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The best first-person-shooter gamers spend
just as much time researching as they do but-
ton-clicking. For even the twitchiest of reflex-
es is worthless on an unfamiliar map; you’ll
be riddled by railguns from every direction as
you struggle to find even the most minimal
of upgrades to your starting weapon. And in
games like Quake, your opponents having
quad-damage plus a knowledge of common
spawning points
equals you minus
your body parts—
plus an explosion
of fire and guts.
What fun!
You don’t have
to get served up
and down the
battlefield to begin
your most impor-
tant of research
tasks. After all,
most multiplayer-
themed shooterscome with single-player bot modes. Fire up a
one-on-one, set the computer to “bunny rabbit”
difficulty, and resist the urge to spawn-camp
your frustrations away on such an easy oppo-
nent. You’re here to research, not eradicate.
So what are you trying to learn? Start
by sauntering through the level to find the
spawning points for the map’s many weap-
ons. You’ll want to be able to get to your
weapon of choice—newb-cannon rocket
launcher, sniper rifle, or some other inge-
nious combination of death and destruc-
tion—from any position on the map (espe-
cially the spawn points).
That’s just the beginning. In theory, you’ll
work your way up to creating actual routes.
You’ll be able to count the seconds between
each power-up or weapon spawn. And you’ll
be constantly running a loop around all the
major power-ups—health, armor, ammuni-
tion. Even if your game doesn’t feature these
goodies, you’ll want to know all the possible
chokepoints, so you can mount the best
offensive with each spawn.A
ll right, newblet. You’ve eaten your dog food in Wolfenstein 3D, done
your spirit quest in Prey, and even managed to set up a bomb
or two in Counter-Strike. If first-person shooters were massively
multiplayer role-playing games, that might qualify you to step out of the
kindergarten zone. Maybe. The big leagues of head shots, m-m-m-monster
kills, and first-person-shooter fragfests have no room for subpar playing
performance.
Top players—including PC Gamer ’s very own Norm the Intern—all
seem to have an innate talent for running-and-gunning. At least, that’s
the nice way to put it when you’re on the receiving end of one of their
rockets. But being awesome at shooters isn’t just luck; follow our guide
to becoming a better gamer, and you’ll be on top of the leader board
before you can say “pwnd.”Become a Gaming God
Tired of spending
most of your first-
person-shooter game
time as a corpse in a
field? Check out these
ways to improve your
skills without wasting
your time!
what you need (^) 1 KNOW YOUR MAPS
KeyBoaRd
MouSe
FIRSt-P eRSon-S hooteR GaMe
the S eVen woRdS you C an’t
Say on teLeVISIon
by DAVID M uRPhy
70 MAXIMUMPC HOLIDAY 2007
how (^2) ImprovIng your pc experIence, one step at a tIme
2I+# hours:minutes
00:30
the world’s top Quake players know exactly
when that quad-damage power-up is going to
respawn. and once they have it, it’s game over.