When sameness becomes a genre’s defining characteristic, who is to blame? Is it the developer, lacking the required creative faculties? Is it the publisher for pressing their underlings into producing a sure seller? Or is it the public for continuing to throw our money at exercises in iteration? Such is the quandary plaguing the first-person shooter (FPS), that most homogenous of categories given to delivering what is expected and no more.

The big hitters produce clones of their franchise on a near-annual basis, a fact inevitably referenced by the critics clamouring to share their thoughts on the new release. However, despite this awareness of the genre’s creative shortcomings, choosing between shooters is more frequently a trial of brand loyalty than of critical assessment, aptly demonstrated by the hostile reception afforded Medal of Honor: Warfighter. This was a game slated on the grounds of similarity to Call of Duty (CoD) round about the same time as CoD: Black Ops II was obliterating retail records.

These allegiances come across particularly baffling when they collide with those to whom the FPS is unfamiliar. When slanderously accused of being a CoD player, I was forced to inform my mother in no uncertain terms than she was witnessing the magic of Battlefield, the thinking man’s FPS as yet untainted by ten-year-old American fanboys screaming bloody murder into their headsets. My impassioned defence of this marvel of modern military simulation was met with a shrug and continued indifference. Explaining the excitement unique to your chosen series is an impossible task when submerged in a sea of homogenous wannabes.

This is a trend symptomatic of the sudden rush of gaming into the public consciousness, and one that poses considerable problems for its future expansion. Military shooters have been hurriedly churned out to meet the global spread of console ownership, but when this market becomes saturated – a point which I suspect has already been reached – where then?  How do you draw in new custom when your product’s superiority requires a veteran’s eye to distinguish? Explaining the draw of shooters to players upon whom the simple joys of gunfire are lost is challenging enough without a dearth of originality to boot.

But let me be clear: this is not an argument for the abolition of the gritty military sim.  Established series such as CoD and Battlefield occupy specific niches which command specific – and colossal – audiences. What we must challenge is the notion that these successes are inviolate archetypes to which any new game must adhere to have a chance at commercial success. Iteration may excite the faithful, but novelty draws a crowd.

Read Angus' Re:roll - Week 3 column looking at the craze of the Nintendo Wii.

Angus Morrison runs a YouTube channel on games and their critical reception at www.youtube.com/RErollGaming