Video Games Genres

Genre Name	Genre Description	Genre Example
FPS	FPS stands for first person shooter, a game that is played from the perspective of the characters eyes. In general the idea of the game is to kill enemies, usually soldiers of some kind, and this can be done either offline against AI controlled enemies, or online against other players. When playing FPS games the view is generally of you holding a type of weapon.	Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is an example of an FPS game. It uses the IW 4.0 engine designed specifically for the CoD series. The plot involves ultranationalist Russians taking control of the Russian federation, and performing acts of terrorism in Europe and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_Modern_Warfare_2 Although the general focus of the game is on the multiplayer aspect of the game, the campaign contains linear, fast paced missions that must be completed in order to advance the main storyline. The multiplayer has a large amount of game modes to choose from, ranging from the traditional Team Deathmatch, to games such as Search and Destroy, and Domination. In general this is a game with a great multiplayer aspect, but is mediocre with its single player campaign, a trend for the majority of shooters.
Survival Horror	The Survival Horror genre’s main focus is that of trying to create fear and tension whilst trying to stay alive in conditions where the player is made to feel less powerful than the other enemies in the game. These games tend to make use of stereotypical horror tropes such as dark mazes or surprise attacks by enemies. The fact that the player is generally under equipped or has a lack of equipment, the genre focuses more on puzzle solving and evasion, although some games incorporate combat into their games through first or third person shooter aspects.	An example of a Survival Horror game would be Resident Evil 4. The story of Resident Evil 4 follows the U.S. government special agent Leon S. Kennedy, who is sent on a mission to rescue Ashley Graham, the U.S. President's daughter who has been kidnapped by a sinister cult. Traveling to a remote rural area of Europe, Leon fights hordes of violent villagers and mutated monsters, and reunites with the mysterious spy Ada Wong. The game pioneered and popularized the "over the shoulder "third-person view perspective in video games.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4
RPG	RPG stands for Role-Playing game, and involves the player taking control of a character, or characters, in a fictional land. They focus mostly on story and narrative elements and developing your character throughout the game through some kind of leveling system.	Skyrim is an example of a Role Playing game where the player takes creates and takes control of their own character, and then developments them throughout the game to make them stronger by completing quests and defeating enemies. Skyrim’s main story revolves around the player character and their effort to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim .Skyrim’s gameplay gives the player access to an expansive open-world where they can do whatever they wish to do, allowing them to role-play fully in whatever role they want to play. Due to the fact that the main quest can be ignored after the first section, it allows players a lot of freedom within the game. The open world consists of dungeons, large cities and small villages and large wilderness expanses.
Puzzle	Puzzle games are exactly as they sound, they involve the player to solve puzzles, which usually allows them to move onto the next level, which is a similar puzzle, just with a small increase in difficulty. Puzzle games can test many skills when solving them, such as logic or pattern recognition.	Candy Crush Saga is a match three puzzle game where players must match three or more candies of the same colour in order to remove them, and gain points needed in order to move onto the next level of the game. When matching more than three candies in a row special candies are formed which allow the player to removes more candies when they can match the special candies in a row with regular candies of the same colour.
Strategy	The strategy video game genre focuses on planning ahead and tactical thinking in order to win the game. There is an emphasis on challenges that may be strategic, tactical or sometimes even logistical. Strategy games are generally categorized into four sub types, whether that be real time or turn based, and whether the games focus is on that on strategy or tactics.	Civilization V is an example of a strategy game, more specifically a turn-based strategy game.  In Civilization V, the player leads a civilization from prehistoric times into the future on a procedurally generated map, achieving one of a number of different victory conditions through research, exploration, diplomacy, expansion, economic development, government and military conquest. The game is based on an entirely new game engine with hexagonal tiles instead of the square tiles of earlier games in the series.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_V Players must manage units such as soldiers and workers, and decide which buildings to build on their turns in order to create a powerful nation capable of defeating the other players, AI or human, through the different winning conditions.
Sport	A sports game is game that allows the player to experience and simulate a real world sport without actually playing it. Some games emphasize playing the sport, whilst other games of the sport genre focus on the management side of the game.	In the game FIFA 15 you simulate playing the game of football through different modes. The most popular mode on this game is that of Ultimate team where players can build teams from players they have brought on a marketplace on gained in packs in order to create their team, which they can then take online to face off against other players teams. Other modes include the player career mode where you create your own player and control him when playing, taking him from youth prospect all the way through to the best player in the world.
Fighting	The fighting genre in video games involves the playing control an on-screen character and facing off in close combat against one other character, which could be AI based or controlled by another human. These matches usually are fought in an arena of some kind are usually several matches long. Players must use aspects of the game such as blocking, counter attacking and the use of chaining moves together in order to defeat your opponent. In the majority of fighting games the player is allowed to enter special button combinations in order to execute a powerful special attack.	Mortal Kombat X is an example of a fighting game in which two players, or one player and an AI opponent, engage in combat using a variety of different characters and character specific moves in order to defeat their opponent. Fighters are able to interact with the environment, bouncing off areas to reposition themselves or using parts of the environment as weapons. In addition, each fighter has three different variations, each featuring a different set of moves they can use during the fight: for example, the character Scorpion features a Ninjutsu variation in which he wields dual swords, a Hellfire variation which relies more on fiery special moves, and an Inferno variation which allows him to summon hell spawn minions to aid him in the fight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_X
Adventure	In the adventure genre of video games the player takes control of the main protagonist in a game which is driven by storytelling and puzzle solving. The majority of adventure games are heavily designed for single player use as encompassing heavy storytelling within a multiplayer setting can be difficult. They can come in different forms such as Graphic adventures and interactive fiction, among others.	Telltales the walking dead is an episodic interactive adventure game in which the player controls the protagonist, Lee, throughout the story, making decisions that affect the whole story. The story focuses on Lee, a university professor and convicted murderer, who rescues and the cares for a young girl named Clementine. The Walking Dead does not emphasize puzzle solving, but instead focuses on story and character development. The story is affected by both the dialogue choices of the player and their actions during quick time events, which can often lead to, for example, certain characters being killed, and an adverse change in the disposition of a certain character or characters towards Lee. The choices made by the player carry over from episode to episode. Choices were tracked by Telltale, and used to influence their writing in later episodes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(video_game)#Plot
Text-Based	A text game or text-based game is a video game that uses text characters instead of bitmap or vector graphics. Text-based games were a popular form of interactive fiction in the 1980s.	Zork is set in "the ruins of an ancient empire lying far underground". The player is a nameless adventurer "who is venturing into this dangerous land in search of wealth and adventure". The goal is to return from the "Great Underground Empire" alive with the treasures, ultimately inheriting the title of Dungeon Master. The dungeons are stocked with many novel creatures, objects and locations, among them grues, zorkmids, and Flood Control Dam #3—all of which are referenced by subsequent Infocom text adventures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork
Platform	A platform game is a genre of video game that involves the player guiding a character over jumps between suspended platforms or over obstacles, or sometimes both, in order to progress through the game. The player is generally able to control the character whilst they’re jumping, which allows them to complete these jumping puzzles. The element of these games which unifies them is the ability to jump, therefore games that have an automated jump feature such as the Legend of Zelda series, fall out of this category.	Super Mario 3D Land is a platform game which utilizes jumping onto platforms in order to complete the level. However, unlike previous Mario games in uses both 2D side scrolling and 3D roaming in order to create more diverse puzzles, thanks to the 3DS’ 3D mechanics. Similar to previous Mario games, the plot involves Mario trying to save Princess Peach after she has been kidnapped by Bowser again.