Many people have been arguing about what are the top 10 FPS games from the past, and today. So I've made this short list of the top 10 FPS games, according to my own honest opinion. But don't worry. If you want to share your own, you are free to do so in the comments section of this post.
Please note that these ten games are not arranged in ascending or descending order according to rank, but rather, they fulfilled a certain criteria that landed them on this list.
10. Best Graphics (Crysis)
When Crysis was released in 2007, it was quickly acclaimed for its amazing graphics, however, not everyone had the same reaction since computers were shitty during the time. But when I built myself a new computer sometime in 2009 and played Crysis on it, I was immediately mesmerized by the sheer awesomeness of the graphics. The small, isolated island in the Philippines was so beautifully rendered that it made me believe that it's just a prerendered video playing. Of course, those assumptions were called off, as my computer struggled to keep the game running at a steady flow of 39fps, even without any anti-aliasing at High. Even after three years, Crysis is still popular among those gamers who burns money, and is a standard benchmarking platform for those who create the most powerful of gaming computers.
It's awesome because, since I have been playing games with shitty graphics that look nothing more than half the real world for a long time, that I realized soon technology would render near perfect graphics, if not the best or the smoothest.
Brings a tear to my eye.
9. Best Cinematics (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 and 2)
The three first Call of Duty games were, to be honest, stale and boring. Of course, it's historically accurate, but the drama of the WWII was just not captured during the first three games. The Modern Warfare series, however, changed the boring set of the first three games by moving the story into the future and adding exemplary cinematic effects into cutscenes, making the fictional plot more dramatic and realistic.
Another striking feature of the game, and the whole series itself, is that you always play with some sort of superior in the single player campaign who tells you to do everything while he sits back and pretends he's shooting at the bad guys. Not really much in the old CoD games, but in Modern Warfare, it's been there for a long time.
8. Best FPS bots (Quake III)
When I bought Quake III sometime in 2001, I became so addicted to the game that I finished my first gaming marathon (playing eight hours straight). It's not the gameplay that mattered during the game (although sometimes it did), but the simple, but powerful bots that are built in with the game. The same bots whom you'll bash with the words "cheater" and "hax0r" whenever they snipe you from the other end of the map with a rocket launcher. These bots are just so amazing that, it's quite impossible to find replacement bots on the Internet, and if there are, they're not really worth it.
7. Best FPS Storyline (Bioshock 1 and 2)
Bioshock takes us to the deep abyss of the Atlantic Ocean, where the fictional underwater city of Rapture, the metropolis of the free-minded people, crumbles and slowly dies. A man (whom you control in the game) apparently crashes into the ocean, and finds a bathysphere which takes him into an adventure to find out what is Rapture and what happened to the city. I won't go into any more details here, as it will spoil the plot, but if you happen to play or have played this game, you must understand that its originality, flow, and drama is more powerful than any other FPS game out there. It's like watching a movie.
6. Best puzzle FPS (Portal)
Portal is, by far, the shortest single player FPS game I have ever played. In my first playthrough of the game, I managed to finish it in about five hours, which isn't bad for someone who just begun playing it. The puzzles were somehow difficult, but is very rewarding once you finish them. And you won't get bored with the gameplay, as you can stick portals anywhere you like - provided that it's not somewhere metallic, or places you just shouldn't fire at.
5. Best FPS Series (Half-Life)
The Half-Life series takes us to the story of Gordon Freeman, a silent, and perhaps the only non-nerdy (who can explain his ability to climb ladders extremely fast?) physicist who works in Black Mesa, a fictional government science facility in New Mexico. Now suddenly something goes wrong and aliens start occupying the facility, and you must now escape and reach the Lambda Lab for help. The series itself has spawned forth other notable titles such as Counter Strike and Team Fortress, most of them popular through many years. The sequel to Half-Life, Half-Life 2, made the series better through the introduction of the Source engine, which gave us better graphics, AI, and added functionality of a full physics engine. Sure, the engine itself is dated, but it is one of the most versatile engines today, also one of the most stable.
