Good Online FPS Games/Servers For Beginners? 804
An anonymous reader writes "I have been playing videogames for years, but only recently got a DSL line in my house and so have never played any online games before now, as dial up was always too slow. Now that I have a fast connection, I want to get into online gaming, FPS gaming in particular. My problem is that Unreal Tournament, Counter-Strike, Quake and all the other popular games seem to be dominated by people using cheats, and by established clans of players who are a lot better than me. Are there any online FPS games or servers whose barriers to entry are not too high for the average player? I am looking for something that I can just connect to for a half an hour now and then when I am bored and can have fun with."
bzflag (Score:3, Informative)
Well (Score:5, Informative)
Enemy Territory (Score:4, Informative)
Jedi Knight/2/Academy (Score:2, Informative)
Urban Terror (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Savage (Score:5, Informative)
BF1942 (Score:4, Informative)
Once you get the hang of it, get the Desert Combat [desertcombat.com] mod. Updates the weapons, vehicles, and maps to present day.
The Specialists (Score:2, Informative)
Delta Force Series (Score:3, Informative)
UT2k3 (Score:4, Informative)
Medal Of Honor (Score:2, Informative)
Desert Combat (Score:3, Informative)
It's a mod on Battlefield 1942, and offers modern weapons and vehicles. It also has a fairly gentle learning curve - you can start off just play infantry, move up to Humvees and Tanks, and then work on the planes and helicopters. The gameplay is the best I've seen in any FPS that includes vehicles.
It's also a teamwork game - nothing like flying a blackhawk full of guys through a city, having two guys on the chainguns mowing people down, and the rest paratrooping in to take a base.
I've been playing it for a few months now, and it keeps getting better with every new release.
Day of Defeat (Score:3, Informative)
Website (Score:4, Informative)
Someone forgot to put a URL...
americasarmy.com [americasarmy.com]
Enemy Territory (Score:5, Informative)
Team play is crucial and the overall maturity seems higher(relatively) than some games like warcraft and counter-strike.
Also, the different classes allow the not-so-quick trigger-finger-player to still play a vital role.
Folks seem friendly, but that may not last.
The REAL basics (Score:2, Informative)
I mean, it never would have occured to me that mouselook would be a major stumbing block. Having started playing games without it (ala Doom), mouselook was such an improvement that I don't remember a learning curve at all.
She spent a while running around staring at her shoes, or the ceiling. So if you're really new to it, pick a game that lets to play offline to learn the little basics.
So, I'd say learn on Half-Life, and then play Natural Selection once you've got the basics down. So long as you are not intentionally a jerk, the NS community tends to be pretty open to newbies.
Check out Tribes2 (Score:5, Informative)
I play on the T2War server http://www.tribeswar.com.
Server name: -2004 TRIBESWAR.COM
IP Address: 66.237.58.11:28000
Daily restart time: Approx. 5 AM PST
For more information about the game, and how great being able to play different roles than just "deathmatcher" or "flag grabber" check out: http://www.dansdata.com/t2bastard.htm
Re:BF1942 (Score:5, Informative)
PunkBuster (Score:5, Informative)
ET is an awesome game. Can't get enough. It's completely freeware, and there are stacks of user made levels to download. Highly addictive! Plays great on 56k modem (hardware modem, not win-modem) too.
Battlefield 1942 w/ Desert Combat mod (Score:3, Informative)
I've not played FPS's since Doom 2 (no joke), because they are all pretty much the same old, same old. Couple that with the rampant cheating, and I was just totally turned off by the genre until last month.
My brother came to visit and convinced me to play, and I was pretty much hooked after awhile. You can pick up BF1942 for $30 or less and the DC mod is free... and it's a killer mod. It's worth the $30 to give it a shot and see if you like it.
