The 10 Best FPSes of All Time: Games That Made Me Fall for the FPS

Nan Rymer of RantGaming writes:

I love FPSes. I love Doom, Wolfenstein, Counter-Strike, FEAR, ARMA, Resistance, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. I love SOCOM, Tribes, Quake, HALO, Crysis, Half-Life, Medal of Honor, Team Fortress and Unreal Tournament. I even love Brink, Star Wars: Battlefront and Rainbow Six, and heck, there’s even a little part of me that loves Hour of Victory if only due to the sheer hilarity of it all (What? You don’t want to be challenged as a player? Perfect! We’ve laid out all the enemies for you on the HUD. And just to make it easier, they won’t even shoot back).

I’ve played a good number of them, from stand alone titles, franchises and their countless sequels, mods and spin offs, and I’ve loved all of them as well for their own reasons. There are just so many amazing FPses out there, more that I’ve forgotten to mention, and certainly even more I haven’t played. But the list below, which I compiled after a lot of going back and forth in my little...

[Dark_Overlord]

For me personally Deus Ex is my number 1 FPS of all time, everything about the game had me hooked :)

[Naners]

I loved Deus Ex too and when it came to ranking, I must have shuffled the orders at least a hundred times. But in the end, while Deus Ex made me love the genre more, I went with what really got me into the FPS in the first place. Here's to crossing my fingers and hoping that rumor about Deus Ex going next gen coming true. Hehe.

[Dark_Overlord]

With the success of DXHR (What the 2nd game should have been :D) I'd say its a given that SquareEnix will make another in the series :)

[FriedGoat]

This is a farce. Quake 3 arena should be top of the list. It is still the best and actually requires skill.

[Oh_Yeah]

i have to go with crysis series, fallout series, rainbow 6 series, deus ex, bioshocks....oh rage and borderlands also.

[MadLad]

That's the thing though. Not trying to attack your favorite games, mind you. Both Deus Ex and Fallout are some of my favorite games, but, simply from a shooter standpoint, neither the original Deus Ex nor either of the latest Fallout games are very good.

[Oh_Yeah]

@SlapHappyJesus

Im talking about human revolution, and 3 and new vegas are the only fallouts ive played and imo they are some of the best games this gen. youd really rather play 1 + 2?

[MadLad]

I'll give you that then. Human Revolution's gunplay was very, very solid. Hell, most of that game was.

As for Fallout, while I enjoy the original games, I definitely feel the new games are a lot more playable by today's standards. My personal favorite was New Vegas though. There was a lot more depth than in 3, and I thought the writing was much better.

[turgore]

Agreed...Deus Ex is probably the best game ever made, but it is not purely a shooter since it has RPG elements.

[ian72]

The original Deus Ex is my favourite game ever.

[johnsonbat]

So many to choose from. Half Life 2 for me.

[solar]

agreed. HL2 is a top tier 3 for FPS, let alone a top 3 games of all time. for me in order HL:2, Portal 2, and CS. Valve just makes the best FPS's. Bioshock was really really good, but not as good as what Valve has put out in the last 10 years for the genre.

[bubblebeam]

"Bioshock was really really good, but not as good as what Valve has put out in the last 10 years for the genre."

I understand your opinion, but to say bioshock isn't as good as episode 1 or 2, or left 4 dead is beyond me. I'd say Bioshock is better than most of what valve has brought out. Half Life 2 is probably stil better though IMO.

[Eyeco]

Agreed Half life 2 isnt my PERSONAL favourite game, that said its still the best game I've get played and I can understand why people praise it

It's nice to see that everyone isn't hopping on the Goldeneye band waggon, I'm tired of seeing it number 1 by default, IMO by today's standards the game is horrible Infact even if you compare it to pc shooters of its time it was pretty bland, all it was to me was those old 2.5d shooters like Wolfenstein and catacomb with souped up 64 bit graphics and horrible controls, overrated by Nintendo fanboys IMO it's had little influence on shooters today

[Megaton]

Half Life is definitely my favorite for FPS with a story. Half Life, BioShock, and if you count Fallout 3 and NV as FPS.

As for multiplayer FPS, my favorites would be Unreal Tournament and TF2.

[StayStatic]

Pretty much the same for me , except that it was quake 3 that taught me how to aim with a mouse after playing golden eye and counter strike expanded on that , never looked back.

[Gazondaily]

Oh yes my son. Quake 3! I got so good at it I was playing quite competitively against the world number 1 at one point. Ah memories. Rarely has there been a more visceral and raw multiplayer fps.

