FPS question

[Lusankya]

Now, I don't play FPS games much, because they make me feel sick, but every so often, I get the desire to play them, because aside from them making me want to throw up, I actually quite enjoy them.

Anyway, I was thinking that maybe I should add a shooter to my console library, but so that I don't add suck to sickness, I'd like one that I can pick up reasonably quickly, and that won't screw up my controls for the other games I play. So does anyone know of any console shooters that allow you to invert the X-axis? I'm so used to the camera controls being inverted when playing 3rd person games that I end up turning in the wrong direction all the time when the controls aren't inverted. To be honest, the inverted X-axis feels more natural to me as well, which will possibly help prevent motion sickness when I'm playing.

I have a PS2 and a Gamecube (which I never use), and am thinking of upgrading to a PS3 at some stage within the next year. I won't really consider getting a shooter for the PC, because MOO2 aside, history has shown that I have an attention span of about 10 minutes when it comes to PC games.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

PS2: Time Splitters: Future perfect is awesome, if a tad bit short. Black Is interesting, but very short. Killzone is an excellent choice as well, being fairly lengthy and having some fun weapons. (Otherwise, it's pretty standard, the four characters end up as more of a gimmick. Some minor attribute change ups, different weapon choices, and about 3 alternate paths through a couple levels that don't change much otherwise.)

GC: TS:FP is also on this, not sure the differences though. Medal of Honor is on both too, but to me they're sub par and overdone... I've heard good things about Killer 7 (though again, IIRC it's on PS2 as well...) but I'm not certian it's a pure FPS. And I've heard mixed things on Geist, it's premise sounded interesting though.

Hope that helps.

Edit:
Also, most FPS have the option to invert the Y-axis like you were asking about. I think it became a standard feature during the PS1/N64 era.

[Bounty]

So does anyone know of any console shooters that allow you to invert the X-axis?

Can't remember ever seeing it. Can't remember needing it, either. Inverted camera controls work fine for a third-person game but they seem horribly counter-intuitive for an FPS. I get them mixed up sometimes too, but it usually takes only a few minutes to get my orientation right.

I've heard good things about Killer 7 (though again, IIRC it's on PS2 as well...) but I'm not certian it's a pure FPS.

It"s an on-rails shooter...sort of.

I'll recommend Timesplitters too, but only if you have someone to play against. The single-player game is short and shallow, you can fight against bots in MP but it gets old fast. It has a fully-customizable controller, so there *might* be X-axis inversion there.

Other FPS's you might want to consider (and they'll probably cost you next to nothing these days, especially if you go pre-owned):

XIII
James Bond: NightFire
MoH: European Assault
Call Of Duty II: The Big Red One

[Lusankya]

I'm not asking about the y-axis. I know that you can invert the y-axis on most. I'm asking about the x-axis. Whenever I try to play an FPS, I end up spending half the time turning the wrong way because I'm used to playing 3rd person games where all the camera controls are inverted.

[Bounty]

I'm not asking about the y-axis. I know that you can invert the y-axis on most. I'm asking about the x-axis. Whenever I try to play an FPS, I end up spending half the time turning the wrong way because I'm used to playing 3rd person games where all the camera controls are inverted.

...that's why I said X-axis inversion is not something I've seen before. Give me a few minutes, I can check a few games to see if they have it.

ETA:

I've checked MoH: Frontline, CoD: Finest Hour, 007 Nighfire, 007 Agent Under Fire and TS2. None of them allow you to invert the X-axis. It's just not something that's seen as necessary.

Just get used to it. It's not like it's a massive difference.

[Lusankya]

Sorry, Bounty. THe above post was in reference to Andrew, who thought I was asking about the y-axis. You must have posted while I was typing.

The trouble for me is, because I feel sick when I play FPS, I can't really play them for long enough to get used to the difference. In the past, I've been able to play them continuously for about half an hour, tops, before I feel too uncomfortable to play any longer, and that's not enough time for me to change what I feel is the intuitive way to move the camera. Hell, even before I ran into 3rd person games in which you could shift the camera I had tendencies to want the x-axis inverted. Also, if I have to deal with motion sickess and controls that I find annoying, I won't think an FPS is worth playing. If it's just the sickness, then I can deal a bit better.

