History Main / FacklerScaleOfFPSRealism

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} I'' and ''[[VideoGame/DoomII II]]'', ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' -- Pre-dating ''Serious Sam'' and ''Quake'' (obviously). No aiming, no reloading, hyperspace arsenal, basic level design, no falling damage, lots of monsters to blast. The respective sequels are further down, but not by that much.

* ''VideoGame/{{ADACA}}'': Similar to ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' below, but you can only carry two primary weapons plus a handgun at a time, some weapons have iron sights, and guns have unique empty reload animations and realistic effective ranges. However, you can sprint and shoot simultaneously without being limited by stamina or energy, there is a limited RegeneratingHealth system, tougher enemies can tank rockets to the face without flinching, and CriticalExistenceFailure is in full effect.

* ''VideoGame/ADACA'': Similar to ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' below, but you can only carry two primary weapons plus a handgun at a time, some weapons have iron sights, and guns have unique empty reload animations and realistic effective ranges. However, you can sprint and shoot simultaneously without being limited by stamina or energy, there is a limited RegeneratingHealth system, tougher enemies can tank rockets to the face without flinching, and CriticalExistenceFailure is in full effect.

* ''VideoGame/AllianceOfValiantArms'': A game developed by a Korean company named Red Duck, it is essentially ''Counter-Strike'' with improvements such as better graphics (via [[UsefulNotes/GameEngine Unreal Engine]]), 3 classes, passive skills (only helps a little), and 7+ modes. Recoil now shakes the screen up and down and you can now control the recoil better. Aiming down sights is useless on most assault rifles, with 3-4 exceptions ([=AK107=], [=AK200=], [=MG4KE=], etc.), because of the mysteriously slowed rate of fire and increased recoil. The Korean version recently released many overpowered guns that operate like those from ''Call of Duty'', making realism semi-dependent on the weapon you are using.

* Approaching the realistic end of the scale, slower, fatigue-restricted movement, use of crouching/prone positions to increase accuracy and reduce visibility, dominance of {{sniper rifle}}s and assault rifles, the need to use scopes or iron sights for long-range shots, recoil having a detrimental effect on accuracy (and discouraging the use of automatic fire), limited health, and bleeding, leading to very short combat and an emphasis on [[TakeCover the use of cover]]. Vehicles often require multiple crew to operate effectively and will be heavily restricted by terrain. These games often have MooksButNoBosses, and when the latter ''are'' present, they usually are either as easy to take down as yourself or vehicles that the bog-standard bullet hose can't scratch, forcing the need for anti-vehicle weapons.

* ''VideoGame/{{Onward}}'' is a tactical shooter built from the ground up for VirtualReality systems like the UsefulNotes/HTCVive (and, later, the UsefulNotes/OculusRift with Touch controllers in 360-degree room-scale configuration), currently focused on [=4v4=] competitive multiplayer rounds, and leverages the use of hand controllers and room-scale movement in a number of ways:

* ''VideoGame/RedOrchestra'': A very harsh portrayal of WWII combat. There are no crosshairs and, when fired from the hip, weapons are not centered to the screen, but wander back and forth as you move. There is no ammo counter, few HUD elements in general, and no healing at all. All weapons have significant recoil that must be carefully controlled when firing rapidly. Weapons can be rested against surfaces to steady them, and weapons with bipods (such as machine guns and anti-tank rifles) can be set up on any suitable surface. Ballistics are fairly realistically simulated with travel time and bullet drop, though no penetration (Fixed in the sequel). Machineguns overheat if fired in long bursts, even to the point of warping and ruining the barrel. Sniper scopes only magnify the things you see in them instead of zooming the whole screen in. Damage modeling is severe and universal and [[OneHitKill one hit kills]] are common, especially if a person is shot in the head or torso. Wounds bleed, shrapnel takes arms and legs off, and direct hits from artillery shells can turn men into a red cloud. Combat is highly tactical, and which weapon you're given depends on your class. Since all classes except "Rifleman" are limited in number, most soldiers end up with a bolt-action rifle or, if they're lucky, a semi-automatic rifle or submachine gun. CoolGuns like sniper rifles and machineguns are limited in number and must be used wisely.\\

** [[JustForPun Speaking]] of which, in-game voice chat is completely spatialized to the point that opposing players can hear each other in-game, and globally communicating to the rest of your team requires use of a shoulder-mounted radio. If you want to stay stealthy, stay silent!

