Taking up the despair period of shooters is a troublesome job, however somebody’s acquired to do it.
I used to be just a little apprehensive about the subject material of Bitmap Books’ newest FPS tome, the lengthily-titled Damage Me A lot: The Final Information to First-Individual Shooters 2003–2010. I had no worries concerning the high quality of the e-book, so to talk – I’ve reviewed (and bought) quite a few Bitmap Books choices earlier than and by no means felt as if they didn’t justify their asking worth, or had been missing high quality the place manufacturing, analysis and aesthetics had been involved. No, my concern was a barely extra snobbish one – being that 2003-2010 was hardly what I’d name a golden interval for first-person shooters. In reality, I’d argue that it was very a lot slim pickings for the style, not less than for the lion’s share of the time.
In the end, although, it’s that dearth of actually iconic efforts that makes the e-book as attention-grabbing as it’s. Little has beforehand been written concerning the lion’s share of video games which are coated right here, with many titles fully unknown to me akin to Nina: Agent Chronicles or Ubersoldier II: The Finish of Hitler. These naturally rub shoulders with extra well-known titles akin to Killzone, Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, however the main thought I had from studying via its pages and experiencing the numerous terribly brown screenshots is that I’m profoundly glad it’s not me who needed to cowl all these relentlessly beige army shooters. Don’t mistake that for criticism of the e-book – it’s the message, not the medium. I’m only a large previous fuddy-duddy who laments the shift within the FPS panorama across the time of the unique Half-Life (coated in Quantity 1 of this collection), transferring away from extra complicated, secret-packed bespoke ranges into extra scripted storytelling on the expense of compelling gameplay. However these items completely must be chronicled and that’s exactly what has occurred right here.
The e-book is, as ever, attractive – whereas the video games featured are hardly ever nice to gaze upon, they’re represented with a whole bunch of high-quality screenshots printed giant sufficient to truly recognize the element therein, and the pages are as plush as I’ve come to count on from this writer. Every sport is given sufficient area to enter respectable element, overcoming a difficulty I had with Run ‘N’ Gun, and the breadth of the content material makes for an attention-grabbing overview of a somewhat maligned period whereas leaving area for an extra e-book maybe taking in 2011-2020 and the beginning of the “boomer shooter” subgenre. Interviews with the likes of Nightdive (the studio behind many current FPS remasters) id’s Tim Willits and Garry himself, Garry’s Mod’s personal Garry Newman (amongst others) flesh out the learn and add additional context to this unusual, tumultuous interval in first-person gaming.
In fact, video games akin to Name of Responsibility noticed their rise to prominence inside the 2003-2010 timeline, to not point out Bioshock and Halo’s sequels, all coated right here and gamely illustrating the adjustments within the style panorama in comparison with the place we sat throughout the time of Quantity 1. As I’ve usually mentioned, it’s the wilderness years of any given style or franchise which are essentially the most attention-grabbing to excavate, and Damage Me A lot delves right into a galaxy of gunplay via which I’ve found a good few thrilling video games to take a look at, or enlightening the reason why sure profound failures could not have been inside the management of their builders. Predictably It’s one other glorious e-book from Bitmap Books, one which showcases a ardour for extra than simply the avowed winners within the harsh world of gaming. Nothing shines with out distinction and the yo-yo-like high quality of the video games coated on this e-book will see you adjusting your gamma left and proper. Little FPS reference there, type of.
