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[ashecitism]

Remember, RPS is a PC-only site, so no GoldenEye etc.

After their best 50 RTS list, comes the FPS.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/13/best-fps/

Like last time each entry has summary/description, notes, how can you get it and recommendations for similar games. And there's the complete list and postscript too (featuring some snubbed/missing entries) at the end.

What follows is a list of the 50 first-person shooters I think everyone should play. You can disagree in the comments but it is of course 100% objectively correct. Oh, and please be aware that the list is not ordered until the top 10. Number 50 is as highly recommended as number 11.

But what makes a first-person shooter? It’s a question which has haunted me a little during the making of this feature. Does it have to be primarily about shooting? Maybe not, but I feel that has to be your primary means of interaction with other characters. Clubbing someone unaware with a blackjack counts, as you’re taking aim and harming someone (even if you usually refuse the option to), but if you have the option to talk to someone (or monster) instead, we’re heading off into roleplaying game territory. So, no Deus Ex. I felt similarly about games which see you spend a whole lot of time worrying about inventories or choosing skills. Exceptions were made, but only when the shooting side of things was rock-solid. So, no System Shock 2 either. It’s excellent at many things, but shooting sure ain’t one of them (and in any case, I don’t doubt we’ll hear from it if and when we do an RPG one of these).

1 DOOM
2 Half-Life
3 Thief II: The Metal Age
4 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
5 Quake III Arena
6 Half-Life 2
7 Planetside 2
8 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
9 Battlefield 1942
10 Far Cry 2
11 SWAT 4
12 BioShock 2
13 Action Quake 2
14 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
15 Mirror’s Edge
16 Arma 3
17 Crysis
18 Natural Selection 2
19 Wolfenstein: The New Order
20 Alien: Isolation
21 Left 4 Dead 2
22 Unreal Tournament 2004
23 Dishonored
24 Call of Duty 2
25 The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena
26 Rising Storm
27 Star Wars: Dark Forces
28 Star Wars Jedi Knight – Mysteries Of The Sith
29 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
30 Tribes Ascend
31 Halo: Combat Evolved
32 Aliens versus Predator
33 The Typing Of The Dead
34 The Operative: No One Lives Forever
35 Far Cry 3
36 Team Fortress 2
37 Quake
38 Descent
39 Bulletstorm
40 Metro 2033 Redux
41 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
42 Rage
43 Tron 2.0
44 Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
45 Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
46 The Darkness 2
47 Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
48 Zeno Clash
49 F.E.A.R.
50 Eldritch

 

[GhostWriter24]

Anyone remember Disruptor for PSX? Underrated gem...

Surely deserves a spot on this list.

 

[rjc571]

Painkiller is better than every game on that list.

 

[John Kowalski]

half life 2 bellow og hl? i don't know...

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Painkiller is better than every game on that list.

Then why isn't it on the list

 

[bananafactory]

Ctrl-F: "Turok 2: Seeds of Evil" - not found

Really? Disappointed

 

[rjc571]

Then why isn't it on the list

Maybe it's a list of the best 50 fps other than Painkiller

 

[NeoFaff]

Nice to see SWAT4 so high on the list.

 

[thelatestmodel]

Anyone remember Disruptor for PSX? Underrated gem...

Actually yes. Played the demo to death, never bought the full game.

Also, isn't Deus Ex an FPS? I know it has RPG elements, but it's an FPS to me and should be high up in this list...

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

Nice to see SWAT 4 getting some love.

 

[hydruxo]

Halo CE is way too low.

 

[Sephzilla]

Halo CE feels a little too low IMO - edit; forgot they were PC only, still, CE feels too low

half life 2 bellow og hl? i don't know...

It's the right choice, i think

 

[bigkrev]

PC ONLY LIST, before anyone starts wondering why Goldeneye/Halo/ect aren't on the list

Really curious to see Bioshock 2 so high on the list

 

[chemicals]

Far Cry 2? Ive been having the game forever but always left it in wrapper because of Gaf hatred for it. Lol. You mean I should actually play it?

 

[Mr Swine]

Glad Doom is mr 1 and Half Life mr 2 and stalker mr 4.

 

[daviyoung]

half life 2 bellow og hl? i don't know...

definitely, half life 2 was just a physics demo compared to the original

 

[Servbot24]

Metroid Prime and Potral are the good ones.



(Obviously I'm not a huge FPS fan)

 

[SargerusBR]

Half-Life 2 and Far Cry 2 way too high on that list

 

[DrKelpo]

3 Thief II: The Metal Age
4 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

kinda surprised to see these two so high up there... without mods stalker was a very solid shooter with lots of potential untouched in my opinion.