Like any online game and FPS, though, there's an adjustment period where you feel like a dumb ass. I was very frustrated and felt like a total noob the first week or two I played, but now I'm getting pretty decent, and make it into the top ten fairly often. I still get pwned by a lot of the better peeps, and I think there are still a few cheats out there, even with PB supposedly protecting a server, but it's not terrible, and maybe some of those cheats really are god-like players *shrug*.
It's worth the $30 if you want to try out an online game, IMHO.
Re:Well (Score:5, Informative)
I'm a decent FPS player (on public servers I usually rank in the top 2-3%; good enough to get accused of cheating from time to time), but I have a friend that can beat the crap out of me. To the point that I won't ever get a kill unless he goofs around. And I know he's not cheating -- he's just that much better than me.
If you're not familiar with the game then you're not going to be able to tell if you just died to some l33t script kiddie that is using an autoaim hack or to someone that just knows how to play.
Even if you only play 1/2 hour a day you'll get better (unless you just have no tendancy towards being able to play well), but you're going to spend a lot of time just dieing at the start. It simply takes awhile to learn the feel of the game -- what weapons work well where, how to navigate certain maps, etc. It's just like anything else.
Urban Terror getting ported (Score:4, Informative)
Urban Terror will guarrantee that you fail at least one course because of it.
Blizzard's diablo2 (Score:2, Informative)
Everyone is better than you for a reason. (Score:5, Informative)
Most people playing online have been doing so for months if not years. They've developed the reflexes, knowledge of game systems and maps, and tactical know-how to stay alive. Unfortunately, the only way to gain these skills is practise.
I suggest you download Wolfenstein: ET [4players.de]. First of all, it's free so if you decide online gaming isn't for you after all, you haven't lost anything but a little time.
Secondly, the penalties for death aren't too harsh. Unlike Counter-Strike, where you have to wait up to 5 minutes after dying to play again, you'll be back in the game within 30 seconds.
Thirdly, it's "easy-to-learn, hard-to-master", to use the cliche. You don't have to learn complex firing patterns or master the intricacies of every weapon in order to play competently. You can introduce more complicated elements and strategies at your own pace without being left behind.
Finally, during your 30 seconds of waiting to respawn, you have the option to view one of your team mates through their eyes. Watch what they do. Think about what they do wrong and what you'd do differently. See if they charge too easily or hesitate too much. Don't treat online gaming like linear, formulaic single player games. Always think and try to learn from your mistakes.
You're playing the wrong games (Score:3, Informative)
While they are fabulous games, they are not for beginners not willing to take a few thousand gibs before they make top 5 in a full server. I you're not prepared to commit the time and take an prolonged asswhipping until you get the rust out, try BF1942. The vehicle aspect and adjustable bot play allows even the newbiest newb to find enjoyment. More specifically, Desert Combat is the mod of your eye.
Only in DC can a first timer drop a Scud into a highly skilled pack of clanners and smear them across the terrain.
Planetside (Score:2, Informative)
Perfect Timing (Score:3, Informative)
Download the demo when it comes out and you'll be getting in on the ground floor with a new game that no one else knows any better than you. And there won't be any cheats yet either since it's a new game, although that will most likely not be the case in a few months time.
Re:America's Army (Score:5, Informative)
Also, I don't know any situations in which the maps you can play is restricted by your honor rating. Unofficial servers should give no bearing to honor at all, and people who do not like the honor concept can bypass it completely.
I agree with you that it sucks that idiot team mates can easily reduce your honor by running into your grenades because they do not pay attention, etc. This has certainly happened enough times to me, but in the end it is a rare enough event that I do not hate the game for it. Chock it up to realism, in real life you might want to anticipate that your team mates may be confused or just plain dumb, so throw your grenades far enough away that they won't injure themselves.
The biggest qualm I have with AA is the annoyance of the training missions. I just want to get my friends on the internet to play me... NOW. I don't want to go to people and say, I found this great game called America's Army, why don't you spend 3 hours tonight passing all the training, then sometime tomorrow night we'll play. It just isn't enticing when I try to sell it to friends and coworkers.
