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[64bitmodels]

Video Description: "We always tend to think that shooters should be fast paced, but is this really what people want?"

This video is an interesting response to arena/movement shooter fans and their proclamations of why faster shooters are just better. Basically, fast shooters are extremely fun and can be insane to play but they're also on average less strategic, less welcoming to new players, have much larger skill gaps, and overall are more unsustainable compared to slower/more strategic games.

Here's where the summary ends and where my opinion begins.

Spoiler: my take

I do not think slower shooters, many of them at least, have the sort of advertised strategy that makes up for their complete lack of speed or intense engagement. There are some games like Halo where a slower more on the ground style is actually quite strategic and interesting to play, thanks to the long time to kill, vehicles, and physics... I fail to see the strategy in running around for 5 minutes in a large map before you can finally get into a gunfight, or parking up near a wall and being expected to quickly shoot some other dude in the head before they bop you.

Moreover however is that many slow, tactical shooters are just... not really meant to be fun games. They're meant to be competitive before they are interesting or fun to play. Take Valorant for example. Character design is interesting and the style is cool, but that's all the game has going for it. There's no story to get invested in or any singleplayer to have fun in. It's all ranks, competitive and tryharding. Quake may be fast, sure, but it also has an actually interesting campaing with a great soundtrack and atmosphere. Titanfall 2's campaign in general is an amazing blend of not just parkour but platforming gameplay, something that can be speedrun and replayed again due to how fun it is to jump around and explore. Team Fortress 2 has an amazing and funny cast of characters, and has a lot of casual servers where besides running around and shooting, you can hang out and meme all day.

There is nothing like this in Counter Strike or Valorant. You're meant to tryhard the game and get super duper competitive from the get go. If you're not in that mindset, the game is a complete waste of time (except for gunskins).

Not to mention that speed and strategy are not mutually exclusive. one look at Smash Bros Melee tells you that all you need to do tot get good at the game is to wavedash, move around and do flashy combos, but in reality there's a lot of strategy that goes into neutral, positioning, projectiles, spacing, stage, etc etc etc. You can see this through online, there are many falcos and foxes with insane techskill who have no idea how to actually play the fucking game, which is why they're stuck on slippi online lobbies and haven't graced top 10 at EVO.

I can understand the appeal of the concept but in my opinion not many games have done the "slow shooter" formula right for me to bother caring.

I wanna see your takes on this!

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Fortnite is great, in large part, because it's slow. In CoD, your TTK is often fraction of a second. In Fortnite you often have 10+ seconds between first getting hit and the sweat showing up with a shotgun. Allows for far better teamplay and strategy.

 

[IAmRei]

I like both, depend on the themes. Anyway, the question is only for FPS? Or also TPS? Online or not? I mostly play offline. Left online years ago because everyone is much rushed in styles. Doing doom in counter strike, left sour in my mouth.

 

[ZehDon]

I love most kinds of shooters, but I usually fall off twitch shooters fastest. OG Halo's was about the sweet spot for me. First shot was an advantage, but if your opponent was skilled enough, you could still go down. The longer fights felt more tactical, and it just appealed to me more.

 

[BlackTron]

My favorite was Halo 1 which was kinda both. The walking speed was slow and and there was a certain methodical feel to the game, but you could still get dropped with a single sniper round to the head.

Unfortunately the removal of hit feedback ruined the whole game.

Edit: ZehDon beat me by like one second

 

[ThisIsMyDog]

So much talk about slow tactical shooters and no one gave any examples of them.







Have nice day.

 

[intbal]

He maybe should have stated at the beginning of the video that he was talking 99% about multiplayer shooters.
I see a video about "slow shooters", I expect to see some mention of IGI or Black.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Single player fast fast fast
MP slow slow slow

 

[Fermbiz]

Quake and slow are not synonymous

 

[delfrickintree]

 

[HL3.exe]

I personally always prefer slower, more methodical shooters. I love games where the gun feels heavy, not only in a animation feel sense, but also how guns can have effect and consequences on the world when firing. Think about, when a firearm shows up in movie, you know shit is about to go bad. But in games, shooting is way more common to solve problems, then having a tense situation.

To this day, this rarely happens in video games, as 'clicking on the heads to delete enemy' is way more common and easier to implement them actually challenging and self-preserving enemies. OR killing said enemy have actual consequences on the world or narrative. forcing the player to ponder their thoughts and choices.

