Random Gaming Thoughts

[MrPopo]

Yeah, given the combat is entirely lock on based (until 3) I'd say Prime series is a first person platformer.

Thats a new genre, I thought FPS is related to perspective despite the name. It complicates things with Minecraft which uses the FPS perspective but it doesn't shoot anything AFAIK. There is also Jumping Flash which has shooting element but in reality its more about platform jumping. Oblivion has FPS perspective but you don't have to shoot you can use a melee weapon.

FPS is first person shooter. There are a lot of first person games that don't fit that mold. One example is Wizardry; it's entirely first person and is a turn-based dungeon crawler. Or you can go real time with Dungeon Master, which is again a first person real-time dungeon crawler and has mechanics of you being able to fire arrows at enemies, but no one would call it an FPS.

On another end of the spectrum, you have the Mirror's Edge games, where you spend the entire game parkouring around the city. The first game occasionally let you grab a mook's gun and shoot until you ran out of ammo in the magazine, but calling it a shooter is a real stretch (and the second doesn't even allow that). Metroid Prime is much more about the platforming and secret hunting; enemies are mostly an exercise in hitting the dodge button at the right time, not really requiring any effort on the shooting end.

[opa]

The Doom games have a lot of secrets and exploration but I don't call that an adventure game. (I'm not a proponent of the "first person adventure" opinion.)

[MrPopo]

The Doom games are shooters that have some secrets. Metroid Prime is a platformer where your weapon is a gun. Look, Donkey Kong 64 has a coconut gun (that fires in spurts); would you consider it a third person shooter?

[opa]

I consider DK64 a catastrophe. I wouldn't say the coconut gun (or the other guns -full respect to dual-peanut pistols-) fundamentally change DK64 as at its core it is a shoddily-made collect-a-thon platformer.

I generally consider a game a shooter when your primary interactions with almost everything involve shooting/killing. Yeah, you do platform. I seem to recall doing some of that in games like Half-Life but it's still a shooting game.
Also, you said it's more about dodging and "not really requiring any effort on the shooting end". I'm not going to disagree that you spend most of the combat dodging (isn't that how most games work?) but there are different weapon types, missile upgrades, and weapon upgrades. Yes, it is an easy game but the combat in the game isn't entirely mindless.

[o.pwuaioc]

"Metroid Prime is a first person adventure game not a first person shooter" was pure advertising nonsense. Why can't it be both? Thinking otherwise relies on overly simplistic ideas of what a genre even is. Is Mario a run and gun because he shoots fireballs? There's platforming in Contra, so is it a run n gun or platformer? Are Super Mario Land levels 2-3 and 4-3 shmup or platformer?

Genres are by nature artificial and arguing over gray areas is pointless.

[marurun]

That said, telling an FPS fan and Metroid noob that Metroid Prime is an FPS is setting them up for a mechanical disconnect.

[o.pwuaioc]

That said, telling an FPS fan and Metroid noob that Metroid Prime is an FPS is setting them up for a mechanical disconnect.

Likewise, giving it to someone and saying it's basically Banjo Kazooie but from a 1st person perspective will yield even extremer results.

[marurun]

Yeah, Metroid doesn’t really fit into the general genre constructs is the time. Not very well, anyway.

[o.pwuaioc]

Yeah, Metroid doesn’t really fit into the general genre constructs is the time. Not very well, anyway.

I dunno, I always thought it was a perfect continuation of FPS games of the mid/late 90s, so less Call of Duty and more Half-Life, Quake, or Doom.

[marurun]

I don’t agree. I feel like Metroid Prime is a pretty fresh mechanical construct. The lock on and maneuvering makes a huge difference. It’s actually more like 3D Zelda with guns.