The FPS genre is mainly pushed forward by Euro devs these days

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that it's mainly European devs that are preventing the FPS genre from stagnating nowadays. Companies like GSC Game Word and Bohemia Interactive show tremendous ambition and at least try to push the FPS genre forward with new ideas, regardless of what people may think of their games. Meanwhile, companies such as DICE, Guerrilla and Crytek show that European devs can also produce high budget shooters that can easily compete with their American equivalents. This leads me to conclude that, more and more, European developers are becoming the pioneers of FPS innovation, a qualification that has long been in the hands of their North-American colleagues.

Just some examples of significant first person shooters European devs have created over the past few years: Far Cry, Crysis + Warhead, Stalker trilogy, Arma series, Metro 2033, Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason, Battlefield series, Killzone series, GRAW, Shattered Horizon.

I'm not saying North-American FPS developers are irrelevant, though, because games such as TF2, HL2, BioShock and FEAR are kind of hard to ignore, let alone big series such as Halo and CoD. But at the same time, I see that more progressive FPS games are hailing from Europe, and I feel this trend will only keep rising in the next few years. I can't wait to see, for example, what Eastern European studios can create when they have bigger budgets at their disposal.

Thoughts?

Guerrilla produced utter crap with their high budget. I'm not looking forward to what will happen to the rest of the European devs once they have big enough budgets. Much of the appeal of their games comes from working around limitations and being traditionally PC-centric.

Guerrilla produced utter crap with their high budget. I'm not looking forward to what will happen to the rest of the European devs once they have big enough budgets. Much of the appeal of their games comes from working around limitations and being traditionally PC-centric.

Baranga

publishers who fund the games, also don't want to take risks. innovation usually translates to a risk to them.

I think the FPS genre is mainly pushed forward by indie devs and mods these days, no matter where they are from.

Guerrilla produced utter crap with their high budget. I'm not looking forward to what will happen to the rest of the European devs once they have big enough budgets. Much of the appeal of their games comes from working around limitations and being traditionally PC-centric.

Baranga

Are we going to judge an entire group of developers because of one developer?

Guerrilla produced utter crap with their high budget. I'm not looking forward to what will happen to the rest of the European devs once they have big enough budgets. Much of the appeal of their games comes from working around limitations and being traditionally PC-centric.

Baranga

That's true, but the problem with a lot of mainly (Eastern) European developers is that they have the most creative ideas, but their games are often dragged down by bugginess and a lack of polish. Granted, the clumsiness of games such as Stalker and Arma has its charms, but a bit of extra financial breathing space can never hurt.

Of course there's the danger of devs delving into mainstream mediocrity once they pass a certain point (Crysis 2 is in the danger zone of doing just that), but games such as Crysis 1 and Metro 2033 prove that European developers can deliver pretty balanced games without losing their creativity when they are backed by a big publisher.

Valve? id Software? Bungie? Tripwire Interactive? Gearbox?savebattery

Good job not reading the opening post.

Valve? id Software? Bungie? Tripwire Interactive? Gearbox?savebattery

no-ones saying that nobody else does anything...

i don't see Bungie, Tripwire or Gearbox pushing FPS genres boundaries.

Well Valve, maybe Bungie, yes, but come on, Id Software, Tripwire, or Gearbox are hardly pushing the FPS genre forward. Id may have created it, but pushing it forward today? Hell no.Harkat95

and you are saying Bungie is...

I think NA is doing just as much if not more for the FPS genre than any one European country.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that it's mainly European devs that are preventing the FPS genre from stagnating nowadays. Companies like GSC Game Word and Bohemia Interactive show tremendous ambition and at least try to push the FPS genre forward with new ideas, regardless of what people may think of their games. Meanwhile, companies such as DICE, Guerrilla and Crytek show that European devs can also produce high budget shooters that can easily compete with their American equivalents. This leads me to conclude that, more and more, European developers are becoming the pioneers of FPS innovation, a qualification that has long been in the hands of their North-American colleagues.

Just some examples of significant first person shooters European devs have created over the past few years: Far Cry, Crysis + Warhead, Stalker trilogy, Arma series, Metro 2033, Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason, Battlefield series, Killzone series, GRAW, Shattered Horizon.

I'm not saying North-American FPS developers are irrelevant, though, because games such as TF2, HL2, BioShock and FEAR are kind of hard to ignore, let alone big series such as Halo and CoD. But at the same time, I see that more progressive FPS games are hailing from Europe, and I feel this trend will only keep rising in the next few years. I can't wait to see, for example, what Eastern European studios can create when they have bigger budgets at their disposal.

Thoughts?

DraugenCP

Metro2033 was hardly progressive. Admittedly a fine FPS. In what mystical dimension is Killzone or GRAW pushing the genre forward? Agreed with the other stuff.

jg4xchamp

I thought the moral thing that played in the background was genuinely interesting, and one of the first times, at least in recent years, that a moral system in a first person shooter made sense and wasn't very shallow. A game like BioShock could learn from that.

I mentioned Killzone and GRAW more as examples of European devs not only being able to create obscure niche titles such as Cryostasis, but also high budget mainstream shooters.

Europeans make now better shooters espacilly when it comes to graphics.

[QUOTE="jg4xchamp"]Metro2033 was hardly progressive. Admittedly a fine FPS. In what mystical dimension is Killzone or GRAW pushing the genre forward? Agreed with the other stuff.

DraugenCP

I thought the moral thing that played in the background was genuinely interesting, and one of the first times, at least in recent years, that a moral system in a first person shooter made sense and wasn't very shallow. A game like BioShock could learn from that.

I mentioned Killzone and GRAW more as examples of European devs not only being able to create obscure niche titles such as Cryostasis, but also high budget mainstream shooters.

Valve? id Software? Bungie? Tripwire Interactive? Gearbox?savebattery

cant offer graphically something like crysis, metro, cryostasis and killzone

DICE FTW :P

I think NA is doing just as much if not more for the FPS genre than any one European country.

the_mitch28

[QUOTE="DraugenCP"]

[QUOTE="jg4xchamp"]Metro2033 was hardly progressive. Admittedly a fine FPS. In what mystical dimension is Killzone or GRAW pushing the genre forward? Agreed with the other stuff.

jg4xchamp

I thought the moral thing that played in the background was genuinely interesting, and one of the first times, at least in recent years, that a moral system in a first person shooter made sense and wasn't very shallow. A game like BioShock could learn from that.

I mentioned Killzone and GRAW more as examples of European devs not only being able to create obscure niche titles such as Cryostasis, but also high budget mainstream shooters.

I disagree about the morality system. It's a far smarter system than in anything else I've played.

STALKER

European developers are awesome.

Nah the fps genre isnt even being pushed forward, but kudos for euro devs for trying.