Do 'realistic' shooters seem to add no tension at all for you?

I'm a big fan of online multiplayer shooters like TF2 and UT2k4, but recently I decided to try out recent games like CoD4 and BF:BC2. Maybe it's because they're completely different from the shooters I'm used to, but there isn't any tension in these 'realistic' shooters. At all.

In shooters like UT and Quake, sneaking up on your opponents will give you an edge, but not a guaranteed frag (unless you play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week). In 'realistic' shooters, it's pretty much guaranteed. All you need to do is line up your cross-hairs. This seems to take away a lot of tension in the game. Fragging someone is more of a 'Oh look, I got 50 points for that' and getting fragged feels like someone taking the controller away from you for 5-15 seconds because you couldn't see where the shot was coming from and didn't have a chance at fighting back. It's a game of who sees who first, and there's hardly any excitement in that. Comparing that to UT2004, players are bouncing all over the damned place and it's really hard to keep your opponent in your crosshairs (unless you're a borderline professional gamer). Getting a frag is more satisfying because it's not as simple as seeing your opponent first. If you get fragged, at least you could clearly see your opponent and have a chance of fighting back, and possibly winning.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of BF2142. Fragging and getting fragged is the same as CoD4 and BF:BC2, but at least in game modes like Titan, trying to break through the corridors to the consoles and the core is a tough task, but is very satisfying if you could do it. Plus, who thinks that jumping out of an airship to blow up a flying arsenal and escaping just in time before you get caught in the explosion ISN'T awesome?

There's one more thing I'd like to add: the one-minute countdown in TF2 in the setup creates a bit of suspense. It's not that different from, say, getting into position in BF:BC2 and waiting for the opposing team to rush in, but it's the way TF2 does it that makes it a little exciting. It deliberately pauses and makes you want to run out those gates and start fragging.

I'd like to know what everyone else thinks. Am I completely off base?

I don't think you are off base at all.

While I still LOVE playing FPS's, I too feel that it is a little less intense nowadays compared to yesteryear. While improved graphics definitely help to draw the player in, I think I have become a little "desensitized" if that is the correct word. Because of the large number of shooters I've played over the years, the experience doesn't seem as unique. Don't get me wrong, I still love to play these games, but I think I understand what you mean.

When you say REALSITIC SHOOTERS:

1.) You can't just run around the area because you wouldn't know what might hit you.

2.) When you got shot or injured, your performance is decreased because you are hindered by the injury or injuries.

3.) No RAMBO-like heroes

If a game has that, I think that's quite enough to give some tension to the player/s.

I don't think you are off base at all.

While I still LOVE playing FPS's, I too feel that it is a little less intense nowadays compared to yesteryear. While improved graphics definitely help to draw the player in, I think I have become a little "desensitized" if that is the correct word. Because of the large number of shooters I've played over the years, the experience doesn't seem as unique. Don't get me wrong, I still love to play these games, but I think I understand what you mean.

YellowOneKinobi

I don't think any tension is added till you get into the more realistic shooters, such as flash point, RO, arma, band of brothers, rainbow six, etc. Cod and battlefield aren't that relistic.

I hardly call those realistic shooters.

I've been playing metal gear online, and doing a small 4v4 can be pretty tense.

When you say REALSITIC SHOOTERS:

1.) You can't just run around the area because you wouldn't know what might hit you.

2.) When you got shot or injured, your performance is decreased because you are hindered by the injury or injuries.

3.) No RAMBO-like heroes

If a game has that, I think that's quite enough to give some tension to the player/s.

winrehs_007

I hardly call those realistic shooters.

I've been playing metal gear online, and doing a small 4v4 can be pretty tense.

Ravirr

I've avoided the Modern Warfare and Call of Duty games since they were conceived. It's not realisitic if you can regenerate health like T1000. Flashpoint and Arma can give you more of an experiance but I can't say I got into those games either. So the answer is no, it's not what I'm after in games and games are so far from reality even today that it's pointless topic I'm sorry to say.

Check out Counter Struck U-Tube video, that says it all, if you played counter strike you'll understand and games havn't changed much from that today.

The only thing realistic about call of duty is some of the guns. Call of duty is just a straight up arcade shooter for the most part. Battlefield bad company is better in just about every way but I wouldn't call it realistic, with the health regen and med packs. (still a fun game).

I'd take fun over realism any day.

Man, everyone wants to nitpick on me using the word realistic :P I put the word in quotes, so I thought that would signify that I'm using the word really loosely.Vax45

It's because there is a significant difference between realistic shooters (Arma 2, America's Army 3) and arcade shooters with realistic settings.

When you talk about arcade shooters with realistic settings (Call of Duty, Medal of Honor), it really depends on the gameplay of the specific game. A game can have a realistic setting, but have the same gameplay as TF2. On the contrary, a game can have an obviously fictional setting, but add lots of realistic elements to its gameplay. Stalker is an example of this.

I don't find games like CoD and TF2 to be very intense. They're more like fragging parties where death just means you get to pick a new class to fool around with. Sure, battles can get intense and exciting, but it still doesn't really feel that way to me.

However, an actual realistic shooter such as Arma 2 is very, very intense to me. The realism makes you feel like a genuine soldier, and with a few shots being lethal, you are very careful in what you do. Combat is very dynamic and unpredictable, so my heart starts pumping whenever I spot a group of enemies.

I'd take fun over realism any day.

Darksiders666

It's not like the two are antonyms.

It depends. Even a tight match with players who are good at the game can get very tense. And in a game like rainbow six knowing that a single shot can kill you gives a thrill, especially if you're playing team survival.

The most tense game I've played to this day is still shadowrun, which is completely arcade.

I'd take fun over realism any day.

Darksiders666

I find plenty of tension in realistic shooters (at least Tac-Sims that is). I also find tension in games like Silent Hunter and iL2.

best multiplayer FPS is unreal tournament. only casuals hate it because they cant aim a gun properly hahaLord_Dweedle

The thing is, there's not any "realistic" shooters and there never have been. People can't reload as quickly in real life, they don't walk around at full strength after being hit by bullets, they don't regenerate health in a matter of seconds, and one-man armies don't exist.

The thing is, there's not any "realistic" shooters and there never have been. People can't reload as quickly in real life, they don't walk around at full strength after being hit by bullets, they don't regenerate health in a matter of seconds, and one-man armies don't exist.

Bigboi500

I take it you have never played Rainbow Six (not the crappy Ubi made R6 games either) or Ghost Recon then? Granted the reload speed was slow, but injuries did not heal and affected how well you performed. Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear actually had a system that used real time to heal someone if injured. If you used an operative that was injured in one mission, then he was still injured the very next day (as in 24 real hours later). Red Storm Entertainment was so far ahead of other game companies when it first released R6 in including game features that no one has come close to them ever. It's a shame that their franchises have been bastardized and became just like everything else on the market. :(

Realistic shooters (flight sims, ARMA2, and similar) follow or mimic many real world rules/conventions that aren't present in the more arcade types. If the player doesn't know what those conventions are, then of course he won't feel any tension. By the same token, if the player is very familiar with the conventions of say, ARMA 2 where the distances most engagements take place are spot on, you'd feel some tension that won't be present if you were playing Quake.

Flight sims are just like FPS games. When a flight sim mimics very accurately the legendary maneuverablility of say, a Japanese Zero, you start to feel the tension when one latches at your six o'clock just like what real Allied pilots reported when they first encountered the Zero back in WW2.