So I’ve been playing a lot of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 lately, and I’m loving it.  That, coupled with the recent resurrection (re-resurrection?) of Duke Nukem Forever, has got me thinking about the past, present and future of the FPS genre.  I think when Wolfenstein 3D first came out, it was revolutionary.  It was a huge success.  I don’t think there was a single kid growing up in the 80′s with a computer that didn’t play that game.  There was just something about shooting the crap out of a pixelated cyborg Hitler that was innately satisfying.  The genre exploded soon thereafter, flooded with your Blakestones, Dooms, and what have you.  All essentially the same game, but still awesome.  I think Doom really caught the gaming industry, and was soon ported to various consoles and modded to hell and back by the community.   Even with this success, all these games really added nothing to the formula of their progenitors.

Then came Quake.  Holy crap 3D polygons!  No more sprites to shoot at!  We truly lived in the future.  This is precisely the time at which I think the traditional First-Person Shooter formula mutated into the billion strains we see today.  Games began to come out which emphasized puzzle-solving, survival, platforming and other elements.  Sure, shooters were still the primary subject of most games, but there are distinctive titles such as Deus Ex and Half Life that showed us that these games could be capable of telling compelling stories as well.

Multiplayer really began to take center stage as well, as games like Tribes, Counterstrike and the Quake sequels began to show us how these games could foster a competitive gaming community all its own.  The community gave life to these games, keeping them alive long past their prime.  Then a little game on the Xbox just blew everything up.  Halo.  Didn’t matter whether you liked it or not, every developer ever decided to take all the elements they could from it.  It was easily one of the most successful games of it’s time, and the industry took note.  Now you have a huge array of games, and a lot of them bear no resemblance to those 2D pixels of old.  The point here is that this genre is one of constant evolution.  Perhaps even moreso than any other video game genre.  FPS are always pushing the boundaries of technology, gameplay, and community interaction.

This brings us to the real question on the lips of fans of the genre:  Do we care about Duke Nukem Forever?  Honestly, it’s been in development for 12 years.  12 YEARS.  From all reports, the forthcoming game plays just like its progenitor.  This, in my opinion, is a damning statement.  These games are constantly evolving, adding new features and changing the way we look at games.  I think I speak for the majority of gamers when I say we are long past caring about Duke Nukem.  He had his time, then he had his chance to follow-up and failed.  Then, he became an internet meme and a name synonymous with development hell.  I think the studio may have mistook the popularity of citing Duke Nukem Forever as a joke with genuine interest for the game.  Did I like Duke Nukem?  Hell yes, I must have beat that game 500 times back in the day, and tried to figure out a way to see those damn pixelated strippers naked each time.  That’s a fond memory of my childhood, and this game isn’t going to come anywhere near recapturing that.

I can say that with some certainty for a few reasons:

A) I’m not 12 anymore.

B)  The footage that I’ve seen of people playing reminds me of a subpar game from about 12 years ago.

C) The character Duke Nukem really doesn’t appeal to any demographic anymore.

I know I can’t stop it from coming out (which is an ironic statement, considering the game we’re talking about), but I can certainly predict its failure.  I mean, you have games like Brink coming out, which are just going to keep revolutionizing the genre in new and crazy ways.  Halo Reach just came out, and is amazing by all accounts, and game series like Modern Warfare, Battlefield, and Medal of Honor are continuing to hone their respective formulas as well.  The last thing this genre needs is some Ghost of Games Past coming back to haunt it.