First Person Shooters

[Alyxx Thorne]

It's a genre that is pretty dominant today, so undoubtedly a lot of you guys probably have played a FPS some time in your lives.

 

Which ones are your favourites?

[Lord Sinister]

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE! D:

 

More seriously, I really enjoyed the original Half-Life and the franchise in general. Another one that comes to mind is Metro 2033.

 

I also have fond memories of Counter-Strike: Source, and have enjoyed playing TF2 as well.

 

If the two Portal games count as FPS', then they're also on my list.

 

Then it's probably either Far Cry or Doom 3, or both.

 

EDIT: Bioshock as well, and possibly Oblivion and Skyrim if you count those as FPS'.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I count Portal as FPS, albeit with a heavy focus on puzzles. And Oblivion and Skyrim have always been, in my opinion, first person shooters with a heavy amount of RPG elements.

 

Here's my own top 10:

 

10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Had to put this on the list from the shere amount of hours I have put into it. At the moment it's my favourite multiplayer FPS, for several reasons. It runs smoothly, has a great variety of game modes and the different killstreak packages lets you taylor the game to your playstyle as you play it and unlock more abilities. Whether you wanna focus on teamplay or be a lone gunner, CoD has you covered.

 

9. Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm pretty much plays on the "kill skill" gimmick where you get scored for killing your enemy in inventive ways. This makes Bulletstorm a ton of fun to play and gives it a ton of replay value. Otherwise, I feel it lacks a bit in the multiplayer department, but all in all a very refreshing FPS.

 

8. Quake

Personally I prefer Quake to Doom, as both games are really similar, but Quake is a lot darker and more ambient, and has a more Lovecraftian feel to it. Not to mention Quake is probably one of the most widely used game engines ever, and the GoldSrc engine used in Half-Life derives from it.

 

7. Unreal Tournament

Nothing beats the classic UT imo. One of the best multiplayer shooters in history and one that still holds up today in terms of gameplay.

 

6. Borderlands

Borderlands is a pretty solid FPS and has a very open feel to it. It also has some RPG elements, and a very unique graphic style.

 

5. Gunman Chronicles

One of the more underrated shooters I've played, Gunman Chronicles is a game that I actually prefer to the original Half-Life. It has more action, more dialogue and overall is a more interesting game to me. Not to mention the way you customize weapons in the game is entirely unique and a lot of fun to play around with. Still fun to play with others as well.

 

4. SiN

Criminally underrated, SiN, using a heavily modified Quake 2 engine, offers a ton of features that were simply groundbreaking for its time. Most of all, the game featured in-game computers that could be used for pretty much everything from unlocking doors to scanning biosamples. It was also possible to hack into them using DOS-like command prompts and simple commands. Keep in mind it was released in 1998, several years before Doom 3 featured in-game terminals with far less interactivity. The outcome of the game also changed based upon your performance and how well you completed the mission objectives, making each playthrough of the game possibly different. The expansion pack Wages of SiN is also highly recommended to get with this game. It's the main reason I find Half-Life terribly overrated as this game offered a lot more but was quickly overshadowed.

 

3. Duke Nukem Forever

I have never seen a game get so much shit thrown at it as this game, but personally I love it. I think it's one of the best first person shooters of all time and it's totally unique in my opinion. I love games that have balls of steel.

 

2. Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold

How this never got more attention than it did is beyond me. Not only does it improve immensely on Wolfenstein 3D, it's also possibly the first FPS ever to feature non-hostile NPC's, replayable levels and also an interactive environment, beating games like Doom and Quake even. To this day, I think Blake Stone is one of the most underrated FPS's of all time and it definitely has held up well over time. The timeless retro 60's style design of the game makes it feel a lot like a futuristic James Bond movie.

 

1. Duke Nukem 3D

The best fucking FPS ever made. Enough said.

[Chuckthe2nd]

Half Life for sure...

 

And probably Battlefield 2142. And Fallout 3.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Fallout 3 I don't even wanna mention. Talk about shitting all over the Fallout franchise... The plot was bland as fuck, it felt incredibly tame compared to Fallout 2, the guns weren't as satisfying and the decision to not include bloody mess from the beginning annoyed me. In general, the whole game annoys me, especially when it decides to crash for nothing at all.

 

But for what it is, it's an okay RPG/FPS hybrid. I just don't think it's as good as Fallout 2.

[Vapymid]

Top to bottom:

- HL2 + episodes

- Minerva

- HL1 + Opposing Force + Blue Shift + some mods (like Poke646 etc)

- (Descent/Descent 3 would come in here if they qualify as FPS...)

- Return to Castle Wolfenstein

- DOOM 1 Episode 1

- Wolfenstein 3D

- Operation Flashpoint

 

Regards

[Alyxx Thorne]

Yeah, Descent qualifies as FPS, albeit it's very different from the traditional ones.

[Scorpia]

Mortal Kombat....yea, i'm an idiot.

 

anyway,

Dues Ex: HR (i think it counts.)

Entire HL series (never finished episode 2 yet.)

