If Doom is a boomer shooter, what is Half-Life?

[doom_is_great]

I like the categorization of boomer shooter that has come into being in recent years to classify games like Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, etc. Games which prioritize high-speed action over immersion, story telling, or realism. Perhaps those games already had their own category but I was just ignorant of it (classic shooters?).

 

It makes me wonder what type of game like Half-Life would be classified as since it is not a boomer shooter, but it is not a game like COD or some other military sim either that tries to be overly tactical and "realistic". It seems to be in the middle of the two. It has reloading, but doesn't require you to aim down sites to hit something. You can sprint and shoot at the same time and carry all your guns at once just like boomer shooters. It's combat seems to be somewhere in the middle of boomer shooter and the super tactical modern shooter, perhaps leaning more towards the boomer shooter.

 

It's levels are more linear than the boomer shooter, but they don't necessarily have to be. Their levels are designed to be more immersive and feel realistic, like they could be real places. They aren't nearly as abstract as Classic Doom levels. 

 

And obviously they are much more story driven.

 

Other games that probably fall into this category are games like Doom 3, Half-Life 2, FEAR, new Wolfenstein games, etc.

 

It seems like these type of shooters are on some sort of hiatus from the mainstream, which saddens me since these honestly are my favorite type of shooters.

 

Anyway, what type of name would you give to these type of FPS games? Would you like to see a revival of these type of shooters?

[Skullzrawk9]

I’ve heard the category you’re talking about referred to as Half-Likes. I personally heard that term from the YouTuber JarekTheGamingDragon. 
 

However, I feel like the term “Half-Like” comes with issues similar to “Roguelike” or “Soulslike”, as defining a genre by one game feels reductive.

 

So I’m not sure what the should be called, but I’ll probably stick with “Half-Like” until a better name pops up. 

[D4NUK1]

Like boomer shooters are also called by they old names, Doom-Clones, Half Life being one of the first popular takes on a interactive without loading or map ending screen like the likes of Quake or Duke, fans of the genre call them "Half Likes", many of this try to take inspirations of Half Life immersive mapsets, interactive places, and point to have this moments of where the stuff happens that should be a cutscene, it's a playable moment on the Half Likes.

So yeah, many people understand the term Half Likes and make the association with the games like that.

 

[Dweller Dark]

"Half-Likes" work well enough for me, but I do think that the boomer shooter genre is a little too vague (like how immersive sims are). So I prefer "boomer shooter" as a blanket genre that contains Doom clones, Half-Likes, etc, as subgenres. 

[Murdoch]

Narrative driven FPS.

[GibFrag]

I always thought boomer shooters were modern games meant to feel like old first person shooters. I don’t see Doom or HL as boomer shooters, they’re just old games in the FPS genre. 

[Gmg]

For young people it's a "Boomer shooter".

[Mr. Freeze]

The only person who knows is the marketing executive who invented the term. 

[Gez]

1 hour ago, Skullzrawk9 said:

However, I feel like the term “Half-Like” comes with issues similar to “Roguelike” or “Soulslike”, as defining a genre by one game feels reductive.

I remember the term Doom-like being used in the 1990s... until it was replaced by Quake-like, and then by "first person shooter".

 

28 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

The only person who knows is the marketing executive who invented the term. 

Isn't that civvie11?

[D4NUK1]

3 hours ago, Gez said:

Isn't that civvie11?

He it's a sellout since he was happy about a Third Person Shooter so he is a heretic at the places of Classic Boomer fps TM.
^/s

 

 

 

Anyways, they were also called cinematic FPS where the focus of the scene never leaves the FPS, but that it's a different path that taked other games on the genre like Metro, Singularity, even early CoD or Medal of Honor.

[DynamiteKaitorn]

A nerdy boomer-shooter since you're a scientist?

[Gifty]

There's sort of two connotations to the term "boomer shooter"; within the shooter fandom itself, it usually means a specifically Id-flavored oldschool run-and-gun with arcadey elements and a fast pace. In the gaming world at large, "boomer shooter" often just means any shooter before, say, 2004 with a low polycount and simple run+use+shoot interaction (including Half-Life, Medal of Honor, and increasingly even games like F.E.A.R.).

 

It's basically identical to how people use the term "classic rock". To rock nerds it usually means a specific period roughly between 1965 and '79, but to music normies it generally just means "any rock music made before I was born."

 

At the same time it's important to keep in mind that boomer shooter is kind of a trendy buzzterm like "grunge" and at the end of the day doesn't really substantively mean anything.

Edited July 8 by Gifty

[Deadwing]

Late 90's shooter?

[Dreemurr Deceevurr]

gen x shooter

[Helton342]

Narrative Driven Puzzler Obstacle Platformer FPS

[Murdoch]

1 hour ago, Gez said:

Isn't that civvie11?

 

Actually now you say that, I think he was the one I first heard describe it as a narrative driven FPS. But whether he invented that term or not I have no idea. I find people's desires to hyper-categorise everything tiresome to be honest. Like the various metal sub-genres and sub-genres of sub-genres (micro genres? oh crap I just did it myself lol).

[Donowa]

i'd personally lump the half life series alongside halo, sin, f.e.a.r., doom 3, and other pre-cover system titles as a group of "y2k shooters" that have reloading, linear story-based structure, and a focus on setpieces, but have options for fast movement, more open arenas, and/or lack a cover system.

[Amaruq Wulfe]

2 hours ago, Murdoch said:

 

Actually now you say that, I think he was the one I first heard describe it as a narrative driven FPS. But whether he invented that term or not I have no idea. I find people's desires to hyper-categorise everything tiresome to be honest. Like the various metal sub-genres and sub-genres of sub-genres (micro genres? oh crap I just did it myself lol).

