Free look

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Free look (also known as mouselook) is a term that describes the ability to move the mouse to rotate the player character's view in any number of type of computer and video games. It is almost always used for 3d engines, and has been included on RPGs, real time strategy games, third-person shooters, first-person shooters, racing games, and flight simulators. Free look is nearly universal in modern games, but it was one of the significant technical breakthroughs of mid-1990s first-person perspective games. For instance, in the seminal game Doom, it was not possible for the player to angle his view up or down, though he had full control over looking left and right. Thus the mouse was used for both changing the player view and for player motion. 3D games for console systems often have an analog stick dedicated to free look functionality.

The first game to incorporate true 3D free look using the mouse and keyboard control scheme was Marathon by Bungie in 1994. The first PC game to use it was Terminator: Future Shock published by Bethesda Softworks in 1995. However, Terminator: Future Shock did not become very popular and Marathon was not even available on the PC platform, and the free look control scheme was popularized by games such as Quake instead.

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