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Past the first game, very similar to ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar''. While the series is set 180 years in the future, your basic weapons (despite being highly advanced and powerful coilguns) basically behave like StandardFPSGuns from battle rifles to light machine guns to disposable rocket launchers. Accuracy is reasonable (except for [[ShortRangeShotgun most shotguns]]), aiming down the sights is essential, [[TakeCover the cover system]] is well-constructed and vital to survival,[[note]]In addition to being able to hide behind objects as normal, the game also allows you to blindfire, aim from cover by popping in and out, lean, vault over obstacles, and quickly move between cover nodes by sprinting or rolling. In the third game, thin cover can also be pierced by bullets, and specialized armor-piercing rounds can basically ignore ''all'' cover.[[/note]] semi-plausible future-tech justifies health kits, weapons are highly moddable, and all but one of the games uses RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth for both the player and the [=NPCs=]. There is a LevelUp mechanic, but for the most part, either the boosts you get are reasonable for a character simply getting more skilled ''or'' there is a stat increase that is justified in FlavorText.[[note]]E.g., increasing [[TheSmartGuy Tali's]] passive skill makes her weapon and tech attack damage increase, which is explained as her using her technical expertise to modify her coilguns and gear to get better performance out of them. Increasing [[PlayerCharacter Shepard's]] melee damage or health is explained as installing further cybernetic implants.[[/note]] Enemies take a lot of bullets to put down even from said powerful coilguns,[[note]]For example, the standard assault rifles in ''Mass Effect 3'' like the Avenger and Phaeston deal 40-50 base damage per shot (battle rifles and heavy pistols around twice as much), while Cerberus Assault Troopers have 750 health on normal difficulty.[[/note]] but all are visibly [[WeWillWearArmorInTheFuture heavily armored and shielded]] in hardened ceramic PoweredArmor, and they'll still go down relatively quickly to automatic fire or high-powered firearms such as sniper rifles. Enemies are [[ArtificialBrilliance quite intelligent]] and most encounters come down to dueling smart ([[ZergRush though seemingly unending]]) squads who use real-world small unit tactics, alongside your own teammates.

* ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'': The original games have you die in one or two shots, and squad tactics are emphasized. The later ''Advanced Warfighter'' games rank lower, but are still NintendoHard (at least, the PC versions are -- the consoles are much like their newer counterparts) and also have the option of playing on the original difficulty -- that is, die in one shot.

* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'': A lot like the below ''Duke Nukem'', set a decade after World War 1. Ranks slightly higher, due to supernatural influences on literally everything in the game. Also includes a powerup allowing the player to temporarily go GunsAkimbo with various weapons, up to and including the rocket launcher analogue. ''Blood II'' is on equal footing, with much the same gameplay but slightly reducing the Hyperspace Arsenal in return for being able to dual-wield weapons whenever you want to.

* ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'': Occupies the same slot as ''Serious Sam'', in terms of MoreDakka, over-the-top weapon design with no reloading and no waiting for the weapon swap, level layout, and monsters with simple AI.

* On and near the classic end, games are characterized by fast movement, bunny-hopping, dominance of [[PainfullySlowProjectile slow-projectile]] [[StuffBlowingUp explosive weapons (rockets)]], large health gauges (or RegeneratingHealth) to allow for longer duels, nerfing of the accuracy/firepower of [[MoreDakka direct-fire automatic weapons]] for gameplay/fun purposes, and fun tricks like {{rocket jump}}ing. Vehicles will be easy to pilot, able to dodge/strafe, and able to shoot reasonably well while moving. {{Hyperspace Arsenal}}s are common. [[BlatantItemPlacement Items are placed on the ground very unnaturally]], sometimes even spinning in the air. ArtificialStupidity is common for balance purposes. Bosses will be larger-than-life and over-the-top.

