SHP Forums

There seem to be a lot of First-Person Shooters available for the consoles (even the Wii has a few), so I've been wondering: how do you aim accurately?

Most consoles use analog sticks and the Wii uses a wiimote. Neither are particularly accurate (the wiimote does fare a little better than the analog stick, but not by much) and certainly nowhere near as accurate as a mouse. I've often found movement is far less fluid with an analog stick.

Unless there's an auto-aim or auto-target feature built into a console FPS, I fail to see how you could hit a target. I realize people do hit their targets (if they didn't, games like HALO wouldn't be very popular), but I guess I just don't understand how they do it.

I couldn't disagree more.

I learned FPS on computers. Who didn't - back in the day - with things like Doom, Heretic, Wolfenstien, Unreal, and the vast assortment of additions, expansions and knock offs.

That said, I began getting my games on the console (once I got the XBOX) if the choice was between PC or Console. (I mentioned this before, with not having to worry about video cards, memory, hard drive space, conflicts, sound card issues, etc etc etc etc etc) - consoles just made life easier for me.

That said, when I got my XBOX (because of my wife and her amazing wheeling and dealing) - I got a free copy of HALO. It was my first game on my console. (I had wanted the XBOX because they announced that Toejam & Earl III was going to be an XBOX exclusive!). Anyway, with only HALO to play - I begun the campaign. Admittedly, it was difficult at first. I can't count how many times I mixed up the movement analog stick with the look analog stick. So sometimes I was firing straight into the sky or directly at my feet.

But I beat HALO four times (myself, then with Adam, then Chris, then Paul). I learned how to play FPS on the XBOX because of this. I got an assortment of other games, and even TJ&E came out - but even still, we'd go back to HALO for brainless fun. We even all got it for the PC to play online (so we could all be in the garage and mess with other people - or play unique games like "Predator Mode" between us on the PC). My preference, I found, had become to play on the console. Now the mouse was entirely too hyper sensitive to me - no matter how much I adjusted it. One slight move, and my perfect headshot is now staring at a mountain side.

I have played so much on the console that I actually feel extremely confident when I play games like GEARS OF WAR and such - like I actually think I am as good as some of the people playing. (Which if you knew me and FPS games, me and good FPS gaming did not go hand in hand!) But after many rounds of HORDE MODE on GEARS OF WAR 2 and living and surviving and pulling off some cool moves, I have patted myself on the back. And still - to this day - I still prefer console FPS over PC.

Easily.

I couldn't imagine it on the WiiMote. No thank you.

I haven't figured it out myself. I got "Uncharted" a while back, and the aiming's impossible with an analog stick. Either I'll use up a whole clip of ammo trying to hit a guy two feet in front of me, or I'll be killed while centering the crosshairs on him. You can control the sensitivity under the options menu, but I find that gets screwy depending on the enemy's distance. The only way I got through "Uncharted" was by using lots of shotguns, missile launchers, and grenades. The only way I can go hardcore on the head-shots is with a mouse.

I did like "Ghostbusters" better. The steady stream from my proton pack made it easier to hit ghosts even if I'm not aiming properly.

I've rented an FPS game or two for the Wii and I'd say using the Wiimote is much easier than a gamepad. Obviously, opinions differ, but I was simply more accurate with the Wiimote than I had been with an analog stick. The only downside was that my arm got tired quickly (unless you have a gun adapter, you have to hold your arm out the entire time), but other than that, it wasn't bad.

I've played some FPS games on the PS2 and using the analog stick was a nightmare. I couldn't aim properly at all. I'd sometimes hit an enemy, but more often than not, that was due to blind luck.

Contrast that with the PC, where my aim is fantastic. Using a mouse, I can make tiny adjustments to my aim. On a console, I'll swing hard to the left or right, even if I barely move the analog stick.

Any game where shooting takes place on a console (which is most of them), I've had to use "lock on" buttons. In other words, I couldn't hit a damn thing without having the game lock onto an enemy for me. My aim was a little better using a Wiimote -- where aiming was much quicker and easier than a game pad -- but still nowhere near as good as with a mouse.

As you can tell, I much prefer aiming with a mouse. I couldn't imagine being a sniper and lining up a headshot using a game pad. Like I said before, analog sticks are simply too imprecise (or at least they are for me).

Datadog wrote:I haven't figured it out myself. I got "Uncharted" a while back, and the aiming's impossible with an analog stick. Either I'll use up a whole clip of ammo trying to hit a guy two feet in front of me, or I'll be killed while centering the crosshairs on him. You can control the sensitivity under the options menu, but I find that gets screwy depending on the enemy's distance. The only way I got through "Uncharted" was by using lots of shotguns, missile launchers, and grenades. The only way I can go hardcore on the head-shots is with a mouse.

I did like "Ghostbusters" better. The steady stream from my proton pack made it easier to hit ghosts even if I'm not aiming properly.

