Summary
AnArena Shooteris a sub-genre that can be utilized in many different ways for making unique experiences — some of them will even incorporate elements of other Shooter sub-genres such as Shoot ‘Em Up games. This genre-blurring makes for a lot of different ways to enjoy the sub-genre, all of which are made even better when players have some friends coming along for the ride.
While an Arcade Shooter is a game that focuses purely on entertainment value over realism, an Arena Shooter has a few more rules to make it a full-blown sub-genre. They promote speed and quick reactions to create a very engaging atmosphere, with less of a focus on aiming down sights and hiding behind cover. They also provide lots of features that can change gameplay elements mid-match — such as modifying pick-ups or having powerful weapons spawning into the game. Arena Shooters aren’t as common as other Shooter counterparts, but there are still someclassic games in the genre.
Perfect Darkmight not have as fast of movement as other Arena Shooters, nor the adrenaline-pumping music, but this N64 classic provided players with a great sci-fi spy experience. The game is constantlycompared toGoldenEye 007, a game that was made by the same developer, Rare.
Players can team up to play through the game’s story campaign together, or load some bots into one of its multiplayer modes. The remastered version of the game also brings online functionality, along with stunning new visual elements to bring the game closer to the modern era.
7Quake 3 Arena
Putting The Arena In Arena Shooter
One of the games that helped pioneer the sub-genre of Arena Shooters isQuake 3 Arena. The game features a wide range of weapons with different methods of fragging opponents, and players will need to keep moving to prevent an opponent from coming at them from a blind spot.
Being as old as it is, the game doesn’t offer as wide a range of cooperative game modes as it does weapon choices. Players can team up to work together in Team Deathmatches and Capture the Flag modes — and having good communication can give them a monstrously powerful advantage, but at the end of the day, skill usually wins out.
Old as it may be,Doom 3had some stunning visuals for its time — and some extraordinary gameplay. The gameramped up the violence and actionfrom previous entries for players to make their way through every room and corridor. each filled with hordes of demons, zombies, and other monstrosities.
Officially, the only way to playDoom 3’scampaign or other game modes in co-op was to connect two consoles together on the same LAN network — a very cumbersome practice by today’s standards. However, the PC version ofDoom 3has mods that allow players to enjoy the game together no matter where they are in the world.
Splitgatehelps to modernize a lot of the core principles of old-school Arena Shooters. It does not focus on large-scale maps, and instead has players moving across more cramped spaces with a wide range of powerful weapons. It also throws portals into the mix to allow very fast traversal and ambushing. This works really well to make players feel like they need to keep moving and stay in the action.
Splitgateoffers several cooperative game modes, such as Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Team SplitBall (where one player holds a ball to gather points while team members defend them), and Domination (where teams capture and hold various points).
Halois one of the most influential shooters around, and it helped modernize a lot of features seen in PvP today. FPS games had a reputation for not being as good on consoles as on PCs due to PCs using a mouse and keyboard, but Bungie’s franchise changed all that.Halowould continue to make its controls more intuitive, withHalo 3being referred to asone of the greatest FPS games of all time.
Halo 3offered every means of co-op possible for its campaign. 2-Player local co-op, 4-Player online co-op, combined local and online co-op, and even letting players hook up their consoles together so no internet was needed for everyone to enjoy the game on their own screens. Bungie went all-out withHalo 3’sco-op, and it paid off in spades.
3Unreal Tournament 2004
Endless Arena Shooter Enjoyment
Quakemay have helped pioneer Arena Shooters, butUnrealmade great strides in perfecting them.Unreal Tournament 2004is the pinnacle of everything a fan of Arena Shooters could ever ask for. It offers a hugely diverse range of weapons, mutators, vehicles, & turrets, but also 12 different game modes to juggle between.
Players are able to play together on the same teams in multiple game modes, including Team Deathmatche, Onslaught, Assault, andmultiple variations of Capture the Flag. Assault in particular puts one team on the offensive of a set objective, and another team on defense. This leads to a sort of pseudo-campaign experience where all the enemies are controlled by other players.
2Tribes 3: Rivals
Modernized Arena Shooter Action
WhileSplitgateoffers some modern expectations,Tribes 3should be seen as what all modern Arena Shooters can aspire to be. The game features large open maps to traverse, jetpacks to give an intense sense of speed and mobility, and mid-air combat that feels very satisfying when taking out an enemy.
The core focus ofTribes 3is Capture the Flag, as this will encourage players to defend their flag, giving chase to hunt down any opponent that steals it, and making dives to grab enemy flags that will then need to be safely delivered back to the player’s base while being pursued relentlessly. While this might not be on many people’slist of best Arena Shooters, it can serve as the foundation of what may be the best one of all day.
TImeSplitters 2has everything an arena shooter should have. Fast-paced movement, lots of different weapons that players can pick up, power-ups, turrets, and pickups that can replenish health and armor. It also featured a staggering 126 characters to choose from — spread out across all manner of genres and time periods. Creepy clowns, killer robots, magic stone golems, soldiers, a monkey, and just plain whacky ideas that are all available in one roster — with optional special stats for each of them.
Players can play together on the same team in many game modes, some of which are unique to theTimeSplittersfranchise. However, they can also enjoy the entirety of the game’s story campaign in split-screen local co-op. Having all of this in a single game on the PS2 madeTimeSplitters 2something truly special.