[Ducky]

DeusEx always overshadows SystemShock2. =(

[StayStatic]

I missed system shock 2 :( , wish it would come to GoG or Steam , might be free now for all I know , have a copy on my HDD somewhere as I can't purchase it anywhere, but would prefer an original.

[Naners]

That's on my list to go back to in addition to the first one. I never got to when it came out (my computer was pretty sad back then), and I heard it was what Deus Ex was inspired by. Like StayStatic said, if Steam or a similar outlet were to re-release it though, I'm so there!

[tachy0n]

crysis and half life did it for me! <3

[pumpactionpimp]

Depends on what your looking for. For me it's cs:s for multiplayer, and crysis for single player.

[givemeshelter]

System Shock...
Otherwise good list

[taquito]

Stalker
Stalker Clear Sky
Arma 2 (day-z too)
Halo 2
Killzone 2
BF2
BF3
BF2142
Crysis WArhead
Half Life 2

[Hicken]

TimeSplitters 2
Call of Duty: World at War
Killzone 2

Played em in that order, but the order of importance- or preference- is probably reversed.

[bubblebeam]

Killzone 2 was amazing. Cant say much for World at War though, probably the worst game I have played in the shooter genre. Just felt like I was killing japanese people running out of a bush half the game.

It looked terribly grainy for its time, and hasn't aged well at all.

Timesplitters was awesome as well. Glad you mentioned it.

[taquito]

WORLD AT WAR on pc was awesome, and it looks better than any game on console ever made! you just played it on the wrong system, all cod games look awful on console, they are 1024x600p, pretty much wii resolution

[bubblebeam]

@taquito

The PC version of world at war as well. It was a cheap shoddy port that let you up the resolution on an already ugly, grainy game.

If you think it looks better than killzone 2, then hats off to you :)

[Frances-the-Mute]

TimeSplitters 2 was the one for me, since then I have been playing FPSs. I also thank Halo and Metroid Prime for easing me in.

[darren_poolies]

I didn't like Half Life 2 :(

For me it's probably Halo: CE, Deus Ex, Killzone 2 and COD4.

[darren_poolies]

Ok I did like it and I hate all those other games mentioned. /s

[EditorAtGNG]

Halo before Half Life and Deus Ex and no Half Life 2? Yeah, personal list is personal.

[TekoIie]

..... Well it is an opinion piece.

[Lucky7s]

If we count FPS-RPG hybrids my list would look something like this:

1:Deus Ex
2:Bioshock
3:System Shock 2
4:Half Life (the entire series)
5:Perfect Dark
6:Painkiller
7:Quake II
8:Doom
9:Deus Ex: Human revolution
10:Goldeneye 007

[hennessey86]

Half life 2, Red Faction 1 and 2(loved the damage), Halo 1 and 3, killzone 1 and 2, Call of Duty 4 (still the best one), Bioshock, return to castle wolfenstien, Resistance 1 and 2, deus ex but my over all favourite has to be Half life 2.

[Zha1tan]

BF2

Half Life 2

Black

Goldeneye

BF 2142

BF 1942

AVP2 & 3

Unreal Tournament 2004

Frontlines Fuels of War

Shadowrun

enjoyed them all!

[dirthurts]

When Medal of Honor was fresh, that series was great. Also a huge fan of Far Cry and Crysis series.

[Steadyhndz]

A list on N4G that I can actually agree with.

Sadly even after all the talk about it (this game)...I have never played either Deus Ex game!

[mayberry]

For me its Killzone 2. To me, its the epitome of a "hardcore" experience! Killzone 3 is a blast online too!

[JKelloggs]

For me, it was Medal of Honor: Frontine, the first FPS I played. Big fan of Crysis, Halo, CoD4(non of the other CoDs come close) and every Battlefield game, of course

[pandehz]

Half Life 2, HL2 ep1, HL2 ep2 - All in top 3

[JDcg]

I can live with that list. For me I think Killzone 2 or 3 should be on there but I'm just happy Halo isn't number one.

[cuddlemonkey]

Sweet, my list, I got halo, 2 and 3, reach, mw2, black ops and uh

[TheFallenAngel]

Reisitance: Fall of Man, tha game gave me countless hours of fun with my clan. That is my favorite FPS of all time. Next is Call of Duty and Bioshock.

