Best First Person Shooters (FPS) Of All Time

Since the dawn of the FPS Genre there have been many huge titles that have molded the genres future, and some that have perfected it.

The evolution of the FPS has been a long and elegant one. Starting off as trigger happy monster frag fests, have evolved into tactical, scripted and cinematic experiences that pull you in and don't let go.

The following games, Chart Box believe have molded the genre into what it is today. Taking what was out there, and turning it on it's head to create something completely innovative, compelling and ultimately mind blowing for the time. These games took steps into the unknown, re-writing the formula, introducing imaginative and artistic ideas, bold story telling, unparalleled gun play and industry changing technical achievements. Chart Box thanks you.

See which First Person Shooters have made the ultimate chart!

[Gigalol]

Not Killzone 2,3 or LAG, or Resistance 2 or 3

No. IT'S HALO.

HALO.

JUMP IN.

[toaster]

Learn your roots noob.

Dues-Ex
Goldeneye
Half Life
Quake

Halo would be -->nothing<-- without them.

[YoungKiller25]

i liked all the games they had on that list along with their placement and explanation for it

[Cosquae]

Maybe missing Counter Strike, Crysis, BF2 or TF2. Depends on what style of FPS games you like.

But adding one of them would mean taking away another and I like all those top 10 ;)

[ryuzu]

I think Unreal can be dropped - for me that game was basically Quake with a different skin. Also Halo should go - Halo was a good xbox FPS, but in the great scheme of things wasn't really ground breaking - you might look at Bungie's efforts pre-Halo where they did try some innovative things. I sort of think that Halo is here because a large group of people will get upset about being left out if it isn't.

Instead of those 2 I'd put Deus Ex 1 because it successfully merged RPG and FPS elements (something very difficult to do despite being tried many times) and was, unusually for a story based game, very replayable as a result.

Also, I think Counter-Strike should go on here somewhere - while CS is a mod, it is a mod which basically cemented the MP FPS genre and made it popular. Until then, MP was an add-on to SP games, CS demonstrated you could drop the SP part altogether and have something popular, cool and it's still going now! Pretty much none of the other games on that list are.

r.

[vhero]

only timesplitters missing in my opinion it was the number one offline FPS for PS2. Which is the biggest selling console of all time (for now)

[MTEC8]

R:FOM to the list.

[Hellsvacancy]

Ryuzu - yeah man i LOVED Deus Ex part 1, never played 2 and hav 4-gotten that Deus Ex 3 is in the makin, its gonna look SICK on next gen consoles

[Darkstorn]

@1.2-
Halo pioneered rechargeable health and showed that FPSs can be done on console (though much of that success if attributed to Goldeneye, admittedly).
I'm not a big Halo fan, but there's no doubt it was insanely influential in the scheme of things.

[ryuzu]

What? Rechargeable health - lol. Wow that was a big one.

As you correctly pointed out, Goldeneye perfected and proved the concept of FPS on console. Rechargeable health had been in many PC titles - usually called "easy mode" so children could manage the game.

Like I said, Halo was a good xbox game but it should not be in a list of 10 most important FPSs (which is what this list actually is rather than what it's called) when the likes of Deus Ex and CS aren't - and that's just two.

I think the problem with Halo in general is that people can't help but associate it with the release of a new console which at the time many expected to fail.

When it was released and didn't absolutely suck, there was a great wave of relief that there might be an alternative to Sony after all (Ninty looked like they were on verge of collapse at that stage) - that's where Halo's rep. comes from - as a game in it's own right, solid but not revolutionary or influential or anything else.

r.

[The BS Police]

Goldeneye 007 did not perfect conosle FPS games, it was merely a proof of the concept that FPS games can play good on a console if done right. Perfect Dark literally perfected on alot of things Goldeneye 007 did.

Halo however perfected the controls with the golden tripod of weapons, grenades, and melee. Seperate buttons to use grenades and melee attacks rather than having to switch your weapon to either your fists or grenades. They also removed the magical back pack to allow a more tactical approach in arcade shooters and they perfected vehicle combat in Halo 1.

To deny Halo 1's influence and innovations is pure fanboyism from the PC crowd, there only a little upset that Halo paved the way for all the console FPS games we take advantage of today.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

My two favorite FPS, and games, of all time are Half-life 1(PC) and Deus-Ex 1(PC).

edit-- Hoping DEUS EX 3 isnt dumbed down like DX2. Looking forward to taht too. Gonna get a new PC before that comes out.

[Lich120]

@ryuzu
They did a lot more with Halo than just Rechargeable health. Even if they hadn't though, while it seems trivial now, that was a very intelligent step forward. besides that though Id say vehicle interaction and physics really set it apart.

As for the list, I don't think I could agree anymore. All my favorite shooters are on there (cept maybe Deus Ex which I see a ton of people saying).

[ryuzu]

How poor Rare has become since purchased by MS.

As for the rest of the list, predictable and probably OK. However this list is taking into account the time of release - clearly PD or Goldeneye, Halo etc don't compare well to todays shooters.

So really this isn't a best FPS list, but a list of FPS which in their time were considered important.

r.

