In response to IGN's comprehensive but poorly ranked top 100 shooters list, I've decided to make my own. This list won't be 100 games long, however. It will feature the best of the best of the best: the ten greatest first-person shooters ever made. These ten shooters come to you from several different development teams and originate in several different generations, but they all share a few things in common: excellent mechanics, addictive gameplay, top-notch level design, and, often, some terrific multiplayer modes.
You may notice that some "classic" first-person shooters haven't made this list. While I applaud old-school shooters like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom for blazing a trail for modern shooters, I don't think they belong on this list. They are among the most influential games ever made, but not among the best.
Please enjoy!
Although the first Quake game is rightly hailed as one of the more influential games of all time, it was only in 1999, with the release of Quake III, that the series finally reached greatness. Eschewing a plot-based single-player campaign, the developers at id Software instead focused on multiplayer mayhem. The result is a whirlwind of violence, with bodies and bullets literally flying all over the place. While its contemporary Unreal Tournament might have the better maps and more interesting weapons, Quake III looks better, plays better, and just FEELS better. It's multiplayer "twitch" shooting at its finest.
One of the more interesting phenomena of the original Halo trilogy is that as the series unfolded its single-player mode declined while its multiplayer options improved. That's certainly the case with Halo 3, which features a solo campaign inferior to its predecessors and multiplayer modes second-to-none. Apart from the standard death match and capture the flag modes prevalent in first-person shooters, Halo 3 introduced a few novel modes, like VIP and Infection. All are played through a much improved matchmaking system that allows players to veto certain maps and modes, and even team up with online players from the match before. Also available in Halo 3 is "Forge," a multiplayer map editor that allows players to customize existing maps with weapons and vehicles.
Often described as "the thinking man's shooter," Half-Life frequently finds itself on the top of lists such as this one. Spoiler alert: it placed number one on the most recent IGN list. And it's easy to see why. Half-Life changed the rules for first-person shooters. Along with games like GoldenEye 007, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and Unreal, Half-Life moved the genre away from the standard corridor shooter formula -- shoot first, ask questions later -- toward a more thoughtful formula centered around exploration, storytelling, and, yes, even puzzle-solving. Notably, Half-Life was the first shooter to use scripted sequences, predetermined in-game scenes activated by the hero's proximity to a place or person.
A remake of the PC hit, Far Cry Instincts is less open-ended and more linear than the original Far Cry, but adds several innovations that distinguish it as a unique experience. Set on a remote archipelago, Far Cry covers some seriously large real estate: rainforests, jungles, canyons, rivers, mines, and volcanic wastelands, to name a few. Traversing the game world is one of the many joys of Far Cry, whether it's hang gliding over a valley or jet-skiing around enemy forces in a bay. It's not all running and gunning in Far Cry, however. The hero, or, more accurately, antihero, is equipped with trap-making skills and, later in the game, "feral abilities," unique to the console version of the game.
After the critical and commercial success of Halo: Combat Evolved, hopes were high for the inevitable sequel. Well, Bungie delivered on all fronts, developing a game with a stellar single-player campaign, an enthralling (if somewhat anticlimactic) storyline, and, most notably, much-improved multiplayer options. Whereas Combat Evolved launched before the introduction of Xbox Live, Halo 2 arrived in its prime, and quickly became its most popular application. For two years, Halo 2 was the most played game over Xbox Live, finally losing the top spot to Gears of War in 2006.
GoldenEye 007 ranks among games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake as one of the more important shooter ever made. Upon its arrival on N64 in 1997, GoldenEye proved two important things: one, that first-person shooters could survive, even thrive, on home consoles, and two, that they need not all be corridor shooters where players run from point A to point B, blasting everything in sight. In GoldenEye, stealth and strategy matter. Apart from its incredible and challenging single-player mode, which has tons of replay value, GoldenEye features a legendary split-screen multiplayer mode with customizable weapon sets and expertly-designed maps.
A spiritual successor to the System Shock games, BioShock honors its predecessors by cleverly merging multiple genres into an amazing game experience. While it's predominantly a first-person shooter, BioShock features elements of adventure games, role-playing games, and even horror games. It's a masterpiece of game design, and it deserves its place on this list. It's difficult to elaborate on BioShock without giving away its many secrets, but suffice it to say that Irrational Games, who developed the game, created in BioShock one of the most unique and mesmerizing game settings of all time. From the very first moments of the game to its final frames, BioShock will steal you away to another world.