Otherwise, I love AA, more than counterstrike or quake. When on a good, communicative, cooperative team, facing creative opponents, the game is extremely enjoyable.
Re:America's Army (Score:5, Informative)
There are very few (useful) cheats, and the latest 1.6 patch includes PunkBuster [evenbalance.com] and that's almost eliminated all traces of cheating. Even before PunkBuster, cheats were pretty rare, especially if you play on "pure" servers (which is most of them).
Not unlike the awesome old Team Fortress, BF1942 has a variety of classes you can play (assault, anti-armor, medic, engineer, scout, etc.) so there's a spot on the team for everyone, even those without the experience or trigger-happy twitch fingers.
And, very much unlike all other FPS games, there are vehicles. Planes, tanks, battleships, humvees, helicopters, motorcycles, artillery, etc. This, to me, add so much to the genre that I have trouble playing other FPSs without getting bored quickly. Vehicles can also be a good equalizer -- no matter how twitch fast that enemy is, if you're in a tank, and he's on foot, he's toast.
As an added bonus, you can find 64-man games pretty easily, which makes it even easier to get along without a lot of expertise. You can play a support role (engineer, medic) effectively with little practice, and so you'll be able to help your team win even while learning your skills.
You can pick up a copy in the stores for about $35-40, or online for $20 or less. There are two "offical" addons: Rode To Rome ($15) and Secret Weapons ($20), but neither are required to play. And, if you gravitate toward the DC mod (as most have, based on recent server stats), the add-ons are totally useless.
Oh, and the number one most important thing you need to work on to be good at FPS games is your config. That is, how you assign your player functions to your mouse and keyboard keys (please resist any temptation you may have to not use your mouse for looking around). Think about this carefully before you just slop something together. Otherwise you'll get used to a bad config and have trouble switching from it later when you realize that you need to be able to do action A and B together a lot, but you've got them both assigned to keys that use the same finger.
Re:America's Army (Score:5, Informative)
Learn to snipe with the M16. Mountain Pass is a lot of fun when you can snipe with the M16, well out of range of grenades. Also, learning how to move and how not to be seen will keep you from getting tagged by a grenade. Learn to listen for grenades and cook off the ones you throw.
And here's a quick guide [doorbot.com] I wrote on defending the Weapons Cache map... it contains some suggestions that you might find useful for other maps.
But other posters are right... AA has a steep learning curve; if you give it time you'll find it very rewarding.
UK2.net for Counterstrike beginners (Score:2, Informative)
However, once you become a little better I'd move to a different server as the UK2 ones tend to have too many annoying voiceovers and in game branding. Its ok while you are learning but you will tire of it after a while.
For fun games you could try the AXIA servers, one for CS 1.5 and 1.6 . www.axia.org.uk or #axia on quakenet irc for more info.
find a good community that plays.. (Score:4, Informative)
PlaneShift OSS MMORPG (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Unreal tournament Cheating / Recommendations (Score:2, Informative)
The other thing to think of is that many players you will think are cheating are in fact just really really really good - they'll be able to anticipate WHERE you're going to run and will make excellent shots. I'm not saying cheaters aren't out there, but that if you stumble across a server of hardcore players that you may think them all cheaters when in fact they're just really good.
UT's fun though..I've got it and UT2003 and still play UT over 2k3 any day. I play primarily on our custom map server (UnrealPlayground - the link by my nick) and we've got an active group of admins so we don't get many cheaters at all anymore(I'd say all of our recent bans have been for players harassing each other..not for cheating). The community is friendly and helpful to beginners - if you've got UT then stop on by and give your connection a workout.
AA Tracker (Score:3, Informative)
One of the primary reason that I play AA is to track my frag rate.
1) Yes there is a learning curve but most games do, don't they? Find a map that you enjoy and play it over and over and over til you master it. If you are new to FPS, I think map memorization is key.
