Polish shooters … a definition that has become a household. You heard about them. You saw them. You most likely at least once joked about them. And almost certainly played at least one such project.
Remember the youth. You walked around a store or clothing market, went about their business, when suddenly – a miracle! Counting with disks! You immediately stuck a look at the window, looking at the name, choosing the very “cool” game … but you bought with probability one to the three Polish shooter. And not a good product, it seems Painkiller , And such a rubbish, after which a hard drive wanted to drown in a chlorine.
How it happened, and why Polish shooters gained fame?
Polish shooter in a natural habitat
Pandora's box
This magical combination of the country and the genre of computer game has become a real parable in the tongue. Or a natural disaster of biblical proportions – depending on whom to ask. But, unlike ancient traditions, Polish shooters have much more prosaic roots. They do not have a tragic supervisor of the background. Their invasion of the game industry was arranged not by the insidious rats – quite the opposite. The more actively the industry grew, the closer we came to the point of no return. The appearance of such games was only a matter of time.
In 1994, about $ 7 billion rotated in the US game market. In 2017, this amount increased by more than seven times
Before the exit Half-Life The public (for the most part) looked at the shooters with a grin. Doom And Quake , Despite the deafening popularity, they were developed almost "on the knee". The world of games was ruled by quests, and the gaming in general has not yet fully lost the status of an infantile hobby. Worthy projects within the framework of the genre were released regularly, but were much less friendly to players than super -popular quests. So buyers paid less attention to them, which means that the developers of the second -plan did not seek to massively copy them.
The release of Half-Life turned not only the genre, but the whole industry in general. The success of the brainchild Valve I drove two simple truths into the heads of an impressive audience. First: shooters are cool, and there can be nothing cooler. Second: cool shooters are well sold. The ideas of developers about directing, narration, mechanics and technologies have changed. It turned out that for success now it is not enough to draw the sprites of the monsters and give the player a gun to destroy them. No, gentlemen. Now the game should have a unique style, presentation and a cinematic plot!
Gabe seemed to know what success awaits him. Cascade resonance happened not only in the game, but also in real life
In a word, after 1998, the "cold" war began in the industry. The developers have studied different concepts, topics, mechanics and ideas – everything to stay afloat in the new harsh market. The players were only happy: it was this competition in pursuit of innovation that many classic shooters gave us: for example, Aliens Versus Predator And System Shock 2. Whatever game you look at, there will be interesting ideas and elements of identity in anyone.
However, at the end of 1999, the situation changed again – it came out Medal of Honor For PlayStation. Script from Stephen Spielberg, development from DreamWorks , orchestral soundtrack, traditional cinematic epic – everything was wonderful in it. But the project stood out not so much by the quality of development as a combination of simplicity of gameplay and the immortal topic: Fritz is bad, we are good, so direct the gun to the fascist and press the trigger. Strictly speaking, the “Medal for Courage” was a primitive console shooter, but it was helped by the settled and close to each setting.
The Second World War at that time was almost not investigated in games, so the chance to participate in legendary battles and look at authentic beauty successfully attracted the audience. Not to mention the fact that for the implementation of historical battles you do not need to strongly strain the imagination. We take documents, photographs and evidence of eyewitnesses as sketches and get mechanically simple, but attractive shooter for the mass audience.
Medal of Honor grew old, but once was on the point of technology
A little later, this recipe for success was worked out Return to Castle Wolfenstein And Call of Duty. They also did not fool their heads with mechanics, but added a beautiful picture and used a popular topic convenient for the audience. Commercial success was not long in coming. RTCW and COD diluted this formula with technological or staged finds, but who was worried? There you could take weapons and shoot fascists!
Over time, Call of Duty sales naturally fell, but still brought Activision Flean profit
In the wake of the success of these series, trivial, made according to the same patterns of Polish shooters appeared. The industry was gaining momentum, and development tools became more accessible and easier. Many studios saw the opportunity to easily earn and immediately began to sell what had the greatest demand. After all, games are the same business as music or cinema. And no business is complete without a replacement product. Almost identical to what the buyer wants, but several times cheaper.
