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The Crossing - A New Way to FPS?
1up has a look at Arkane Studios' extremely ambitious new project. Called The Crossing, the FPS title looks to combine single and multi-player modes in a new way. From the article: "In the simplest sense, story missions are single-player shooting with an exception: Naturally intelligent human opponents take the place of A.I. There are two types of players: Elites and skirmishers. Elites are gamers playing the game in story mode. They're beefed up, heavily armored, and heavily armed. They have to be able to hold their own against a swarm of skirmish players. Skirmishers are gamers who typically play on multiplayer maps: well-trained, rank-and-file soldiers playing primarily to have some quick fun and increase their rank through defeating the occasional Elite. Skirmish players can also invade story maps and 'possess' A.I.s ala Agent Smith in The Matrix." So even if you're playing through the story, you'll still be challenged by the 'NPCs', all of whom will be played by a real-life human. Sounds like it could either be awesome or a total flop. Which side are you leaning on?
This seems like an awesome idea in theory, but could be a huge fluke. If there are enough people on your server to take control of the "NPC" it could indeed be very fun. However, if no one is on your server, it will just be another Carmageddon style game (ok so im not 100% sure the style of the game). Although I guess you would obviously join a server that has quite a few players. (I mean would you join a counter strike server that has 31 bots and no real players)? With that being said, this is defiently worthwhile to try. This should prove if there is a market for these kind of games, and if so, could open up a whole new genre.