2) Follow an EXP. player. If one of your teammates has a good FR (10fr/3deaths), follow them around and see what they are doing. Even after you die, switch to the person and follow them. Watch their kill style and technics.
3) Recognize your enemies and friendlies. One thing that I really dislike is being TKed (team killed), it occasionally happens and its not your fault.
In anycase, my favorite frag technic on a n00bie is to throw a flash bang grenade and than leave a nade right at their feet. When they are flashed, they will only see a white screen and hear white noise and they won't move at all. After they are fragged, the screen is cleared and they can see and hear again. However since I used a nade to kill them, I have already disappeared. The said n00bie will never know what killed him/her.
Advice for FPS Newbies (Score:5, Informative)
Play on lightly populated servers. Generally, the LEET get bored on these and move on to higher frag opportunities.
Watch for hacks. There are plenty of servers that allow cheats. Read the MOTD. Often servers will identify their exploit policies and installed mods. It won't take you long to realize if you've fallen victim to wall hacking or other exploits. Observe the other players during your dirt-nap to see if they're cheating.
Get a fast video card, plenty of RAM of of course a decent processor. Lower the vid. quality if necessary to get a decent frame rate; a consistent 60 FPS+. Lots of folks disagree on this because your eyes can only detect something like 32 FPS+ or less, but trust me on this. Lots of other factors come into play and a high frame rate removes other bottlenecks and quickens reaction time.
Buy a decent mouse. USB Optical mice work best in my experience, and there are mice available that are specifically designed for game play.
Listen to the environment. Get a decent surround speaker system. It is a great advantage to hear a shot or footsteps with 360 degree accuracy. If you can't afford this, play with good headphones. Remove distractions.
Don't drink beer. I haven't formulated a precise equation, but you can expect your frags to decrease exponentially per ounce of alcohol consumed. Other intoxicants will lead to misplace your icons.
I recommend Descent 3 (Score:1, Informative)
The community is small, the servers seldom see cheaters, and there's a LOT of support for online Nnewbies. My web site http://planetdescent.com/d3help provides a lot of help and is specifically targetted at online game-play.
You'll need a descent (decent!) joytsick and some time to get used to the 6DOF (6 degrees of freedom) mode of play, but it leaves ground-pounders (Quake, UT et al) for dead.
The online service at www.pxo.net is reliable, and despite the in-game chat/games list feature being useless, there are several windows based proggies for chatting and checking/joining servers.
Best $10 you'll ever spend.
Note: The Descent 3 Demo(s) do not work online - as they require servers running the same version - and none do.
Day of Defeat (Score:4, Informative)
Another game to consider is Ricochet. It has few players, but there are no clans and it's extremely fast-paced with no teams, just everybody vs. everybody. Of course, as a newb you'll get your ass kicked in ways that you didn't even know possible, but you'll catch on.
What are you talking about? (Score:5, Informative)
ISDN? Give me a break. All modern broadband is better for gaming than ISDN.
spotting cheaters (Score:2, Informative)
For example if your suspected cheaters anticipates or reacts to ppl behind walls, chances are good you've got a wallhacker. Also, many games gives stats (hit ratio, rounds fired, head shots, ...) If your suspected cheater has over 50% headshots with 300 bullets fired, he's no longer suspect.
Do be carefull though because some ppl have aimbots included in their heads. It's called talent and no punkbuster will save you from it! :-)
Team Fortress (TFC) is cheap, easy, and fun (Score:3, Informative)
No matter what game you play, tho, make sure of the following:
1. Snipers - learn how to snipe, for God's sake - they rock
2. Encourage team play - CS is great, but all it takes is a server with Friendly Fire turned on to make everyone unhappy - BF1942 usually has this turned on to drive me crazy.
3. Make sure you are enjoying yourself - I have played a lot of online games, and at the end of 2 hours was pissed off something fierce. Then I thought "WTF am I doing?!" and promptly moved on.