Technically – not fake.
Medical history
So what is the Polish shooter? In short, this is a game of the middle hand, over which the developers did not really work and just wanted to sell it as soon as possible. A kind of bi-muy from the video of the video game, where you enjoy you mainly from laughter in half with tears. This category of shooters is united by a number of common features. Military (sometimes fantastic) theme, a boring gameplay, a trivial design, a myriad of bugs, a clear cheapness in all aspects and prohibitive complexity. All these are typical symptoms of the fact that the game was made not just after the sleeves, but at all without hands.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 , Like many representatives of the Polish shooter genre, skillfully disguised as a good game. You can't even say right away
Important detail: Not every such project is developed in Poland. The sonorous label received a geographical location thanks to the work of several Polish studios, which we will talk about a little further. In fact, this kind of game can make anywhere. Even in Russia.Especially in Russia. Remember at least such significant projects as "Peacemaker" , "Patriot" or "Somali trap". Although … better not worth.
Scientists are still arguing about the form in which the “Peacemaker” looks worse: in static or dynamic
The first documented Polish shooter to show all these symptoms became Chrome 2003. Behind the authorship Techland , By the way, – long before Dead Island And Dying Light. The Poles tried to take off in the wake of popularity Halo , Deus Ex and System Shock 2. The Chrome included large picturesque cards, and a role system with augmentation, and SLO-MO, and pokatushki in transport. But in the end, it turned out to be a non -iling, completely secondary shooting range that did not offer anything new. For nothing that the graphics were successful.
In addition, the formation of the phenomenon was influenced by the activity of the Polish studio City Interactive. Yes, authors Sniper: Ghost Warrior and notorious publishers Lords of the Fallen. At the dawn of its existence, the company was one of the first to join the mass production of action. In 2004, they released Terrorist TakeDown – a rail shooting range on the war in Iraq (the United States just invaded there a year earlier). How sad everything was? You were not even allowed to walk! Sit yourself behind the machine gun and jam virtual terrorists to death. Despite the declared sixteen missions, the game could be held in less than an hour.
From such an action, it is already boiling blood. No, this is not a separate segment – the whole game is just that
The funny thing is that since 2004 City Interactive created a whole bunch of games of similar quality. Domestic publishing house Akella localized as many as ten of them (the latter appeared in 2012!), in Russia, they came out under the general name "Ordered to destroy". What is there just not to find! In this gold collection there are such copies as GEARS of WAR About Libya (" Ordered to destroy. Operation in Libya " ), Call of Duty in the jungle (" Ordered to destroy: Alien territory " ), Call of Duty in the Banana Republic (" Ordered to destroy: Foreign Legion " ) And Counter-Strike: Source For the poor (" Ordered to destroy: Operation "Red Mercury" " ). We will pay tribute to the variety of mechanics and settings. Directly franchise Final Fantasy – Only shooters without anime.
Summary from the Akella catalog. If you do not know that these are games, you can easily confuse them with militants with Stephen Sigal
But not only Akella distinguished itself. "Buka" And "New disc" They also pleased the consumer. Bet on Soldier , Dreamkiller (They didn't even try, by golly), "Cleaner" , "Gelian" – Nobody left empty -handed. Gamers drowned in the ocean of mediocre games, but the publishers did not stop: they probably thought that no one would notice. However, everything secret someday becomes clear, and if you have not read about Polish shooters in printed or Internet receptions, you probably saw funny reviews.
We are talking, of course, about the work of Ilya Maddison. You can relate to this blogger, but without it the material would be incomplete. Ilya made a name for himself on vulgar criticism of bad games, and from the second -rate shooters on his channel it was not to take a breath. It was Maddison who introduced many people to the phenomenon of Polish shooters and strengthened his status.
