First-Person Options in Third-Person Games

I've been playing "The Evil Within 2" for the past couple days and I'm really enjoying it so far. The story is not bad, the game play is fun and responsive, the atmosphere is actually scary compared to the last one, and the stealth mechanics are pretty neat. One thing in particular though, really caught my eye. During certain stealth segments in the game and with the use of console commands on PC, the camera perspective switches from third-person over the shoulder view to a first-person view. This camera switch adds an extra degree of difficulty to the stealth mechanics, and flushes out the new forms of gameplay in the game. This got me thinking though, what other games switch to or add a first-person perspective that was originally third-person? And more importantly which ones do it well?

Besides most if not all driving/racing games allowing you to switch from over the car to first-person view, the only other two that comes to mind right now is "GTA V" and "Star Wars Battlefront". Both originally starting with or having a third-person view from the get go, then adding in the ability to switch to first-person view whenever you want. Now I know that there are probably more examples out there, but as of right now these are the only two that come to mind that do it well. 

In "GTA V", the gameplay perspective has been set in third-person for over the past 13 years since "GTA III". Until in 2014 when "GTA V" crossed over from the older console generation to the newer "PlayStation 4" and "Xbox One". With this crossover, the game developer "Rockstar", allowed players to switch over from the original third-person view, to a new first-person view. This allowed players to experience the open world sandbox like never before, and gave an extra degree of difficulty to playing the game. However, even with it being a cool feature, and it surprisingly working well, playing in first-person in a game that was originally third-person isn't always the best. First, the controls and gameplay doesn't really change much when you switch perspectives. So, when playing it feels somewhat off, as if it's not really meant to be played like this. Second, it limits your view, and in a game where someone can run up behind you and just steal your money, having a larger area of view is pretty important.

Now with "Star Wars Battlefront", the game always gave you the ability to switch perspectives. One was never locked out from the other. Now with this being an online shooter, giving the player the choice between playing in first or third person is amazing. It is fully utilizing this mechanic by giving everyone access to how they want to play. Do you want to have a sort of tunnel vision when you play? Then first-person is for you. Or do you prefer it when you field of view is larger for when you camp in a corner? Then third-person is the right choice. Giving players a choice on how they want to play gets huge thumbs up from me, however some might say that due to everybody playing with different camera perspectives, it creates an unlevel playing field. 

Games that allow for different camera perspectives can be a real plus to the game if done correctly. Though sometimes if done poorly or just lazily they can really feel like a cheap add-on that wasn't even worth the time of the developers or players. 

What do any of you think? I for one will always enjoy switching to a first-person view when given the choice in games. Do you prefer it as well or does the third-person option suit you more? Also, if any of you have any other examples of games that allow for different camera perspectives in game, please share them in the comments below. I would love to see more games with this feature. Until next time, everyone.

Motion Sickness in First-Person Games

The beauty of a first-person game is that they’re designed to make gamers feel as though they are living it. The story becomes your own, because the characters you play are meant to be you. It’s a brilliant way to immerse you into the game’s world, but while the majority of gamers can enjoy or even prefer first-person gaming, there are those who can’t. It’s not for lack of want; it’s due to a troublesome setback caused by video game motion sickness.
 
Motion sickness caused by video games, sometimes called simulator sickness, is caused when there is a disconnect between what your eyes are seeing and what your body is feeling. Basically, what is all comes down to is camera movement and what your eyes focus on when looking at the screen. The symptoms of this include, but are not limited to, headaches, dizziness, nausea, heavy sweating, and excessive production of saliva.

I've been playing "Mirrors Edge" and "Elite Dangerous" as of late and I have been experiencing headache after headache to the point where I have to walk away from the screen. I don't really succumb to motion sickness as much as I used to when I was younger, but something about those two games really threw me on a loop. As I stepped away from the games every now and then, I pondered on what allowed me to outgrow my sense of motion sickness.

