Ah the shooter. It was so simple at first. Here’s a gun, there’s a key, go get it and try not to get killed by the waves of demons or soldiers or Schnauzers in your way. Oh, you got the key? Well all right, go through that door and go find another key. Don’t mind the demon Schnauzer soldiers. Hey, you made it. Good for you! Here’s a room full of every weapon and every bit of ammo you might possibly need to fight the unspeakable horror on the other side of this door. Have fun!
Things have changed a bit since those days, and along the way gamers have been treated to plenty of shooters that may have looked like shooters from the outside, and may have even played a little like a shooter, but they were sufficiently different and varied to earn the title of the Non-Shooter Shooter.
We celebrate those games today, and the Schnauzers they rode in on. A couple of quick notes: We aren't talking about RPGs that are set in first person, so that excludes classics like Oblivion, Vampire: The Masquerade and even real throwbacks like Ultima Underworld. We're talking about action games that proved to be about more than just shooting things.
10. Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - VU Games; 2004
The very fact that Chronicles was a movie tie in game that didn’t make you want to gouge your eyes out is something of a modern day miracle, but Riddick had so much more going for it than simply exceeding lowered expectations. Filled with over the top action sequences, satisfying weapons, brutal hand to hand combat and the ability to run around the prison planet acquiring smokes for fellow inmates in between your various attempts at escape made Riddick one hell of a ride, and that was before you took the ‘Mech for a rampage. The game combined hand to hand combat, stealth and gunplay in ways that never felt forced or contrived. Add to this the extra optional mission structure to help build relationships with other inmates and you had a lot more on your hands than a simple prison break. Equal parts cinematic experience and violent rampager, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was as fun as it was surprising.
9. Clive Barker’s Undying - Electronic Arts; 2001
Anyone who has ever read a Clive Barker book knows that the man can build extremely well detailed and creative worlds. He can also scare the crap out of you when he isn’t completely repulsing you. While Undying didn’t have so much of the former, it had the latter, in spades. As Patrick Galloway, it was up to you to investigate the goings on at the Covenant estate, a mansion set on the coast of 1920’s Ireland. Patrick takes up arms and magic in an attempt to rid the mansion of the demonic forces inhabiting it, as well as an attempt to rid the player of clean underwear.
Undying used a system of weapons in one hand and upgradeable magic in the other that was so well implemented it felt like going into battle without using magic was akin to going in naked. Add to this a feeling of genuine dread that dripped from every surface and you had a game that left you scared to see what would jump out from the next corner, but anxious to see if you could take it on.