We rented and played through Ghostbusters on the Wii and it was really fun! I like playing co-op and the cartoony graphics (only for the Wii) reminded me of the Ghostbusters cartoon I watched as a kid.

I'm kind of disappointed that Uncharted was only for the PS3, since I've heard it has a good story and is a great game.

I think it would take a lot of practice for me to learn how to aim quickly and accurately with a controller of any kind (I still need practice even on the PC). I guess it's all what you've become used to.

Being an addict to games, I play all genre's, on and off console. From my experience, It's a learning curve. I'm definitly hands-down better at pc shooters because i've been playing Nightmare toys, and heretic since i was 5 and counterstrike since i was 10 (i'm only 23)

For example my brother and I play halo2 on legendary on the xbox. I goto my mom's house and play 007 on the N64 which has a FORCED-ONLY auto-aim. I suck. By the 3rd round i've got nearly double the other 2 players kills combined. They have auto aim too.... but I learn quicker. Little techniques that you can do like firing rockets at the ground to kill an opponent because shooting your friend with a slow firing, giant missle on a console is impossible.

Always did love the red dot with the rocket launcher on CS cause you could shoot around corners... sort of... and follow your friend or brother to their death XD.

I think it simply depends on the person. Some people learn different ways. I'm visual spatial... so images... *please no crayon drawing* help my learn faster... and I think that applies to games as well.

Look at GunZ Online for example. I used to play that and was pretty good but quit when everyone else was better. My bro has a lvl 50+ char on there and to see his fingers doing hurricane-like movements across the keyboard just to stay alive is insane. But he could do it... Learning curve.

IgnisLunae wrote:Always did love the red dot with the rocket launcher on CS cause you could shoot around corners... sort of... and follow your friend or brother to their death XD.

I remember the red dot from some other game. I used to love that thing! If it wasn't enough that my opponent had a missile flying at them, they now had a totally unpredictable and zig-zagging missile flying at them!

I'm kind of disappointed that Uncharted was only for the PS3, since I've heard it has a good story and is a great game.

That's what I had heard too. I think casual FPS gamers are just so used to shooting people that any hint of a story is a "good story," because I'm still convinced I've seen Uncharted a bazillion times already in other games. I'd still give it points for presentation, though. It's a rehash, but an entertaining rehash if you can get past all the "OH GOD, THERE'S MONSTERS RUNNING RIGHT AT ME AND I CAN'T AIM FAST ENOUGH WITH THIS ANALOG STICK" moments.

On these FPS games, is anyone else having problems with good AI? I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but I'm finding even on easy mode that on most games, I'm squaring off against hordes of reasonably intelligent henchmen who know how to evade bullets, take cover, equip weapons, and provide cover fire so others can flank me. This is exceptionally annoying when I'm playing with an analog stick, and my best bet is to just run around in circles with guns blazing and hope they all shoot themselves by accident somehow.

Datadog wrote:That's what I had heard too. I think casual FPS gamers are just so used to shooting people that any hint of a story is a "good story," because I'm still convinced I've seen Uncharted a bazillion times already in other games. I'd still give it points for presentation, though. It's a rehash, but an entertaining rehash if you can get past all the "OH GOD, THERE'S MONSTERS RUNNING RIGHT AT ME AND I CAN'T AIM FAST ENOUGH WITH THIS ANALOG STICK" moments.

I wouldn't say FPS gamers think "any story is a good story." Many modern FPS games do have good stories attached to them. Most gamers want a story or at least SOME reason why they're doing whatever it is they're doing. Games where it's just "shoot, shoot, shoot" don't last long on store shelves. I haven't even seen many of that variety (outside pure online multiplayer games) in years.

Stories are almost always going to be better in Adventure and RPGs. Those two genres thrive on story. There's often action in both (RPG more so than Adventure), but the plot is still the main point of the game.

Datadog wrote:On these FPS games, is anyone else having problems with good AI? I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but I'm finding even on easy mode that on most games, I'm squaring off against hordes of reasonably intelligent henchmen who know how to evade bullets, take cover, equip weapons, and provide cover fire so others can flank me. This is exceptionally annoying when I'm playing with an analog stick, and my best bet is to just run around in circles with guns blazing and hope they all shoot themselves by accident somehow.

I've only played a few FPS games on consoles and those that I did play didn't have very good AI. I can't imagine facing good AI while using an analog stick. I'd probably die in a second.

Many FPS games on the PC now employ some very intelligent AI. Hell, I remember F.E.A.R. (which came out in 2005) in which the AI enemies could work as a team, use cover, and attempt to outsmart the player. They'd even kick grenades back at you if there was time to do so.

