Summary
Star Warsgetting an FPS isn’t exactly a revolutionary or emergent direction for the IP—where the new FPS brims infinitely with potential, though, is in the hands of developer Respawn.Star Warsgames lately have indulged in creative freedom while still being bound to overarching lore established by a canonical timeline, and whileStar Wars Jedi’s Calcertainly celebrates gameplay oriented around the eponymous lightsaber-wielder, it will be a welcome change of pace to see aStar WarsFPS from Respawn.
There are a few inferences that can be made knowing the genre of game it will be alone. On one hand, it is safe to assume the protagonist will have at least some knowledge of how to use a blaster, for example, while on the other hand it is also safe to assume that the protagonist’s face might not be seen that often. Cutscenes could surely rectify that and fully represent the characters fans play as, but if they’re a ‘faceless’ protagonist likeHalo’s Master Chiefit could pay dividends in richer storytelling, such as if players get to embody either an otherwise anonymous clone trooper or stormtrooper.
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Halo’s Master Chief is Perfect for the FPS Franchise
Halois a beloved military science-fiction FPS for myriad reasons dating back toCombat Evolved, and while the franchise might have to climb back a bit from the drawbacks ofInfiniteit is still a genre-defining staple. Between theUNSC, Covenant, Flood, and Banished, there’s a lot of fun lore to dissect between each installment while gameplay remains consistently entertaining in single-player and multiplayer alike.
Master Chief alone endures as a stoic protagonist whom players can easily project themselves onto from a first-person perspective, treating his lack of dialogue or emotive expressions as a blank canvas for the player to reflect on their own. It’s the same as with any FPS game where the protagonist is inexplicably mute, where they are more explicitly meant to literally represent the player, especially if there is a custom character creator.
Many games have silent protagonists who are still integral to the narrative but don’t respond to other characters, too, and while Chief does talk, he makes for a wonderful protagonist by not having the franchise need to center on him or his character development as strongly as other elements of the story. Themystique around Chief’s appearance beneath the helmetis one fans do wonder about, though it isn’t a question they ever really needed to be answered since that intrigue makes him that much more interesting and malleable in an FPS game.
Respawn’s Star Wars FPS Could Make Players a Clone Trooper or a Stormtrooper
The same can be said ofDoom’s Doomguy, and the same could also be said of Respawn’sStar WarsFPS if it featured a protagonist who is already known to be an anonymous icon, whether that’s a clone trooper or stormtrooper. Obviously a clone trooper would align with the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars while a stormtrooper would align with the Galactic Empire following the Jedi Purge in 19 BBY, but Respawn could throw a wrench into those predetermined affiliations to make its protagonist much more captivating.
Clone troopers and stormtroopers would make great protagonists in aStar WarsFPS due to already donning a helmet and armor almost at all times, like Master Chief and Doomguy, and thus the perspective wouldn’t be as detrimental. Players wouldn’t necessarily need to see their character all the time if they were dressed fully in white as a buckethead the entire game, for instance, or if they were genetically identical to every other clone trooper.
Still, a unique protagonist could still be what Respawn goes with for its currently untitled game, but even popular FPS protagonists likeBioShock: Infinite’s Booker DeWittdemonstrate how these kinds of protagonists can easily be obscured or unmemorable if they aren’t shown often or at all. So if thisStar WarsFPS does have a custom character or scripted protagonist, it will need to find ample time to portray them in the story as well.
Respawn reportedly has aStar WarsFPS in development.
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