5. Headshot

Yahtzee explains this better than I can but basically a lot of FPSs do the classic "zoom into the back of characters heads" trick to show you who your character is and that now you are controlling them. Left 4 Dead is a more recent offender and zooms into whichever character you or the computer randomly decides you're playing. It's not so much a bad game-breaking thing as a little tedious. It's been the same camera trick since Goldeneye 64 so maybe some new trick is due?

4. A change in scenery

FPSs aren't exactly known for their creativity. Simply have one team of undeniably evil doers and have you play as someone on the undeniably good team and you pretty much have a license to kill right there. The set-pieces are in direneed of changing, though. I've lost count how many different ways a single American soldier won World War II, how many times Afghanistan (or equivalent) has been liberated and how many invading aliens need to be told GTFO. Call of Duty went...well, modern with Modern Warfare and the new Medal of Honour looks damn near identical. Could we please have a different location before Halo: Modern Combat Evolved is released?

3. Balancing act

The only games company I know who even make an attempt at balancing out weaponry is Valve. With the introductions of new weapons for all the classes in Team Fortress 2, each one is meticulouslytweaked until it fits snugly in with the other weapons. Most others, however, are contempt to just have everything they've coded to remain the same until the death of the game. Noob tubes are still instant kill with splash damage, stabbing someone in the foot is more powerful than a shotgun to the torso and pistols may as well be firing tic-tacs. I'm not saying the guns should be highly realistic and everything does one-hit kills, but in order to keep the combat fresh and exciting you need to keep fine tuning the multiplayer.

2. Make it a one man army

On that note, far too many games are relying on online multiplayer to make their FPSs "good". I say "good" because, as with any multiplayer, the game is only as good as the community involved. Modern Warfare 2 has now become the rubbish pub everyone goes to. The drinks are overpriced, the bar staff couldn't care less about you, the seats are broken and a strange sweaty man who insists your name is Frank is trying to feel you up...but you keep going there because that's where all your friends go. For the price of the game, Modern Warfare 2's single player is criminally short. If you know what you're doing I'm sure it could be finished within a day or two. More attention needs to be placed on making the single player long and exciting (giggidy) for you to keep coming back to it. TimeSplitters 2 was the perfect single player FPS, shortly followed by Half Life 2.

1. Iron out the ironsights

I'm not sure why this is the case, but the introduction of the ironsights has been a royal pain in my backside of recent years. The ironsights seem to have a magical charm placed upon it that makes ever single shot as accurate as a sniper rifle. A pistol in ironsights can easily hit someone on the other side of a map. Yes, it does increase the aim, but not by that much.

Anyone have any suggestions to improve FPSs?