HF Retro Game of the Year - 2004 - San Andreas Wins!

[Osprey]

And they've been worse basically ever since for it

I agree. The introduction of regenerating health has hurt shooters by making them more arcadish. You don't really need to worry about your health anymore. You can simply run straight into a swarm of enemies, get taken down to 10% health, duck behind cover and be at 100% again just a few seconds later, ready to run into more enemies. There's little reason to be careful and there's no reason to be afraid.

Some of the most tense moments in shooters are when I'm low on health and/or out of health packs. In those instances, I'm scared of dying and am being super careful to spot enemies before they spot me, and it really gets the heart racing when I can't avoid a firefight and I know that I'm one bullet away from dying.

Fortunately, there are still enough shooters and other first-person games that haven't adopted regenerating health so that we don't have to play the more arcadish ones to get our shooter fixes.

 

[NyQuil]

Freelancer, wow! You can actually get Freelancer for free and it's still playable.

I played it again about a month or two ago, and it's essentially the inspiration for Star Citizen (also Chris Roberts).

The character models/textures are a little dated but the space combat and visuals are still very good, the story and factions are interesting and it's probably still the benchmark for creating a space opera universe that appears lifelike and "lived in". Ships go about their trading routes, docking, pirates attack, police conduct sweeps. As a spacing universe it is fun to explore and has interesting economic and political dimensions.

There are actually some user-created multiplayer universes out there that are heavily modded and still entertaining.

However, for the vote, I'd probably have to go KOTOR.

The story and characters are every bit as good as the original films are - in a way, they make it even more depressing to watch the prequels and sequels.

I also played a ton of Call of Duty.

Interesting year.

 

[Goatlender]

I agree. The introduction of regenerating health has hurt shooters by making them more arcadish. You don't really need to worry about your health anymore. You can simply run straight into a swarm of enemies, get taken down to 10% health, duck behind cover and be at 100% again just a few seconds later, ready to run into more enemies. There's little reason to be careful and there's no reason to be afraid.

Some of the most tense moments in shooters are when I'm low on health and/or out of health packs. In those instances, I'm scared of dying and am being super careful to spot enemies before they spot me, and it really gets the heart racing when I can't avoid a firefight and I know that I'm one bullet away from dying.

Fortunately, there are still enough shooters and other first-person games that haven't adopted regenerating health so that we don't have to play the more arcadish ones to get our shooter fixes.

I agree to a certain extent. It works well for a game like CoD because it's meant to be arcadey. I think Battlefield 1 did a decent balance of the regenerating health as there is a pretty big delay in when it starts to kick in, so you still need to be cautious of how you handle it. I like both systems, depends on the game really.

 

[aleshemsky83]

I agree to a certain extent. It works well for a game like CoD because it's meant to be arcadey. I think Battlefield 1 did a decent balance of the regenerating health as there is a pretty big delay in when it starts to kick in, so you still need to be cautious of how you handle it. I like both systems, depends on the game really.

I disagree, COD was much better without regenerating health, it was especially strange in the campaign.

 

[Goatlender]

I disagree, COD was much better without regenerating health, it was especially strange in the campaign.

As the series progressed, CoD became more arcadey (outside of just the regenerating heath). Both the gameplay being dumbed down and new modes like Nazi Zombies gave it that feel.