Entry-level shooters

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thebalch

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Hey y'all,

I have no doubt that this subject has been brought up countless times, and I'm sure that my even asking will make some people cranky. Or maybe not?

I've never really been into shooters. Medal of Honor and Call of Duty never interested me personally, and I could never get into Halo, but there's stuff coming out in the last few years that seem cool. I'd really love to be able to play Overwatch, for example. To be honest, I don't think my lack of interest in the genre generally has anything to do with the quality of the games themselves; it's partly due to the fact that I'm just not good at/used to them.

I have a condition that affects both my fine motor skills and my ability to process stimuli, so right now things like multiplayer shooters feel like I'm being bombarded with stuff that I can't make sense of. I can improve, however. My parents got me my first system to improve my hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and games helped me come a long way from the kid they said would never be able to type or tie his shoes or handle button flies.

So for all these reasons I'd like some advice on what people think could be a good entry-level shooter. I'm used to some first-person stuff already, namely Skyrim and Fallout 3 (although honestly it's either use VATS or gtfo.) The only recent shooter-type multiplayer I've seen is Uncharted 2 or 3. Tried playing that once. Got WAY too overstimulated. I think I killed someone once on accident and felt like I had climbed Mt. Everest.

Any help would be appreciated. I want to at least be able to appreciate what my friends get out of this stuff.

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BallsLeon

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I have heard good things about Splatoon and specifically that it is a entry-level shooter of sorts. Grain of salt though I don't have much experience myself.

What about an FPS like DOOM? Ideally you can scale the difficulty down to your liking, but if you can get comfortable with these controls that should translate to any FPS.

Similar recommendation, Devil Daggers. You may be thinking this game is nothing but overstimulating/insane, and you'd be right.... but being an arcadey/high-score based shooter with quick restarts maybe the cost of dying is less taxing to you.

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liquiddragon

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#3  Edited By liquiddragon

So you want to play multiplayer? Seems like you should start off with single player shooters.

I'm not really a FPS fanatic and got into the genre pretty late. I don't think you can beat the feel of Destiny so I'd recommend that. It's also trying to be an RPG so I don't think it takes much skill unless you're looking to do the hard stuff.

Destiny 2 is on sale at Best Buy for $20 so maybe check that out.

It also has multiplayer so you can get into that when you're up for it.

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ShaggE

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Maybe try an old-school 2.5D shooter, like the original Doom (using a sourceport, so you can practice your WASD+M controls). Aiming doesn't have to be ultra precise, the simple graphics will be less overstimulating, etc. I'm wondering if that wouldn't help with you getting used to modern shooters and kind of dialing in what works best for you regarding control and sensitivity options.

Might also help get you more intrigued into the genre if you play one of the all-time best, haha.

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Justin258

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What, exactly, overstimulates you? Too much UI, too many rules, or a need to do extremely precise actions very quickly?

Titanfall 2 has a bunch of AI running around in its multiplayer mode that you can kill. But it also has a lot of UI and a lot of ways to move across the map.

Counter Strike GO has very simple rules but a very high skill ceiling. Trying this with bots could be a very good starting point.

If Halo multiplayer was too much for you starting out, then I have no idea where you'd start. CSGO with bots would be OK, I guess, but that requires a decent computer and mouse and keyboard.

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thebalch

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#6  Edited By thebalch

@justin258: Ah, you know, I think in the case of Halo the most difficult thing for me were figuring out how to keep from swinging the camera around like a maniac. I could mess with sensitivity, but when I use an analog stick I have to use my right thumb, and that's my most affected side. I've gotten more used to that sort of thing since thanks to first-person RPG's I've played. The most difficult thing is definitely being surrounded by a lot of people at once jumping around and stuff. In those cases it can be hard to track all those things moving what seems like all over the place.

I think ShaggE and BallsLeon are on to something with Doom. I love classic games, and I've been really curious about trying the original for a long time.

I know other people who have trouble with first-person. One friend of mine literally gets motion sickness. Maybe it's just a question of acclimating myself?

Also for what it's worth I haven't played Halo with a group for like ten years. Maybe it'd be different now.

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Ravey

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#7  Edited By Ravey

+1 for the original Doom, +1 for mouse & keyboard if possible.

Half-Life 2 is a great teaching game.

You'll need to find a group to play with, but you might like Sub Rosa (you can download it here).

