Taking over the despair period of shooters is a tricky job, however somebody’s bought to do it.
I used to be slightly apprehensive about the subject material of Bitmap Books’ newest FPS tome, the lengthily-titled Harm Me Loads: 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 difficulty was a barely extra snobbish one – being that 2003-2010 was hardly what I’d name a golden interval for first-person shooters. The truth is, I’d argue that it was very a lot slim pickings for the style, no less than for the lion’s share of the time.
Finally, although, it’s that dearth of really iconic efforts that makes the e book as fascinating as it’s. Little has beforehand been written concerning the lion’s share of video games which might be lined right here, with many titles fully unknown to me reminiscent of Nina: Agent Chronicles or Ubersoldier II: The Finish of Hitler. These naturally rub shoulders with extra well-known titles reminiscent of Killzone, Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, however the main thought I had from studying by means of 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 navy 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 (lined in Quantity 1 of this collection), shifting 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, beautiful – whereas the video games featured are hardly ever nice to gaze upon, they’re represented with a whole lot of high-quality screenshots printed massive sufficient to really respect the element therein, and the pages are as plush as I’ve come to anticipate from this writer. Every sport is given sufficient area to enter first rate element, overcoming a problem I had with Run ‘N’ Gun, and the breadth of the content material makes for an fascinating overview of a reasonably maligned period whereas leaving area for an additional e book maybe taking in 2011-2020 and the start 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.
After all, video games reminiscent of Name of Responsibility noticed their rise to prominence inside the 2003-2010 timeline, to not point out Bioshock and Halo’s sequels, all lined right here and gamely illustrating the adjustments within the style panorama in comparison with the place we sat in the course of the time of Quantity 1. As I’ve usually mentioned, it’s the wilderness years of any given style or franchise which might be probably the most fascinating to excavate, and Harm Me Loads delves right into a galaxy of gunplay by means of which I’ve found a good few thrilling video games to take a look at, or enlightening the explanation 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 lined on this e book will see you adjusting your gamma left and proper. Little FPS reference there, form of.
