Sgt. Gunner
Before there was t-bagging a kill in Halo, there was rocket hopping across the 2Fort5 map on Team Fortress Classic.
FPS (First Person Shooter) gaming began mid 90’s and has become a world wide sensation. While we have seen huge changes in graphics, the game play remains somewhat the same since Doom 1 and Quake 1 in 1996. With virtual reality gaming, we may see more of a hands on shift in FPS games as they involve actual gun hardware to manage.
But until then, below is a list of all the classics over the years that innovated and made their stamp on FPS games. And no; Fortnite won’t be on this list as they are a third person shooter.
This is an open list which means you guys decide whom is #1 by casting your votes. You can also add your favorite FPS game to the list if it is not already covered.
#1 HALO 1 | Combat Evolved
I get myself wet a little bit just thinking of the good times on Halo. Who here could beat the campaign on Legendary?! Not us!
Halo rests on the same pedestal of James Bond 64. It brought geeks and cool kids together for one cause: Help MasterChief defeat alien scum. Sequels led to kids not showing up to school for days and midnight store releases. Oh and XBOX benefited in millions of consoles sold just so users could play this game.
When we go back and play it now, it feels like a gravity-less slow motion FPS game but who can ever say no to Capture the Flag on Blood Gulch?
#2 BattleField 1942
Before EA flopped with BFV, there was a whole line (and sure more good ones to come) of BattleField games. Our favorite? BF1. But for this classic FPS gaming list we have to attribute BattleField 1942 since we grew up on it.
Get your Pilot Wings because on this one, navigating the sky is as much fun or more than fighting on the ground. Battlefield brought vehicles, tanks and air units into the FPS gaming realm and once again widened the scope of the possibilities of game formats.
We hope to see redemption in the years to come for the Battlefield series!
#3 Counter Strike
The tweens on CS:GO right now may never know the original 'RUSH BOMB B' gameplan. DE_Dust gave you 2 options, to fight as or against a sniper with the AWP under the bridge or load up your M16/AK and fight in the tunnel.
Counter Strike made use of 'Good guy/ Bad Guy' with the famous icon players Terrorist and Counter Terrorist. The grenades were great and the use of planting a bomb made it more than just a frag match.
Mods of Counter Strike could take up another dozen spots in this top FPS video game list as there are so many quality ones. My favorite? The civil war one where you fight Britts one single load at a time or charge them as a captian with a sword!
Counter Strike continues to dominate eSports and more with CS:GO which has several years behind it yet keeps a solid fan base with 'Gun skins.' It also gave way to the idea to make miniature gun replicas seen at Goatguns.com
#4 Medal of Honor | Frontline
Now this one was exciting! Before COD World War series you could fight your way out in Medal of Honor. With some good teamwork, the multiplayer proved to be a quality game and stayed around for years.
Were you an Allied or Soviet fan? Time to storm the beaches boys!
#5 Borderland Series
Get your squad and get ready to lock and load for a good time. The Borderland series is one of a kind where FPS meets quality game and gun play along with story-line. Fans are eagerly waiting the arrival of Borderlands 3 to debut later in 2019.
You could go watch some Dave Chappell re-runs, or you could sit down and play some Borderlands. Either way you'll get a good laugh.
#6 Wolfenstein 3D
Time to go kill some Nazis eh? Finding your way through these mazes was epic. Attributed to be one of the first FPS games ever, Wolfenstein has made subsequent games that continue the WW2 mantra. Classic ID Software firm did a good job with this one; who here has played it?
#7 James Bond N64 – World is not Enough
While this wasn't the first FPS game; it reached a larger market then the PC world did with some of their first FPS games.
Who could ever forget Proximity mines, cheat codes, 'NO ODD JOB' and learning strafing skills with C-Left and C-Right?
James Bond N64 did so much good for the world and if you are anything like us, you spent hundreds of hours playing it and trying to run thru the DAM on hard without dying.
#8 Quake 1
Get your nail gun primed for Quake 1. The pros could run thru it and miss killing half the monsters in record times (just look it up!). While the campaign was epic, even better was playing it on GameSpy and pwning noobs with quad damage.
We even remember paying by the hour at gaming stores to play this on a network with friends. Rack up them kills because Quake 1 taught the world what a FPS game can and should be.
Quake is still around and in 2018 came out with Quake Champions. The grahpics have smoothed and still makes for a fun run-n-gun game.
#9 Turok
Time to shift gears and go hunt something other than humans. Turok brought dinosaurs into the FPS realm and made us wonder what other possibilities were out there.
Debut on the N64, Turok ended up releasing a sequel that was even a better time. Hope you didn't pull out the cheat codes for this one.
#10 Unreal Tournament
MMmmmmm... Facing Worlds.. What a great map and good Multiplayer CTF time. Unreal Tournament by EPIC was a game changer and brought about a Quake-like FPS gameplay to PC gamers.
While sequel Unreal Tournaments came out, we feel the biggest impact to the FPS community came in its first big hit.