From what I remember, I always used to sit up close to the TV, because that's what you did as a kid. I learned later that making some room between me and the screen helped a lot, but as of late I've been playing games on my desk monitor that's 20 inches from my face. Besides that, I also always played in the dark to help with the atmosphere of the game. Turns out, that's a big contributor to motion sickness as well. Lastly, I think I just forced through them. After multiple sessions of gaming growing up, I just got used to it. Now granted, my headaches aren't as bad as when I was younger, but I haven't been playing video games for a little over a week now. Maybe my eyes just got accustomed to not staring at a screen all day. 

So what are my prevention's??

• Put space between you and the screen
• Play in a well lit room
• Just brute force it, your eyes will become accustomed to it eventually

Do any of you have any sort of remedies for motion sickness or do you still suffer from it on occasion. Share them in the comments below, who knows they might help me or others out. I've heard that some medication helps, but I never bothered. Like I said, I just forced my way through most of the time. Until next time everyone.

Motion Blur in First-Person Games

Over the many years, I've been playing video games, and more specifically first-person video games, I've noticed a certain aspect that is in many games that I can't quite seem to understand the purpose of. If you haven't noticed from the title, I'm talking about motion blur of course. 

Motion blur is the apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image or sequence of images. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single exposure, either due to rapid movement or long exposure. Think of it as when you're turning the camera around rapidly or the camera focuses on a gun in the player's hands. 

The problem I have with motion blur is that it creates a sense of blindness in some cases in video games. Even in racing games with an over the car view, it seems like everything around is blurred and not properly textured. Whenever I want to look around in-game to enjoy the scenery or I'm in the middle of a fire fight, the sudden camera movement causes motion blur that I find disorienting. Whenever I'm given the option to turn it off, I always turn it off.

The only reason I could see is using them for PR footage since it looks more cinematic when viewed as a trailer or machinima. But during normal gameplay, what is the purpose? Our eyes already account for the effects. Motion blur simply blurs the screen excessively to the point of annoyance. Depth of field on the other hand chooses for the player where to focus. Why would I want that loss of freedom? Our eyes naturally blur whatever we're not focusing on. Say it's a first-person shooter and I look at my gun, my eye naturally blurs the background, and vice versa. If the game is forcing the peripheral to be blurred and I want to glance over to the side of my screen to spot an enemy without moving, I am instead shown a blurrier image. I can't imagine a scenario I would ever want this. Games aren't still images or movies where we need to be shown where to focus, so why do game developers keep including these useless features?

I think this is part of the overall emphasis on post processing effects the last 5 years or so, the large majority of which make the game look or play worse. Light bloom is another culprit but at least when done minimally it can add to the imagery and realism. I must admit though, I can't think of a time this was ever the case. For the most part, post processing effects simply serve to make the image look blurrier. If game developers focus on the core tenants of textures, models, and lighting, and use the post processing for subtle improvements, I think we'd be better off.

What do any of you guys think? Do any of you enjoy the use of motion blur, or does it just give you a headache like it does to me. Also, if any of you know any uses of motion blur that were used well, please comment about them below. I would like to know from anyone. Until next time. 

Titanfall 2's momentum-based movement

Okay, I know this blog is not just supposed to be about first-person shooters, but rather other video game sub-genres based around the first-person perspective. But I have been on a "Titanfall 2" binge for the last 2 weeks and I want to express my love of the movement in that game. 

So, to start things off, let's first describe what "Titanfall 2" is. The "Titanfall" game series is a first-person shooter created by Respawn Entertainment, that consist of 6v6 matches of "pilots" and "titans". "Pilots" are highly skilled soldiers that use parkour and jump jets to maneuver around the map. This creates opportunities for some high-speed action. "Titans" are giant, 25 feet tall battle mechs that pilots use to fight alongside them or control it themselves and fight as a titan on the battlefield. 

Now enough about that, let's explain the movement system. As described before, "pilots" can use parkour and jump jets to maneuver around the map. This mainly consist of wall-running, sliding, mantling, double jumps, and some extra tactical abilities that can help with movement, like grappling hooks and speed boosts. The ability to tap a button to double jump and run across walls to create a sense of momentum is a simple concept that is used in some games, but is really well done in "Titanfall 2". It successfully takes the movement system and asks players to use it to define their play style. Are you a run and gun type of player? Then move around the map as fast as you want with a speed boost. Do like to take the tactical route in shooters? Then go ahead and jump on top of a building with a grapple hook to get a strategic advantage. Is taking the sneaky and quite way your style? Then go invisible, and flank the enemy team by running across buildings. It's a refreshing take on a movement system that has become stale in recent years. 