Another spiritual sequel? This time it's Perfect Dark, Rare's follow-up to the massively successful GoldenEye 007. It seemed unlikely that Rare could create a worthy successor to one of the most critically acclaimed and popular games of all time, but that's exactly what happened. In fact, Perfect Dark surpasses its spiritual predecessor on all fronts: graphics, sound, presentation, and game modes. In single-player mode, heroine Joanna Dark fights across over a dozen levels to uncover a massive conspiracy. In co-operative or counter-operative mode, two players can take on mission objectives together, or try to sabotage one another. And in multiplayer mode, up to four players and eight computer-controlled bots, or "simulants" as they're called in Perfect Dark, can fight for bragging rights.
Boasting an incredible physics system, in which objects and people obey the laws of gravity, friction and buoyancy, remarkably sophisticated artificial intelligence, and superior graphics, Half-Life 2 is, at least technically, a masterwork. Putting aside its technical marvels, however, it's easy to see the the prodigy behind the polygons, the talent behind the textures. In Half-Life 2, Valve created an incredible, extraordinary piece of software, one that in many instances transcends the limits of video game and becomes something more like an experience. This phenomenon is due largely to the narrative structure of Half-Life 2, which never removes the player from his or her character, Gordan Freeman. Exposition is communicated via in-game events, never cutscenes, so the player always experiences the game through Gordon.
There are only so many truly revolutionary titles in the history of video games, games like The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 64, and Grand Theft Auto III. Then there's Halo: Combat Evolved, which achieved great things for Bungie, Microsoft, and the gaming industry in general. By providing the nascent Xbox with a "killer app," it secured Microsoft's spot in the gaming world. It also introduced features, control schemes, and themes that have, for better or for worse, infiltrated almost every mainstream first-person shooter since. And, lastly, it shifted first-person shooters away from computers and onto home consoles, finishing the work GoldenEye started four years earlier. So it's a hugely influential title, but it's also an amazingly great game, with superior graphics, a standout soundtrack, a well-written story, outstanding level design, and perfect gameplay.
You may notice that some "classic" first-person shooters haven't made this list. While I applaud old-school shooters like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom for blazing a trail for modern shooters, I don't think they belong on this list. They are among the most influential games ever made, but not among the best.
Please enjoy!
#10
Quake III Arena
Although the first Quake game is rightly hailed as one of the more influential games of all time, it was only in 1999, with the release of Quake III, that the series finally reached greatness. Eschewing a plot-based single-player campaign, the developers at id Software instead focused on multiplayer mayhem. The result is a whirlwind of violence, with bodies and bullets literally flying all over the place. While its contemporary Unreal Tournament might have the better maps and more interesting weapons, Quake III looks better, plays better, and just FEELS better. It's multiplayer "twitch" shooting at its finest.
#9
Halo 3
One of the more interesting phenomena of the original Halo trilogy is that as the series unfolded its single-player mode declined while its multiplayer options improved. That's certainly the case with Halo 3, which features a solo campaign inferior to its predecessors and multiplayer modes second-to-none. Apart from the standard death match and capture the flag modes prevalent in first-person shooters, Halo 3 introduced a few novel modes, like VIP and Infection. All are played through a much improved matchmaking system that allows players to veto certain maps and modes, and even team up with online players from the match before. Also available in Halo 3 is "Forge," a multiplayer map editor that allows players to customize existing maps with weapons and vehicles.
#8
Half-Life
Often described as "the thinking man's shooter," Half-Life frequently finds itself on the top of lists such as this one. Spoiler alert: it placed number one on the most recent IGN list. And it's easy to see why. Half-Life changed the rules for first-person shooters. Along with games like GoldenEye 007, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and Unreal, Half-Life moved the genre away from the standard corridor shooter formula -- shoot first, ask questions later -- toward a more thoughtful formula centered around exploration, storytelling, and, yes, even puzzle-solving. Notably, Half-Life was the first shooter to use scripted sequences, predetermined in-game scenes activated by the hero's proximity to a place or person.