4. You play on the same server regularly and get to know people a little. Doesn't hurt if there is an active admin who can kick nincompoops, either.
Good luck, and if you see RevCo online - just log out and save yourself a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.
*generally
Re:Well (Score:2, Informative)
I won't argue there is no cheating, but... just to play the devils advocate... When a game first comes out, everyone starts from the same base (well, ignoring prior fps experience). After a few months the people with the most potential start to reach it while the people with a little less skill are pushed down by them (especially when there are younger kids who have nothing better to do than spend 5-8hours a day playing the game =P).
Sure, there are still people cheating and it sucks, but the main reason it gets harder is because people are getting better, unless you really believe the majority of people are cheating. I've never bothered cheating myself and I don't really know anyone who has... while that doesn't mean people don't cheat, if I've seen so little of it, I personally could only see like 5-15% cheating maybe, not the 50-70%+ people make it sound like. That's enough to be a pain in the ass, but I can't see it being enough to completely ruin the experience or destroy your own playing ability.
On the other hand, I've just about given up on online games as well, but just because people are so much better than I am now and I can't seem to catch up again.
Day of Defeat, anyone? (Score:3, Informative)
Certain objectives reqire two teammates to complete on some maps. And did I mention that the elaborate, detailed maps are some of the best maps I've played in any game? Many maps are Cap'n'Hold, a "king of the hill" like variant of Capture the Flag, some are Attack or Defend (one side has the objective to blow something up before time runs out, the other team has to wait for time to expire before their shit blows up...), some are mixes of the two - one map has one side seeking plans from a downed plane (a la one-flag CTF), the other team has to blow up tanks with shoulder- mounted Rocket Launchers before the other team caps the plans.
Sure, less people play it than CS, but this can be a good thing - I've found players are of a better calibre than CS. They don't cheat as much, they appriciate good teamwork, and don't TK as much when Friendly Fire is on.
I used to play some FPS games on Dial-up, up until about a year or two before we got DSL. Things were great when most gamers only had Dial-up - I used to play A LOT of Quake 2 (especially ExpertCTF) on Dial-up, and during one of my binges, found my name on theclq.com's listings of the top ExpertCTF players in the world for a week (in the top 150!). But then the prices of DSL started to drop, and the early adopters were rewarded with lower latency, fewer dropped packets, and an easier time lining up sniper rounds.
I've also been playing a lot of Team Fortress Classic - again, less players than CS, but a better player you'll find, usually.
And Practice makes Perfect. FPS games are no exception. Sure, some are born with killer instincts, but the rest of us have to learn the maps (and appropriate tactics) on our own.
If yer ever playing DoD, and you bump into "The Outsider" (me), "Kagenin" (me again), lulu (my girlfriend), or "General Spanky" (my sister's boyfriend), say "Hi!" or something.
Kagenin
BF1942 (Score:3, Informative)
Also, why not learn it like the rest of us did? Keep playing against the guys who keep getting head shots on you, and if you practice long enough, suddenly you start getting head shots on them.
Nobody ever got better at a game by playing against a bunch of people who are worse than them.
Re:Savage (Score:4, Informative)
Savage is definately one of the best PC games that I've played for years. Give the demo a try, but don't judge it too hard. The demo is buggy, but the 2.00 version of the official game is fantastic and has a ton of extras.
I can't wait for S2's next game. I hope that a Linux game is in the future as well.
Re:RtCWeT (Score:3, Informative)
however, i found that a lot of people dont tolerate noobs. i hit a couple of mines in a game and they almost voted me out. pissed me off that i had been playing 15 minutes and they just coudlnt stand somebody new playing.
without a doubt ill play again, however.
