The classification of computer games is a controversial issue. Firstly, few games can be unambiguously attributed to a particular genre, and secondly, in different sources the criteria of the genres themselves differ. However, most games can still be categorized into specific types.
Action
These include shooters, fighting games, arcades.
In three-dimensional shooters, the player most often acts alone. He wanders around the locations, collecting cold, firearms and energy weapons, striking opponents appearing in his path. Usually, in order to complete a level, you must complete a series of assigned tasks. The enemies of the character can be monsters, aliens, mutants (like in Doom, Half-Life, Duke Nukem 3D) or bandits (Max Payne).
Depending on the legend of the game, the player's arsenal may contain both modern types of flamethrowers, rifles, pistols, and all kinds of futuristic blasters. Knives, baseball bats, sabers, mounts, daggers, crossbows, shotguns, machine guns, Molotov cocktails can be used as weapons. Often, firearms have a telescopic sight. In 3D shooters, the player can fight the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, striking with kicks and punches.
3D shooters can be in the first person (the player sees the location with the "eyes" of the character) and in the third person (the player sees the character from any side, for example, from the back, or can move the "camera" away and see the whole character. you can switch to the first or third person with hotkeys. Shooters are also divided into bloody (you need to destroy a large number of virtual enemies that are approaching the character in groups) and tactical (the character acts as part of a group of heroes). Examples of bloody shooters are Will Rock, Left 4 Dead, examples of tactical ones are Counter-Strike, Arma, Batllefield.
The fighting game genre involves a series of duels between two or more opponents. Popular in this genre are Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Guilty Gear X.
In games made in the arcade genre, you have to think quickly and act quickly. The gameplay is quite simple, but the difficulty is getting all kinds of bonuses, without which it is impossible to get access to some elements of the game.
Simulators (managers)
Games like simulators allow the player to control a particular process, the basis of which is taken from real life. Technical simulators allow you to take control of a car or a combat aircraft, solving a variety of tasks. Examples of technical simulators are F1 2011, Il-2 Sturmovik, War Thunder, Railworks, Ship Simulator. In arcade simulators, physics, as a rule, is simplified, but it is still present (in contrast to the actual arcades). Examples of games: Need for Speed, Wing Commander, X-Wing. In sports simulators, any game is simulated as fully as possible. The most popular are simulators of football, bowling, hockey, tennis, billiards, basketball, and golf. Sports managers are allocated to a separate category, where the player is invited to manage an athlete or a team, setting the main goal not to win a particular match, but to build competent infrastructure management.
Economic simulators (they often show elements of strategy) include games about entrepreneurship. The player must manage the enterprise, making a profit from it. Popular games in this genre: Virtonomics, Monopoly, Capitalism. Economic simulators include a game management system for a city (SimCity), a state on an island (Tropico), and a farm (SimFarm).
Strategies
Strategies are games that require the development of a certain algorithm of actions to achieve a particular goal. The player controls the world, enterprise or any unit. According to the gameplay scheme, such games are divided into:
- real-time strategies, where players make moves at the same time, collect resources, fortify their bases, hire soldiers: Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires;
- turn-based strategies where you need to take turns to make moves: Civilization, Heroes of Might and Magic, Disclipes;
- card strategies, which are computer versions of popular card games: Spectromancer, Magic the Garthering.
In terms of the scale of the gameplay, strategies are divided into:
- wargames, where the player is invited to create an army and defeat the enemy: Panzer General, Steel Panthers, MechCommander;
- global strategies in which the player is given the opportunity to manage the economy and foreign policy of the state, as well as develop scientific progress, diplomacy, explore new lands: Master of Orion, Hearts of Iron, Empire: Total War and others;
- God simulators allow the player to control the development of a small town, turn it into a metropolis, paying attention not only to the construction of buildings, but also to maintaining the optimal state of society: Spore, Black & White, From Dust.
Adventures
During the adventure game, the player interacts with other characters and solves logic puzzles. Such games are divided into:
- text adventure games (text quests), where the player had to give instructions through the command line: "Hunt for Wampus", Zork and others;
- graphic adventure games (graphic quests), where a graphical interface and the ability to control the game with a computer mouse have appeared: "Larry in a weekend suit", Syberia, Space Quest;
- an adventure thriller in which the player's success depends on the speed of his reaction: Legend of Zelda, Resident Evil;
- visual novels involve the display of text blocks and static pictures, and the player is asked to choose one or another answer depending on the proposed situation.
Music games
In such games, the gameplay is based on musical background. A subtype of music games are rhythm games, where the player has to correctly press the buttons shown on the screen, which appear in time with the music.
Role-playing games
In role-playing games, the personal characteristics of the character (health, proficiency, magic) and equipment play an important role. The characteristics can be increased by destroying other characters or mobs. As a rule, role-playing games have a fairly large-scale world, a carefully thought out plot. Examples of such games are Mass Effect, Diablo, Fallout, Technomagia.
Logic games
In logic games, the player's reaction does not affect the course of the game in any way. It is important to correctly solve this or that task in the allotted time. Such logical games (puzzles) as "Minesweeper", Sokoban, Portal are very popular.
Board games
This type is a computer adaptation of traditional board games: Monopoly, checkers, cards, chess.
Text games
Text games require almost no computer resources. Their story began a long time ago, but such games still find fans. The player is asked to choose one of the proposed options. A variety of text games are games in pseudographics, that is, a mosaic built from a set of symbols.
