[quote name='cindersphere']I don't think that's true. While you may only see it that way, each enemy has a rudimentary AI that does react to you, add on top of that the ability to switch weapons and shoot from various areas all give a player a certain amount of influence in any given situation. Certain weapons allow for certain tactics and for the most part most games allow you the freedom to carry them from one area to the next. They do not just throw guys at you, that game would be a Time Crisis or any light gun game really, a more sophisticated version of this idea would be the quake games though. However I maintain COD actually places a greater emphasis upon player actions and dealing with the consequences of your actions, such as picked up a shotgun and entered a fighting area with wide expanses will change how you interact with the world, just as much as picking up a sniper rifle in tight closed spaces. Beyond that most shooters have differences in accuracy ratings, area of effects on weapons, differences in hit boxing, and changes in movement speeds, all of which push back on you and you upon them.
I will say your sentiments would line up with my thoughts on every fighting game a few years ago, where they are are essentially the same game with a dude in front of you to fight. However a friend of mine recently showed me the differences between not only characters but the systems within each fighting game. You may not perceive the way a game reacts to you and the differences it produces, but that does not make them present. But thats just my quick thoughts on your thoughts.[/QUOTE]
I get that you can interact with and react from the game, but there are few FPSs that I feel react to you or your actions besides taking the rudimentary cover behind a wall or dodging a grenade. I mean, if I pull out a sniper, they don't take cover longer or try to flank me. If I pull out a shotgun, they don't really seem to try and create distance and use a long range weapon. You can be put so close to death and just wait behind cover the full 20 seconds to get your health back and the AI won't ever think to rush you unless they're designed to i.e. the Juggernaut in MW.
This is all just from CoD though, as that was the previous example. There are some shooters that do it better. Halo comes to mind as does L4D's Directer system, which is designed to react to how good or poorly you're performing. Again, I'm just talking about how the game reacts to you, rather then you having to react to the specificities of a weapon or the size of an area. I don't think CoD, and other shooters like it, does the 'reacting to you' part so well.