The Future of First-Person Shooters

I know the title is a bit grandiose but these following thoughts are a little more low key. Ever since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the FPS genre has been predominantly set in modern, near-future and future settings save for the odd surprise like Wolfenstein. Modern Warfare changed the game almost a decade ago and we have seen our fair share of jump-pack, wall-running, sticky grenade, auto-locking rocket nonsense ever since. Call of Duty is one of the biggest video game franchises in existence whether you like it or not and it set the trends for many years. Now that influence seems to be waining with more and more shooters introducing different ideas that have pushed Activision's premiere title to take from other games, we are seeing an overcrowded genre. The market is flooded and something's gotta give.

As these FPS games become more and more convoluted with excessive weapon selections, falsely insightful sci-fi plots that are touted as high-concept storytelling and the need to create unrealistic speed and mobility to be an enjoyable experience is not what I want. I want to go back to a simpler time. I want to see the return of the World War II shooter. And maybe Battalion 1944 will be that game. It's a Kickstarter campaign looking to be your WWII shooter in a world of super-future twitch gaming.

I know that Battalion 1944 sounds like a game that I want, but what about the rest of the FPS audience? A large population of Call of Duty fans jumped aboard with Modern Warfare and the titles that followed. A lot of the players don't know the franchise without the "advanced warfare" element. Could they accept a WWII shooter and the slower gameplay that it would entail? Or is that audience lost for the most part? It may be a mistake for Activision to revert to WWII for fear of alienating their current primary players because the older fans that knew pre-Modern Warfare shooters have all but moved on to other games. I think that leaves Battalion 1944 with a job to do: garner the interest that once existed in the community. Maybe it could be a testing ground.

I think it's just time to throw a little more variety into the genre. All of these FPS games are trying to add more to the experience. I want something that strips it down and makes me feel vulnerable. I don't want to run into a bullet storm. Instead, I'd prefer to think more practically and be forced to survive. These future FPSs won't do that. Bring back the WWII shooter.