We’re back with our “Let’s Talk About…” series! Check out the previous chats here.
Let’s Talk About…: Time Crisis: Project Titan
My experiences with first-person shooters are unfortunately limited, but one that I really enjoyed playing when I was younger was Time Crisis: Project Titan on the original Playstation. Time Crisis: Project Titan is a first-person on-rails light gun shooter, and, truth be told, I got into it because I loved Duck Hunt on the NES so much. My brother gave me this game, along with the light gun, when he upgraded to the Playstation 2, and, much like the gentle fib he told me about Grand Theft Auto being like Crazy Taxi, he told me that Project Titan was like Duck Hunt, but without the laughing dog. And for some reason, I believed him again (okay, not really). Older brothers, huh?
I had a lot of fun with this game. There was something very visceral about actually holding onto something that felt like a gun and pulling a trigger. Maybe it’s because my dad used to take my brother to the shooting range, and when I was little and asked if I could go with them, he promised that when I was older he’d take me, too. So I guess there’s a part of me that always wanted to shoot a gun, as pacifistic as I am.
Anyway, I remember my mother hated this game. She tolerated other games, but there was something about me actually shooting the people on a screen that rubbed her the wrong way. There’s one mini-boss battle with a man dressed as a chef, and I remember she was so annoyed that “even the cooks are bad?!” And she rolled her eyes and sat back with a disapproving look on her face, before reminding me that if I was going to fight him, I should at least remember to go into cover and reload.
So yeah. My parents might have been strict, but they were/are also awesome.
I don’t remember much of the plot, or really anything else about the game, other than the cook, this awful stairwell I had to shoot my way up, and a heliport (?) that had heavy machinery you had to duck to avoid. Looking back, it was standard rail-shooter fare, but now I just want to go see if that old light-gun is still lying around somewhere…
What about you? What was the first first-person shooter you ever played? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon!
~ Athena
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Doom would ahve been my first, after some bright spark snuck it onto the computers in high school.
Time Crisis though … they have that at AllGen, a gaming centre near me (think almost every console going back fifty years with a mass selectrion of games that you can play). I actually spent three different sessions there getting used to suing the gun again and finally finishing the thing. That was a blast!
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Ah, yes. Doom is definitely up there, as well. That’s neat that you have a place so close to you with so many different games! The light gun does take some getting used to, but it really is a lot of fun to use once you get the hang of it!
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It really is. It creates some funny visuals too when you find yourself physically ducking and moving to avoid bullets. That and my habit of having the character hide so that I can drink tea.
AllGen is great. Is run by a nice family, the prices are reasonable, and the detection of old favourites and gages that I just didn’t get to play or finish before is immense.
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I think Doom was my first but I’m not certain. I remember my dad bringing home a handful of copied floppy discs from a colleague of his and my being hooked on it. Other than that I played a good variety of shareware (remember that?!) FPS games but they were fairly terrible!
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Omg shareware… yes. Yes I do remember that… No wonder they weren’t that great (haha). Doom was pretty awesome; that was more of my brother’s “scene” but it definitely was an exciting game to play!
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I spent many an hour (well minutes) on arcade machines like Point Blank and House of the Dead when I was younger. Good times! 🙂
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Nice! Those sound like minutes well spent 🙂
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It was BioShock for me. It completely changed how I viewed the genre.
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I’ve heard that about BioShock. It’s on my list of games to watch, because I really don’t think I’d be able to handle playing the games myself, but yeah, that’s a really great one!
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My first and last first-person shooter was Virtua Cop/Virtua Squad. I get motion sickness super easily, so that put an end to playing FPS.
I did have a lot of fun watching my sister play The House of the Dead series, though. If I am being honest, the most entertaining part about that was watching her react to jump-scares, but it was fun nonetheless. 😛
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Yeah. What’s funny is that I don’t get motion sickness in real life, but I really do begin to get claustrophobic and anxious when playing FPSs. Huh.
I definitely enjoy watching other people play games, and yes, sometimes their reactions are more entertaining that the actual game!!
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Same, although in my case it’s more like a general uneasiness. It’s a real shame, because after playing the Tomb Raider reboot I have a newfound appreciation for blowing stuff up. Thank goodness there are still third-person shooters and action RPGs.
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Yes, thank goodness for small favors…. I didn’t realize the Tomb Raider reboot was first-person, though!
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I’m pretty sure it was Wolfenstein 3D. If I remember correctly, one of my teachers had installed it on the computer he had in his classroom.
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That’s a pretty excellent game, and I’m surprised that your teacher had it on a school computer!! We had Apple IIe’s when I was in school (once we had computers) and Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail was about as fancy as we got (haha). But that’s really interesting that you had a game like Wolfenstein available at school!
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I’m fairly sure he wasn’t supposed to have it on his room pc but he was a quirky guy.