(Example of the use of the grappling hook. Video by "ChristmasLights")


Ever since the release of the first Titanfall game back in 2014, other competitors tried to integrate movement systems into their games. For example, the last three "Call of Duty" titles have tried to push idea hard on all their players. The problem with this is that they were never really developed around the movement system, instead it just felt pushed in and unneeded. When we compare this to Titanfall, it feels like the game was built around the movement system and really takes advantage of the momentum based movement. Rather than it just being pushed in to a different type of game. 

Titanfall 2 also does some interesting things with its single player campaign as well. While it is still a somewhat linear campaign and story line, it still takes full advantage of the movement. Respawn Entertainment decided to craft large open spaces for players to take advantage of. Because of this, players are able to choose how they want to play. It's a refreshing use of a movement system, that breaks the mold of linear first-person shooter campaigns.

In the end, Titanfall 2's momentum-based movement system remains, by-far, the best in the first-person shooter genre. With its well done design to incorporate fast and fun movement, and mold breaking of the slow and sluggish gameplay that I feel like a lot of first-person shooters have had as of late. 

Does anyone else agree with me, or do you feel like shooters should be more boots to the ground style of gameplay. If anyone agrees with me, please suggest other games that incorporate a great movement system that incorporate momentum. The only other two I can think of right now are "Mirrors Edge" and "Dying Light".

Diversity in Overwatch

Now, today I wanted to go into something a little bit different. That's right, as you read from the title, today's post revolves around diversity. Specifically, diversity in one of my favorite first-person shooters to come out in the last year, "Overwatch". This game is an amazing first-person team based shooter that doesn't really change much in the terms of team based shooters. It doesn't break the mold, in fact it fits inside it perfectly, but that's not a bad thing. In fact, it's awesome. All and all it's just a really good game developed by the wonderful people over at Blizzard. Where two teams of six face off against each other to claim an objective or payload.

Now if you have never played Overwatch or gotten into the series at all, then you might be asking "What does this game have to do with diversity?" and I'll say "everything". (Note: I know that there are plenty of other games out there that do an okay job of expressing diversity, but I know this game the best and for a blog that revolves around the first-person aesthetic, I kind of put myself into a corner here.) As of right now Overwatch has a total of 24 playable characters, each with their own weapons, skill, and abilities. More importantly though, they are different in terms of race, age, gender, and size. You got guys and gals, thin and thick people, young and old people, human and non-human, and all in a variety of different races and nationalities. This game really breaks the mold of random white guys fighting against each other in shooters, which you see a lot of in games nowadays.

Besides that, the game also goes into discrimination territory too. The Overwatch universe is set within a world where people don't judge you on the color of your skin. They've grown past that and have bettered themselves from it, creating a more just and peaceful society. The advancement of technology grew so great and fast, it went to the point where the creation of artificial intelligence was created and robots pretty much became living creatures with their own thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, though humans and machines fought and a war was started. Even after the war ended and peace was achieved, people had a harsh view on the machines from then on. I don't really see this in many games, as much as this one, especially shooters for that matter. 

Each character comes from a different background that people can relate to in some way shape or form. Because of that, Overwatch has become a widely known and very popular video game that people can love not only for the great game play, but for its diverse cast of characters set in a world of heroes.

What do any of you think about this? Really, there's not much to go over, it's just a simple topic that I thought was interesting and one that the developers over at Blizzard did really well. Tell me some more games that played the diversity card well, or ones that played it bad.

Horror in First-Person

Hello everyone, in celebration of Halloween today's blog post I will be focusing on how first-person perspective effects the scare factor and all around spookiness in video games.