[vhero]

Agreed Rare have gone downhill but to be fair all there best staff left and formed free-radical which made the great timesplitters series.

[skatezero246]

lol you honestly think Halo is the best shooter of all time? you either started gaming last gen. or have missed out on a lot of shooters such as counter strike

[Baka-akaB]

Meh i'll get disagrees , but from the subimission's picture alone i knew this list would be flawed .

There is no way Halo should be up there with such a rich history on fps .
Halo is nothing for the pc world (but of course disagree away) . It was a deserved milestone for fps on consoles and obviously in sales , but only as such and for people only starting with the game .

PC constanly had better titles than Halo to offer . So far the only consoles fps with bragging rights in a best fps category would be indeed perfect dark , timesplitters , but most of all Golden eye .
it's not an attack against bungie actually ... Marathon could and should even be there instead

Halo is mostly rehash for people with access to both console and PC gaming (or only pc) .

[toaster]

I agree.

PC version of Halo was a joke. There were better FPS's and it did nothing to change the way people played FPS's on PC.

But since this list is multiplatform then sure, Halo was a good FPS for consoles, albeit a FPS-lite. Well written story and good controls - for a console. Nothing new to PC folks though.

[PS3HELLSTORM]

update this to killzone 3 to atleast top 3, the game is siiikk

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

If you brought Halo to a LAN party in 2002...you'd get kicked out.

Halo was a joke to PC gamers. They'd had better FPS's for years.

[ElementX]

LOL, LAN parties in 2002... I had LAN parties back in '96 with Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Quake... ah the good old days. We called them "Nerd Fests"

[Motion]

1997-2000. Action Quake. And a ton of quake 2.

[ape007]

perfect dark is indeed perfect

I really REALLY cannot wait for perfect dark HD ON 360

it's impossible to say the word OVERRATED to perfect dark, you can say it to halo, gears, cod, mgs, uncharted

rare was pure brilliance, if the same rare team remained intact and developed on 360\ps3, trust me, halo gears, kz2,mw,mw2, all these games would be lost and damned

I'll buy it even if it costs 60$

[TooTall19]

Laptop gun, Dragon, and Super Dragon are great guns. Perfect dark is the best.

[toaster]

Perfect Dark was one of those *rare* gems ;)

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

its great but its too much for the N64 to handle. Really bad FPS some times.

Im thinking the 360 version will be alot of fun running smooth and with LIVE support.

[MajestieBeast]

half life aged better then perfect dark in my opinion.

[ryuzu]

But Half-life proved a popular mod-engine and HL2 has improved over that again.

While HL1+2 are excellent shooters in their own right, the fact that they leant themselves to modding which in turn created icons like CounterStrike & Day of Defeat really means they stand at the top of this chart in terms of FPS influence.

r,

[ElementX]

Glad to see Half Life 1 and 2 both recognized!

[Redempteur]

Half life 1 ( with Counter strike and day of defeat )

Quake 2

For me these two are the one that did most of the work ..

After that there is some games ( golden eye , system shock 2, unreal tournament ) that added something else to the mix ..but that's it

[mayberry]

But in my mind not only is the hands down best FPS ever in the history of electronic adult entertainment! It will go down in gaming history as a true benchmark title that all others will be judged by! I am 43 years old and have been gaming since "pong" in 1972 when most on this forum weren't even conceived yet! watch all the "tech" vids out about the bullets, the real time ray shading, the death animations, the weather that affects everything from your grenade tosses to how fast you walk, to the lighting and on and on! then compare that info to any halo game, including "reach" and see the difference will be STAGGERING! Not saying the "halo" games aren't fun! Heck solitaire is a freakin blast to me! But to top the tech aspects off, the gameplay is fun as h3ll! Cant even say it is "fun", the gameplay is so epic it really has to be experienced to be believed! So called "true gamers" should be chomping at the bit to experience a game of this caliber! Especially FPS fans!

[robotnik]

Posting an image of Halo implying that is the best fps doesn't make it the best
:)

[Oner]

Sorry but - no CS yet Halo is on there?!?! PLUS there is no reason to have Goldeneye AND Perfect dark (which are basically the same game for the most part when it comes to the experience) on the same list...they could have easily been bundled together as one to at least have CS on this "list" ~ Fail. PERIOD.

[IQUITN4G]

Halo is the most hated FPS of all time and that speaks volumes

Goldeneye and PD have definitely aged very well if you can get past that they will of course look decidedly worse- if you have your tech head on

[JonnyBigBoss]

To me:

1. Counter-Strike 1.6

[Dante007]

But where's Deus Ex? Ok, it wasn't a regular FPS, more like a FPS with RPG elements but, everything was great in that game.

[Kakihara]

I would have put Duke Nukem 3D in there somewhere, that game's still fun today.

[The_Nameless_One]

I remember back in the day I used to play two little games called Deus Ex and System Shock 2. What a shame of a list.

[Koromaro]

Wow i'm Surprise that CS or Bf2 aren't on the list. Not a big fan of CS but even i knew it had a mass following

[finalfantasymaster]

are you kidding me? Counter-Strike is better IMHO, and I won't even include Halo in top 50 LOL!