 

"Narrative-driven" seems to be a misnomer in my opinion. Doom and even Wolfenstein had a narrative to follow, even if it was reserved for the manuals and the story-text at the end of each chapter. Heck, you can even say that Doom II incorporated modern-ish narrative with story-telling stuck in between maps.

[LadyMistDragon]

1 minute ago, Amaruψ said:

 

"Narrative-driven" seems to be a misnomer in my opinion. Doom and even Wolfenstein had a narrative to follow, even if it was reserved for the manuals and the story-text at the end of each chapter. Heck, you can even say that Doom II incorporated modern-ish narrative with story-telling stuck in between maps.

I think the point regarding those games is that narrative was really more of an afterthought that justified the game's existence, rather than being interwoven with the game like Half Life.

[Murdoch]

6 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

I think the point regarding those games is that narrative was really more of an afterthought that justified the game's existence, rather than being interwoven with the game like Half Life.

 

Exactly. Yes Doom, Quake and Wolf3d all have "Stories" but they clearly don't drive the game. You could finish the games successfully without bothering to read a word of it. With Half-Life, it is much more in your face and essentially unavoidable without sticking your fingers in your ears and going "lalala I am not listening to you stupid story!"

[TasAcri]

I hate it when people describe games like Doom, Quake and Duke Nuke as strictly action games where all you do is kill stuff. Half of what makes these games great is their level design. In fact, the objective in those games isn't to kill the enemies but rather to "solve" the maps and figure out how to exit them. The enemies are just obstacles you can even avoid if you are good enough. Killing them just makes the exploration easier as you can look around at your own pace. So you get some pretty complex levels to solve and find your way out.

 

The irony is how back in the day a lot of people would call those games "corridor shooters". Yet this title is far more fitting for a game like Half-Life since you are literally move through a virtual corridor, from point A to point B, without the possibility of getting out of track or getting lost like you do in DOOM, Quake, etc.

[Amaruq Wulfe]

6 hours ago, TasAcri said:

 without the possibility of getting out of track or getting lost

 

[Gez]

10 hours ago, D4NUK1 said:

He it's a sellout since he was happy about a Third Person Shooter so he is a heretic at the places of Classic Boomer fps TM.

You could even say... a Heretic II!

[TVdinnermasterchef]

Post-Archery combat sim? 

[UserPlayer89]

actually besides 

23 hours ago, Murdoch said:

 

Exactly. Yes Doom, Quake and Wolf3d all have "Stories" but they clearly don't drive the game. You could finish the games successfully without bothering to read a word of it. With Half-Life, it is much more in your face and essentially unavoidable without sticking your fingers in your ears and going "lalala I am not listening to you stupid story!"

actually most of it for the middle portion is delivered through either the level design itself or NPCs you can just ignore or kill. Anomalous Materials, the Apprehension ambush and the Lambda Core portal sequence are the only real absolutely required story beats that drive a fork into general gameplay. other than those scenes and the ending it's actually fairly barebones and probably the part of the game most inspired by its contemporaries besides the general combat loop

[LadyMistDragon]

29 minutes ago, UserPlayer89 said:

actually besides 

actually most of it for the middle portion is delivered through either the level design itself or NPCs you can just ignore or kill. Anomalous Materials, the Apprehension ambush and the Lambda Core portal sequence are the only real absolutely required story beats that drive a fork into general gameplay. other than those scenes and the ending it's actually fairly barebones and probably the part of the game most inspired by its contemporaries besides the general combat loop

Or the first lethal encounter with marines in We Got Hostiles where they shoot some hapless scientists, thusly telling us the government will do whatever it takes to sweep the Black Mesa incident under the rug.. Either way, it's not really centered on abstract environments in the same way previous shooters are so it's a little harder to avoid the sense of a specific narrative. Just because the narrative isn't present in every map (like Halo admittedly) doesn't mean it's not providing the basic context for our actions in a way that simply didn't exist in older shooters.

[Murdoch]

52 minutes ago, UserPlayer89 said:

actually besides 

actually most of it for the middle portion is delivered through either the level design itself or NPCs you can just ignore or kill. Anomalous Materials, the Apprehension ambush and the Lambda Core portal sequence are the only real absolutely required story beats that drive a fork into general gameplay. other than those scenes and the ending it's actually fairly barebones and probably the part of the game most inspired by its contemporaries besides the general combat loop

 

The amount of it is irrelevant to my point that the game is more narrative driven than earlier titles like Doom, Wolf3D and Quake. It could have literally one "stop and listen to the narrative moment" and it would still qualify as more narrative driven. That you can ignore or kill the NPCs delivering some of that narrative doesn't change that they are there trying to deliver narrative to you.

Edited July 10 by Murdoch

[Daytime Waitress]

15 hours ago, TVdinnermasterchef said:

Post-Archery combat sim? 

 

Love the idea of gaming fracturing into increasingly infinitesimal and equally insane subgenres like some music scenes do: "Half-Life is obviously Post-Progressive Counter-Military Physicscore, you filthy casual".

[RataUnderground]

Half life is either the last boomer shooter, or the first new school of FPS.

[TVdinnermasterchef]

19 minutes ago, Daytime Waitress said:

 

Love the idea of gaming fracturing into increasingly infinitesimal and equally insane subgenres like some music scenes do: "Half-Life is obviously Post-Progressive Counter-Military Physicscore, you filthy casual".

 

That's First-Person Post-Progressive Counter-Military Physicscore to you, maggot! Now drop and give me ((3x5-(10÷2))²)-Four-score!