I have been in a big gaming rut lately, to the point that the last game I tried to get into (Bioshock), I had to put down. I then stuck in Fallout New Vegas, since I loved FO3, and I still don't have the enthusiasm I had before. My anticipation was high on seeing the opening cutscene, the setting, and the graphic overhaul...but once I started running around killing stuff, selling items at the shop, etc, it all felt tired and played out.

I just feel like games that involve pointing and shooting at things have lost their luster for me. I loved the open gameplay of FO3, as well as the setting, and feeling like I was immersed in the lore, but I just can't bring myself to play any first person games anymore, at least for a year or so.

Does anyone have any recommendations, on here or a non-Xbox console? Has anyone else had this happen?

To be fair, Fallout 3 and New Vegas are more RPG games than FPS. Since you had to put down Bioshock, you might try the games to inspire it, System Shock.

Also, what is it exactly that you are rutted on in shooter games? If it's the lack of variety or competitive balance, try something like Unreal Tournament. Quake Online might still be running as well if you can find a copy. Do you need a game less serious? Serious Sam. Do you want something you can mess around in? You can get create skin mods for all the characters in Doom. Maybe you need more story along with your shooting? That would probably give you Rainbow Six or Battlefield or Call of Duty..... Or, those could still apply if you need less story. Maybe you need shooters you can get in and get out with no problem or commitment. Unreal Tourny or I suppose any game with king of the hill or a time limited free for all.

Heavy Rain on PS3. If I could I would force everyone to play it at least 3 times for the multiple endings.

Minecraft?

Skyrim?

Ohh Ohh - and Psychonauts, get it if you haven't played it. I have started it up (again) and enjoying as much this time around as all the other times I have done.

I get burned out on games all the time. I usually switching genres helps. If you are playing a lot of FPS try giving a turn based game or a story driven adventure game a try. The slower pace will offer a different gaming experience. Then next time you want to play a FPS it will seem more fresh.

Also if you liked the fallout games you could give 1 and 2 a try on GOG. They are not FP and they are very diffent from 3 and New Vegas

If you have a PS3 why not check out the PS1 classics on the PSN? There are some really good games in there that aren't first person and are very heavy on story. There is always the generic FF7 or 9 but my recommendation would be Xenogears or Vagrant Story.

psychonauts is a good suggestion from here. Also Rayman 2 The Great Escape

Since you said a non xbox 360 console, I'll say Rayman Origins for ps3.

All of these games are not only different from FPS in gameplay, but the art styles are a drastic differnce from typical FPS games. Wildly imaginative and colorful with great varied worlds.


a good psn title: Pac-Man Championship EditionDX. Not a deep game at all, but ridiculously fun and addictive.

Are you interested in multiplayer at all?
If yes, then I'd recommend two games:
1) CS 1.6 Might have a higher learning curve but it's the best multiplayer FPS ever made.
2) COD: WAW. I saw my friends play this and it was the game that got me into the franchise. I've played every COD game that was subsequently released and the multiplayer experiences didn't even compare. Don't waste your money on any other COD game, with the exception of MW2 for the single player.

I can't really recommend anything on GOG though, except for maybe Painkiller and Duke Nukem 3D (make sure you get eDuke).
I wouldn't recommend the Unreal Tournaments. They are fun but get tedious very quickly and offer imo little longevity or replay value.

Oh and how you tried ArmA? It does require quite a bit of patience (which I don't have in 2012 any more. Nor do I have the time) but if you can afford that, it's a fantastic experience.

To be fair, he did explicitly say that he wasn't interested in FPS anymore, but it's good to know that I'm not the only one that thinks WaW was the last great CoD game. I love it in multiplayer, and I find it's a lot more balanced than Modern Warfare or anything that came after that.

Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten. Don't let the cutesy lo-fi/indie developer art (or the fact that it's an Adobe AIR app) get to you; this is an engrossing game that reminds me very much of the "simple but deep" design philosophy expressed in an Extra Credits episode. It's a Tower Defense game, sure, but it plays like an RPG-TD hybrid; your "towers" are party members* summoned by your character, who you get to level up and upgrade via item shops, monster drops, and skill trees. You upgrade them on the fly in-game (like a TD game) but the abilities that are improved depend on what parts of their skill tree that you decide to place focus on (like an RPG).

There's an in-browser demo available here, and you can even export your demo saved game to use later if you decide to buy it (and it's very, very cheap). It's DRM-free, Mac/Win/Linux compatible, too. This game tore me away from my third play through of Deus Ex, which is really saying alot.

*By the end of Act IV, your "party" will end up looking more like a small army...

Well he did ask for recommendations so I was hoping that he wouldn't be completely burned out yet! Everyone has gaming ruts!

But yeah, I grew up with Doom II, the Quakes, Duke Nukem 3D and then Half-Life (and bazillions of mods. I probably put as much time into Sven-Coop alone as I put into HL) and started playing CS while it was in beta. I used to think that I loved the FPS genre because I had really pleasant experiences these games, but whenever I tried any new ones, I ended up putting them down in disgust. I didn't feel like the newer games did anything better than the previous ones.

Look at level design, for example. How many modern games can parallel the excellence in level design of the old goodies? Very few.
Graphics for me are moot because I care for them very little. Gameplay above everything.

Anyway, after having tried many, many other FPSes over the years CoD:WaW was what resuscitated the genre for me. The SP experience is mediocre but the MP is fantastic. I've ranted about the excellence of this game on this forum on many occasions already, so won't go into them again.

I've given fair tries to all the other CoDs release after WaW (I often have friends come over who are CoD players so I got it to play with them really [hot seat is awesome]) and they've been nothing in comparison to WaW.

Honourable mention here goes to HL2 - that game was pretty good but not good enough for me to play it more than once. I still haven't played EP1+2 even though I've owned them pretty much since release. They are ranked pretty high in my backlog though.

I think the major turn-off for me in modern FPSes is the lack of satisfaction that you get from killing. It simply isn't there. For example, the weapons in HL2 are so gimpy (and I'm also not a big fan of the Source engine. It's ok.) Sure the graviton gun is nice, but it's gimmicky and too easy. It doesn't compare to shooting a dude in the face in CS, or railing someone to bits in Quake II. And games like whateverthatonewascalledwhereyouhadtokilllegionsofdudesinhorrendousways simply make it so easy that it's no longer special, it's the rule rather than the exception. You don't get the satisfaction from pulling off a skill (or even a lucky) shot.

On top of that, these games don't have the backbone in solid and refined game mechanics. All of this means that people end up dropping them quite soon and moving onto newer games. They cannot carry their own weight and thus the community ends up weak, leading to lack of development in the multiplayer experience and a poor experience overall due to a lack of players.

WaW has solid mechanics and it offers satisfying gameplay. Also, map pack 3 introduced some of the best maps I've ever played in mutliplayer (admittedly, what came before was rather poor).

Oh and I've written enough, cannot be bothered to explain why I don't like the MP experience in the other CoDs. They will simply be forgotten once the next instalment comes out because they are simply unpolished turds hastily churned out from Activision's asshole.

edit: oh and I also thoroughly enjoyed Doom III, don't see what people didn't like about it.

FarCry and Solider of Fortune were also great, but I don't think that either one has aged particularly well. The latter has gone especially sour.