 Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a " D – " and largely panned it , calling it " legendarily bad " . He likened the overall experience of watching “ First Person Shooter ” to " feeling as if the show is slowly but surely letting the air out of its own tires . " He was , however , moderately pleased with the performances of Duchovny and Anderson , writing that they both were " really trying " . Kenneth Silber from Space.com criticized the lack of emotion in the episode , writing , " ' First Person Shooter ' achieves considerable mayhem but remarkably little drama . There seems little reason to care what happens to any of the characters , whether virtual or real , regulars or guests . Even as a man 's hands are cut into bloody stumps , one never gets the sense that anything important is going on . " 
