Games, Games, Games!

Now that you know all about PCs and consoles, it’s time to get down to the serious business of playing games! The bread and butter of every gamer, games too have advanced by light years over the last two decades। From the good-old days of 2-D Pac- Man to the ultra-real 3-D environments of Doom 3, there really is something for everyone, whether you enjoy a quiet game of chess or if frantic fragging is your thing. Here’s a look at the world of games.

Do the Genre thing

Due to the emergence of large numbers of games and gaming styles, it becomes necessary to classify them into genres. Each genre has its own distinctive features that set it apart from the others, although some games may borrow features from more than 1 genre. Basically the popular genres are-

1) First Person Shooter

Also known as FPS, it is arguably the most popular genre of gaming today. FPS’ place the gamer behind the weapon, only letting you see the hand of your character. This gives the gamer a first-person view of events and effectively simulates the feeling of being there. FPS games are fast paced and action based, requiring quick reflexes and good aim. The genre was made popular in the early 90’s by games like Wolfenstein and Doom. Today games like Halo, Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and Far Cry are the biggest names in this genre.

2) Sports

Sports games aim to realistically simulate a real-life sport on your PC/console. Every major sport today has at least 1 game based on it. These games may or may not require quick reaction times, depending on the sport in question (for e.g. a game like golf doesn’t require quick reflexes but a game like soccer does) Further some basic knowledge of the sport is necessary to play the game. FIFA 2005, Cricket 2005, Fight Night 2 and Top Spin are some of the big names in this genre.

3) Racing

Another popular genre, it places you behind the wheel of a fast paced car, and pits you against a number of opponents in a simple race. Gone are the days however of simple circuit racing. Today developers are adding more and more different styles to spice things up. For e.g. the drag and drift modes found in the latest edition of Need For Speed, and the hot pursuit mode found in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. The most popular games in this genre are the Need For Speed series, the Gran Turismo series and the Project Gotham Racing series.

4) Strategy

These games require careful planning and strategizing to win. Thus in simple words, strategy games make you use your brain! The games can be of two types, turn based or real time. Originally turn based strategy games were more popular, with games like Sid Meier’s Civilizations becoming huge hits and acquiring a cult following. Today however, most games are real-time strategy based. Of the real-time games, most are war-based and focus heavily on the military combat and tactics. The most popular games in this genre include StarCraft, WarCraft, Age Of Empires and Command And Conquer

5) Simulator

Simulator games try to accurately simulate a real-life situation, down to the last detail. For e.g. a flight simulator would simulate a real-life plane so accurately that it could be used to teach flying! Naturally having such detail and realism makes the game almost impossible to play without first reading the manual and/or practicing a lot. Microsoft Flight Simulator, Falcon 4.0 and IL2- Sturmovik are some of the popular games in this genre.

6) Role Playing Games

Also referred to as RPGs, they usually place you in a fantasy universe, where the game moves forward based on the players interaction with his environment. Further each character is given a particular set of skills, which he can improve as the game progresses. Popular RPGs include Diablo, Final Fantasy and the Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic series.

MMORPGs have arisen in recent times as an offshoot of RPGs. These are online games where thousands of players can interact with each other in the same virtual world. Most of them are subscription based and are available only in specific areas. EverQuest, World Of Warcraft, The Matrix Online and Ragnarok are popular MMORPGs Keep in mind though, that these are only broad generalizations.

Some games borrow heavily from more than 1 genre, and some cannot even be placed into any genre. A gamer’s personal choices also play a part here, therefore making it next to impossible to definitively mark out and define the various genres.