Where to start to becoming a first person shooter player
Which game to start off with?
If you want to look cool and expert-like at the first go itself, I would suggest starting off with the game Halo:Combat Evolved which is the first game in the Halo game series.
If you want to take things nice and easy and prefer silent assassins over mass killings, go for Hitman Contracts. The coolest thing about this game is that, if you lose your patience of poisoning and using fiber cable to kill people discretely, you can always start blasting your way through by becoming a 'mass murderer'.
Another first person shooter to start off with would be Sniper 2 but I wouldn't suggest this one much. You get stuck every damn second and get killed. What we want is progress in the game, not too much of strategy and thinking. That's the main point about first person shooters. You need to get your frustration out, not build it up more.
You have your game. Now what?
Get started guys!
The first two games that I suggested above are comfortable to play with as you start off till you're familiar with the controls and the environment you're playing in.
The game will guide you through the basics of controls, maps, weapons and vehicles (optional-game specific). The basic movement controls are either the arrow keys or the w-a-s-d keys combination.
You will need a good mouse that has excellent response time for the pointer. After all, that is your external weapon for shooting. Worship the left mouse button as it does all the shooting work for you.
A fairly modern and good graphics card can help a lot. It gives the rich feeling of the game being realistic and you actually feel every aspect of the game.
So now all you have left to do is to install the game, run it and get going with it.
Halo : Combat Evolved
Wait...now what am I supposed to do?
Every game has a story behind it. It's up to you to listen to the cutscenes or skip them and get down to action. I personally feel it is better to watch them through so that you can link the story and get a bit more information on what you should do next.
Every level has an objective that you must accomplish. It may be to destroy a weapons factory by placing C4 in selective, weak spots or to assassinate an evil political ruler stealthily. Whatever your goal, you must achieve it in order to proceed further.
Collect all the types of weapons and ammunition that you can carry, make use of vehicles (if it's there) to get through to difficult-to-reach locations and when in doubt, refer the Map.
Follow the information given about each mission and pay attention to the clues. Some are given, some you have to discover. There may even be extra AI soldiers who are your allies who will help you out in some difficult levels. The rest of the time, you're all on your own, Boss.
Argh! There's just too many of them to kill!
The main problem with any combat game is that, if you're not careful and strategic, well, you get killed. You are on your own and no matter how powerful you are, sometimes you end up being killed by the computer because there are more enemies than allies for us to deal with.
Plan your path out to reach your goal like a Don. You may need to hide until some enemy soldier moves away from the view of his colleagues to take a smoke and then you can stab him with a knife from behind. You may have to disguise yourself to gain access to personnel-only areas where the target maybe kept under protection. Sometimes you may have to hide and listen to conversations to get more info to achieving the next step.
In short, there's a bit of strategy and effort you have to put into the game.
Hitman Contracts
Hey, this is fun! But what's really in it?
Self-satisfaction of having achieved something and a great way to decrease your stress level.
Got fired from your job? No problem. Just blast the head off of your enemy target. No wonder they're called Bosses :-P
The games you play help you to think logically and smartly to make good decisions and differentiate them from bad ones. You'll start applying the same smart logic to real life as well.
It improves motor movements of the hand and retinal movements of the eye. You become sharper and more accurate with the way you handle things outside of your PC.
You can also play multiplayer with your friends and compete against them or team up with them to create an interactive gameplay experience.
Conclusion
Playing a first person shooter turns you from a geek to a cool geek. It helps your mind think better, but beware! Some games are too addictive and can make you not get up at all. I have played Halo for 8 hours straight with just short bathroom breaks and I could hardly get up from my chair after that and was disoriented when I went out of my room into the bright sunlight outside in the garden.
So take it easy tiger. But enjoy when you can. Put a strict timing for your gameplay.