Re:RtCWeT (Score:3, Informative)
Unreal Tournament Newbie Servers (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Halo isn't too bad (Score:2, Informative)
Quake! (Score:2, Informative)
Response from another casual gamer (Score:5, Informative)
In general, I will echo some comments already made: (1) if you are just starting out, don't assume excellent players are cheating; chances are, they are just much better than you. (2) Don't be intimidated. And don't be afraid to suck, because you will suck mightily for a long time. (3) It's probably not a good idea to play round-based games at first, because you will spend a lot of frustrating time waiting for the round to end if (when) you are the first person to get killed.
More specifically, if you need to buff up your aiming, dodging and moving skills, play Quake 3 against the bots on the second hardest difficulty level until you are consistently winning the map. You just need to build up your twitch-gaming skills.
If you want to play C-S, here are some specific tips to help you avoid common newbie mistakes:
(1) Concentrate on staying alive, not racking up kills. Don't lead the rush into a hail of bullets. You learn a lot more by staying alive through a whole round than you do trying to get one kill right away and then waiting out most of the round after dying in the first rush. Plus you can actually learn your way around the map.
(2) Contrary to your instinct, don't bother playing with other beginners. You will learn more playing with advanced players, because your mistakes will be punished and your good habits will be reinforced. If you only play against bad players, you will only develop bad habits.
(3) Use headphones, unless you have a top-notch surround-sound speaker set-up. With headphones you can get a better sense of directional sound. It makes it easier to locate people by the sound of their footsteps or gunfire.
(4) Use controlled, 1-3 bullet bursts. You can stand right next to a guy, and if you empty your clip at him in a long continuous burst, there's a good chance he will blow your head off before you kill him (I have seen this happen, and it has happened to me).
(5) Learn to compensate for recoil. The easiest way to get used to recoil is with the AK-47. With the Ak, aim at your enemy's upper chest and fire a short, 3-bullet burst. You'll find that the third bullet will most likely be a headshot.
(6) Learn the Buy menu. Don't worry if everyone is long gone by the time you finish buying your gear in your first few rounds. Once you figure it out, you'll be ready to go with the team.
(7) Don't use the sniper rifles. Just don't bother. You don't learn anything by hiding and trying to pick off targets from a distance.
Re:Your best bet... (Score:2, Informative)
RON is a more grown-up RTS that has a more grown-up player base. And it's gameplay is just outstanding.
It had MP issues when it 1st came out but as of right now, patch 3, it is very easy to play MP and there are plenty of games to be had.
Re:Check out Tribes2 (Score:2, Informative)
1. The game design promotes teamwork, which mitigates the impact of a single experienced player running roughshod over an entire opposing team. Most powerful vehicles don't work properly without several players operating them, while the single player vehicles aren't that powerful.
2. There are lots of honestly useful roles for inexperienced players to play, while they get used to the game. Every large base needs a good medic to heal guards and repair turrets/generators.
3. It can be found on the bargain rack for about $10.
4. The single player missions can be challenging, albeit a little repetitive. Their AI bots are particularly worthy advesaries and will keep pushing your abilities.
5. People are generally friendly and well-behaved. Most of the immature 11 year old players have moved on to more popular games. In the absense of an admin, users can elect a temporary admin and/or vote troublesome people off of the island.
-Troy
-Troy
Americas Army - Honor (Score:1, Informative)
Savage (Score:1, Informative)
Playing the game also is pretty fun for someone new, the game seems to be extremely balanced. It might take you a few minutes to get down what exactly is going on, but once you get the hang of it, its a lot of fun. I have more fun with Savange than Quake, BF1942, or Unreal Tournament.
Re:America's Army (Score:5, Informative)
A team-mate of mine would frequently kill rocket-weilder's with the crowbar just to prove he could. Rockets were great, but they can be avoided if you know what you are doing. People who complained about rockets in Quake I are whiners.
