Rebirth of the FPS

   
   Welcome everyone, to what will go down in history as "the month of the next-gen consoles". As we eagerly anticipate the arrival of both the PlayStation 4 and the XBox One, we have a plethora of new games being released for current-gen consoles (for those in the dark, current-gen means both the PS3 and the XBox 360). Amongst those games, quite a few popular ones are FPS (first-person shooters).
   Firstly (but totally randomly) we have Call Of Duty: Ghosts. The tenth game in the COD franchise is available for both current and next-gen consoles as well as PCs and there's a dog called Riley in it who's become something like a mascot for the game. Its campaign mode involves a member of U.S. Special Operations personnel named Logan. The multiplayer mode has been largely expanded from the previous installment to the series since there are a number of different ways to play (Search And Rescue, Cranked, Free For All, Blitz, Team Deathmatch, etc). What's also impressive about this game is that you can play in space, though I'm not quite sure if that stage is available in multiplayer or if it's for campaign purposes only.

   Then, we have Battlefield 4. In this game, that takes place six years after the events of Battlefield 3, you control a U.S. Special Operations unit squad Sergeant (dejavu anyone?) called Daniel Recker. I must confess, the multiplayer of this particular title is rather impressive, since you can control practically any vehicle (from jeeps, to tanks, to choppers) and in some stages you can actually bring down an entire skyscraper! Whoever is on it when it comes crashing down automatically gets wiped and the entire arena changes drastically! Also, there's a lot of customization in this game. It take quite some time to make a character that you're comfortable with, since there's a wide variety of weapons and equipment available, but that just means you'll have all the more fun exploring the possibilities that are at your disposal.

   Well, after those two games that have already been released, we have Killzone: Shadow Fall, a launch title exclusive to the PS4. What's different about the Killzone saga is that it brakes away from the "U.S. soldier vs bad South American/African/Asian" motto that the rest of the FPS's seem to have going on. In this game, you see the world through the eyes of Lucas Kellan, an agent of the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA), that fights in a "cold war" between the citizens of the planet Helghan and those of planet Vekta. Killzone: Shadow Fall will be the fourth main title and six overall in the Killzone saga.

   Apart from those that are releasing (or have already released) this month though, there are future FPS that fans of the genre are really looking forward to. Two of those are new IP's. The one is called Destiny. Destiny is developed by Bungie and Activision and it enrolls a player in a story that takes place hundreds of years in the future, in which apparently the humans have left the Earth and colonized other planets in the Solar system. Until for some unknown they began to die out and the only humans left were those who chose to remain on Earth. Now aliens are threatening those few survivors and it's up to them to protect the planet. The second of these two new IPs is called Titanfall and is being developed by EA and Respawn. It won several awards at this year's E3 and the reason is apparent. Players in this game have the ability to run on walls, control mechs and all sorts of machinery and, to top it all of, they get to battle inside colossal robotic Titans whenever they please. Destiny is scheduled for release sometime next spring for next-gen consoles only, whereas Titanfall will be releasing on March 11th (NA) and March 13th (EU) for PC, XBox 360 and XBox One.
   So, there you have it! Five top-class shooter's to knock'em dead! Which one would you choose to play and why?