[Relientk77]

This is a pretty good list I would add Timesplitters 2 and Perfect Dark to it

[blakstarz]

Good list, but I have to say Serious Sam was a good one as well.

[StreetsofRage]

Marathon, The Turok games from the N64, and Unreal 2004 are the only ones that I feel should be added to this list. Pretty spot on tho'

Honorable mention and most underrated game of this gen goes to Shadowrun. Shadowrun had amazing and full of originality gameplay. Something that is lacking nowadays with your typical war shooters.

[MizTv]

kz2 is the 1 fps i just keep going back to! no other game is like it,it feels like it was made for me. i just fn love it!!!

[MizTv]

yes! kz2 is for the hardcore! couldnt agree more! just so badass in your face crazy shit!

[Bigpappy]

Those of you who call yourselves console FPS players, and ignore the massive roll of Halo in transforming the FPS gaming world, do so at your own admission of ignorance or denial. Halo moved the FPS genre from PC to console permanently. It also cause FPS's to be the #1 genre in the industry for over 10 years. Halo did not only help M$ grow to what it is in the industry, it grew the industry as a whole. COD would never have been this big if not for halo creating the environment for that to happen.

[MysticStrummer]

This is about Best FPS, which is entirely subjective. None of what you listed has very much to do with being the best FPS. I had a borrowed XBox and played the first two Halo games for free, and I have no idea why Halo got so popular. You're absolutely right that it was a good thing for MS that it did, but I'll never understand the following it has. Also, giving Halo credit for CoD isn't a positive in my opinion.

[ZILLA]

F T W!!

[theWB27]

Halo series....absolutely loved killzone 2, its got the best feeling guns I've ever played. Deus EX HR is awesome.
Killzone 2 is my #1....again cutting the helghast up with the SMG is heavenly massacre.

[ToonarmY]

Call of Duty 1.

Way better than that Modern Warfare console shight

[sugadaddy]

That's a pretty safe list.

[spektical]

battlefield 2, modern warfare and counter strike source for me.

[vikingland1]

I'm 47 years old and the game that made me like the genre was goldeneye 007 on the n64. I know it's not that great by todays standards but thats the one that made me like the genre way back when. And you could use 2 controllers at once to make it dual analog way before dual analog was common.

[mayberry]

i'm 46 and also appreciate that game for what it did for the genre. But I also have been on an ongoing search for the "next boundry pushing game ", thats why the Killzone series really has me hooked. I wont ever trade or sell these titles. They are the most immersive shooters i've ever experienced to date! Especially in 7.1 surround !

[vikingland1]

I also found Prey to be quite enjoyable. When don't fear the reaper started playing I was rocking it. LOL

[xXtremeHDGamerXx]

BLACK

[R_aVe_N]

I will do my top 5 since i dont play many FPS games

1: Killzone 2
2: Resistance 1 (the other 2 where not so great)
3: Battlefield 2
4: Deus Ex
5: SOCOM

Honorable Mentions:
Halo Combat Evolved
Counter Strike
Unreal Tournament
BLACK

[Roccetarius]

Ah, i grew up with titles such as CS 1.3, Unreal and others. The older Battlefield games were far better. Also, R_aVe_N mentioning BLACK brings back memories.

Such a Leap of Faith the genre has taken.

[abzdine]

the one that made me discover the FPS world is Killzone 2.The one and only one i liked !!

[nano88]

Halo is the king of fps

[Hufandpuf]

that's crazy talk!

[sGIBMBR]

The very first FPS game that brought me to the dance was Delta Force 2 haha, I spent many of years on that game :)

[Naners]

Thanks everyone for your comments on what games to add. Looks like I definitely have a lot of games to check out and revisit. (Red Faction is downloading as we speak.)

I'm out of bubbles with this one, so I can't respond to everything that's been said (though you're absolutely welcome to comment directly on the post and I'll answer), but I will say that the games I chose for my list have a lot of meaning to me, just like the ones you guys have listed have meaning to you.

My mother did not particularly want her daughter growing up a gamer (she wanted me to be a good wife, lulz?), so the games that I eventually did get a chance to play--the ones on this list--have extra meaning. When I snuck out to play DOOM with some friends, it was seriously a shock to the system, because up until then I had been more or less restricted to games like Rainbow Island, Dragon Quest, or Columns. There are so many choices now, and I hope to see a bunch more in the next gen too.

[DasBunker]

List started with Golden eye.. fail, also COD higher up than GE, half life, counter strike, halo... bigger fail