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In real life, and on many occasions, I have fired shotguns, 2 different types of machine guns, handguns, an assault rifle, and I’ve even thrown live frag grenades (the force that tears through the air is truly awe-inspiring). Those were some of the best experiences from my Army Reserve days. I’ll treasure those memories forever. Getting yelled at to wake up at 5am and run around a lot, not so much 🙂
Your mom gives awesome advice! I haven’t played any light gun games, yet. My first FPS was probably Goldeneye on the N64. I really loved that game! I enjoyed the gadgets and cheat codes (DK mode was hilarious) just as much as the mindless shooting of bad guys.
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Ah, well, my paltry little light-gun handling is not all that impressive compared to the real gun-toting hero I’m speaking to, then! Although I do appreciate my gun-toting experience was sans 5am face-screaming.
Haha yeah my mom does give good advice. I especially loved that she obviously hated the game but was still encouraging me to be good at it if I was going to put in the time. I forgot about Goldeneye! That’s a great game! I wasn’t really good at it (my friend owned it so I didn’t play it all that much) but it was a lot of fun 🙂
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It sounds like you can handle yourself well with a light-gun. And, wow! Gun-toting hero sounds much better than awkward wannabe warrior 😀
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You reminded me that Duck Hunt is an FPS, and I loved Duck Hunt. I still want a remake where you can shoot that dog. I don’t care if you lose points or it’s a game over. Totally worth it!
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Haha yeah Duck Hunt is great. I still have a tube television, so when my (recently re-acquired) NES was still working, I could still play it. The dog is still as irritating as ever… I think the arcade version allowed you to shoot the dog, and there are fan-made games that allow you to do the same thing, but I’d pay money for a proper cartridge that allowed it, too (even with a point penalty).
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I wish I’d played the arcade version :p
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Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
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There definitely was Duck Hunt and a few arcade games that could be considered RPS back in the day. Particularly the Star Wars one where you sat in the cockpit! So AWESOME! The first that I played at any length was either the original Doom or Wolfenstien 3D. It was entertaining for awhile, but I was (too) young and really didn’t understand what the point was outside of shooting up the baddies. Today, while I consider myself firstly an RPG guy, I do enjoy quite a few FPS titles now that they’ve adopted RPG elements (cough, Destiny. cough).
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Are you talking about Star Wars Podracers? If you are, that’s a *great* game that I spent way too many hours playing (haha). I’m definitely more of an RPG fan myself, so I can see the allure of Destiny, for sure! Have you played BioShock, as well? It’s not an RPG, but I hear it has a fantastic story!
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I have never considered light gun games to be first person shooters, though I suppose by the strict definition they must be, yet I can’t bring myself to accept that so I must reply with Wolfenstein 3d as well. Once I saw all those nazis being blown away and heard those fancy sound blaster-enabled MEIN LABEN!s, I was hooked for life.
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That’s fair. It’s definitely a broad definition of the genre, since *technically* it’s first-person and *technically* you’re shooting things…. Anyway, Wolfenstein is definitely a memorable game, too!
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I wouldn’t mind playing some of those old NES zapper games again though…
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I think mine was Return to Castle Wolfenstein, I wasn’t seriously playing it though I was just messing about with it. I always avoided FPS games until recently because I was more of a “traditional” weapons user (swords and shields and stuff where you could get up close and personal) and I was never as good at them as other games, but then I played Borderlands and that got me really into them.
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Wolfenstein is definitely taking the prize for first FPS! I haven’t played many FPS games, either, and I know I’m missing out on a bunch of really great stories (Borderlands being one of them). It’s nice to see how far certain genres have come!
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I think my first FPS was Doom order Wolfenstein, but I wasn’t too big on them. The first one that really drew me in was Golden eye 007 on N64. License to kill was my main jam.
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I surprisingly never played Goldeneye 007, but my friend had it and absolutely loved it. I think you’re one of the first people I’ve heard day that Doom and/or Wolfenstein didn’t do anything for them!
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Lol yes I’m.probablt in the minority, I didn’t think they were bad. They were very cool at the time, I was impressed by the concept, just could never get into it..maybe it was too hard for me.
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Eh, I never got into them either, similarly not thinking they were bad, but I just didn’t get into them. Maybe it was the difficulty. Who knows?
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In ways it’s a scary game, as a kid I was probably scared of it. I never did good with scary things
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I’m not a great fan of arcades, because I’m cheap and don’t like the idea of playing like ten minutes of a game, but I’ve always made an exception for Time Crisis. It’s the gun that mimics recoil that I think really does it for me. It makes it just feel good to play. I wish more games did that.
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I hear you about arcades. But Time Crisis was a good one, especially after I had been introduced to it on the Playstation (haha). I’d totally support light gun games having more realistic recoil!!
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