Portal 1 & 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

(The rest are in no particular order)

Carnivores 2 (like a dinosaur version of deer hunter)

And

Halo 1 & 2

[Eedo Baba]

Well Portal obviously isn't an FPS. Wikipedia has a reasonable definition of an FPS in that it's "a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective". I think we can agree that Portal doesn't focus on weapon-based combat. I think you guys are making the mistake of labeling every "first person" game as a "first person shooter". By that same logic, Myst was a first person shooter.

 

Anyway, my favorite FPS games is a short list. Half Life 2, TF2...

Most of my favorite shooters are third person.

[Kirkreng]

I think you guys are making the mistake of labeling every "first person" game as a "first person shooter". By that same logic, Myst was a first person shooter.

Dear god yes. It actually bother me how everything that is first person is suddenly a FPS. The Elder Scrolls are not FPS's, Mirror's Edge is not an FPS and Portal is also NOT AN FPS. Argh, just annoys me.

 

Personally I really like Painkiller, I got it a little while ago on a Steam sale and so far I am really enjoying it.

 

Although I recently got stuck on this scenario:

[Pinkie Pie]

Half-Life series

Halo series (guilty pleasure)

Left 4 Dead series

Killing Floor

Counter Strike

Day of Defeat

Star Wars Dark Forces and Jedi Knight series (the FPS segments anyway)

Team Fortress 2

that's about all I can think of.

 

Going off of Eedo Baba's comment though, speaking of third person shooters though, I had an interesting conversation with my friend about how he thinks that TPS sucks and it's all just bland generic shooter games with nothing to offer, but his opinion is usually entirely subjective and heavily biased anyway.

[Kirkreng]

Killing floor is pretty fun, although the Server Browser is painful to use.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Yeah, well, I guess Portal and Portal 2 are more first person puzzle games then, and Elder Scrolls is more first person role playing game?

[Jek Jek Roo]

Orange Box games - at least I can play them on my PC without problems...

[Chuckthe2nd]

Fallout 3 I don't even wanna mention. Talk about shitting all over the Fallout franchise... The plot was bland as fuck, it felt incredibly tame compared to Fallout 2, the guns weren't as satisfying and the decision to not include bloody mess from the beginning annoyed me. In general, the whole game annoys me, especially when it decides to crash for nothing at all.

 

But for what it is, it's an okay RPG/FPS hybrid. I just don't think it's as good as Fallout 2.

 

Well, maybe I should be more specific...HEAVILY MODDED Fallout 3. Yes, it was really boring until I spiced it up.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Well, yeah, with mods, Fallout 3 becomes marginally more enjoyable...

[Axeldeath]

Funny how you put MW3 on your list then complain about FO3 shitting all over the franchise.

 

In no particular order:

 

Deus Ex

Deus Ex 3

Half Life

Half Life 2

System Shock 2

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Skies

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

 

And since shooting bows is a "video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective" and is therefore a FPS.

 

Thief: The Dark Project

Thief: The Metal Age

The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

Arx Fatalis

 

To be honest, if I removed Half Life 1 & 2 this would just be my list of best immersive sims. The greatest genre to have ever been created and all thanks to the superb Looking Glass studios, may you rest in peace.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Funny how you put MW3 on your list then complain about FO3 shitting all over the franchise.

MW3 didn't shit all over the franchise in my opinion. I personally consider it the best in the franchise so far out of all the CoD games I have played.

 

Neither did CoD start out as one of the best RPG's ever and turn into a shitty half FPS half RPG hybrid with bad "smart aim", tons of glitches and a boring story. MW3 is actually a ton more enjoyable for me than Fallout 3 and it's a TON more solid as a game engine (to this day, MW3 has never crashed for me). And at least MW3 has multiplayer.

[Axeldeath]

MW3 didn't shit all over the franchise in my opinion. I personally consider it the best in the franchise so far out of all the CoD games I have played.

 

Neither did CoD start out as one of the best RPG's ever and turn into a shitty half FPS half RPG hybrid with bad "smart aim", tons of glitches and a boring story. MW3 is actually a ton more enjoyable for me than Fallout 3 and it's a TON more solid as a game engine (to this day, MW3 has never crashed for me). And at least MW3 has multiplayer.

 

COD started out as a PC exclusive balanced multiplayer game with a SP made to give celebrate other countries that fought the Axis during WW2 such as Canada, SA etc. Not just USA and England.

 

Now it's a unbalanced mess of multiplayer with a scripted out the ass "cinematic" campaign about how Russia hates America. The original members of IW hate what the COD franchise has become. They left EA so they could stop making copy-paste FPS games that are released every year with little to no innovation or changes (see: Medal of Honor franchise).

Edited January 26, 2012 by Guest (see edit history)

[Alyxx Thorne]

Since when was CoD an EA franchise? And honestly, I don't mind if each game is more or less identical. It gives the franchise consistency imo. And if you are going to quote me, please use the quote tags.

 

I don't care how much MW3 apparently sucks, I think it's a great polished FPS that does as well on PC as it does on consoles, minus some features that I honestly can live without.

Oh and from what I've heard, IW left Activision over money, not because of any artistic reasons.