It's extremely minimal. Combat is quite slow paced compared to most shooters: Movement is momentum-based, so it's harder to be overwhelmed by someone moving around on foot. Bullets travel slower, so you can engage other players from whatever distance you're comfortable with and it always feels fair. Driving may be required, but it shifts most of the twitchier movement to your left hand (you can usually take a passenger seat if that's preferable). It's one of the most player-friendly tactical shooter in terms of its feel, though it may be difficult to distinguish between teams since the only distinguishing factor is the colour of their suit and tie. But because you can dodge bullets, you're encouraged to zoom in and identify players before entering into a firefight.

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thebalch

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I just want to say how grateful I am for every single person who's commented on this thread. Honestly the thing I was expecting the most was "git gud" or "don't bother," and I sincerely and deeply appreciate the kindness and sensitivity of all these responses. Thanks so much for treating me so well.

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oodli

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How about SUPERHOT? The game works that time moves when you move, giving more room to play it slowly, almost making it a puzzle game and a shooter in one.

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Ravey

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#11  Edited By Ravey

@thebalch: You're welcome :-) I hope you find games that work for you.

Incidentally, GoldenEye would've been perfect: left hand was used for aiming, shooting and moving, and you could get through 99% of the game with one stick, one trigger and one button. Whereas even the simplest first-person shooters on PC have you move around with your left hand and aim and shoot with your right. Mouse/keyboard and dual analog controllers were clearly superior in terms of where the challenge and complexity in shooters was going, but I'm still impressed by what they managed to achieve within the constraints of the N64 controller.

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thebalch

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@ravey: Oh my God, I totally forgot about that game. I remember every kid in the neighborhood would come to the nearest house with an N64 in it and we'd play DK mode until our eyes fell out. This is a great idea. I even played the single-player campaign (not NEARLY as fun!)

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thebalch

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Actually, I did get kind of good at one "shooter": the Conker's Bad Fur Day multiplayer. Which barely counts :D

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Ravey

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#14  Edited By Ravey

Didn't get around to GoldenEye until 2000 and I was already playing shooters on PC. The singleplayer still has a special place in my heart :-) That game made me realise that tactical shooters didn't have to be realistic, and it did it long before the serious ones even showed up! Fantastic game, top to bottom.

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thebalch

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@ravey: Ah, then I ought to give the single player another look! I may be thinking of the campaign from another 007 game for the Playstation.

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Sheath

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Another single player game that could ease you into playing First person shooters is Portal! That's a game that you can definitely take at your own pace, and the puzzles start small and escalate to more complex movements and scenarios. Between the first and second game, that's a good amount of time (I'd say 10 to 12 hours total across both of them) to acclimate to FPS controls.

In terms of multiplayer stuff, I think my recommendations would be the remastered CoD 4 (I would stay away from other modern Call of Duty games or offshoots like Titanfall since over the years more and more mechanics to keep in mind have been implemented into these) or possibly Team Fortress 2 if you have a computer! I love TF2, and it's a nice primer into Overwatch, but all of the weapons can kind of complicate what's going on. Once you are able to learn the differentiation between all of the classes, then that's the majority of the game.

Good luck with your search!

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Sheath

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@ravey: I agree with Half Life 2! Another single player game, but it starts small with just single enemies and melee weapons or pistols, but then introduces you to a lot of traditional weapons in FPS as well as fun unique variants.

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nutter

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If you have friends to play co-op with, Overwatch is perfectly playable against AI (which has difficulty settings). There are also co-op modes that cycle in and out sometimes. It’s also a really fun game to play support in (and people love you for it).

Halo would also be high on my list, but I know you’re not down with that.

Superhot and Portal are also great (assuming Portal counts as a shooter).

If it’s more shooting and less FPS that you’re looking for, I remember LOVING Full Spectrum Warrior. It’s mostly issuing commands to squads in a third person perspective. It’s been a while, though...hopefully, it holds up.

Again, not first person, but playing an engineer in something like Monday Night Combat or Gears of War 4’s Horde mode can be super fun, too. Shooting happens, but you’re more overseeing the battlefield.

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thebalch

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@nutter: I'd be willing to give Halo another shot. I wonder if maybe I suffered from a little over-saturation; there was definitely a period in high school where it seemed like that was about all my friends wanted to do, and I couldn't relate at the time. It would be lovely to get to a place where I enjoy it, because so many people can't be wrong. I'm definitely missing out on something cool.

