The Arena First Person Shooters to look out for in 2014!

Introduction

There was once a type of First Person Shooter that was very popular amongst competitive gamers and no, I’m not talking about Call of Duty, it was the Arena First Person Shooter (Arena FPS). Games such as Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament 2004 and dare I say Painkiller once led the frontier of games you should be playing, but alas times have since changed.

Yes, since then we’ve may have had the likes of Unreal Tournament 3, Quake Live and even Tribes Ascend. But if we’re honest, no game has really managed to captivate the gaming audience like times gone by. One could argue this is due to the higher skill ceiling and ability such games may require, with gamers instead becoming accustomed to kill streaks now doing the work for you in Call of Duty Ghosts whilst you sit back with a cup of tea. However, if we were to point the finger to anything holding the Arena FPS back it would not be the game itself, nailing somebody with a rocket launcher has aged well with time. Instead the systems behind getting you, the player, into the game have not.

In a genre that defined the meaning of high skill ceiling, matchmaking is almost a necessity to allow for a new players improvement over time. Whilst people love the interaction and challenge that online gaming provides, nobody learns anything from being hammered 30-0 in a one versus one. It’s about finding the balance. 2014 is looking to be the year for information regarding a new generation of Arena FPS, all coming from a variety of hungry developers that believe they can do it right. Here’s my list of games that you should keep an eye on, maybe one of them will do it right?

BLUE STREAK

About
Blue Streak is developed by BossKey, published by Nexon. Little is currently known of this new Arena FPS beyond Cliff Bleszinski of former Unreal Tournament and Gears of War fame, being CEO behind the project. Blue Streak is so early in development that not even the game engine to be used is decided.

Model
Free to Play. The finer details of such model are to be announced, but the studio have taken a firm no pay-to-win stance with references to both League of Legends and War Frame. In a recent AMA on Reddit, Cliffy additionally suggested his love toward user generated content

Website
www.bosskey.com

CHROMA

About
Chroma is developed by Harmonix & Hidden Path Entertainment. It aims to infuse a fast-paced shooter with music-driven, class based, multiplayer gameplay. Each class is said to be equipped with weapons that fire differently, but are influenced by the music played on each map. Playing rhythmically is said to improve a weapons effectiveness, also helping in navigating the environment. If nothing else, Chroma will be innovative.

Model
Free to Play. The finer details of such model are to be announced, but the studio have taken a firm no pay-to-win stance. A partnership with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) developer Hidden Path would suggest we have little to worry about in that respect, with CS:GO implementing a thriving marketplace that only benefits the competitive gaming community, a large chunk of proceeds going toward third party contributions and tournament prize pools.

Website
www.harmonixmusic.com/games

DIRTY BOMB

About
Developed by Splash Damage, published by Nexon. Dirty Bomb is not strictly an Arena Shooter, but is an evolution on the still popular today Enemy Territory, with many calling it Brink 2.0. Yes, whilst Brink was not the largest of successes, the mechanics and system behind such game, plus history of Splash Damage and Nexon being its Publisher warrant Dirty Bomb a mention in this article. Early videos suggest 5 versus 5 Mercenary based gameplay with each ‘Merc’ having their own distinct set of weapons and abilities, one for every play style. Dirty Bomb is currently operating in a Closed BETA under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Model
The finer details of such model are to be announced, but the studio have taken a firm no pay-to-win stance.

Website
www.dirtybomb.nexon.net

UNREAL TOURNAMENT 4

About
Developed and published by Epic Games. Epic are pushing for community development with everything we have come to know, love and expect from an Unreal Tournament. There’s so much happening right now that you’d be better off visiting the forums and reading about it, we could be here all day.

Model
Completely Free with Epic putting emphasis on zero micro-transactions. Questionably however, Epic go on to mention a marketplace of sorts that will allow third party developers to both give away, or sell maps, mods and other content… which suggest micro transactions that could be required to play in a competitive event? Currently a $ monthly subscription to Unreal Engine 4 will allow early access for developers to create content that may help to shape the game.

Website
www.unrealtournament.com

QUAKE LIVE 2.0

About
Developed by ID Software, published by ZeniMax. Quake Live was originally released in 2009 and has since featured high profile competitive tournaments at a variety of events, for a variety of different game types. At QuakeCon 2014 it was announced that it would be making its way to the Steam platform, along with major gameplay and user-interface changes, at some point in the next few months.

Model
Free to Play with an optional "Pro Subscription" that unlocks additional maps, game types and server hosting abilities (plus more). It could be argued that a Premium Subscription is required to play competitively, but Pro users can invite Free to Play users to any online game server, regardless of its setup.

Website
www.quakelive.com

REBORN

About
Headed up by James "2GD" Harding, Reborn is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated Arena Shooter amongst the enthusiast. The premise is robots fighting robots, robots that are classified by their weight so light vs light, medium vs medium and heavy vs heavy etc. Each bracket would have their own unique set of attributes that will directly affect movement and/or abilities. With James being a recognised figure in the world of e-sports with prior experience in game development through Blood Line Champions, many hope he can revitalize the genre with innovative ideas. One such idea is the ‘rewind’ key that will allow you to turn back and movement actions you have done and return to your original location, pretty cool huh! Reborn have released a sandbox client that allows anybody to jump in and play with current mechanics, currently available via their website.

Model
Free to Play with optional cosmetic content. KickStarter campaign revealing all details coming soon.

Website
www.reborn.gg

REFLEX

About
Ever watched Quake III Arena and wondered why there’s air control, bunny hopping or fast weapon switches? You would have been watching third party modification; “Challenge Pro Mode (CPM)”. The Reflex development team is made up entirely of enthusiasts that have put heavy emphasis on old school fast paced gameplay, using their own custom built engine that targets 120fps and a responsive input. It’s in the name, reflex based gameplay. It’s not CPM, it’s CPM version 2. Familiar mechanics but innovative ideas and gameplay. Think of your every frag being frag movie worthy, that’s what Reflex is going for.

Model
To Be Announced. KickStarter campaign revealing all details coming soon.

Website
www.reflexfps.net

PROJECT NEX

About
Developed by DarkManna Digital, Project Nex looks to be a hybrid of multiple first person shooters. From Unreal Tournament, to Warsow and even TitanFall. The question on everybody’s mind is how does it perform on the Unity3D engine? Such engine is yet to be seen in a competitive first person shooter.

Model
Project Nex has been GreenLit and will be available through Steam and the official Project Nex website. Single Player will be $20 at release with a demo available of the first level, whilst Multiplayer will be Free to Play with optional cosmetic content. Players will be awarded ‘Mana Points (MP)’ by playing both casual and ranked matches.

Website
www.nexfps.com

DOOM

About
Originally DOOM 4 as announced in 2008, but now just DOOM. It is developed by ID Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. No gameplay footage has been shown to the public outside of QuakeCon 2014, but DOOM is said to go back to its roots with fast paced gameplay that features melee combat, finishing moves, double jumping and jetpacks. Those that pre-order DOOM will gain early access to the Multiplayer segment, of which is hopefully better than DOOM 3!

Model
Full Retail Product via Steam.

Website
www.doom.com

Ziggy 'NVC' Orzeszek