Shooting Games
From LoveToKnow VideoGames
Shooting games. Blast, zap, bang!! These are some sounds of taking out your target. So what’s the appeal? There’s just something about it that seems to get your adrenaline pumping. Early shooting games were simple. Targets would move across the screen and you would try and take them out for points. Now, shooting games have moved to a new level. You can participate in action scenarios in military, sci-fi, secret agent, detective and other cool roles. Shooting weapons in games have become a lot more sophisticated. You can have a scope to zoom in, have armor piercing bullets, laser or other types of energy ammunition.
Shooting Game History
Let’s take a look at the progression of shooting games to what is now known as a shooter game.
Carnival Shooting Games
The first shooter games were found at carnivals. You aimed air rifles or darts to hit specific targets. If you were lucky enough to hit anything, you may have a chance at winning a prize, usually a stuffed animal or cheesy plastic toy.
Space Invaders (1978)
Space Invaders was one of the original sci-fi shooting games. Alien ships were in a big group formation above you. Your task was to defend the earth from invasion. You were in a small ship that could move left to right and shoot at the bad guys. The screen didn’t vary, but the alien ships would get a bit faster.
Today, Space Invaders can be played online as a free flash game. Click here to try it
Duck Hunt (1984)
Popular in the 1980’s, Duck Hunt was a simple shooting game you could play at the arcade or on your video game console. The rules were easy. You stood in one spot and tried to shoot the ducks who would fly by on your screen. Then you would try to score points based on how accurate your shots land. Then a small dog picks up the duck and smiles at you. If you somehow miss, the dog then laughed at you.
Today, Duck Hunt is available for play online as a free flash game. Click here to try it out
Area 51 (90’s version)
The video arcade version of Area 51 originally came out in 1995. You are on a mission to destroy all the aliens and the mothership that are invading the secret military base. To play, a cheesy plastic gun was used to shoot at your targets. You didn’t have control over where you went, since you were sitting in a vehicle that was in motion and took you to the places where you needed to eliminate the aliens.
Gun (2005)
Designed for the PS2, GameCube, Xbox and Xbox 360, Gun is a western shooter game that puts you into the lives of cowboys and Indians. You are a hunter’s apprentice and become involved with the troubles in the land of the Old West. This action/shooter game involves you in many different types of shooting scenarios. Like all other current shooter games, you can freely move around your environment and are not limited to a two dimensional space.
In the beginning of Gun, it is like a "target practice by shooting at" game. Then, the game just takes off into a big shooting gallery fest filled with bad guys trying to kill you.
Area 51 (2005)
The new version of Area 51 immerses you into an action/shooter/adventure blast fest. The graphics are intense and you can move around freely. Aliens are very aggressive and your weapons are very high tech.
Summing it up
Shooting games have come a long way. From cheesy carnival target games to three dimensional, graphic intensive adventure/shooters, the interest in this genre has not lost popularity.
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