I'm with you on liking the old rockets. I don't think I've ever enjoyed an FPS deathmatch more than the original low-gravity level on quake. (By the way, in big low-G maps, other weapons were much more effective than the rockets, unless your opponent was foolish enough to keep his feet on the ground the whole time. Hitting an airborne moving target with the rocket launcher, while you are also airborne and moving, was both very tricky and very fun.)
In answer to the poster's original question: It doesn't matter what FPS you start with. You will feel like a total "n00b" for a while. Even with a brand-new game, you'll find yourself on servers populated entirely by the original beta testers, all sitting on the local networks of their ISP office and taking full advatage of the DS3 drop. Even when that's not the case, somebody who's mastered one mouse-based 360-degree FPS is going to be pretty good at all of them, so they will always have a leg up on you until you've played a little more. Just get in there, get killed, have fun, and you'll learn. Ignore your scores while you practice your strafing techniques and get the hang of aiming on the run. Soon you'll be spraying death everywhere with the rest of us.
Re:Savage (Score:5, Informative)
Jon (Slothy)
Ex-employee, S2 Games
FPS tips (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Call Of Duty (Score:2, Informative)
Amen to CoD! The first version had some "bugs" (more design flaws) where people would be jumping around like bunnies (the dreaded bunnyhopper) while blasting away. It really took the realism out of the game to see a russian soldier doing the mad hop in circles around people. Also, the sniper rifle was too much of an uberweapon in the right hands.
The recent patch addressed both of these problems (there's now a lag when ya land from a jump and slow down, plus the sniper rifle takes a few seconds to line up the sights when you bring it to your eye). I've played and played and played and slowly gotten better (have even won a pair of deathmatch games! but I definitely prefer team deathmatch).
As for game modes, they have quite a few:
Deathmatch
Team Deathmatch
Retrieval (think capture the flag, but only one team has a flag, the other defends it)
Search and Destroy -- Two targets that need explosives planted on them. The defending team does have time to defuse)
Behind Enemy Lines -- A few allied players and a whole bunch of axis players....killing an allied player respawns as an allied player (while the killed player becomes axis)
Headquarters -- Control a specified zone of control for a set period of time to get points
There still are some problems, such as spawn point killers (which really sucks since you don't even have time to find them before you're dead) and some granade throwing contests, but all in all, it's fairly easy to get into and start improving and getting more kills.
Team Deathmatch definitely works as a starting point as you can use other players as a crutch while you explore and learn the maps (which are decent sized and varied, although there are not a ton of maps).
I have DEFINITELY gotten my 50$ out of it and then some. Oh, if you're ever in team deathmatch and see St00pidN00b, take it easy on me ;)
Re:America's Army (Score:3, Informative)
Now, in the Really Has Vehicles list I also know about: Codename Eagle [cenation.net] and HALO. (Many omitted because vehicles must be (1) freely driveable and (2) armed.)
And for the record, these are the upcoming titles that I believe plan to include vehicles: Unreal2k4, HalfLife2.
So, unless you know of more, compared to the hundreds of FPS games out there, I'd say true vehicle support is very rare.
Re:Savage (Score:3, Informative)
Re:America's Army (Score:3, Informative)
You mean like Teamspeak? Or do you mean like quickchat? AA has both. Hit G and you can pick from a number of quick voice commands like "Enemy Spotted" etc.
Re:Do you want to play with others or just win? (Score:3, Informative)
That is the single most important piece of advice in this entire thread.
Even if you suck, knowing the maps is crucial. Otherwise you may find yourself dying a lot because you either get lost, or you don't know that the enemy can pop out of the tunnel behind you.
Join a server that has 0 to 2 players, that way you can run around and explore the map and no one will get in your way. Find out what the objectives are, look for alternate routes, test out all the weapons, see what their ranges and accuracy are.
Then find a server that doesn't rotate maps (usually they mention it in their server name, like "Bob's Beach-Only Server") and play on that server. That way you'll quickly learn that "if I go running through that door, I'll get killed 9 out of 10 times.. perhaps I should throw a grenade through it first".