One time Maia and I were playing together in F.E.A.R. and I had died. Maia was still alive and in a warehouse. I was watching her from my "birds-eye death cam" and I saw one enemy soldier try to distract her while a second enemy creeped up behind her. I warned Maia and she was able to kill them both, but if I hadn't seen them, Maia would've been injured or perhaps dead.

Datadog wrote:

Maiandra wrote:I'm kind of disappointed that Uncharted was only for the PS3, since I've heard it has a good story and is a great game.

That's what I had heard too. I think casual FPS gamers are just so used to shooting people that any hint of a story is a "good story," because I'm still convinced I've seen Uncharted a bazillion times already in other games.

Good. Now I don't have to feel like I'm missing much.

Datadog wrote:...my best bet is to just run around in circles with guns blazing and hope they all shoot themselves by accident somehow.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that resorts to this tactic sometimes. Of course, I don't have the analog stick excuse. *sheepish look* I'm sure DPX will attest that I have been known to yell "you cheating game!" (among other things) in a moment of frustration.

As DPX loves to remind me, there was this one time in Left 4 Dead, when we first started playing it, where the rest of the group was dying/dead and the zombie horde was closing in around me from all directions. So my clever tactic involved spinning around in a circle while firing the sub-machine gun (M16) non-stop. Surprisingly, it actually did hold them off...until I ran out of bullets.

Maiandra wrote:I'm glad I'm not the only one that resorts to this tactic some times. Of course, I don't have the analog stick excuse. *sheepish look* I'm sure DPX will attest that I have been known to yell "you cheating game!" (among other things) in a moment of frustration.

Yeah, you should hear what Maia says when she gets killed by a spy, scout or demo in Team Fortress 2. That and she gets really ticked off when her sentry and dispenser gets destroyed.

Maiandra wrote:As DPX loves to remind me, there was this one time in Left 4 Dead when we first started playing it where the rest of the group was dying/dead and the zombie horde was closing in around me from all directions. So my clever tactic involved spinning around in a circle while firing the sub-machine gun (M16) non-stop. Surprisingly, it actually did hold them off...until I ran out of bullets.

That was so awesome! I wish I had recorded it.

Actually, that reminds me of an article entitled The 10 Most Terrifying Video Game Enemies of All Time that Cracked.com wrote once about Half-Life 2's poison head crabs: "Whenever we heard these lil' f**kers ululating in a shadowy corner of the room, we fell back on our default strategy of spinning in circles and shooting at the ceiling."

IgnisLunae wrote:Being an addict to games, I play all genre's, on and off console. From my experience, It's a learning curve. I'm definitly hands-down better at pc shooters because i've been playing Nightmare toys, and heretic since i was 5 and counterstrike since i was 10 (i'm only 23)

I only started playing anything vaguely FPS about 8 years ago. Even then, it was more First-Person stealth than shooter. Games like Deus Ex, Thief, and System Shock 2, where you could play with a far more cautious playing style than most pure FPS games require. It's probably only been in the last few years that I tried pure FPS and only in the last two years that I tried any that were online mulitplayer.

There certainly is a learning curve and I'm still learning.

I've been playing FPS games since Wolfenstein 3D. The first three FPS games I played online were Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II (1997), Rainbow Six (1998) and Starsiege: Tribes (1998). Before that, my brother and I would play Duke Nukem 3D (1996) together using a LAN. All we did was attempt to kill each other, but it was still fun.

DeadPoolX wrote:I wouldn't say FPS gamers think "any story is a good story." Many modern FPS games do have good stories attached to them. Most gamers want a story or at least SOME reason why they're doing whatever it is they're doing. Games where it's just "shoot, shoot, shoot" don't last long on store shelves. I haven't even seen many of that variety (outside pure online multiplayer games) in years.

True - a game does need something to motivate the player into playing, but that's usually the premise - not the story - and I think that's where a lot of gamers get confused. The story is everything that happens afterward, and in most FPSes, usually involves getting captured, rescuing someone, blowing something up, or running around in dark tunnels shooting jumping rat monsters (which is about as deep as your usual Steven Seagal movie.) So I sort of cringe when I see some kids praising "Halo 3" for it's "in-depth story," when it's very unlikely I could ever get these same people to play more than two minutes of "Gabriel Knight 2."

Of course, I'm not saying every FPS has a bad story. And there's only so many plots you can come up with to justify running around shooting people anyway. Besides, familiarity sells. Just look at the movie industry. I think that's what they were aiming with when it came to "Uncharted" (although, personally I'd rather just watch a play-through than actually play it again.)

On a system such as the Ps3 you can connect a USB keyboard and Mouse to it and you can play FPS that way if the game supports it. Its true with certain Real time Strategy games. However Xbox360 users have to use the Controller The Wii has accessories where you can put the wiimote into that looks like a gun which will help with your aiming.

I played the metrod games on the gamecube and the wii
and I must say that I found the controls to be adequate and for
metroid 3 on the wii to be actually good.