First-person shooters are relatively new when it comes to video game genres compared to those that started in arcades, like beat 'em ups. Downfall and Wolfenstein 3D led the way in the '90s, and now decades later, there's a cavalcade of them ripe for the picking.
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With a focus on triple-A games made by major studios, there's something for everyone out there. Borderlands 2 is a good RPG shooter, while Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare advanced the war's more grounded efforts. What other games are worth highlighting and are must-play games for the genre? These will be ranked based on quality, replay value and if they last.
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10
Perfectly dark
A conspiracy-filled thriller
Perfect Dark (2000)
- Released
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22 May 2000
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Animated violence, animated blood
Perfectly dark where everything Rare did with the James Bond license i GoldenEye 007but better. Thanks to it being an original idea, the developer was able to go a little wilder with its story involving big corporations, conspiracies and aliens. As weird as the campaign got, it stayed grounded thanks to Special Agent Joanna Dark and her skills.
Whether players were simply gunning down enemies or sneaking through clubs, each level had something new to offer. The gameplay might not be as crisp as it used to be on the N64, but shooter fans would still dig it.
9
Time splitters 2
Time crunch
Time splitters 2 has an excellent campaign that goes through several iconic periods in history. To stop an alien invasion, players must go through different eras and look for anomalies to prevent a universal catastrophe. From shooting soldiers and zombies in a cold base in 1990s Siberia to gunning down gangsters in 1930s Chicago, each level brought a new surprise.
As Perfectly darkthe controls i Time splitters 2 may not be as innovative as they once were, but it's an example where everything else is so well executed that players will forgive some dated design choices and still call it a masterpiece.
8
Crysis
Jungle To Jungle
Crysis
- Released
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November 13, 2007
- ESRB
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M
“Will it run Crysis?” It became a question many PC gamers asked in the 2000s to judge whether a PC was running at full capacity or not as Crysis was a marvel for years. It looked as good as it played with stunning graphics, a smooth frame rate and crisp photography across open levels in brightly lit jungle landscapes.
Players are armed with a large arsenal of weapons, a multi-functional power suit such as invisibility, and there are vehicles to hijack. It can be a hell of a power fantasy for anyone who wants to feel like a superhero in a shooting game.
7
Battlefield 1
An Arabian Night
Battlefield 1 was a surprise hit because it didn't play with modern warfare, which was more attractive in the gaming space at the time, and it wasn't even about World War II. Somehow, DICE made a convincing World War I game across different theaters of war, and each one was compelling, from riding horses through bombed cities to driving tanks through the trenches.
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The campaign had good fixed gameplay, but the multiplayer was also excellent, making it one of the best balanced Battlefield game ever made. While some fans may prefer the flashier modern or future settings, Battlefield 1 fans prefer the more limited, down-to-earth approach to combat, which made things more visceral.
6
Borderlands 2
A stylish RPG
There are many good ones Borderlands games, and some have better RPG features than Borderlands 2. However, this first sequel cannot be topped as it has the best story of the bunch, thanks to its charismatic villain: Handsome Jack. He constantly annoyed players, causing them to hate him more and more as the campaign progressed.
Not only that, but Borderlands 2 found the perfect balance of weapons, characters, and surpassing the original while not trying to do too much to feel bloated, and the first-person shooting remained solid and addictive.
5
Doom (2016)
Here comes the boom
After Doom 3who shared Downfall fan base and a long development cycle for the fourth game, many fans didn't have much hope for the 2016 version of Downfall. That's what made it so much sweeter because it was a surprise.
It felt just as brutal as the 1993 original, but now with better graphics, tighter gunplay and a lot more gore. It was a throwback to arcade-style shooters where the shooting mechanics were the main feature over things like a story, which the game had fun with in its own way.
4
Left 4 Dead 2
Resident Evil Co-Op
Left 4 Dead 2even though it looks a little dated now, it's one of those multiplayer experiences that hasn't gotten old since its release in 2009. Superior to the original in almost every way, players can take on one of the survivors in this multiplayer zombie game.
The goal was to survive hordes of zombies through different scenarios, like a bayou or a mall, and the better players did, the smarter the AI would become. Getting out of a match with all four players alive at the last second was exasperating, and it's still fun to jump in with a dedicated group of friends today.
3
Half-Life 2
In Crowbar We Trust
Half-Life 2 may not be the most intense shooter Downfall or Borderlands 2but it is one of the best representations of what the genre is capable of. It provided a compelling narrative through environmental stories and in-game scenarios without relying on heavy-handed cutscenes.
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It was also a more open game once players got out of the city, allowing players to use physics to solve puzzles and enemy problems in multiple ways. It's an achievement for Valve as a company, and fans are still hungry for a third episode or a third game whenever they get around to it.
2
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
A modern reboot
The Call of Duty series was great for the first three major releases, but Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare changed everything. It brought the warfront into the modern era with thrilling set-pieces involving bombastic war zones and gripping stealth missions involving sniping enemies.
The multiplayer was the real selling point, providing players with an almost RPG-like progression system that rewarded deaths, or at least the player's effort to make them feel like defeat wasn't everything. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was basically like a reboot for the series, and Activision hasn't looked back since. Even with a modern reboot, this original game still rocks.
1
Halo: Combat Evolved
Redefining Console Shooters
The original Downfall pioneered the idea of first-person shooters in the 90s for the PC crowd, but Halo: Combat Evolved was the game that made them fun on consoles. The controls were intuitive, making players feel like they were in control of Master Chief even without a mouse and keyboard.
The game quickly became a template for all shooters to follow, and like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Halo: Combat Evolved has a remaster, but the original game is still great on an original Xbox. Between Master Chief's movements, the vehicles players could control, the strange weapons and the open design of levels, this is the definitive shooter experience without a doubt, and it easily made Bungie a household name.
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