The first video about a purebred Polish shooter can be considered a 2009 review (even on Rutube!) two militants with delicious names "Bloody revenge" And "Blind rage". Subsequently, the blogger deservedly doused many localizations of Akella and domestic developments – the same “peacekeeper” who was struck in an unequal battle with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The difference in quality was there.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Modern Warfare 2 felt it on myself
Other video bloggers also helped in the fight against Schirpotreb Maddison. For example, Vitas Mr.ZULIN Mitzkus. And if Ilya smashed Polish creations with a strong word and a vulgar joke, then his brother in arms seriously dissected mechanics and game design. An old review of the Somali trap is an example.
As video hosting develops and the growth of the popularity of YouTube, more and more people began to connect to the fight against poor -quality games. As a result, the Polish military shooters hid in the darkness after 2012 and almost do not get out into the light.
Common sense won. For now.
And who?
A reasonable question arises. If the games were bad and people knew about it why then they were sold? Where did this whole landfill of processed ideas come from?
The answer is simple: a combination of circumstances. First of all, the license for the publication of cheap shooters is easy to purchase for a penny than our publishers used. Since cheaps were developed in a short time, the publisher could immediately purchase a whole package of games and gradually publish them. The notorious Akella in 2007 released two games from the series "Ordered" on one day.
It’s already ready to jump out of the “locust” from around the corner … Ah, no. It seemed
It must be remembered that at that time access to the Internet was not so widespread. The audience was less legible – after all, in game magazines about all the projects of the month (all the more bad) you will not write, the pages will not be enough. In addition to buy what I want, it was not always possible. Disks have so far been sold better than digital copies in the same Steam. Even in the most advanced gaming stores, it was often impossible to find the desired game – it means that you had to take what to eat. Or what the tricky seller will advise.
Simple mechanics and bright covers also attracted people. Especially those who were not interested in games. A man came up to the counter, saw a box with a harsh man on the cover and decided that this was a cool shooter. So I bought it. And most likely, I did not even regret it.
Military men for every taste. But they look directly into the camera, and do not stand with their backs, how it was fashionable to do on the covers of the shooters
And finally, the games simply came out much less. It is now you can go to Steam and find some hidden diamond in the indie column. And before, you could buy a bad game absolutely by accident, without understanding the cover or on the principle of "he will go on the bezes".
That is, the culprit became the very state of https://slots-dreamer-casino.co.uk/ the video game market. If you think that now this disease is already cured, we are in a hurry to disappoint. Yes, the market has changed, the consumers have formed, but the problem has not disappeared – demand and supply have simply changed. Thanks to the active growth of digital services, so many disgusting games appear as the light has not seen before. Steam was overwhelmed by a wave of the so -called Shovelware – toys made on a knee in five minutes to cut money on the farm cards and achievements. Last fall, Steam management once again removed a portion of dubious content, but not to eradicate the infection.
In the screenshot is the only reason to play in ZUP!
Take at least a zup series!. Over the year, it grew from one game to six, and in each a hundred achievements that are given for any sneezer. Price? 29 rubles. Much cheaper than most games, true? But at the same time there are more “Achivovka” than competitors. Often the icon of achievement is some kind of letter. It remains only to dial the necessary and make a cool inscription from them in your Steam profile.
"Poland", for example.
Looking back at the dawn and sunset of Polish shooters, you can draw an important conclusion. Commercialization of games can no longer roll back. Interactive art has become business, and the further it develops, the more the market is oversaturated. From bad games, like from bad music or films, there is no getting anywhere. However, unlike the time of King Gorokh, now we have unprecedented freedom of choice. We choose not only genres, but also topics, characters, visual style! And recently – and the features of internal monetization. In less than ten years, the industry has changed beyond recognition, and then it will only be more interesting.
Play only the best! Moreover, all the necessary tools for choosing at your fingertips.