THIRD-PERSON SHOOTER

'Third-person shooter' (TPS or 3PS) is a genre of 3D computer and video games in which the onscreen character is seen at a distance from a number of different possible angles, as opposed to the first-person model in which the player views everything in the game world as if through his own eyes.

Owing to the general nature of the term, many games are placed outside of the third-person shooter genre because their style is covered by a more specific genre label. The ''Resident Evil'' series, though it incorporated both third-person gameplay and shooting, was not considered a third-person shooter until ''Resident Evil 4''; because of the emphasis on fear and survival, this was called survival horror. In contrast, the ''GTA'' series from ''Grand Theft Auto III'' on has been labeled by some as a third-person shooter, but combines driving and RPG elements along with elements from the other description. Examples of traditional 3rd person shooters include MDK and Gears of War.
There are advantages and disadvantages of TPS games. A third-person perspective gives the player more awareness of his surroundings, as in the ''Splinter Cell'' series. However, this leaves the camera disconnected from movement as in an FPS: poor camera control can leave the player viewing the wrong area, having their line-of-sight covered by an enemy behind them, with the illogical ability to see through walls, or worse. Many solutions to these problems have been both proposed and implemented, but camera control continues to hinder the genre.
This has led to many 3rd person shooters, such as , and Metal Gear Solid, to give the player the option to enter a 1st person view. The provision of this option allows a player to use the 1st person view if a situation should arise where the third person becomes problematic, while allowing them to remain in a third-person view the rest of the time.

Contents

See also

See also

★ First Person Shooter, the games brother genre

★ Gears of War, a popular third person game

★ Lost Planet, an Xbox 360 third person game

★ Gunz, a Korean third person shooter

★ Tomb Raider, one of the oldest third person shooters

★ Warhawk (PlayStation 3 game), third-person flight and foot combat

★ Max Payne, A well-known hard-boiled shooter