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First-person shooter games have proven themselves to be one of the most popular genres in video game history. Not only is the gaming community’s appetite for unfettered mayhem never-ending, but this type of melee has penetrated the consciousness of casual gamers and resulted in titles that could be sold to all instead of just the hardcore devotees. Though the FPS genre is not without its myriad controversies—accusations of brain-deadening violence and insensitivity abound—their mass appeal makes it unlikely that we can ever expect the form to wither beneath these critiques.
Indeed, as a result, first-person shooters have persisted as some of the top-selling titles in the gaming, year after year. Though not every first-person shooter is a guaranteed cash cow, there have been a number of notable instances where the genre has struck gold. The commercially-successful franchises that have sprung up in this fashion are now household names: Call of Duty, Doom, and Halo, to name just a few.
A good FPS doesn’t just have solid sales figures to boast about, either. What often makes these games so enjoyable is their strong multiplayer components, allowing you and your friends to virtually destroy one another for hours on end. Whether it’s GoldenEye 007, Overwatch, or what have you, the best of the best first-person shooter games are often defined by their ability to bring people together.
To that end, it’s no surprise that first-person shooters have become a choice genre for eSports competitors around the world. These titles have enough entertainment value to be watched and followed with the same intensity as Monday Night Football. In 30 years, who’s to say we won’t see gaming replace our favorite sporting pastimes in prime time?
So, given their rabid followings, cultural impact, and plain playability, it only seems to right to rank the best games that this genre has to offer. Here are the 10 best first-person shooters that you should start playing today.
Half-Life 2
Gordon Freeman's return to Black Mesa was a cultural milestone as far as video games, not just shooters, went. Thirty-nine “Game of the Year” awards and several “Game of the Decade” nods stamped the title as a permanently revered game, with the physics-defying Gravity Gun being one of the most memorable elements of Valve's baby. It allowed Valve developers to implement puzzle aspects into the shooter's action sequences (as well as bisect headcrab zombies with circular saw blades), and add yet another level of entertainment to an already nearly spotless series.
Perfect Dark
Following in the footsteps of GoldenEye 007 was no easy task for the team at Rare responsible for developing Perfect Dark. And yet, they stuck the landing, even without the help of James Bond. Though this title was released near the tail end of the Nintendo 64’s heyday, its timing did nothing to dim its reception. The game was honored with contemporary praise, and has lost none of its luster in retrospective appraisals.
Critics pointed to its masterful multiplayer mode, ambitious design, and next-level graphics as the highlights of this classic. Us? Well, we just loved that FarSight, even if we were the ones occasionally on the receiving end of a super-powerful snipe.
Doom
Doom appeared seemingly out of nowhere as the spiritual successor to id Software's Wolfenstein 3D title a year earlier. Instead of going around killing Nazis, however, you were a space marine looking to save your cadets from a mysterious alien uprising from hell. Yes: Hell. And sure, Dead Space may have cribbed some of its plot from this classic, but imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, especially in video games, where the technology grows, but the fundamentals stay the same.
Of course, it's a case of suffering from success: Doom's effect on the industry was wide-reaching, goading a whole new subculture within the industry that began churning out similar games cut from the same cloth. The series fell on rocky times for a stretch, but thankfully was able to reclaim its former glory with a 2016 reboot. Rejoice, a new generation of gamers now knows what “BFG” stands for.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Though the original Halo isn’t perfect, one couldn’t be blamed for placing it atop their personal list of the best first-person shooters of all-time. After all, Halo managed to pop a wheelie on the zeitgeist in a way that few video games ever have, and it did on the back of a Warthog, turret ablaze. What gamer doesn’t have some sort of memory with this game, whether they were dueling against their friend with a couple of Energy Swords, or sticking them with a perfectly-targeted plasma grenade?
The gaming revolution that Halo inspired was Doom-like; for every “Doom clone,” there was a “Halo killer” to match, as titles like Gears of War, Killzone, and others tried and failed to knock Master Chief off his throne for years. This was the original Xbox’s defining title, arguably solidifying Microsoft’s place in the console wars for years to come.