And as I said before, I actually think that having the inverted x-axis would make me feel less motion sick. Note that I don't have any data to back that feeling up. It's just more of a gut feeling that I have, but since it's about my own body, I'll trust it for now.

[Bounty]

FPS motion sickness is a unfortunately a pretty common condition. I've only had it once, with Turok 2, but I know it can be a pain. I doubt it has a lot to do with the way the controller works and more with the fact that, unlike in a 3rd person game, you don't have a visual "anchor" (ie, your character) that you can focus on during movement.

I've heard of people taking over-the-counter anti-nausea medication before playing games they know make them sick. If all else fails...

[Stark]

This is fascinating: my sister has the exact same thing. She always turns the wrong way on the x-axis. I thought she was just kerazzzy.

Most PC games let you toggle both, and I'm pretty sure the PS2 shooters I played did too. Y-axis is more common, but just rent it first to find out if it lets you do both.

[Lusankya]

This is fascinating: my sister has the exact same thing. She always turns the wrong way on the x-axis. I thought she was just kerazzzy.

Hmm... I wonder if it's a girl thing. Perhaps I should do a survey to see how common it is.

Most PC games let you toggle both, and I'm pretty sure the PS2 shooters I played did too. Y-axis is more common, but just rent it first to find out if it lets you do both.

I guess I'll have to do that. I was just hoping that someone would be able to tell me the names of a few that let me toggle both so I wouldn't have to look, because I'm lazy.

I guess I could always just go to my local Gametraders and see if I can have a look there. The guy who works there is pretty swell, and would probably let me have a look before I bought.

[General Zod]

This is fascinating: my sister has the exact same thing. She always turns the wrong way on the x-axis. I thought she was just kerazzzy.

Most PC games let you toggle both, and I'm pretty sure the PS2 shooters I played did too. Y-axis is more common, but just rent it first to find out if it lets you do both.

Weird. I was talking to this girl in a cafe a few months ago about gaming preference when I saw her with WoW on her laptop. I brought up FPS games and she said they made her dizzy. I thought she was exaggerating myself since I'd never heard of that before. (Admittedly gaming is one of those things I don't speak with girls about much).

[Stark]

It used to boggle my mind back when we all lived together: she'd be playing Goldeneye, and she's fast, coordinated and knows what she's doing, but as soon as she's not concentrating on what button she's pressing (ie, when many people are at their best) she starts running down corridors and turning the opposite direction. I have no idea what the cause of it is, but I'm curious to know how widespread it is.

Some people like to 'fly FPS like a plane' and invert y-axis, and that's wierd, but turning corners the wrong way is just nuts.

[TheFeniX]

My girlfriend has expressed the same disorientation with FPS games. She can't play Halo 2 with me on co-op because it make her nauseous and I'll catch her sometimes turning the wrong way first then quickly working it out, yet she has no issues at all with Gears of War (3rd person). In fact, she picked up the game mechanics faster than most of my other friends did (I'm really the only "true" gamer out of my friends).

I thought this was an issue with the split screen play. But even playing Halo 2 solo, she would feel lousy after 5-10 minutes. And her being able to hold her own in Gears of War split screen on insane difficulty laid that to rest.

I really thought it was just her lack of gaming experience. I can play an FPS for hours straight without any form of discomfort (except maybe my ass, from sitting so long). But hearing these comments makes me wonder.

Anyways, in all my time gaming (both PC and console), I have always inverted my Y-axis for PC games, but left it stock for consoles games. But I always adjust the sensitivity for console FPS games. In that time, I don't think I've even noticed an X-axis inversion feature.

[ThatGuyFromThatPlace]

007 nightfire is probably a solid console choice meeting the conditions, youc an pick it up and put it down pretty quickly and the control schemes for the more recent 007 console FPS's have been much more customizable than your normal FPS.

if you get it, grab the Gamecube version, the PS2 version is all kinds of crappy, with graphics hangups and a few glitches that never translated to GC

[Isil`Zha]

Well, camera control x-axis isn't really inverted.... when you push the analog for the camera left, the camera rotates to the left... which actually pans to the right.

Moving the analog to the left in an FPS makes your character... move to the left. *gasp*

It's actually quite logical. (What annoys me is FFXII actually has that reversed, and it took a while to get used to the camera going the opposite direction than I want it to - there's no option to change it.)