** ''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheFirstEncounter'' and ''VideoGame/SeriousSamII'': Practically no reloading (and only for the basic revolvers -- ''which you should not be using past the first levels'' -- and the double shotgun), thousands of incoming monsters with simple AI and very few enemies with hitscan weapons, HyperspaceArsenal with gatling lasers, very limited falling damage, cannonballism, TimeTravel, and ass-whupping.\\

** ''VideoGame/SeriousSam3BFE'': Slightly more down the scale compared to its predecessors with sprinting (although infinite), smarter enemies, and some weapons requiring reloading with a few of them ([[StandardFPSEnemies the pistol, assault rifle, grenade launcher, and sniper rifle]]) having usable sights or scopes. Sam must actually use the sights, as opposed to having 100% accurate hip firing like the previous games, but when he ''does'' use them [[ImprobableAimingSkills his accuracy is flawless out to beyond a kilometer]]. Not by much down the scale due to sheer number of enemies and retaining other gameplay elements like carrying twenty weapons at once to kill twenty thousand enemies per encounter.

* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'': Similar to ''F.E.A.R.'' (the enemies even use some of the same animations, the game in fact running on an earlier variation of the engine), only with more primitive A.I., no bullet-time superpowers (or Kung Fu), and much more emphasis on stealth.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'': Enemy squad tactics ranging from hurling grenades to flush you out to sending in troops one at a time to see if you're dead, taking cover, and such. Taking cover was also encouraged when fighting human enemies and there are no BottomlessMagazines on real world guns. Health for enemies is reasonably realistic, though everything working on simple hit points isn't. It was one of the first games to diegetically justify its settings, e.g. you find weapons in armories or on enemy bodies instead of floating in the air, and health packs are future-tech vials of fluid instead of just floating hearts. On the other hand, your armor can take several dozen bullets, you never sustain lasting damage after using health packs, you can carry a small arsenal of weapons and ammo, you can run at 20 miles per hour forever while wearing a metal suit and carrying 15 weapons, some guns have unrealistically large magazine sizes (the submachine gun can hold 50 rounds), the grenade launcher under the submachine gun never needs to be reloaded, there's no iron sights aiming, and most of the cleverer things your enemies do are faked with scripting.\\

* The 2013 ''VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|2013}}'' reboot: hold dozens of huge weapons, including a shotgun bigger than your arm, a massive rocket launcher and a severed head, along with a variety of defensive magical skills. The upgrades make your weapons even crazier -turning the shotgun into a four-barreled monster that can fire all chambers at once, dual-wield [=SMGs=], cause nuclear explosions with the rocket launcher and lay mines with a crossbow. However, all weapons must be reloaded, but the magazines are usually pretty big.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997'' may force you to reload your weapons after you use a certain number of munitions, its mooks may have slightly smarter [=AI=]s than ''Duke Nukem 3D'' ones, the realism ends there. The most common enemies are zombies with chaingunners and explosives, the latter require their body to be blown up so you don't have to ''kill their ghosts'', and you can hold a large number of bullets for your weapons, one of them being a missile launcher which secondary fire launches a '''nuclear bomb'''... which is completely harmless to you as long as you [[{{Pun}} duck and cover]] from the light of the explosion and you don't walk on the ground zero for the few seconds the radiations are still there.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997'' may force you to reload your weapons after you use a certain number of munitions, but you can still hold a large number of bullets and weapons, including a missile launcher which secondary fire launches a ''nuclear bomb''... which is completely harmless to you as long as you [[{{Pun}} duck and cover]] from the light of the explosion and you don't walk in the ground zero for the few seconds the radiations are still there.

* The 2013 ''VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|2013}}'' reboot: hold dozens of huge weapons, including a shotgun bigger than your arm, a massive rocket launcher and a severed head, along with a variety of defensive magical skills. The upgrades make your weapons even crazier -turning the shotgun into a four-barreled monster that can fire all chambers at once, dual-wield [=SMGs=], cause nuclear explosions with the rocket launcher and lay mines with a crossbow. However, all weapons must be reloaded, but the magazines are usually pretty big. The [[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997 1997 original]] was made with the Build engine like ''Duke Nukem 3D'', so it fits above.