GoldenEye 007
The name’s Bond, and not much more needs to be said than that, does it? Indeed, there are few selling points for a smash-hit, genre-defining video game better than a suave icon of espionage and sex appeal. However, as Perfect Dark would later prove, the team at Rare were also just as adept at making endlessly playable multiplayer modes for you and your friends to enjoy. That you got to play as James Bond, Xenia Onatopp, and even past franchise villains like Oddjob or Baron Samedi was icing on the cake for this perfectly-crafted shooter.
On top of all that, GoldenEye was also the rare FPS that had a campaign mode actually worth playing. Perhaps it helped that it had a movie script to stick to; whatever the case, this game was worth your time no matter what mode you were playing in. Upon its release and in the years since, the game has been praised from every imaginable angle, including a nod from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in its 2011 “Art of Video Games” exhibit.
Overwatch
In less careful hands, Overwatch’s six-on-six battle structure could’ve been overwhelming instead of the lively, character-driven melee that it is. Chalk that up as another win for the veteran developers at Blizzard, who, as a result, created a game that fans and critics loved from the moment they were able to pick it up.
The fervor surrounding Overwatch reached a fever pitch with its emergence as an eSport; indeed, it became less a game than a cultural phenomenon at that point. And with the Overwatch League on its way, this title is officially a site of big-league aspirations. Assemble your squad, and see if you have what it takes to make it to the show.
Wolfenstein 3D
Of the entries on this list, Wolfenstein 3D is the grandaddy of them all. Released in 1992, it effectively paved the way for every other intense, fast-paced action title included in this top 10 and created a template for what a violent, visceral video game should look like.
In a review for Computer Gaming World, writer Chris Lombardi presciently described the game’s pivotal impact: “Wolfenstein 3D is, with Ultima Underworld, the first game technologically
capable of creating a sufficient element of disbelief-suspension to emotionally immerse the player in a threatening environment, even when viewing it on a flat screen,” he wrote. “I recommend gamers take a look at this one, if only for a cheap peek at part of interactive entertainment's potential for a sensory immersed virtual future.”
This wasn’t the only time the game’s developers at id Software would strike gold in the first-person shooter genre, either, as they were subsequently responsible for creating Doom, and the aforementioned Quake. But it all started with this World War II shooter. What would gaming look like without Wolfenstein? Thankfully, we never had to find out.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
By the time Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released, the term “CoD” had become mainstream slang, a linguistic bridge of sorts between hardcore gamers and the casual dude-bros who just wanted to sit down and, well, play some CoD. The series had been going strong for some time, but that didn’t mean Modern Warfare 2 was simply going to rest on its laurels. Rather, this title upped the ante on everything that CoD excelled at; that is, recreating the realistic, pulse-pounding intensity of an actual battlefield.
Predictably, the game was a commercial hit, selling millions of copies in the 24 hours after its release, and generating $310 million in first-day sales revenue. And the critical reception was just as pronounced, as numerous outlets showered the title with perfect or near-perfect reviews.
Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D took the muscle-bound macho heroes of your favorite action movies, rolled them into one, and then gave that amalgamation a fully-loaded arsenal of high-powered weaponry to match the game’s over-the-top environments. This title put pop culture on steroids, borrowing from films like Jaws, The Shawshank Redemption, Aliens, and more to create the backdrop for its titular character.
Its sense of humor didn’t land with everyone, though; indeed, the game was criticized for its perceived misogyny and penchant for gore. Some felt its tone crossed the line, while others asserted that it was firmly tongue-in-cheek. Either way, Duke Nukem 3D is still remarkable for helping to popularize the first-person shooter genre, leading the way in the wake of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom to give gaming some extra firepower.
Quake
After Doom literally changed the game in 1993, the developers at id Software had the unenviable task of creating a follow-up that could reach the heights of its critically-acclaimed predecessor. Though they fell short of this impossible standard, the game they created, Quake, became a beloved product in its own right, featuring contributions from Nine Inch Nails to score the hellish, sinister realms that Quake’s protagonist, the Ranger, had to shoot his way through.
“Satan, your game has arrived,” Computer Games Magazine said in its review of the 1996 title. “It's a game of pure evil. And even purer entertainment. It's also the best action game on the planet.” Basically, it’s your worst nightmare in—at the time, anyway—cutting-edge 3D. Let’s get medieval.