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How FPS Storylines Are Written
Might E. Mouse writes "Cynics might say 'Who needs a storyline for an FPS game?' and if we're talking Quake or Doom then fair enough. But to brand the entire genre as lacking in story is to condemn gems like Half-Life 2 or Chronicles of Riddick. So what goes into writing a really compelling storyline for an FPS game? bit-tech has an article exploring this topic with the likes of Martin Lancaster, writer / designer for Crysis, Rob Yescombe, writer of Haze and more: 'There's nothing wrong with that of course, back in the day Quake was amazing in its own, essentially plotless, right. But it's interesting that only recently has a push for coherently told storylines appeared among FPS fans, bought on by another few years of maturity in what is an undeniably young medium. Paintings and music have both been around since time out of mind, but computer games have only been around for a couple of decades and only recently have they begun to be recognized for the artistic merit posed by their interactivity.'"
Hmmm. Deus ex was a totally cliche distopian future done to death before, with a main character about as charismatic as a rock. Half life 1? Did that even have a story? I must have missed that, because to me it was pretty much "shit is happening, kill the alien leader", while meeting maybe a few people along the way. Half Life 2, while immersive, suffers from a very simple survival plot with minimal complexity given to any of the characters.
These are FAR cries from the great stories of Cinema and Literature. In fact, none of these games would even exist if the movies they borrow from never existed.