Ask any PC gamer why they despise X360 or scorn PS3 and you’ll often hear this answer: because FPS games suck on a console.<\/p>\n
Or do they? Let’s take a quick run through an average PC-based FPS.<\/p>\n Imagine you’re playing one of the startlingly refreshing shooters out there at the moment (cough) and you’re wandering through some jungle\/research facility\/mothership when you come across an enemy commando\/scientist\/alien.<\/p>\n What happens next?<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the hapless AI even has a chance to flinch, your 2 000 DPI mouse glides smoothly across your Ratpadz™ gaming mat and positions your cursor precisely on the enemy’s head.<\/p>\n You pause briefly, trying to decide which nostril you want to use as the entry point for your .44 slug. Hmmm, left one looks good from here. You line up your shot to within one or two pixels and execute a perfect headshot before the enemy has even raised his weapon. You wipe the brains off yourself as the game yet again applauds you with verbal confirmation of your accuracy and awards you bonus points or some unlockable extra for all your… uh… hard work.<\/p>\n Now let’s look at the opposing console side. Imagine a target is bearing down on you and you have only seconds to save yourself. Your reticule wavers slightly inaccurately over him as you fire off a few rounds, wounding him with a few and demonstrating the fancy destructible scenery with the strays. Your thumbstick wobbles around, desperate to drop him before he closes the gap. You melee attack, sending him reeling backwards before finally getting a clear moment to pop him one in the skull. His virtual brains spray across the screen. The thumbstick is still wobbling as you breathe out, reload, and look around to make sure no one saw you wet yourself.<\/p>\n That was the first time I played a shooter on my PS3. True story. And I haven’t had that much fun trying to pull off a headshot since I first heard the Unreal Tournament announcer shout it out proudly across the battlefield.<\/p>\n With practically every FPS on the market touting itself as being highly realistic, the speed and efficiency of the keyboard\/mouse combo makes things seem anything but: can the killing of enemy scum still be seen as a measure of skill when it’s this surgically precise? Fair enough, multiplayer may be a different story where realism is overridden by the simple quest for frags, but even then wouldn’t the trickier controller-based option be an even greater test?<\/p>\n I’m not bashing PC gamers here, nor their rigs, their gaming mice or the practice of playing FPS titles solely on the PC ; conversely, I’m not saying that everyone should hop on the PS3 bandwagon just yet either. But, if you’re fond of fondling a mouse and figuratively bashing consoles with it, don’t forget that there’s something to be said for games that might actually be more fun when you’re all thumbs.<\/p>\n
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With graphics and sound being fairly even across most high-end platforms nowadays, the most commonly cited advantage with the PC over its controller-operated cousins is that the good ol’ keyboard and mouse combo is vastly superior to a fiddly thumbstick and daft things like triggers and D-pads.
Or are they?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Too late. Damn.<\/strong><\/p>\n