Rail Shooters

spokomptonjdub · Post by **spokomptonjdub** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:00 am

Hate them, with a white hot passion brighter than the sun.

It is a genre I simply cannot abide. Similar to musicals (movies) romance (books) and country (music).

There is nothing that can change my mind.

I bring this up because of booze, and because the new dead space game coming out is going to be on-rails.

I actually enjoyed Dead Space for the PC regardless of it's cliches, but then again I didn't pay for it either.

Wolfman Walt · Post by **Wolfman Walt** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:45 am

I got it for PS3 and thought it was great.

The wii isn't bad for on the rail shooters. I don't mind them, they're just abit of mindless fun that harkens back to arcade game days. The only thing about them on a home console is that they lose some of their arcade appeal as there is no quarter on the line.

Smiley · Post by **Smiley** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:32 pm

Like... Time Crisis and such?

I had a few of those and guns for the ps2, but they don't work with my lcd

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:55 pm

I don't really like those light gun games much since you have to press the trigger like a million times and it starts to hurt. Machine gun type is better but there are only a few with that. Light games were always the go to game first at arcades when I was little though.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:16 pm

Works in an arcade. Just like Stepmania or DDR has no glamour inside your apartment, neither are rail shooters fun unless there is a social event and gathering of friends in a neutral, outside enviroment involved.

VasikkA · Post by **VasikkA** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:00 pm

I wasted a good pile of coins on this game.

spokomptonjdub · Post by **spokomptonjdub** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:12 pm

Kashluk wrote:Works in an arcade. Just like Stepmania or DDR has no glamour inside your apartment, neither are rail shooters fun unless there is a social event and gathering of friends in a neutral, outside enviroment involved.

Actually, yes, even I can have fun on a rail gun game in an arcade environment, when I was 13.

In my drunken stupor last night I must have forgotten that.

Still, learning that Dead Space will be a light gun game is disappointing to say the least. To me, it takes away nearly all of what made Dead Space cool. The shooting was not revolutionary (outside of aiming for limbs rather than heads) as we've seen the style before in Resident Evil, Gears of War, and so on. With a rail shooter you don't get the claustrophobic over the shoulder viewpoint, the freedom of movement, the hectic zero-g or vacuum environments. I guess I just hate having control taken away from me, which is why I must hate flying or taking public transportation so much.

Rail shooters have always seemed stale to me, as I grew up on Wolfenstein and Doom.

And the Wii, for all of it's faults, can be effectively used for a proper shooter. It just so happens that most 3rd party efforts on the Wii are piss poor. Metrioid felt natural on the Wii, and we'll see if the Conduit can follow in that tradition. They don't have to settle for a rail shooter when the tools are available for an actual shooter.

Edward_R_Murrow · Post by **Edward_R_Murrow** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:35 pm

spokomptonjdub wrote:And the Wii, for all of it's faults, can be effectively used for a proper shooter. It just so happens that most 3rd party efforts on the Wii are piss poor. Metrioid felt natural on the Wii, and we'll see if the Conduit can follow in that tradition. They don't have to settle for a rail shooter when the tools are available for an actual shooter.

Yeah, Metroid Prime 3 was pretty fun. If a serious FPS was made to utilize the Wii controls it could work as a semi-decent substitute for mouse-look, but without the godawful WASD movement that cramps your hand like no fucking tomorrow. Unfortunately most developers see the Wii as the system where every game must involve shaking and flailing about like an idiot.

As for rail shooters, they kinda suck on a console with the lack of a big, plastic gun and their gameplay is great in short bursts, like the way they are played in an arcade, but blows big time on sessions longer than a half hour.

cazsim83 · Post by **cazsim83** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:40 pm

There was a pokemon game for N64 I think that was a "rail shooter" but you were taking pictures if I'm not mistaken.

Played it once at a girlfriend's house when I was a teenager - the sex wasn't worth it.

entertainer · Post by **entertainer** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:05 pm

My favourite rail shooter: