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Watch the evolution of the FPS

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REalFPS

First Person Shooters have a come a long way since they first gained prominence with earlier examples in the genre, such as Wolfenstein 3D and Quake. Now arguably the single genre that defines video gaming (within the mainstream at least), they’re not going away any time soon. It’s a good thing then that they’ve evolved the way they have, a shown by this video from French site NoFrag that details the graphical evolution of the FPS.

From Wolfenstein to Battlefield 3, this video shows just how much they’ve changed – and just how much they’ve largely remained the same. There are about a dozen or so shooters shown here – though, because they’ve used just one FPS per year there are obviously a number of different games using different engines that, for some or other reason, just haven’t made the cut; most notably Duke Nukem 3D, Hexen/Heretic, Halo and Unreal Tournament anything.

Which FPS’ are conspicuous by their absence?

Last Updated: February 28, 2013

27 Comments

  1. AndriyP

    February 28, 2013 at 12:35

    Quake i miss thee
    Used to play with mates first to 100 kills

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      March 1, 2013 at 09:13

      i think i am going to install arena again, that looked exciting

      Reply

  2. Banana Jim

    February 28, 2013 at 12:54

    And as the details improved, the corridors narrowed…. :/

    Reply

    • AndriyP

      February 28, 2013 at 13:02

      “corridors narrowed”

      I heard a little echo in my head

      Dragon Age..Dragon Age……………Dragon Age……………Dragon Age……..Dragon Age..

      Reply

      • Banana Jim

        February 28, 2013 at 13:16

        And the Cave remained the same.

        Reply

        • Darth_Clericus_The_Ultimate

          February 28, 2013 at 13:41

          HAHA! Was going to say the same thing….

          Reply

      • Banana Jim

        February 28, 2013 at 13:20

        Yeah, but it’s actually amazing how the game world shrunk as the graphics improved. The older FPS games were huge, the current ones… meh!

        Reply

  3. Uberutang

    February 28, 2013 at 13:14

    I can identify my ‘console’ years by the games I do not recognize.

    Reply

  4. Banana Jim

    February 28, 2013 at 13:19

    Where’s Marathon? Why isn’t Marathon there… dammit . it’s THE FPS. Always preferred it to Doom.

    Reply

    • Red Worked

      March 1, 2013 at 13:34

      Wasn’t it also made by Bungie?

      Reply

      • Banana Jim

        March 1, 2013 at 13:41

        Yep! 😀

        Reply

        • Red Worked

          March 1, 2013 at 15:37

          Man… played the crap out of that game in the early 90’s when the only PC at home was my dad’s mac power PC he used for freelance work… Game had quite a deep dead space style story IIRC. Something about being on an alien-overrun Starship Marathon and being manipulated by a ghost-in-the-machine type dude called Durandal. So long ago… hard to remember.

          Reply

          • Red Worked

            March 1, 2013 at 15:38

            Of course… it being a mac-native game from the 90’s is probably why it’s not in the list…

  5. Banana Jim

    February 28, 2013 at 13:26

    The Battlefield games are over-represented in the video…. :/ I mean, hate COD but the earlier games changed the genre and even the current ones have been influential. Speaking of which, where the heck is Medal of Honor?

    Reply

    • Tarisma

      February 28, 2013 at 13:46

      I was wondering the same. Allied Assault FTW

      Reply

      • Banana Jim

        February 28, 2013 at 14:46

        And also no mention of Metroid for GCN, or GoldenEye 64 (Nintendo 6) man those were cool FPS games.

        Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      March 1, 2013 at 09:07

      MOH underground was the first shooter i owned, i was sad i didnt see it :<

      Reply

  6. CypherGate

    February 28, 2013 at 13:30

    I always found the hand/arm animations in FPS’s weird. The improvement in them hasnt been a real big difference. The first few FPS’s has the gun and hands moving back and forth when walking or running. Then more advanced FPS’s has them moving side to side. Then Battlefield 3 popped up (Im sure there a few others that does this as well) Where the gun is tilted so you see more of the gun and movement is left to right. Its a bit more of a natural look. Apart from that minor improvement in form and animation in FPS’s, doesnt anyone feel that it should have been much more improved than it actually is?

    Reply

  7. GooseZA

    February 28, 2013 at 14:04

    Where is Bioshock?

    Reply

  8. Gavman

    February 28, 2013 at 14:14

    Unreal Tournament, Modern Warfare

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      March 1, 2013 at 09:12

      medal of honor, farcry 1, fallout and fear 1

      especially in the graphics timeline, they were all pretty distinctive

      Reply

  9. Driagnor

    February 28, 2013 at 15:19

    I’d forgotten how epic that Quake NIN soundtrack was.

    Reply

  10. Eric Viljoen

    February 28, 2013 at 15:51

    As the video went on the shooting became less and less. The Quake 3 bit looked tense.

    Reply

  11. Colin Dos Santos

    February 28, 2013 at 16:35

    i agree with banana jim. battlefield who? and farcry where that? fear as well. pffft.

    Reply

  12. Tbone187

    March 1, 2013 at 09:03

    No COD…Survival mode on MW3 is the ultimate FPS experience imo…No mention of Medal of Honour as well… My evolution order would be Doom – Half Life – Modern Warfare…

    Reply

  13. HvR

    March 1, 2013 at 09:53

    Duke Nukem 3D ?????? WTF???
    Time to kick and chew bubblegum and I’m all out out of gum.
    Pixelated titties!!!

    Such a shame they never made a sequel.

    Reply

  14. Red Worked

    March 1, 2013 at 13:35

    “…since they first gamed prominence.” Nice typo there 😛

    Reply

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