My Top 10 FPS games
I was lucky enough to grow up in two golden eras of first person shooter games. The first was in the mid to late 90's when FPS games first became mainstream popular and the second was in the late noughties at university when EVERYONE was playing Call of Duty in filthy rooms full of empty lager cans and discarded copies of Nuts magazine. Here is my personal top 10 FPS games of all time (please note, it's probably very different to your top 10).
#10 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 2009 (Xbox 360).
This was the game that me and all my friends were playing when we were at university. It was incredibly polished but also had a pick up and play feel where a useless player (like me) could have just as much fun as a seasoned vet (like my housemates Ross and Haider). This is thought of as many as the best one in the series and I will always have a fond nostalgia for it due to the numerous hours spent playing this whilst pre drinking with my classic combo of a four pack of Red Stripe and a small bottle of Tesco Value Vodka (I feel sick just typing that) before going out and unsuccessfully talking to women in the wonderful nightlife of Northampton.
#9 - Doom - 2016 (PS4).
A perfect reintroduction to a classic franchise. They got this game absolutely correct and managed to just avoid taking themselves too seriously. The pace of the game is mostly frantic but also has slower, eerier moments that manage to give the game that classic Doom feel.
#8 - Wolfenstein 3D - 1992 (PC).
The game that started it all or, at least, the game that started the genre being the behemoth it became. When you compare to later FPS games it is...well, a bit crap. However, it was the first FPS game I ever played and I have many fond memories of putting the floppy disc into our DOS PC and killing a few Nazis.
#7 - Killzone - 2004 (PS2).
The first Killzone is a bit of an underrated gem in my opinion. People with an Xbox had Halo and the rest of us with our PS2's had this. I really like the art style of it and the levels seemed mostly well designed. It managed to have a dark atmosphere without having any of the horror type elements that many other 'dark' FPS games relied on.
#6 - Doom II: Hell on Earth - 1994 (PC).
This took the original Doom and basically improved it on every front. The levels have more variation and gameplay requires a little more thought (although not much). There is a reason that Doom was so popular in the 90's and continues to be to this day and this game sums up all those reasons why. It's just good fun.
#5 - Quake - 1996 (PC).
I might write 'atmosphere' about 100 times in this blog post but this is yet another game that has tons of it. It was just a little bit better than the Doom games that preceded it and introduced us to more 3D graphics in an FPS game. It also has a NIN soundtrack that, whilst not being the type of music I enjoy, fits the game perfectly.
#4 - Halo - 2001 (PC).
Halo represented a huge jump in the polish of FPS games. It looked good, it was stylish and it just played beautifully. It also has one of my favourite arrays of weapons in the genre. It was probably the main reason a lot of people bought an Xbox (although I played it on PC) in the first place and helped introduce Microsoft to the games console market.
#3 - Unreal Tournament - 1999 (PC).
This game left such a big impression on so many people who played it in the late 90's and early noughties. Just a few months ago, I randomly started talking about it with a friend and we both instantly remembered the 'Facing Worlds' level and the hours we spent on that level alone firing at the opposite tower with rocket launchers, sniper rifles and the 'Redeemer'. To both have such an identical, specific memory despite never having played the game together and neither having played it for many years, it shows the impact that some of the perfect design in this game had on people. Or, more likely, maybe we're just really bloody sad.
#2 - Half Life 2 - 2004 (Xbox).
For many years this was the 'thinking mans' FPS game. At least, that's what we liked to tell ourselves whilst we played this instead of studying for exams. It was one of the first games I played that had a genuinely intriguing story line and characters that seemed nuanced and you actually cared about. Coupled with the intelligent gameplay on offer, this is my second favourite FPS game of all time.
#1 - Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - 2016 (PS4).
Duke Nukem 3D probably isn't the best FPS game of all time but it is definitely my favourite. I have so many memories of playing this on PC as a child, playing a second hand copy on my old Sega Saturn as a university student and then recently played the 'World Tour' version on my PS4. It has a brilliant style to it where it is basically a pastiche of cheesy action films of the 80's and 90's. It makes fun of the 'offensive' material it portrays by never pretending to be anything other than ludicrous, stupid and firmly tongue-in-cheek.
Anyway, which of your favourite FPS games did I miss out?
