example with a huge jump with the energy weapon, jumping on a train or behind a trap. Running backwards while navigating through the level became 2nd nature. That also left room for fun tactics, putting traps on doors and around corners to chase people into. The levels themselves also had a big variety of built-in traps. We also used to restrict ourselves to only using pistols to have the best parkour like chase shootouts through the levels. Unreal tournament also had some great ideas to level the playing field. One of the options made the player ahead fatter, thus easier to hit, while thinning people behind in score. I also miss the silly weapons, for example the shrink ray from Duke Nukem 3D. Get hit enough and you shrink to the size of a mouse for a few seconds. Run like hell zigzagging all the way while your opponent tries to stomp on you. The old technology also made for some interesting gameplay. Portals and water were not see through, but you could shoot through them provided a whole different dimension to battles. And the elevator shoot outs in Duke Nukem 3D were the best. See someone go in an elevator, call the button to recall in back down and get ready, great fun.

@bolded I wish more games used silly things like that. I wish more multiplayer games of all genres were similar to the nature of a game like say Smash Brothers (Random weapons dropping, items dropping, ridiculous items, etc). It really makes each different game game unique, unpredictable & fun. For example, Uncharted & Gears have power weapons in various fixed spots in each map. It would be awesome if the weapons were dispersed in random location at random times. Also throw in things like power ups & silly items imo.

I would go play Halo Reach but im too broke to go and buy the map packs. Ill go play Uncharted now. Is that Arcadey?