A Guide on becoming an expert at any shoot em up computer game.
My summary will be in bold and the explanation and relavence will be around it. Entire summary at the end, I encourage you to read it all, but its quite long and wordy. If you have taken anything away from this beginners platform please click a link i wouldnt mind some extra cash.
When Talking about shoot em ups, The most important fact is that you need sound. Just like anything in life you can process more information faster when more senses are acting. To Repeat SOUND IS IMPORTANT you really do need a headset or speakers. If you dont like using them or forget, just remember what i said. Most people will be using sound, but if not this is for you.
The second thing that i cannot stress enough is, your gonna need a good mouse and mousepad. That being said, dont go out and buy a 300 dollar gaming mouse with flashing lights. My mouse costs $10, and my mousepad is a piece of cardboard. When choosing a mousepad just remember it need to be smooth. Ok so ive just told you ive got a $10 mouse and a cardboard mousepad, and im telling you to make sure youve gotta have a good mouse, the fact is the mouse has to be good for you. I go through a mouse every 3 months, and i find cardboard more effective than any mousepad. The mouse is your tool you need accuracy, like a gun it could be a sniper rifle with the most perfect aim. However if your not pointing it in the right direction it wont hit the target. Keep that in mind, Summary: GET A MOUSE AND MOUSEPAD THAT SUITS YOU AND PRACTISE WITH IT. Try using a friends mouse once youve been using yours for three years and well see how much your aim decreases ;p
Number Three, Almost done with hardware. A computer without lag is important, you need a middle of the range computer, or if youve go the money, about 2 months after top of the range, Never buy from the top. Probally need to upgrade every 2 years. MAKE SURE YOUR COMPUTER CAN KEEP UP WITH THE GAMES WITHOUT LAG AND NEVER BUY TOP OF THE RANGE COMPUTERS UNLESS YOUR REALLY RICH. This goes for a moniter aswell, basically you dont need a mega computer to be good but it needs to be able to preform how you want it to, "without lag"
Ok now we are done with Hardware lets move on to The user. You.
In any shoot em up, (what i call shooting games) its going to be fast paced, dont give me that shit about sniping and being stealth can slow it down, and tactic shoot em ups like COD4 are different from hardcore Shoot em ups like Unreal. In my mind they are all the same the first to shoot will win. Isnt that the perfect theory "the first to shoot wins" In an expert world or shoot em ups where everyone plays like a computer with perfect accuracy this is true. Where am i going with this you might ask, lets go through a couple of examples.
Your catch and expert player of guard and for 2 seconds they are not shooting, for 2 seconds you are shooting, and you lose. ACCURACY. say you get 3 shoots into his foot and the rest are way off and he puts 1 bullet through your head. He wins dosent he. Ok lets say you fired 12 bullets in 3 seconds thats 4 a second, 8 bullets before he even lined you up in his sights and 4 more while he was getting his aim right. He fires one bullet in one second. And you fired 4 in one second and 8 before that. Who is gonna have the better accuracy, The person constantly firing on the person who fired once. Whos gonna have the most recoil. THIS IS ALL ABOUT RECOIL IN THE NEW AGED GAMES TO BECOME BETTER YOU NEED TO HAVE ACCURACY AND FIRE MORE WELL PLACED BULLETS RATHER THAN SPRAYING AND PRAYING. I hope you have understood my point, even though it was messy. Take your time, line up your target and end it in one shot. In these fast Games its important to keep your cool not to rush. Do you see the experts firing more bullets than needed. Firstly it conserves ammo, lets you reload less, and also as show in my example lets you end battles faster with less hastle.
But anyway, You may be asking yourself, i cant get headshot all the time even if i take my time. Accuracy like i went on about, Is all about practise and experts play alot so dont think just by slowing down you can head shot everyone, every time, even experts miss alot, but then again my next example is that of removing accuracy from your game.
So you arnt very good at aiming, theres another way, flanking and getting behind your opponent. Lets try a new example.
So you catch the expert from behind you have 3 seconds to fire and this time you decide to relax and take 3 calculated shots 2 hit (because you suck and aiming) The first hits his chest the second misses and the third hits his chest. Then he dies and you feel great. Well isnt that a cheery and well planed example. You win without him firing at you and you even miss a shot. Well its possible, if you can find a position so unexpected that you will have a huge time andantage you can easily kill any player. IF YOU GIVE YOURSELF TIME AND TAKE CALCULATED RISK FREE SHOTS AT YOUR OPPONENT YOU CAN WIN ANY BATTLE. Thats right its so simple if yourn not being fired at how can you die. Caution here though, you must have extreme knowledge of a map and also and expert player will have trick to aviod this.
Ok so accuracy and Time, sounds good dosent it, Easy to do? Not so much it will take practise so gain either or both of these skills. This is a progression from beginner to expert, it wont happen over night. PRACTISE!
Like i said above Caution You must have extreme knowlege of a map, and experts have tricks to counter this. This this is for both of the skill sets that i encourage you to train. Lets begin with time advantage. Experts will use team work, actually everyone will try use team work if there smart. To counter TIME you can use team work or get your accuracy above there time advantage. Examples
Team work You have two seconds to shot an oblivious player however you get shot my his team mate watching in the other direction and guarding him. You could even kill the oblivious guy with a head shot but you will still die unless they both really suck. Think of chess do you really want to exchange a queen for a queen. You want to have a advantage over the other team, so if you kill one person and die was it really woth it? Your still even.
The other is accuracy out weighing Time, I have given this example above. You have 2 seconds to shoot your tagret, but you dont kill him within 2 seconds and he head shots you.
The other is that he could just be plain better at the time method and some how get behind you, and use the method against you. This can happen if you dont know the map very well so i always suggest knowing all areas and going's on off any map in the game. Big ask for experts isnt it. But again this si just practise.
Now for The limitatons of Accuracy. This is pretty obvious isnt it. To use the accuracy method the player must be able to see the target. If he cant see anything how can he shoot. This can be different depending on the map. Accuracy can be extremly important in an open map. Many accuracy players to to over come this downfall by overcoming people using the time method and checking every corner and always checking behind them and around them. Accuracy players tend to favour corners and areas in which no one can sneak up on them. However there are usually players without any skills who will run around all over the place without checking and get picked off by accuracy players giving the time players a chance to catch them out.
You may be thinking that there is more to it than this, however these are the main skills used by everyone in a shoot em up, people use them sub consciously because it has worked for them, and then they adapt more comlex stragegys around them. Such as a time player who will camp corners. Camping is just a version of accuracy and time being used by those who find it useful. Rushing is just a strategy used by accuracy players to catch time players off guard. Im sure you will realise that these two skills are the supports for every players different style. These skills can be used very well together.
A SUMMARY OF THE ENTIRE TUTORIAL.
The two skills are Time and Accuracy They are the stepping stone to more comlex styles of plays. I encourage you to Practise these skills as well as learn the maps off by heart. I encourage you to make sure your hardware is up to standard. And i encourage you to have fun planning and developing your own identity once you have developed on this beginners platform. See you in the Games.
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Last Updated : Apr 26, 2008