That's really exciting to know that Overwatch has manageable AI...I had no idea! Maybe I can get my better half into it. I don't know how good I would be at spec-ing and doing optimizing my load-out or whatever it is that kids do these days (hahah,) but it looks soooo neat.

Actually I totally forgot that I played and really liked the first Gears of War (I lost my shit when my cousin and I got the "My Love for You is Like a Truck.) We even beat the campaign, even though it was tough. Unfortunately I really like the idea of sharpshooting, but there is no worse sniper on planet Earth. You gotta be honest about your limitations, unfortunately.

I'm gonna make a list of all these great suggestions!

Maybe with all your help I can actually be a good support player someday! :)

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nutter

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#20  Edited By nutter

@thebalch: Overwatch is super casual to get into. No loadouts or anything. You choose a character from one of four classes (DPS, defense, tank, or support) and hop in. Unlockables are all cosmetic, voice lines, or emotes, basically.

Actually, now that I think about it, if you’re concerned about easing yourself into it, there’s a public co-op mode that has a decent community around it. I want to say you can go into the easy, normal, or hard AI hopper and get matched up. The whole game is party based, so you could party up with some folks you know and enter the hopper to fill the team with players.

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Slag

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@thebalch: Can your play on PC?

As someone who is a lousy shot himself, I personally find it's a lot easier to control the camera and aim in FPS games with a mouse. I don't how that'd play with your condition, but it's a worth a shot if managing 2 sticks is difficult for you.

As others have said Splatoon and Overwatch are great games that have ways to be effective without having pinpoint aim.

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thebalch

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@slag: We don't have a PC to play with right now, but we're planning on getting a desktop soon...I've been a Mac guy for years, and I know that having a good PC will blow the doors wide open for tons of stuff I've never been able to really play.

I'd never thought about it since I almost always play on consoles, but that WOULD be easier, wouldn't it? I could literally point and shoot? OK, that changes things.

I'm glad Overwatch and Splatoon are good ones, because they're definitely the most appealing. I'm excited!

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sweep

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#24 sweep  Moderator

Have you considered an on-rails shooter like Star Fox? I'm not sure what the modern day equivalent would be... but that seems like a good way to kinda get around having to deal with multiple dimensions in 3D space.

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Tyrrael

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You could try Rage. There are some underlying mechanics like crafting, but you don't really have to use them. The shooting is solid, and it uses a more muted color pallet and things don't explode around you constantly, so it won't seem too overwhelming. It's not as flashy as something like Call of Duty, where every altercation is a massive spectacle, but it's still solid and fun to play for what it is. And with the second one coming out, it may be worth giving it a shot.

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Slag

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@thebalch: I certainly feel like they are. You do lose aim assist on PC, but I'll take the easier (for me) camera controls.

I think Overwatch in particular is much better on PC than console, part of that is people actually use voice chat on PC for a very team focused game. You also don't need a high end PC to play it as its very well optimized.

Splatoon/2 is Wiiu/Switch only but a pretty different thing so the lack of voice chat isn't a big deal.

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azulot

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@nutter said:

@thebalch: Overwatch is super casual to get into. No loadouts or anything. You choose a character from one of four classes (DPS, defense, tank, or support) and hop in. Unlockables are all cosmetic, voice lines, or emotes, basically.

Actually, now that I think about it, if you’re concerned about easing yourself into it, there’s a public co-op mode that has a decent community around it. I want to say you can go into the easy, normal, or hard AI hopper and get matched up. The whole game is party based, so you could party up with some folks you know and enter the hopper to fill the team with players.

I'm gonna second this. I love overwatch. If it's been a while, I just play against easy AI and play whatever character I want, or I play the mode that just gives me random characters. I have been playing it off and on since it came out and haven't had a negative experience. Anytime there's a negative player, usually the rest of the team shuts them up. Me personally, I'm not a very multiplayer-centric person but, more often than not, I manage to have a good time with overwatch (I like to play as Diva, Torbjorn, and Soldier 76) .

I wish I had more shooters to offer. Overwatch is definitely the most fun I have with the genre, though (since "actual" Battlefront 2 at least)

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Seeric

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The original Doom and Doom 2 were the first things to come to mind for me as well (also DUSK, which is a newer indie game very heavily inspired by them). The adjustable difficulty is great, you can make a save anywhere, and, if you feel like you need/want any of them, there are plenty of easily accessible cheat codes built right in that can be toggled off just as easily as they can be toggled on.

