FPS Minus the S
January 3, 2009 2:31 PM Subscribe
Are there any first-person perspective games on 360 without guns?
I just finished Portal - which easily ranks as one of my favorite games of all time. I'm not into first-person shooter games, but this was clearly more of a puzzle game than a shooter.
I tried BioShock, but quickly lost interest when I had to manipulate through an arsenal of weapons and shoot a bunch of mutants.
Anyone have any other suggestions of good FPS games, minus the S?
I just finished Portal - which easily ranks as one of my favorite games of all time. I'm not into first-person shooter games, but this was clearly more of a puzzle game than a shooter.
I tried BioShock, but quickly lost interest when I had to manipulate through an arsenal of weapons and shoot a bunch of mutants.
Anyone have any other suggestions of good FPS games, minus the S?
Seconding Mirror's Edge. There are some guns and combat, but depending on how you decide to play, you can avoid using them altogether (and actually, there's an achievement for doing just that). The bad guys will be shooting at you, though, if that is a turn off as well.
As for the length, I agree it's more of a rental than a purchase, given it's probably a 10 hour or so playthrough, but there are time trials and speed runs to keep you busy after finishing the primary quest.
posted by ASoze at 2:43 PM on January 3, 2009
As for the length, I agree it's more of a rental than a purchase, given it's probably a 10 hour or so playthrough, but there are time trials and speed runs to keep you busy after finishing the primary quest.
posted by ASoze at 2:43 PM on January 3, 2009
Best answer: I came to say Mirror's Edge as well. I love it, and if you loved Portal, I guarantee you will love Mirror's Edge (consolation prize is an 'oops my bad').
Here is the game trailer: Mirror's Edge.
posted by pwally at 2:44 PM on January 3, 2009
Here is the game trailer: Mirror's Edge.
posted by pwally at 2:44 PM on January 3, 2009
It depends on what you like about the Portal experience. In a way, Portal is -all- about a gun -- it's just not about killing an army of clones. The basic innovation, instruction-by-example, and physics/puzzle based play is somewhat evident in Half Life 2, but that game also has a bit more outright fighting in it. It's not mindless at any point, but it is much more about tension than Portal.
posted by ellF at 2:45 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by ellF at 2:45 PM on January 3, 2009
Have you played through the Portal: Still Alive map pack? It's just more portal levels, no new story stuff, but some more thinky puzzles. Worth 800 live points or however much it costs.
posted by knowles at 2:54 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by knowles at 2:54 PM on January 3, 2009
This is a bit of a non sequitor, but if you enjoyed Portal I think you'll also love Braid. It's not first person - it's a platformer - but with awesomely unique problem solving à la Portal. Plus it's gorgeous.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 2:58 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by Solon and Thanks at 2:58 PM on January 3, 2009
Assassin's Creed. It's a stealth-shooter, so yeah, you do use a (rather small) arsenal of weapons to kill people, but it's usually in interesting ways, and you spend most of your time trying not to provoke anyone into combat.
posted by valkyryn at 3:16 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by valkyryn at 3:16 PM on January 3, 2009
Oblivion? If you're into the thinking then a first-person RPG might fit the bill. There is arrow shooting, but you could replace it with spell casting if you wish.
posted by mattholomew at 3:20 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by mattholomew at 3:20 PM on January 3, 2009
I came in to suggest Oblivion also. Assuming you like playing in first-person perspective and are not too concerned about genre, that fits the bill.
posted by danb at 3:24 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by danb at 3:24 PM on January 3, 2009
I don't know if your distaste stems from combat, or merely guns. If the latter, there's a few games that use first person perspective and swords and arrows. Rune and Savage come to mind. Oh, and I guess The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. There are apparently other entries in a rarely recognized category "First-Person Adventure", but none I've heard of, and none of which seem to have 360 ports.
The trouble is, first person perspective comes with a heap of problems that are only justified in games where aiming is desired.
posted by pwnguin at 3:32 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
The trouble is, first person perspective comes with a heap of problems that are only justified in games where aiming is desired.
posted by pwnguin at 3:32 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Thirding Oblivion. Lots of swords and sorcery, no guns. A giant fantasy world to explore. Pure bliss (or digital crack) imho.
posted by yellowbinder at 3:35 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by yellowbinder at 3:35 PM on January 3, 2009
Best answer: Nthing Oblivion. Also, valkyryn, Assassin's Creed is neither first-person nor stealth-shooter; it's a third-person free-running game with some melee combat mixed in. Perhaps you were thinking of the quasi-first-person Splinter Cell series?
posted by sinfony at 4:29 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by sinfony at 4:29 PM on January 3, 2009
They're old games, but I'd recommend the Myst series. The third and fourth were released for xbox, but it looks like only Myst III: Exile is playable on the 360.
posted by Alex Voyd at 4:37 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by Alex Voyd at 4:37 PM on January 3, 2009
Oblivion is excellent. Play it like you're playing a story from a fairy tale. Ignore any advice you read online about it. It's not perfect, but really fun, and nice to look at.
