How to be Great at Online Shooting Games (FPS)

To start off, pick a fist person shooter (FPS) game that you like and that your friends may like as well. It’s always easier playing with people you know and it enhances the fun out of it. If you’re new at the game, don’t worry if you’re getting “creamed” online. Most of the time, the rookies are never good no matter how great of a gamer you are. Like I said, pick one game at a time and know the game inside and out. This is important, because if you bounce from game to game, you miss some of the important kills that you wouldn’t have missed otherwise. Now, follow these guidelines and you’ll be on your way to being the “bully” online.

Knowing the maps

I can never stress this enough. If you know the maps well enough, then you’ll most likely recognize places that people will most likely be hiding, hence, easier time to kill enemies. Knowing the maps is especially important for FPS’s that have radars. If you know where you’re going, it becomes so much easier to take out other players.

Picking a game type that suits you

Team Deathmatch, Free-for-all; some of these should sound familiar to you. Depending of the game, they should offer different types of online battling you want to do. Consistency is very big aspect of becoming good at online play. If you play a bunch of different types of games all the time, there’s never a game type that you’re truly great at. Pick one game type, (mine is free-for-all on COD4) spend a lot of time playing it, then sooner or later you’ll just know where the enemies will most  likely respond and where to be in certain situations. Trust me, once you’ve mastered one game type, the rest come a lot easier.

Camping

This is a cheap tip to do, but for all you ‘noobs’, this is a great way to start. You definitely won’t be making friends on the battle field, but you most likely won’t be dying as much. Camping is an online term to describe someone who stays in the same spot all of the game or most of the game. I find camping is a lot easier to anticipate the enemies approach rather than going out there to find them. If you’re already prepared to shoot at someone, you’ll most likely kill them first. Try to pick a few spots on each map where you can camp, so if you do die, you won’t be spending all your time trying to get back to your camping spot. Another great way to protect you while camping is using censored bombs. In COD4 they have claymores and in COD WAW, they have ‘bouncing betties’. These are a great way to protect yourself when you have your back turned to the camp spot entrance. Great spots to put these censored bombs are at the end of stairs (not on the stair itself) so the enemy coming up won’t be able to see it, around corners, or doubling up a single area (placing one right behind the other so the enemy will for sure die if he runs into it). Once you’ve mastered camping, you can use it to your advantage during levels, like camping for small intervals in multiple spots.

Side to side method (no scope)

I’m sure most players have their own version of this or do this already. This is HUGE for online gaming. This method is what separates the men from the boys… if mastered that is. The concept is that if you’re in a face to face battle with someone, you most likely won’t have time to whip out your scope and make a tactical shot. Therefore, you pull the side to side method. Once mastered, you should be able to aim accurately at the enemy with no scope while running side to side at a quick manner. Why this is so effective is because even if you’re not hitting them, they most likely aren’t hitting you either since you’re moving so sporadically. I’ve even seen snipers use this method while trying to shoot other snipers. This method takes a long time to get good at, but once you’ve mastered it, you’ll dance around bullets with no problem.

Picking the right guns

This is pretty evident, but I still see kids who have the wrong type of gun for the level. This is more for COD players, since you have such a wide variety of guns to choose from. If the level is small, pick a gun with short range and high damage. If the level is large, pick a gun with medium to high range with as much damage as possible. Why I’m even mentioning this is because I see a lot of Shotguns on large maps where the player is running and running and running trying to find people he can ‘one-shot’ at close range, but once someone sees him when their out of his range, he’s screwed. This is fun if you want to change it up a bit, but it’s not so practical. However, if you’re just starting out, pick a gun with medium range which should work for every level and become amazing with it. Like anything, the more you use it, the better and more comfortable you’ll be with it. After you’ve mastered a single gun, try something else similar and watch what the better players are using on different levels to give you an idea what you should be using.

Calling in Helicopters

This is strictly an added info for COD 4 players. This also works for the dogs in COD WAW. I learnt this little ‘tid-bit’ move from a pro player who I was playing against online. I noticed that his kill/death was 7-0 so far in the game, yet he never called in his helicopter. After a few more kills, I had killed him. After respawning, he then called in his heli, then soon got a UAV, then called an airstrike (which killed me), then had another helicopter in no time. He dominated the entire game because he waited to use the heli! If you’re still alive, wait until you die or close to the end of the match to call it in and use it to your advantage! This seems so idiotic, but I had never done this beforehand and it helps incredibly. I had one free-for-all match which I called in 3 helicopters because of this method…

The dying method

I’m not saying that dying is good, but it definitely is something that is unavoidable, so use it to your advantage. When you die, you gain information about the person who just killed you: their location! If you respawn somewhere close to where you died, try going for that person who just killed you because you already have a rough idea where they are and which direction they’re going. This is an awesome method for the kids who camp all match. They might get me one time, but once I’m around them again, one frag usually takes care of them. I’m not saying to run across the map because that’s where the person is who killed you, but be aware that dying can be used as a useful tool. Be warned, a lot of good players use this same technique, so after killing someone, be on the move!

Anger never helps

I’m a hypocrite for writing about this, because I yell at my TV every two seconds while playing online. But honestly, being angry doesn’t solve anything. It really makes things worse because most of the times you’ll be running around a map like a crazy maniac looking for sweet revenge. I understand that not everything is fair (lucky shots, random frag grenade deaths, or just sheer luck incidents) but let’s be realistic, as much as it happens to us, we do it to others. Be calm; relax because it’s just a game! What my mother always said was, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” It’s true though; if the game makes you that angry, don’t play it! Gaming should be fun, not a heart attack waiting to happen. There is always going to be better players than you out there, so when you’re playing against them, learn from what they do rather than being pissed about it.

Practice makes perfect

All in all, if you practice these steps or even are aware of them, they should definitely benefit you. I’m no master at FPS’s and am I not remotely close to the best, but I just wanted to share what I knew and hopefully it helped out some fellow gamers who are stuck being mediocre or just need some solid guidelines. But honestly, if you’re going to bash what I wrote, that’s just plain mean and uncalled for because I’m just trying to help. Not everyone will agree with what I have to say, but I’m not forcing anything on you. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Thanks and if you want to add your own tips, feel free!

THE LEGEND x7x