When Rockstar first announced it would release GTA V for the next wave of consoles, I was excited for players who had somehow missed out the first time around. The game would undoubtedly look and run better on the new systems and would probably have some nice extras to tempt fans of the original to buy it again. However, I felt like I didn't need to explore Los Santos again.
Then Rockstar announced a first-person mode for GTA V, and I knew I had to experience that. By placing its open-world opus in the first-person, Rockstar has breathed new life into the title, but the game industry shouldn't stop there. Here are 10 other franchises that could benefit from a first-person mode.
Assassin’s Creed– First-person worked for GTA V, so it should work for one of the industry's other big open-world franchises. Mirror's Edge helped pioneer first-person parkour, so we're sure the platforming would work. The best parts of Assassin's Creed have always been planning an assassination and then working your way through a crowd or scaling the interior of a church unnoticed before dropping down on your target and spilling their blood on the floor; a first-person mode could bring the tension of these scenes to a whole new height.
Mass Effect– Mass Effect became a more and more capable shooter as the series progressed, so why not go whole hog and dive into the action via first-person shooter gameplay? This perspective would help immerse players directly into the firefights, and there could be an option to let players switch back and forth from the new and old perspectives. The Elder Scrolls series has already played around with letting players jump between first-person and third, so it wouldn't be unheard of if Mass Effect did something similar.
Resident Evil– Resident Evil Code: Veronica X experiments with first person in a battle mode minigame that let players re-explore specific sections of the game in – you guessed it – first person! Resident Evil: Dead Aim also explored this perspective, and while that title wasn't great, the idea was compelling. A first-person camera would make Resident Evil's zombie-filled environments even more intense than they already are, and the series' 30-foot-tall boss battles would be even more epic from this angle.
Super Mario Bros.– Games like Dying Light, Metroid Prime, Brink, Portal, Mirror’s Edge, Antichamber, and A Story About My Uncle have tried first-person platforming to some success. However, while many games have tried to do first-person platforming justice, we don't feel like the concept has been fully explored, or flawlessly nailed. Why not let the company that has produced the most consistent platforming experiences of all time take a whack at it?
Dark Souls– The Dark Souls series can actually trace its origins back to the King's Field games– a series of first-person action/RPGs that were hard as balls (how hard are balls, really?). Developer From Software should return to this concept. We like the idea of dodging and weaving through a battlefield, and a first-person camera could make the action all the more visceral.
Next up: We get a little carried away as we explore first-person modes for Castlevania, Batman, and Tetris. Yeah, Tetris. You have to see this.