I'd say the most recent FPS true innovation would be the exploration of free running. Both mirrors edge and the game BRINK have explored these concepts the most thoroughly in my experience but many titles now include evasive movement. For single player this means a new kind of platform jumping game play and for mutliplayer it means a wide variety of dynamic animation needs to be rendered creating a wider array of silhouettes for players to shoot at.

i guess at the core, a fps shooter is still your basic arcade shooter - on 3d graphics steriods. shoot badguys, get powerups, run, jump, mazes, puzzles, bosses, with the overall objective being to complete the level.



sounds like most gameplay innovations have been in the form of introducing more RPG elements (stats, skills etc) and simulator elements (a wide variety of simulated vehicles, a big "game map", playing more than one side, etc).

And here is the problem, you say FPS and you have defined the game already with very little room to manouver around.

Movement can still be changed though, just being able to "fly" anywhere for example(although, then people would call it a spacefighter game or something)

What i noticed recently about a FPS, you can move the "camera" around to aim your weapon, but it will also change your movement(you can still strafe off course)
I assume having movement and the gun fully seperate means either putting the player on a automatic track or introducing full new controls that many players won't like/bother to learn. (or going 3rd person, like in LoL)

One of the big changes in FPS were shields by halo.

If you managed to not get hit for about 6 seconds your shield recharged, you had no hitpoints anymore as of part 2, they came through the shield you died.

Although that was hardly recent.

Portal and its clones tend to have interesting mechanics.

The latest battlefield game has some pretty crazy physics and destruction, as do the Red Faction games.

Really, the problem with the question is that its too broad. FPS is a camera viewpoint, almost none of the innovation is tied to it being first person. You might as well ask for recent innovation in games period.

Shooter and FP are very different aspects of genres and preferences and with that, service different audiences.

I like FPS if you don't want to shoot any thing then it is not your genre. FPS is a very popular and large genre apparently large amount of people like to shoot other people in virtual way. Even some subset miss the gore. Also within the FPS genre there are different audiences. Like more or less. MMO or online or coop or SP only.

fast pace vs. low pace. Very unreal to milsim and al of those design or gameplay mechanics choices aren't black or white but fluid shade of grey. There are 1001 aspect within the genre and lot of themes to explore to differentiate. How ever there are so much studio and so much big titles that lot is still un used.

apparently no FPS shooter fits my preferences perfectly. But then gamers aren't made for me but a audience. Often big ones. But still can enjoy lot of FPS games.

FPS is the genre. First_Person and shooter is a crucial part of it, TP etc. is al optional like genre merging.

So there is lot of room for innovation. But it not easy because more often you just shift audiences. because gamers differ even between fps gamers they have different set of preferences.