Plus, people have made, and are still making, an absolutely absurd number of mods for Doom (and especially Doom 2), many of which are entirely different games outside of the basic engine, so you certainly get your money's worth of content.

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deactivated-5f39c75856922

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I would try superhot, it's a fun game and you can take it at your own pace.

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TobbRobb

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If you have problems doing fine motions with the analogue stick (honestly it's not easy even without extra problems). I would definitely recommend trying a mouse+keyboard setup with low sensitivty. It comes much more down to wider movements with your whole arm to do fine motions and makes it much harder to twitch around and overshoot your aim. If you can access DPI settings on your mouse, a lot of pros in counter strike and similar precision/twitch games recommend 800 DPI, I personally do 1200. But I just want to give you a frame of reference because it's very easy to think higher=better. So in a game like Overwatch I will have a sensitivty of around 3-4 (out of 100, so really low) and my 1200 DPI and it feels slow, but very precise. And you can still twitch by doing wide motions with your arm.

Overwatch is honestly probably your best bet for a multiplayer game. It does a lot of things to help ease you into the genre. You mostly just have to pay attention on what's in front of you and less so what could be behind or on the flanks, so it's easier to focus on what's important. As long as you stick to one guy for a bit, the ability kits are simple and quick to pick up which also lessens the things you have to pay attention to after a few matches. And there's enough casual/AI/custom modes where you can mess around and get used to it. The shooting range/training area is actually very useful, even experienced players use it to brush up on their skills.

I don't hate the idea of playing original DOOM, it's a great game so absolutely play it. But as far as getting used to shooters goes, I think you just have to start practicing the full range of motion immediately. The learning curve might look like a cliff, but there's really no way around it other than practice. So delaying it doesn't really help anything. You could view it as playing an instrument even. An hour of full range FPS a day and you'll pick it up faster than you think.

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vasta_narada

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Splatoon is probably a decent bet. The camera moves fairly slowly via analog stick so you shouldn't have too much issues like with Halo, and maybe you'll have better luck with the motion controls anyway. You could also try Superhot; it's punishing since it's one-hit-kill but time nearly stops when you aren't doing anything, so you can take your time.

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nutter

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@azulot: @thebalch:

Overwatch is the only competitive shooter I play, these days.

I used to play a ton of them, but I’m old, busy, and often tired. Overwatch doesn’t have absurd progression systems. There’s no keeping up with friends. Characters are what they are and you hop in and have fun.

The only thing not pleasantly old-school about the approach is constant tweaking of the characters. I started with Mercy (to support and learn the game), and eventually found that D. Va was my main. As with most characters, she’s been radically changed over time. So there’s some rolling with the punches as they add, remove, and rebalance moves.

Aside from that, pretty perfect for a casual competitive shooter...

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Bonbonetti

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Something slow-paced like the Sniper Elite and Ghost Warrior games. They always get a bad wrap, but I think they are fun to play.

The Crysis games as well perhaps, I don't remember them being as frantic as regular shooters.

The Deus Ex games, for similar reasons.

I really enjoy hunting games like theHunter: Call of the Wild and Hunting Simulator, they are sort of like a shooter … but quite relaxing to play.

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BladeOfCreation

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#37  Edited By BladeOfCreation

@thebalch: When you get a PC, consider trying Team Fortress 2. There's a medic class that's great for beginners to FPS games. You just follow the big guy on your team while holding down the button to heal, and when you're charged up, you hit a different button to give the big guy a power boost. If the community is still around, it may be a game to look into. Even if you've played shooters before, it's a great introduction on the controls of a PC shooter.

Overwatch has a similar character named Mercy, although she has a few more abilities to learn and some ways of getting around the environment that may be a little disorienting at first. There's also a character named Bastion, who's literally just a robot that turns into a turret. You get to where you need to be, enter turret mode, and then it's just point and shoot! A lot of Overwatch characters have ways to traverse the terrain that get hectic, but there's also a handful of characters that are slow (or even nearly stationary). The character list is up to 28 characters now. You will absolutely be able to find a few that fit your play style!

I know you're talking about shooters here, but you're absolutely correct. Getting a PC will open up the options of the types of games you can play exponentially.

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clagnaught

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