1st Person vs. 3rd Person (with a hint, or maybe more of 2nd)

i want a second person shooter that has online play.


but 3rd vs. first is hard to choose but for now i guess first person.

Nice post. It really depends what you want out of a game. Obviously most games are third-person - platform games, all 2D games, etc. But I guess what you are referring to is modern action games - Gears of War vs COD4.

One of my favourite games is Counter-Strike, which is a first-person shooter. The precision aiming and control of recoil is something that I just don't think you can match in third-person. It's also an essential part of the game that you cannot see outside your own field of vision - third-person games are a sort-of cheat when it comes to seeing things that your character simply would not be able to see in reality.

First-person is obviously more true to what we experience in the real world. Although it's less precise and sometimes more frustrating than its third-person counterparts, I found that when Mirror's Edge worked well it far surpassed third-person equivalents in terms of exhileration and edge-of-the-seat action. I think it's essential that games like Condemned and FEAR are first-person - the shocks have to come out of what you are actually seeing, and be right there in front of you.

There's a slightly weird hybrid going on with some modern games. Games where the controller is a key part of the game, Guitar Hero or Wii Fit for example, have both first-person and third-person elements. In Wii Music you move the remote like you're actually playing an instrument, and it's hard to describe that as anything but first-person. But yet often onscreen is a third-person representation of what you are performing in the first person. It's quite a weird relationship. I think we may find that games in the future take this into shooter territory - we may find ourselves pointing a replica gun around our empty room at home, but doing so to control a third-person perspective game onscreen.

That would be intresting to play that online. But hard I would guess. Very small maps

I don't care about a preference but I will point out that that picture of COD4 looks like crap. That is like the PC lowest settings or something.

Yeah it does look but but its just if you didn't know. Most people do though.

I have always liked first person for shooters because I feel like I have more direct control over the aiming and movement of a character than if I was playing 3rd person.

Any other game though, I think third person is better because it gives a better sense of self. You know where your body is and can maneuver better.

Some may say that 1st person adds more realism to the game, IE Mirror's Edge, but I don't buy into that at all. I have never noticed a difference between 3rd person and 1st person horror games for example in terms of the scare factor.

But then again most of those are on-rail shooters.

I really liked what Mirror's Edge try to do. I only played the demo, which I liked, but I think it was a risk, and one worth taking. I hope more companys try to do what that game did.