And avoid the main quest. God I hate the main quest.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 5:18 PM on January 3, 2009
And avoid the main quest. God I hate the main quest.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 5:18 PM on January 3, 2009
Oh, and I agree that Bioshock got boring, boring, boring. Nice art direction, should have been one hour long. Same crap over and over.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 5:32 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by jeff-o-matic at 5:32 PM on January 3, 2009
Response by poster: Mirror's Edge demo is downloading and I'll pickup Oblivion tomorrow.
Thanks for the great suggestions, hive.
posted by AloneOssifer at 5:59 PM on January 3, 2009
Thanks for the great suggestions, hive.
posted by AloneOssifer at 5:59 PM on January 3, 2009
Best answer: Thief! If you like to play the role of a cynical thief who sneaks around at night, stealing loot, pickpocketing people, and smacking people unconscious, then this is for you. Can't say much for Thief 3 since I never played it, but the first two are excellent. You can probably pick them up in a bargain bin somewhere; they were made in the late-90s.
posted by curagea at 6:03 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by curagea at 6:03 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Btw, my wife liked Oblivion much more when she played it on the easy setting. Less time spent on combat, more on exploration.
posted by Good Brain at 6:09 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by Good Brain at 6:09 PM on January 3, 2009
If you like Oblivion, you'll likely loooove Fallout 3.
Mirror's Edge likely has what you're looking for at it's core design, but I found it to be wildly frustrating and finally gave up, halfway through.
posted by pazazygeek at 6:15 PM on January 3, 2009
Mirror's Edge likely has what you're looking for at it's core design, but I found it to be wildly frustrating and finally gave up, halfway through.
posted by pazazygeek at 6:15 PM on January 3, 2009
If you choose Oblivion, I wholeheartedly second ignoring the main quest. Don't ever close the first Oblivion gate. If you do, the gates will start popping up all over the place and ruin the open-ended sense of exploration you can get from just doing the other quests.
posted by mollweide at 6:28 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by mollweide at 6:28 PM on January 3, 2009
I know I know.. no guns...
BUT since someone already suggested Fallout 3 and you just played portal (meaning you already own the orange box), I'd strongly recommend giving Team Fortress 2 a second chance. I HATE fps games, I always have, but for some reason TF2 breaks the mold. I also hate guns, but I almost always play as a Medic. The Medic class spends most of its time healing and helping other players stay alive, not shooting (although it can if it chooses). The secondary class aspect made me fall in love with the game.
posted by JimmyJames at 8:07 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
BUT since someone already suggested Fallout 3 and you just played portal (meaning you already own the orange box), I'd strongly recommend giving Team Fortress 2 a second chance. I HATE fps games, I always have, but for some reason TF2 breaks the mold. I also hate guns, but I almost always play as a Medic. The Medic class spends most of its time healing and helping other players stay alive, not shooting (although it can if it chooses). The secondary class aspect made me fall in love with the game.
posted by JimmyJames at 8:07 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
I enjoy Oblivion as well, but I'd recommend renting it first-- a lot of people I know seem to hate it. I play it weirdly though-- I usually get bored with the main quest and spend extended periods of time listening to audiobooks while exploring the world and occasionally robbing people blind, which is not exactly the way it's intended to be played.
posted by NoraReed at 8:41 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by NoraReed at 8:41 PM on January 3, 2009
NoraReed, I'm pretty sure that's exactly how Oblivion is meant to be played, hence the inclusion of all the side quests and the fact that it allows the player to wander off the main quest path for as long as they like.
posted by sinfony at 8:50 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by sinfony at 8:50 PM on January 3, 2009
Fallout 3 is indeed awesome, especially for Oblivion fans, but it's chock full of gunplay. Although the aiming system is practically turn based, so combat isn't as grueling as most FPSs. Is your problem with guns themselves, or does it just bug you to plug clip after clip into waves of baddies? If the latter, you fight fewer enemies with more strategic gunplay, so Fallout 3 might work for you. I'd see how you like Oblivion first though.
posted by yellowbinder at 8:52 PM on January 3, 2009
posted by yellowbinder at 8:52 PM on January 3, 2009
Response by poster: Fallout is definitely not what I'm looking for here. I've seen friends play it numerous times and there's way too much SHOOT-HIM-IN-THE-HEAD stuff for me.
