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Hey. Hi. Hello. Mark here, with Game Maker's Toolkit.

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You know, I used to love first person shooters.
I grew up playing games like Doom, Half Life,

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Blood, No One Lives Forever, and Duke Nukem
3D.

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I used to adore this genre, but, more recently,
I've become pretty bored with these shooter

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campaigns.

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We see the same game mechanics and the same
combat loops and the same level design over

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and over again, just with slightly different
hats. And maybe a flying section, if you're lucky.

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But in 2016, two games came along that reminded
me just how much FUN a shooter can be.

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Because when developers are more interested
in frantic firefights and varied gameplay,

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than historical accuracy and set piece explosions,
we end up with games like DOOM, which is id

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Software's gory tribute to 90s game design,
and Titanfall 2, which has more imagination

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in one level than most games achieve in their
entire story mode.

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And, yeah, everyone's already said how awesome
these games are. But considering how much

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I enjoyed 'em, I think I'd be remiss not to
cover them on the channel, and take an indepth

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look at how these two games, basically saved
the first person shooter campaign.

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Starting, with Doom - which has the best combat
loop in a decade.

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Wait, when did Resident Evil 4 come out?

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Yeah. Best in a decade.

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Each encounter in this game is a breathless
scrum between the demons and the doomslayer

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- who richochets around the environment like
a pinball, bouncing off enemies and threading

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through tight corridors to pick up health
and ammunition.

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It's fast, basically.

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Not just because your movement speed is high,
but also because id forcefully rejected just

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about every piece of shooter design that has
been employed to slow this genre down.

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Like, take aim down sights. In a normal shooter,
accuracy sucks when shooting from the hip

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so you have to zoom in to look through an
ironsight or a scope - which... massively

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reduces your speed. Doom ditches that: outside
of a few guns, there is no aim down sights.

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Also, you're as accurate when running at full
speed, as you are when standing still, so

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you can shoot when you're on the go. And because
you can strafe at the same speed as you can

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run, you can orbit around an enemy, pummelling
them with bullets and avoiding their fire.

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Oh, that's because enemies use projectiles
instead of hitscan. A quick reminder: hitscan

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weapons hurt you as soon as the enemy pulls
the trigger. Projectile weapons fire physical,

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slow-moving objects at you, that you can dodge.

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If you do get hit, you won't be hiding behind
cover for your health to regenerate. Instead,

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you'll need to hunt around the arena to find
a health pack. Or, even better, run towards

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an injured enemy to unleash a glory kill,
which lets loose a shower of health pickups.

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If most of Doom's design keeps you moving
around enemies, the glory kill system pushes

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you towards them. It makes you feel like a
brutal predator, taking down your prey one

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by one. Plus, that satisfying split-second animation
gives you much-needed time to blink, and consider

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your next move.

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Because Doom is a surprisingly tactical shooter,
where you're executing different plans all

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the time - just, at a hundred miles an hour.

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As I talked about in my episode on the original
Doom, this new game has a bestiary of unique

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demons who all work in very different ways.

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There's the Revenant, who batters you with
missiles. The bumbling Cacodemon, who floats

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in close to munch on your face. This dude,
who chases you about like a quarterback. And

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the pinky demon, who you take out like a bullfighter.
It has a shield on the front, so wait for

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it to charge past you and then blast it in
the butt to kill it.

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So you'll need to pick your priorities, which
might mean dodging pinkies and cacodemon fireballs

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while you focus your fire on a deadly hell
razer or an annoying summoner. Each enemy

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makes you move in a different way, too, as
you head for cover or snake through bullets

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or just run the hell away.

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And then there's the other piece of shooter
wisdom that Doom punches into a billion bits.

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While most games limit you to a couple weapons
at a time, Doom lets you carry an entire Walmart's

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worth of firearms on you at once - all accessed
from a radial menu that slows, but doesn't

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stop the action.

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Different guns have different uses. The fast-action
assault rifle is great for needling enemies

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and stopping them from shooting, the shotgun
works great up close, the rocket launcher

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is deadly but risky, and there's the one-hit,
one-kill chainsaw which showers you with ammo,

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but runs out of gas quick. So pick your targets
well.

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Juggling guns and enemies is something of
a puzzle. and you've got to figure out the

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answer in the seconds before you get tackled
by a pinky and turned into a thick red paste.

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This new Doom also adds verticality to levels,
with a satisfying double jump, a generous

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system for quickly clambering up platforms,
and the ability to chain a jump into a glory

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kill for a big leap between spots.

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And so, between different enemies and different
level layouts, id software can effectively

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cobble together an infinite number of combat
encounters.

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But, and here's the rub, even the best firefights
in a decade get boring after a while and Doom

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can be an intensely repetitive game.

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Between endless battles you get some exploration stuff and some so-so platforming bits.

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And you can divert from the path to pick up
secrets and collectibles.

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Personally, I vowed to avoid hunting down
collectibles forever after shooting 100 pigeons

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in Grand Theft Auto IV and seriously questioning
my life choices. And I think I'm becoming

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allergic to upgrade trees, too.

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But even if you do go after Doom's various
trinkets and upgrades, jumping at pipes and looking

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for secrets can send the game's intensity
from 11 to 0 in painful, whiplash fashion.

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Which brings us to Titanfall 2: a game with
an expert sense of pacing and the best FPS

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campaign in a decade.

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Wait, when did Half
Life 2 come out?