As for MP: I absolutely love Hunt Showdown, and it's probably one of the most tense, slow and atmospheric shooters in recent years

 

[SHA]

They are different, fast paced rely on your cognitive ability, the stronger, the better, slow paced rely on stealth, tactics etc...

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Christ, 14 minutes? At least make the Youtube video fast.

 

[Dice]

Fast ones are only "less strategic" if you don't understand the strategy or have the courage to go balls-to-the-wall. However, I will grant that while there is nothing else like it, it does hit pretty one-note after long enough. You just don't always want your brain on fire juggling the 1000 things at once.

Others have mentioned early Halo as being a good balance, and I agree. It keeps a lot of the hectic feeling but makes it more like you're riding through it in a free-flowing manner rather than composing a death symphony. I think Bungie has taken this style to new heights with Destiny. Unfortunately there is a ton of grinding required to get to where you are experiencing those moments, but the magic is still very much there perfectly balancing all aspects in the fray with a great fast/slow dynamic feeling.

 

[adamsapple]

They both have their place.

For example, Doom 2016 wouldn't be Doom 2016 if it was slower paced. Comparatively, I wouldn't want Bioshock to be a hectic run and gun kind of game, for me that is more of a slow, methodical, kind of game.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Dont tell me this is another subgenre

 

[MagnesD3]

Halo is the only FPS series I care about Ranked and its because its designed to be a slower paced game. Love the fact you can get shot in the back but if your the better player you can turn around and out gun who was shooting you

 

[64bitmodels]

Christ, 14 minutes? At least make the Youtube video fast.

It's a youtube video not a Tiktok short.

 

[Naked Lunch]

Fast FPS games are for the ADD idiots.
The slower the better.

Its why Halo 3 is still the best in the series.
Why Battlefield 2 PC is the best BF.
And why Counter Strike is (still) the best FPS period.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Yes Halo 2 and 3 are the best FPS. Fuck twitch shooters in the age of online latency based gameplay. LAN, different story.

Apex is the first "modern FPS" that really connects with me, the design elements from Respawn really balance the realities of Internet gaming and FPS so bloody well. They do it better than anyone out there IMO.

 

[64bitmodels]

And why Counter Strike is (still) the best FPS period.

Speak for yourself... That game is a snorefest. TF2 is where it's at

 

[PSYGN]

You can have fast paced and strategic like in Apex. Doesn't have to be one or the other although often times it is.

 

[64bitmodels]

Fast ones are only "less strategic" if you don't understand the strategy or have the courage to go balls-to-the-wall.

Yep pretty much. Quake isn't lacking the strategy other games like Counter Strike have. You're just expected to think much faster.

Something like Halo has a level of depth to it other tactical shooters don't have IMO because you have to take into account shields, vehicles, and the maps in general being incredibly well designed. It isn't just point and click at someone's head super fast. And Battlefield isn't "slow", it's just that speed isn't the main focus as it is the grandiose nature of the game.

Personally while Quake is amazing you have to admit that the skill floor for it is ridiculous and it's why the game fails to gain a major audience... that's why i think Titanfall is so great. There is a low skill floor as you don't have to learn insane techniques like rocket jumping or bunny hopping.

TF2 also has techskill, but it isn't used much in matches because the game also has a focus on strategy, TTK is long in that game too and more often than not you have objectives to work towards... It's one of the best shooters ever made IMO.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I think all those old school shooters have disappeared simply because running around at blazing fast speed in a sci-fi world is too inane. But it's what you got back in the day as most FPS were amped up on steroids with crazy guns, rocket launchers, huge jumps, alien planets etc....

People just like more grounded settings.

If Quake was made to be slow paced like a COD or PC war sim, and COD, ARMA etc had everyone running at 4x the speed jumping 20 feet in the air, I still think more people would rather play a WWII or modern warfare setting than a more tactical and stealthy Unreal game where half the gamers stay at the back of the map sniping or planting claymores.

 

[64bitmodels]

People just like more grounded settings.

I mean, Destiny 2 is one of the most popular shooters of all time and it's not exactly "grounded" in reality. I think it was just the speed and nature of them being too fast for a console controller to handle, not to mention timing. MW1/2 came out when online play on consoles was super early and as such they blew tf up. Quake and Doom and Unreal had them years before yes but they were on PC, and that wasn't as popular of a gaming platform as Playstation was at the time. (this was before Steam)

 

[Naked Lunch]

Speak for yourself... That game is a snorefest. TF2 is where it's at

Eh disagree - if we're going that route, TFC dumps all over casual fest TF2.
TF2 remains my own personal biggest disappointment in gaming.