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The documentary, FPS: First Person Shooter, is a massive four and a half hour documentary on its title subject, but is it the definitive documentary?
FPS: First Person Shooter covers everything from the genre’s roots in Maze War in the early 70s to modern gaming. You’ll see a lot of the most iconic games in the genre as well as a few obscure ones, but there were some surprising omissions, such as Killzone, Medal of Honor, Bioshock, Resistance and Red Faction.
FPS isn’t just a retrospective about the games mentioned by fans and gamers, however. What separates it from the countless documentaries you can find on YouTube is the depth. FPS: First Person Shooter brings in several people from the industry, from studio heads to voice actors to art directors, but it also brings in gamers and gaming journalists. It dives deeper than I expected into the design of the games as well as the impact some of them had on gaming as a whole.
While the runtime is longer than expected, this documentary didn’t overstay it’s welcome. No one came off as snobbish, with some admitting they stole ideas from other games and talking about how great their competition was rather than talking down about them. I was worried about the length going in, but the lighter tone and the sense of camaraderie—as opposed to everyone trying to outshine each other—made FPS an easy watch. I do, however, think it would have benefited from being in an episodic format rather than one four and a half hour stretch. I didn’t get bored, but I definitely didn’t have that amount of time to dedicate to one sitting either.
FPS: First Person Shooter is something special. It’s dripping with nostalgia, but it also gives an informative look at the development process. It’s not the same information you hear repeated in most documentaries online; it’s a unique, intimate experience for fans of the genre. FPS is absolutely the definitive documentary on the subject, and I sincerely hope they cover other genres in the future.
First Person Shooter,” hailed as the #BestGamingDocEver, is NOW available at fpsdoc.com ! 🔥 Last chance to get your name in the credits! 📜 Be a part of gaming history.
