Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 215)

Trigger Happy
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Isometric perspective still prospers in the huge
genre of strategy gaming. In SimCity and Civilization
or Command and Conquer, the player controls
numerous units (people, tanks, factories and so on)
within a vast playing area. Construct this world in
scientific perspective, without an omniscient overview,
and you’d be totally lost among the details. In such
games, you don’t need to peer behind at the hidden
surfaces of an arms factory, for instance, because it is a
functional counter in the gameplay, defined solely by
its use and potential.
Scientific perspective is not just one alternative
mode of representation among others; it is not just an
arbitrary artistic “convention,” but is wired into true
theories of physics and biology. And its lure was
irresistible to videogame designers who were searching
for ever more elaborate ways to convince the player
that he or she was not merely watching, but was really
in that world.
Being there
People usually say that the first true “immersive”
3D game was Wolfenstein 3D, released by iD in 1992.
This did indeed kick-start a blossoming genre, the first-
person shooter, where the screen displays the