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Yeah. Best in a decade.

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BT-7274: Got you

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Now, when I say pacing, i'm talking about
two different things.

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One, is how often a game is introducing new
and original ideas to shake things up. And

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Titanfall 2 is doing that constantly through
its tautly-wound single player campaign.

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In this level, you grab a tool that can be
used to turn off fans, flip platforms, and

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hack robot sentries.

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Another stage takes place in a sci-fi Ikea factory, as you bounce through pre-fab

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houses on a monster conveyer belt.

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This level has you wall-running on a spaceship,
high above the planet. And, of course, there's

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press Left Bumper to time travel.

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Effect and Cause, as is the level is called,
lets you ping back and forth between two moments

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in time - from a squeaky clean research centre
in the past, to its charred ruins in the present.

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It's a visual spectacle and a brilliant idea,
but what makes it so rad is how it impacts

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the two things Titanfall does best: combat
and platforming.

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In shootouts, you can phase out of time, and
then phase back in, now behind a group of

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soldiers. Then again, the present timeline
is crawling with these vicious dinosaur enemies,

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so you have to juggle two combat encounters
at once - often jumping out of the frying

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pan and into the fire.

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And there are the platforming bits, where
you switch timelines mid-jump to phase in

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walls and safe spots beneath your feet. It's brilliant.

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And then, at the end of the level, Cooper rips the time
machine off of his wrist, and the mechanic

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is gone for the rest of the game. Tossed away,
before you ever have a chance to get bored of it.

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And that focus on keeping the player engaged
is how Titanfall 2 is always operating. Because

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the other aspect of pacing is how well a game
manages to mix up its most fundamental pillars

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of gameplay.

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Titanfall 2 has firefights, it has platforming
bits, it has titan battles, and it has some

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story stuff too. And the game does a brilliant
job of switching between these sections before

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you ever have a chance to get tired of them.

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Each style of gameplay moves at a slightly
different speed, and tests slightly different

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skills - so you don't get fatigued from constant
action, but there are no lulls in the pace either.

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Some aspects of Titanfall 2 are better than
others. The platforming's fantastic, though,

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why isn't the grapple hook in the singleplayer?

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The titan bits are pretty dull. And the combat
is really good... but it doesn't quite reach the

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heights of Doom.

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Like that game, Titanfall 2 wants to keep
you on the move - as seen in the flashy CGI

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trailer at the start of the game.

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TRAILER NARRATOR: The pilot is the true dominant force.

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Fast and agile. Graceful, yet devastating.

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So you get tools to move fast, like a super
long slide and a wall run that increases your

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speed and your defence. And certain enemies
push you to run, like the tick: which is a

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sort of frag grenade on spider legs that chases
you around the arena and will kill you if

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you don't get moving.

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But where Doom asks you to move around and
towards enemies, in my experience, Titanfall

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2 more often makes you run away from the fight.

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Part of this has to do with the shooter tropes
that Doom so confidently rejected. Aim down

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sights and slow strafing encourage you to
get some distance from enemies before engaging.

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Unless you've got a shotgun, that is. Plus,
hitscan weapons, regenerating health,

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and even the need to reload your weapon force

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you into cover and retreat.

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And if Respawn really expects players to wall-run
and shoot at the same time then... well, for one,

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that's pretty hard. Maybe it's easier on a
keyboard and mouse. But, also, the level design

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doesn't exactly support it.

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At the beginning of the game, you run a thing
called The Gauntlet which is a sort of obstacle

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course where you jump, slide, and wall-run,
while simultaneously taking out foes.

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The design of The Gauntlet, which is like
a winding corridor littered with pockets of

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enemies, allows for a joyous moment of zig-zag
warfare as you bounce between walls while

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letting off shots and grenades.

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The game itself never really sees anything
like this. The arenas are mostly just big

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boxes and the platforming sections are completely
devoid of enemies.

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Because if you want gamers to play in a certain
way, you've got to encourage them, through

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systems, like the glory kill; or level design; or incentives, like the scores in Platinum Games.

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Otherwise, they'll more likely play it in the most safe and boring way possible.

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Because even Call of Duty has wall-run these
days, but I still played Infinite Warfare

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by cowering behind a series of walls and boxes.

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Which is the same way we've been playing shooters for
years - because it feels like most FPS campaigns

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have been working off the same blueprints
for the last decade.

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Which is why games like Doom and Titanfall 2 - and other wacky shooters like Wolfenstein and Bulletstorm -

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are such a breath of fresh air.

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They remind us to question the design trends
that have built up in certain genres. They remind us

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that variety comes from clever level design and expert pacing, not just historical set dressing. And, above all

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else, games like Doom and Titanfall 2 remind us that first person shooters can be fun.

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Thanks for watching. Game Maker's Toolkit
is powered by the crowd-funding website Patreon,

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and these are my top tier supporters.

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Here's an interesting fact. The director and
singleplayer lead of Titanfall 2, Steve Fukuda

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and Mackey McCandlish, were design leads on
Call of Duty 4. So while Activison might be

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stuck making the same game every year, the
guys and gals in the trenches are capable

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of doing much more interesting stuff. If they get the chance.

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Anyway, after these credits have run I have a couple episodes you might want to check out.

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Before Doom 2016 came out, I looked back at the original game to talk about

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the importance of unique enemies.

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And you can learn more about hitscan weapons and regenerating health,

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in a video called "How Games Do Health"