First person shooters define the landscape of modern video games. In spite of their popularity today, they come from humble beginnings—as "shareware" titles back in the early 90s—which steadily usurped the strategy and adventure games that dominated back in those times until they became the commercial juggernauts they are today.
In this article, we take a look back at twenty five of the most groundbreaking first person shooters to define the genre—and video games in general—over the past two decades.
Without further ado, here are the 25 top FPS games of all time, with a specific focus on the classics.
Battlezone 2, a game that did not fare as well as everyone had hoped did not live up to expectations. Plagued with bugs and glitches out of the box, this game effectively ended the Battlezone franchise. However its place on this list is justified; it brought many things to the table that others hadn’t at the time. Furthermore, it brought that very real and mysterious feeling that aliens were in fact invading. Many games try and fail miserably in this aspect.
The pioneer of destructible environments, Red Faction released in 2001 to rave reviews and critical acclaim. The story of Parker’s harrowing escape and rise to glory in the face of overpowered corporations is one that is hard to pull off, but Red Faction does it in leaps and bounds.
F.E.AR is one of the first games to successfully intermingle first-person shooter combat and horror elements into one game. In terms of the actual gameplay and graphics, it may not have been the most respected… However it does many things right and does them well!
Resistance 2, a game Sony considers to be one of their flagship titles is very controversial when it comes to review scores and where it stands in the industry. The reason for its placement here is because as a franchise it continually tries to break the multiplayer mold by introducing new game types and introducing larger-scale multiplayer combat and actually making it work.
Bad Company brought much of the same to the table, and did it with flair. However, that’s not why this game is on the list. It’s on the list because of its implementation of the Frostbite engine. With a ridiculous 90 percent of the game’s structures and vegetation subject to demolition, it made war feel real. Not to mention that it brought comedy, and that’s a nice change of pace from the dramatic experience many games channel nowadays.
One of the many Playstation 2 launch titles, Timesplitters was created by the late Free Radical studio. Known for its fast-paced gameplay and mapmaking tools, Timesplitters innovated and dominated while pushing the Playstation 2 far ahead of its competition.
A game that brought military shooters to a new plateau, Medal of Honor gave us a whole new perspective on war. After the game’s release (And receiving generally positive reviews.), many praised the soundtrack for creating an emotional experience that no other game had achieved – Especially in terms of shooters.
The game most often attributed for creating the foundation upon which all first-person shooters would be based, Wolfeinstein 3D was a true pioneer for the genre. While it is definitely not exemplary in terms of raw gameplay, we must give credit where credit is due.
Killzone was released in 2004 to mixed reviews, and when we all saw the Killzone 2 tech demo/trailer that was shown at E3 2005 no one thought that the second iteration would meet its aspirations. However, when February 27, 2009 rolled around Killzone 2 dazzled the industry with its beautiful graphics, great storyline, and awesome gameplay.
Mixing lighthearted humor with visceral multiplayer action, Valve upped the ante in their second installment of the Team Fortress franchise. With these upgrades came a brand new class-based system that would eventually make Team Fortress 2 a trendsetter in the video game industry.
Crysis excelled in many ways but most of all in its graphical capability. Because of its prowess in this category, many peoples’ computers could not run it at first. That is why even now, after three years of game development and innovation, Crysis still remains one of the most beautiful games to date.
Arriving in 2001 to positive reviews, Serious Sam was an action-packed thrill ride that explored the subgenre of alien invasion. Because of its innovation and style, the game received not just a great review from Gamespot.com, but a Game of the Year award as well.
Garnering numerous Game of the Year awards, Metroid Prime was an enormous success for Nintendo. The first 3D iteration of the Metroid franchise, Prime gave us the most pleasing mix of shooter, puzzle, and platforming elements more so than any game released prior to that time.
In 2008, zombie apocalypse fans from all over the world got what they were dreaming of: An all-inclusive high-quality cooperative shoot-em-up. Developed by Valve, the fidelity of the game was not in question. The franchise has since garnered millions of fans, and revitalized zombies in video games.
When Bioshock was released back in 2007, it shocked the world with gorgeous graphics, thrilling gameplay, and a masochistic feeling of dread. The psychological angle that this game plays from is absolutely astounding, and the world of Rapture is one that will not be soon forgotten in the world of gaming.
Rainbow Six brought what many other shooters failed to bring: Awesome tactical gameplay that worked. Developed by Red Storm, this game follows a newly founded counter-terrorism group known as RAINBOW. With this game, Tom Clancy had spread his wings over more than just the book market; a video game giant had emerged.
A game that has become synonymous with gore, the first Unreal Tournament brought some of the most nasty kills and pushed competitive multiplayer a whole new level. Furthermore, it spawned what came to be known as the “Unreal Engine” that has evolved into one of the strongest engines in the game development field today.
Possibly the most played and well-known shooter of all-time, Call of Duty 4 is the game that brought us all together. People who had never touched a controller in their life gave this game a shot. The campaign did not bring much to the table, but at the same time many players never even bothered themselves to get through level one; the multiplayer was enough.
A game that capitalized off the success of the first, the Portal franchise seems to be the biggest thing since sliced bread. Mixing puzzler elements with shooting mechanics, developer Valve has concocted one of the strongest formulas the industry has seen in a very long time.
While the first incarnation of the ‘Doom’ series was awesome enough, Doom 2 improved upon it in every way possible. After seventeen years, one can still find references to Doom 2 in mainstream media and see it frequently discussed on message boards around the internet.
Perhaps one of the most popular competitive shooters of all-time, Quake 3 was praised for having fun and engaging gameplay while at the same time retaining a minimalist design. The game was frequently featured in video game tournaments, including one convention built around the game itself – Quakecon.
Released way back in 1995, Goldeneye came to be the game that really brought first-person shooters into the mainstream realm. Branching off of the Bond films’ huge success, a game where you got to play as the British spy was marketing ploy enough. If that wasn’t enough, the fact that this game nailed everything that is First-Person Shooter was.
While often confused as a game in and of itself, Counter-Strike is actually a modified version of Half-Life. However, this did not stop it from becoming the most played Half-Life modification of all-time. Frequently cited as the major push for competitive shooters, Counterstrike still has thousands upon thousands of regular players.
Half-Life is responsible for not only bringing us a superb single-player campaign, but also thousands of other side projects created by users. The modification tools that come with the Half-Life series are endless, and this makes for a veritable never-ending experience if you are so inclined.
Halo is the first on this list because it is simply the most innovative, fun, and critically acclaimed shooter of all-time. Bringing every trick of the trade and more, Halo revolutionized the FPS genre. When Master Chief stepped out of cryosleep at the beginning of the game, it symbolized more than just the awakening of a hero – This moment signaled the oncoming of the biggest franchise the world had seen.