First off, I believe there are three things that can make or break a horror game. One, is the general atmosphere of the game. Whether it be a ghost town during a zombie apocalypse or a silent hospital that is haunted, creating a tense situation is key to perfecting a scary situation. Two, is the simple use of jump scares. While yes people criticize them for being cheap gimmicks that are overused in horror (which they kind of are), they are also just as effective as others forms of scares. Even if you know they are coming, the constant feeling of something popping up and scaring you, is within itself scary. Third, is the use perspective.

Recently I played the entire story line of the "Dead Space" game series, and it didn't really come to mind until now. I was never scared once throughout the entire three video games, and they are known to be the scary sci-fi re-imagining of the resident evil franchise. Don't get me wrong there were plenty of spooky and spine chilling moments in my play-through, but not once did I ever freak out due to a scare. I was more worried about my ammo conservation then the killer alien/zombies on the ship. The reason why I believe I wasn't scared was because the game took place in a third-person perspective.

"Dead Space 3"

This is where my previous point comes into play. The different uses of perspective are a critical piece of any horror video game. In a third-person perspective you are given an over the shoulder view of your character. This gives you a wide view of everything your character sees and then some. With having the entire room in your field of view and a simple camera turn to look behind you, there comes a slight miss in the immersion factor. In a first-person perspective, your view is very limited. You are only able to see what is directly in front of you, and for you to see what is behind you, you would have to do a full 180 degree turn. In doing so, you create an opportunity for the game to pull off a jump scare when you turn back around. A semi-recent example of this would have to be in the "Outlast" series. The entirety of the game is taken place in a mental hospital full of deranged killers, and you the player are trying to escape. It takes place in first-person and the game makes full use out of that. Throwing jump scares, chase scenes, and hiding segments at you from the start, and it's your job to play the game using only your eyes and a night vision camera to see what's in front of you.

"Outlast"

I guess in short what I'm trying to say is that horror video games set in a first-person perspective are far more tense and terrifying due to your limited view and increased sense of immersion. It really adds to the atmosphere by decreasing what you can witness, and really emphasizes on those jump scares by getting in your face. 

Tell me what you guys think in the comments below. Do you agree with me that first-person adds to the spookiness in horror games, or do you think other perspectives give off a better vibe when it comes to horror? Also, in spirit of Halloween, tell me some good scary games to play for October. I've been wanting to expand my collection and would love to see what you guys suggest.

First-Person Shooters in eSports

CSGO Championship

 If you are or have ever have been associated with the gaming community, one point or another you have come across something called "eSports". For those who are not aware, eSports is simply electronic sports. Meaning, competitive gaming between two individuals or professional teams playing against each other. The most common video game genres associated with eSports are MOBA's (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), RTS's (Real Time Strategy), Fighters, and of course FPS's (First-Person Shooters). Esports are global in a way that few traditional sports are. They transcend national borders, language barriers, markets, and celebrate experiences that reward skill, commitment, and cooperation.

Rainbow Six: Siege

 For being quite popular, eSports weren't widely known until the early 2000's when Arena Shooters like "Quake" were popular. It was the time where everything was fast paced and chaotic to the point where only those who were playing could understand what was happening on screen. As opposed to now where the main First-Person Shooters associated with eSports are now games like Counter Strike and Rainbow Six: Siege.

Quake

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong these games, it's just that for me, they lack that high octane, fast paced action that's hard to come by any more. Instead you get long periods of time where you're watching someone sit in a corner for 15 minutes. The once ever so popular sub-genre called Arena Shooters, were amazing for competitive gaming, and for me being a sort of casual who never truly got into the competitive side of gaming, there was always something enjoyable when you watched someone play the game at the highest level. Knowing more than just running and gunning, and using high amounts of knowledge, strategy, and tactics to survive.

Now, whenever I'm on Twitch, most of the FPS's games in the eSports side of gaming is being blinded by MOBA's and RTS's. And not only that, but the fighting game community is full of nothing but hostile people looking for grudge match. I feel like First-Person Shooters aren't as popular as they once were. I don't know, I guess I just want that fast paced, high action, and friendly competition that first-person arena shooters brought. Oh well, I hope to see the FPS genre still have a share in the eSports community, and one day bring in some new heavy hitters that will break the mold of slow objective based shooters.