The more advanced FPSs aren't things you can just jump in and start playing. It'd be like trying to play football without knowing any of the rules.
Re:Savage (Score:3, Informative)
Re:America's Army (Score:3, Informative)
I think BF1942 has one of the smallest gaps between best/worst players of all FPS games I've played, probably because the vehicles are good equalizers, and no class or firearm is excessively powerful or abusable -- the all-too-commonly-annoying sniper is pretty well nerfed). This makes it a good n00b game and very easy to get started in.
AA, on the other hand, has a built-in entry barrier (training mission and honor-building stuff that does less to improve your skills than it does to hassle you and delay your fun). And the gap between best and worst players, although somewhat mitigated by the high-honor servers, is huge.
There are also very few hard-to-learn "tricks" in BF1942 that advanced players can use to taunt and bewilder n00bs. Not that there are such tricks in AA (unless you count learning to sit really still for a long time and move very slowly, which was indeed hard for me to master), but there are in most FPS games (rocket jumping, conc jumping, wall walking, speed-hopping, etc.)
Re:Planetside (Score:3, Informative)
First of all, the game involves many different roles that you can fill. You don't have to be a good twitch FPS player to be able to have fun. You can fly aircraft, drive tanks, gun for tanks, be a medic, be an engineer, etc. I started off doing more support work and then as I practiced with the game, I got better and slowly got more into a fighting role.
The only draw back, as far as the original question goes is the cost. You have to pay a monthly fee for it, and if you are only going to play for 30 minutes occasionally, that may not be worthwhile to you.
If the cost isn't such an issue though, there's nothing in the game to make hopping in randomly a problem. It's easy to get involved in a battle just by looking at the map and seeing where the hotspots are. If you want to hook up with a group, there's always people looking for squad members. Sure, if you are only on occasionally you won't work have as much equipment at your disposal, but it doesn't prevent you from succeeding in the game.
It's had it's problems, but over time it's become quite a good game and I would recommend it if you can stomach the price tag. At the very least you can download a free trial and give it a whirl before you commit to it.
"The worst part of multiplayer games... (Score:4, Informative)
If you're wanting to avoid these crackshot players who've been playing since the day the game came out, you're going to have to start playing the day a game comes out. What's worse is that a lot of these people are just darn good at FPS anyway. A team game might be just what the doctor ordered in that case, except that it means getting into clan.
My suggestion, and one that I haven't seen mentioned, is to first find an FPS with a much smaller following. Tron 2.0, NOLF 1&2, for example, are great games with such small followings that even though they're really great, they're so desperate for other players that these guys will take you by the hand and help you get good if only to have fresh blood.
I remember then the now completely forgotten Legends of Might & Magic came out, I happened to get a free copy at work. Think Counter-Strike + Might and Magic but suckier. The thing is that there were only 5-10 servers, but everyone was really nice and a very tight group, and they were more than happy to show newbies the ropes. Even though the game design really blew, the community made it much more playable.
So, to summarize, my first suggestion would be to get in on day one on some upcoming FPS, maybe Far Cry. My second, and more realistic, is to find one of these small FPS games you like and just jump in. =)
Re:America's Army (Score:0, Informative)
Re:America's Army (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Good Online FPS Games/Servers For Beginners? (Score:3, Informative)
I've been in the same situations a few months ago when I got my
Cable Modem
I played UT a LOT on single player, so it was OK for me, thou on
advance servers I get fragged a lot.
For Unreal Turnament there is a beginner server:
"Truff's Newbie-Friendly Unreal Tournament Servers"
http://www.truff.net/
For CS, I don't know beginner servers, just stick to common public
servers. Make sure they run some anti-cheat, like: Cheating Death http://www.cheating-death.com/
Stick with your team or a good player and you'll learn from them.
Also try to read some tips and tricks. This is a good place to
start: http://www.csimmortals.com/
Take care and have a Good Game,
Richard