Anyway, I got used to FFXII's funky camera, so you should be able to get used to left going... left.

[Exonerate]

You know, I wonder if this is a contributing factor to the relatively low numbers of females who play FPSes. I was playing Natural Selection once (Which is very disorienting), and a girl commented she was getting dizzy just watching me play. Some people seem to find it less disorienting if they're actually playing instead of just watching though. For the people who care, if you play without inverted axis, you'll get used to it eventually and it will probably actually make you better in the long run.

Perfect Dark was probably the best N64 FPS. It's successor is pretty good too.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Ghost Recon games, aren't they slower than your typical Quake fragfestical hyperdeaths? Crouching in bushes and slowly moving while plinking people off the distance might be more conducive to Lus than running around frothing while ROCKET JUMPING and SPLASH DAMAGING people! SORLAG!

[Starglider]

Leena doesn't get disoriented but she easily gets confused and overwhelmed when there's too much stuff happening at once, in any sort of real-time game. We played through System Shock 2 co-op recently and I did all the hand-to-hand and rapid-aim weapons fire, Leena was sniping, hacking and psi-ing.

She's good at beat-em-ups seemingly because there's basically only one thing to focus on and not much in the way of distractions or surprises. She seems to have persistent problems with translating where she wants to go into controller inputs in driving and flying games. She does however kick my ass at nearly any sort of turn-based strategy game.

[salm]

I wouldn´t recommend Killer 7. It looks nice and stylish but it´s honestly the most boring game i´ve ever played. You glide along on rails and then finally get to a point where you stop andhave to shoot strange things without being able to move.
Black on the other hand is really good gameplay. Graphics wise it´s pretty boring as in "just another realism shooter" but that doesn´t change much funwise. It´s a bit short and i found the last level increadibly hard but then i´m not a FPS console player.

[Bounty]

The Ghost Recon games, aren't they slower than your typical Quake fragfestical hyperdeaths?

They rely even more on split-second reactions and precise motion. Well, R6 did when I last played it half a decade ago.

As for the idea that motion sickness is gender-related, I'd say it's possible, but I don't really see how. The eyes and balance systems are the same in men and women, no? And I knew a few males who get sick, too. Like I said, occasionally I'm one of them. I can't play "twitch" shooters like Turok or Quake without getting dizzy after a while, that's why I stick to more sedate FPS's like the Bond series. They're snappy and exciting, but without making you wonder where the floor is.

[Lusankya]

I can't find any sources now, and it's midnight, so I can't be bothered looking for very long, but everything I've read on the subject of motion-sickness suggests that women are more susceptible than men. This is all I can find that's interesting, but it doesn't state explicitly that women are more vulnerable. I'm certain that anyone who felt like doing some more googling could dig up some studies that show that, however.

And I have some evidence supporting my theory that the non-inverted x-axis makes me feel sick: I've been playing Transformers, which is 3rd person, but for some reason has a non-inverted x-axis control. Now, normally I can play 3rd person games until the cows come home and still not feel sick, but Transformers made me feel downright queasy from quite early on. I always just feel as though everything's going in the wrong direction when I try to turn the camera. That didn't stop me from playing it for half the day, mind you, but I am regretting it in the same way I regretted finishing the evening up with half a bottle of bubbly that one time.

[Soontir C'boath]

I can play games such as Medal of Honor and Call of Duty but if you ask me to play Jedi Knight, System Shock, or CS, my mind would be fucked with a major headache and I'd be nauseous. Playing those games I have noticed that when running, JK, SS, and CS are faster than the former two which may explain the motion sickness that I at least have with them. I wonder if anyone else have this problem.

[Isil`Zha]

Weird, I've never heard of people getting motion sickness when playing a game... However, a quick look up on wikipedia on motion sickness has a section on this very thing:

Here

[Braedley]

I had never before heard of anyone wanting to invert the x-axis on FPS. I can see how some might want to do that for 3rd person. I'll have to see what happens in Guild Wars when using mouse control and you switch between 3rd person and 1st person perspectives.

I think the option is there in some of the Battlefield games, but it may only be for vehicles. In any case, I don't own a console, and use mouse and keyboard on my computer, so I can't really help you with your problem.