Arena shooter

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An arena shooter is a subgenre of shooter games that cover both the first-person shooter and third-person shooter genres. These games emphasize fast paced movement in enclosed areas with a heavy emphasis on quick reaction time.

Game design[]

Arena shooters are a variation of multiplayer first- or third-person shooters, where the gameplay features fast mobility allowing players to quickly move around the map either by moving around normally or utilizing special techniques such as strafing or launching oneself with a gun such as a rocket. Since fast paced gameplay is the focus of the game, weapons in arena shooters usually do not require to reload weapons and the maps in which matches take place in are usually enclosed and small hence the term "arena" in the genre. The genre is also known for having relatively simple or limited modes when compared to other shooters. The main mode that is played in arena shooters is deathmatch, with capture the flag being the second most popular.

History[]

Arena shooters can be traced back to the early days of first person shooters with the first modern shooter, Wolfenstein 3D (1992), establishing the basic groundwork of shooter mechanics which were later replicated in future games. In these early shooters the weapons were held and aimed in the middle of the screen and did not require the player to reload. Doom (1993) featured faster paced gameplay and more action on screen.[1] This style of gameplay would continue into the 3D era with Quake (1996) following the same formula.

Up until this point, all of these games mainly featured single player campaigns without any multiplayer modes. The first real arena shooters were Unreal Tournament (1999), Turok: Rage Wars (1999) and Quake III Arena (1999). These games, in contrast to previous entries in their respective series, were focused on multiplayer matches, although Unreal Tournament and Turok: Rage Wars also featured a single player campaign. While previous games like Doom and Doom II (1994) featured multiplayer gameplay, these games would mark the first time that the style was first implemented and the first in a 3D environment.[2] Both genres helped popularized the LAN party scene with the popularity of Quake leading to the creation of its own convention, QuakeCon, where numerous people would meet up to compete in professional and amateur tournaments locally.

While the arena shooters were wildly popular in 1999 and the early 2000s, arena shooters have fallen out of popularity compared to other subgenres in the shooter genre.[3] There have been attempts to release new titles in the genre with Quake Champions in 2017, but soon after release it lost support and does not have a strong player base. Epic Games also tried to bring back Unreal Tournament with a new entry, but this was put on hold shortly afterward. The majority of arena shooters released today are by independent developers with the likes of Reflex Arena, Diabotical,[4] and Master Arena[5] being popular among a niche group. While there have been some games with "arena" elements in recent times such as Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal (2020), there have been no games in the genre released by major publishers.[6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Staff, Ars (February 14, 2016). "Headshot: A visual history of first-person shooters". Ars Technica.
  2. ^ Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (October 20, 2017). "The history of the first person shooter". PC Gamer.
  3. ^ "Where Have All the Arena First-Person Shooters Gone?". Esports News Network | ESTNN. June 16, 2019.
  4. ^ Wilde, Tyler (September 6, 2020). "Free-to-play FPS Diabotical is another strong attempt to revive the arena shooter". PC Gamer.
  5. ^ "Making it in Unreal: bringing the arena FPS to a new generation with Master Arena". PCGamesN.
  6. ^ "Why Doom's Multiplayer Really Isn't an Arena Shooter". IGN.
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