User:PaintballGuy973/Shooter game

Shooter games are a subgenre of action video game, which often test the player's spatial awareness, reflexes, and speed in both isolated single player or networked multiplayer environments. Shooter games encompass many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing on the actions of the avatar engaging in combat with a weapon against both code-driven NPC enemies or other avatars controlled by other players.

Usually this weapon is a firearm or some other long-range weapon, and can be used in combination with other tools such as grenades for indirect offense, armor for additional defense, or accessories such as telescopic sights to modify the behavior of the weapons. A common resource found in many shooter games is ammunition, armor or health, or upgrades which augment the player character's weapons.

Most commonly, the purpose of a shooter game is to shoot opponents and proceed through missions without the player character being killed or dying as a result of the player's actions.

Arena shooters are multiplayer shooters that feature fast pace gameplay that emphasizes quick speed and agile movement. These games will usually feature weapons that don't require the player to reload by giving the the player unlimited ammo. Other gameplay elements include a lower gravitational atmosphere and jump pads, and very fast character movement. Examples of these include the Quake and Unreal series, more specifically Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament which first pioneered the genre. These games are also characterized by their focus on multiplayer only with most titles not even featuring a single player mode. While the genre hits its peak in popularity in the late 90s and early 2000s, they have become less popular in recent times with other shooter genres rising to prominence with many of the newest arena shooters being released and developed by indie studios like Reflex Arena.

Power Ups are items within a game than can alter the ability of the player or the ability of the in game world. Such alterations include increasing the players movement speed, adding an upgrade to the players base weapon, the ability to jump higher, and other abilities that change the gameplay or impact the player.

Hero shooters[edit]

Main article: Hero shooter

Hero shooters are a variation of multiplayer first- or third-person arena-based shooters, where players, split among two or more teams, select from pre-designed "hero" characters that each possess unique attributes, skills, weapons, and other passive and active abilities; players may have the ability to customize the appearance of these characters, but these changes are usually cosmetic only and do not alter the game's balance or the behavior of the "hero". Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match. Hero shooters take many of their design elements both from older class-based shooters and multiplayer online battle arena games. The class-based shooter Team Fortress 2 is considered to be the codifier of the hero shooter genre. Popular hero shooters include Overwatch, Apex Legends, and Paladins: Champions of the Realm. Hero shooters have been considered to have strong potential as esports games as a large degree of skill and coordination arises from the importance of teamwork.

Tactical shooters[edit]

Main article: Tactical shooter

Tactical shooters are shooters that generally simulate realistic squad-based or man-to-man skirmishes. Notable examples of the genre include Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series and Bohemia Software's Operation Flashpoint. A common feature of tactical shooters that is not present in many other shooters is the ability for the player character to lean out of cover, increasing the granularity of a player's movement and stance options to enhance the realism of the game. Tactical shooters also commonly feature more extensive equipment management, more complex healing systems, and greater depth of simulation compared to other shooters. As a result of this, many tactical shooters are commonly played from the first person perspective. Tactical shooters may combine elements from other shooter genres, such as Rainbow Six Siege and Valorant, which combine the traditional tactical shooter style with the class-based gameplay of hero shooters.