Mirror's Edge was very interesting, the controls aren't exactly spot on and the direction is a little off, but I think it'll be worth a run-through (based on the demo).
Based on the general opinion of Oblivion, I think that's where I'm headed next.
Curagea - It's interesting that you mention Thief. I played it back in the day and it's from the same studio that made System Shock - which eventually led to BioShock.
posted by AloneOssifer at 9:44 PM on January 3, 2009
Mirror's Edge was very interesting, the controls aren't exactly spot on and the direction is a little off, but I think it'll be worth a run-through (based on the demo).
Based on the general opinion of Oblivion, I think that's where I'm headed next.
Curagea - It's interesting that you mention Thief. I played it back in the day and it's from the same studio that made System Shock - which eventually led to BioShock.
posted by AloneOssifer at 9:44 PM on January 3, 2009
I came in to suggest Mirror's Edge as well. But, I didn't even get 10 hours of play out of it... more like 6. Definitely a rental (if you have places around that do that sort of thing).
Other than that... yeah, not much. The glut of repetitive and derivative FPSes makes me a very sad Netzapper. And I even like the good ones.
you'll likely loooove Fallout 3.
I lovoooooved Fallout 3. Especially all the exploration I did to fully round out my arsenal of fifteen to twenty different firearms. Yeah, there're melee weapons... but they suck royally.
Even with the VATS turn-based system, there's an awful lot of FPS-style shooting. Made even worse and more annoying by the fact that you can have the reticle right on the baddie's head, both of you stock still, at two meters, and thanks to a roll of what have to be loaded dice, miss 60% of the time... even after you have 100% in Small Guns. Fallout 3 was my favorite game last year (much better than my second favorite, MGS4), but I find the combat tedious. VATS, while it looks cool and takes out the twitch, eventually just adds boredom to the tedium.
Seriously, Fallout 3 is the opposite of the right answer, no matter how much the OP likes Oblivion (which I do very much, btw).
posted by Netzapper at 9:49 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Other than that... yeah, not much. The glut of repetitive and derivative FPSes makes me a very sad Netzapper. And I even like the good ones.
you'll likely loooove Fallout 3.
I lovoooooved Fallout 3. Especially all the exploration I did to fully round out my arsenal of fifteen to twenty different firearms. Yeah, there're melee weapons... but they suck royally.
Even with the VATS turn-based system, there's an awful lot of FPS-style shooting. Made even worse and more annoying by the fact that you can have the reticle right on the baddie's head, both of you stock still, at two meters, and thanks to a roll of what have to be loaded dice, miss 60% of the time... even after you have 100% in Small Guns. Fallout 3 was my favorite game last year (much better than my second favorite, MGS4), but I find the combat tedious. VATS, while it looks cool and takes out the twitch, eventually just adds boredom to the tedium.
Seriously, Fallout 3 is the opposite of the right answer, no matter how much the OP likes Oblivion (which I do very much, btw).
posted by Netzapper at 9:49 PM on January 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
As I think about it, you still haven't answered the important question upthread, though:
Do you dislike the existence of guns (i.e. you're a liberal, hippie commie pinko) or the repetitive twitchiness of most FPSes (i.e. you suck at them)?
posted by Netzapper at 9:52 PM on January 3, 2009
Do you dislike the existence of guns (i.e. you're a liberal, hippie commie pinko) or the repetitive twitchiness of most FPSes (i.e. you suck at them)?
posted by Netzapper at 9:52 PM on January 3, 2009
I was asking my friends just this question over the holidays. What do you think of Tomb Raider? I love, love, love TR for the exploration/puzzling/atmospheric environments etc but I'm not interested in the competition element.
To provide a non-OP answer to Netzapper, I hate combat or time-dependant activities because I don't enjoy the associated adrenaline kick. I get horribly over-stimulated and it's all too stressful. I think it's difficult for people who are not highly strung to understand how not-fun this can make the FPS genre for some folk.
So yeah, also looking for absorbing adventure stuff, thanks for asking this. I'll check Oblivion out.
posted by freya_lamb at 5:11 AM on January 4, 2009
To provide a non-OP answer to Netzapper, I hate combat or time-dependant activities because I don't enjoy the associated adrenaline kick. I get horribly over-stimulated and it's all too stressful. I think it's difficult for people who are not highly strung to understand how not-fun this can make the FPS genre for some folk.
So yeah, also looking for absorbing adventure stuff, thanks for asking this. I'll check Oblivion out.
posted by freya_lamb at 5:11 AM on January 4, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by knowles at 2:37 PM on January 3, 2009