4. Best multiplayer (Left 4 Dead)
Left 4 Dead is a Valve zombie game, and like most other modern games of Valve, it runs on the Source engine. But unlike other Valve and other zombie games, Left 4 Dead was one of those that are most centered towards multiplayer gameplay. It also introduced the AI Director, a full-fledged AI that controls different aspects of the gameplay, such as how many zombies will be spawned, where weapons will be found, etc. The game was such a success that it nearly overtook other famous Valve titles such as Team Fortress 2. Left 4 Dead's sequel added more weaponry, enemies, and levels to play in, but for me, the original was the best, as I had so much fun with it online in Garena. Sadly, my game friends moved on to Steam and left me in a desert hell full of Chinese people who can't speak English.
3. Most Freedom in an FPS game (Garry's Mod)
Garry's Mod is a mod of Half-Life 2 that allows you to do...well...almost anything you could ever imagine. Want to go on a headcrab shooting spree? Or build guided missiles? How about drive a wagon car with boosters to boot? You can do all three, and much, much more. Garry's Mod uses the Source engine to power itself, which means you also have cool physics to play with as well. You can also pose ragdolls, which is excellent for wacky photos or epic machinima. You can even just join in custom deathmatches, and even roleplay. It's also one of the best deals for a good FPS out there, just shell out $9.95 at Steam, and you already get near unlimited hours of fun with this game.
2. Best Action FPS (Duke Nukem 3D)
Duke Nukem 3D is the oldest game you'll find on this list. To be exact, it's just about two years younger than me, yet I enjoy it even now. But how did I discover this game? I salvaged through old CD collections and found this game alongside other games, and when I played it, it was hell lot of awesome. Sure, the graphics is incredibly shitty, but remember that in 1996, full 3D games with multiple floors were as rare, and FPS games with full 3D capabilities rarer.
Of course, Duke Nukem 3D did not deliver full 3D, only a full-3D environment. The enemies, pickups, and you were just pixely 2D sprites, augmented with bloody particles that were very gory and realistic during their time.
But what makes Duke Nukem 3D my best action FPS? The fast-paced gameplay, the awesome explosions, the hilarity of kicking aliens in the face, and the voice of a dude who speaks of nothing but kicking the asses of anything that's not a human female while going medieval on their asses and chewing bubblegum. Duke Nukem himself was a legend, a forgotten one, to be exact. And now that Duke Nukem Forever is officially dumped, there's no hint of what will be the future of the very badass Duke of Nukem.
1. First FPS (Quake 2)
I'm sure you're shocked. You might be saying, "Now hold on just a minute, Sulatang Tapunan, but Quake 2 isn't the first FPS. It's , and you're wrong. Sulatang Tapunan reader, in case you have forgotten, this list is based on me, and since you are probably years older than me, you immediately had those words in hand.
Quake 2 is, to be honest, the first FPS, and more importantly, the first video game I have ever played. My dad personally bought it for himself, since he had no idea what Quake 2 is. He even let me play the game, since those small squares of red that pop out of Strogg when you shoot them with a machinegun don't even look like blood. Or the gibs when you blast them with a rocket launcher looks more like mashed potatoes filled with ketchup than body parts.
But most importantly, it taught me composure, and the common-sense that everything in the video game world isn't real. It's a fantasy world. I had no thoughts, ever, in my life that video games are dangerous for children, the elderly, or anybody else for that matter. It's the awkward parenting and guidance that misled children, not the game itself. Quake II helped me become mature, logical, and open-minded. Sure, it glued me to the computer and gave birth to the nerd in me, but at least I didn't grow up the pussy way: children playing Hello Kitty Island and Mickey Mouse games because Mario depicts a plumber with a moustache stepping on turtles and shit.
It made me calm, and made me badass, because even if somebody told me that there's a serial killer-slash-pedophile is on the loose kidnapping, raping, eating, mutilating, and displaying dead bodies of children in plain view, I don't fret. So what if it's a little blood?
Special Mentions: Borderlands (most diverse), Counter-Strike (most frustrating yet addictive), Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty 1