#7
Far Cry Instincts
A remake of the PC hit, Far Cry Instincts is less open-ended and more linear than the original Far Cry, but adds several innovations that distinguish it as a unique experience. Set on a remote archipelago, Far Cry covers some seriously large real estate: rainforests, jungles, canyons, rivers, mines, and volcanic wastelands, to name a few. Traversing the game world is one of the many joys of Far Cry, whether it's hang gliding over a valley or jet-skiing around enemy forces in a bay. It's not all running and gunning in Far Cry, however. The hero, or, more accurately, antihero, is equipped with trap-making skills and, later in the game, "feral abilities," unique to the console version of the game.
#6
Halo 2
After the critical and commercial success of Halo: Combat Evolved, hopes were high for the inevitable sequel. Well, Bungie delivered on all fronts, developing a game with a stellar single-player campaign, an enthralling (if somewhat anticlimactic) storyline, and, most notably, much-improved multiplayer options. Whereas Combat Evolved launched before the introduction of Xbox Live, Halo 2 arrived in its prime, and quickly became its most popular application. For two years, Halo 2 was the most played game over Xbox Live, finally losing the top spot to Gears of War in 2006.
#5
GoldenEye 007
GoldenEye 007 ranks among games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake as one of the more important shooter ever made. Upon its arrival on N64 in 1997, GoldenEye proved two important things: one, that first-person shooters could survive, even thrive, on home consoles, and two, that they need not all be corridor shooters where players run from point A to point B, blasting everything in sight. In GoldenEye, stealth and strategy matter. Apart from its incredible and challenging single-player mode, which has tons of replay value, GoldenEye features a legendary split-screen multiplayer mode with customizable weapon sets and expertly-designed maps.
#4
BioShock
A spiritual successor to the System Shock games, BioShock honors its predecessors by cleverly merging multiple genres into an amazing game experience. While it's predominantly a first-person shooter, BioShock features elements of adventure games, role-playing games, and even horror games. It's a masterpiece of game design, and it deserves its place on this list. It's difficult to elaborate on BioShock without giving away its many secrets, but suffice it to say that Irrational Games, who developed the game, created in BioShock one of the most unique and mesmerizing game settings of all time. From the very first moments of the game to its final frames, BioShock will steal you away to another world.
#3
Perfect Dark
Another spiritual sequel? This time it's Perfect Dark, Rare's follow-up to the massively successful GoldenEye 007. It seemed unlikely that Rare could create a worthy successor to one of the most critically acclaimed and popular games of all time, but that's exactly what happened. In fact, Perfect Dark surpasses its spiritual predecessor on all fronts: graphics, sound, presentation, and game modes. In single-player mode, heroine Joanna Dark fights across over a dozen levels to uncover a massive conspiracy. In co-operative or counter-operative mode, two players can take on mission objectives together, or try to sabotage one another. And in multiplayer mode, up to four players and eight computer-controlled bots, or "simulants" as they're called in Perfect Dark, can fight for bragging rights.
#2
Half-Life 2
Boasting an incredible physics system, in which objects and people obey the laws of gravity, friction and buoyancy, remarkably sophisticated artificial intelligence, and superior graphics, Half-Life 2 is, at least technically, a masterwork. Putting aside its technical marvels, however, it's easy to see the the prodigy behind the polygons, the talent behind the textures. In Half-Life 2, Valve created an incredible, extraordinary piece of software, one that in many instances transcends the limits of video game and becomes something more like an experience. This phenomenon is due largely to the narrative structure of Half-Life 2, which never removes the player from his or her character, Gordan Freeman. Exposition is communicated via in-game events, never cutscenes, so the player always experiences the game through Gordon.
#1
Halo: Combat Evolved
There are only so many truly revolutionary titles in the history of video games, games like The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 64, and Grand Theft Auto III. Then there's Halo: Combat Evolved, which achieved great things for Bungie, Microsoft, and the gaming industry in general. By providing the nascent Xbox with a "killer app," it secured Microsoft's spot in the gaming world. It also introduced features, control schemes, and themes that have, for better or for worse, infiltrated almost every mainstream first-person shooter since. And, lastly, it shifted first-person shooters away from computers and onto home consoles, finishing the work GoldenEye started four years earlier. So it's a hugely influential title, but it's also an amazingly great game, with superior graphics, a standout soundtrack, a well-written story, outstanding level design, and perfect gameplay.