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

Bad company 2 and no battlefield 2 to be found??? Lol.
Seriously though, bulletstorm and darkness 2 but not battlefield 2 or 3??? Joke list confirmed.

 

[jufonuk]

No Goldeneye 64?

 

[NIN90]

Doesn't look half bad.

 

[Pagusas]

I'd put Dark Forces above most of the rest of that list. Doom was a cool thing when I was a kid, Dark Forces made it into something amazing.

 

[Ralemont]

Glad to see the best BioShock getting recognition.

 

[SSReborn]

PC ONLY LIST, before anyone starts wondering why Goldeneye/Halo/ect aren't on the list

Halo is on the list but I get your point.

 

[bathsalts]

Duke 3d? Blood? fuck is this list

 

[Zakalwe]

Halo CE that low, under Alien Isolation too?

Silly.

FEAR should be /much/ higher, too.

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

3 Thief II: The Metal Age
4 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

kinda surprised to see these two so high up there... without mods stalker was a very solid shooter with lots of potential untouched in my opinion.

Thief II is probably still the best stealth game ever made, although calling it an FPS is kinda odd...

 

[bigkrev]

Halo is on the list but I get your point.

Halo 1 got a PC port

 

[ObiDin]

Halo CE is way too low.

This, but it is a PC list. Still, I put more hours into Halo:CE on PC than I did on console.

 

[Tenebrous]

No Unreal Tournament (99)? Fucking lol.

So much shit on that list doesn't come close to UT99.

 

[Sulla1980]

Glad to see the best BioShock getting recognition.

Yup.I am not sure that 2 is the best choice, but it is a pretty great game.I am torn

 

[overcast]

Whoa, The Darkness 2 is good? Thought I heard middling things about it.

 

[Bl@de]

Wow. I totally agree with the top 10. except planetside 2. i never played it

 

[GitarooMan]

Maybe I should finally try out Planetside 2.

 

[Plinko]

PC ONLY LIST, before anyone starts wondering why Goldeneye/Halo/ect aren't on the list

Really curious to see Bioshock 2 so high on the list

I was about to type a crazy rant for why Perfect Dark wasn't on there and then had the thought it might be PC only.

 

[nan0]

Far Cry 2 and 3, but not the first? Solid list otherwise. And Mirror's Edge is hardly a shooter.

 

[5taquitos]

Far Cry 2? Ive been having the game forever but always left it in wrapper because of Gaf hatred for it. Lol. You mean I should actually play it?

Far Cry 2 is flawed but great, and an interesting take on Open-World before Ubisoft went down the route of Tower Climbing sims.

There's still a lot wrong with it, but it's definitely unique feeling.

 

[Moobabe]

Bad company 2 and no battlefield 2 to be found??? Lol.

BC2 I can understand, but no BF2 does seem odd - unless they felt there was only room for one of them.

 

[ezekial45]

Very pleased to see that Wolfenstein TNO is in the top 20. That game totally surprised me. And Alien Isolation was an incredible horror title.

It was a good year for FPS titles last year.

 

[Sunnington]

The fuck? Counter-Strike isn't number 1 and only appears once on the list. What bs is this?

 

[Z..]

What a horrible, horrible list.

Why the hell would you choose the worst Far Cry as the best one? Oo

 

[ashecitism]

I mean it's the very first sentence in the OP that it's a PC site.

Also, isn't Deus Ex an FPS? I know it has RPG elements, but it's an FPS to me and should be high up in this list...

It's in the postscript

“Deus Ex should be number 1.” You’re probably right, but you’re also wrong.

they did a 6 parter about it recently

 

[Qassim]

Putting CSGO and not CS on that list is.. questionable. I'm a huge fan of CSGO, I have about 1400+ hours on it, but I think the original CS deserves at the very least a placing (and I'd put it above GO).

CSGO was an iteration, it was an iteration that revived the series and has possibly taken it to even new heights with a thriving esports scene and a huge and consistent player base, but CS was the pioneer.

 

[Steel]

Am I the only one who thinks Doom doesn't hold up? I mean it was good at the time, but I'm not seeing how someone can think it's the top FPS ever made.

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

The fuck? Counter-Strike isn't number 1 and only appears once on the list. What bs is this?

I'm not even the biggest CS fan and it should easily be #1 on the list.

Also they put fucking rainbow six Vegas 2 and not raven shield??? The fuck?? And no ghost recon games?? Jesus Christ almighty.

 

[Markitron]

Halo CE that low, under Alien Isolation too?

Silly.

FEAR should be /much/ higher, too.

I think Alien is an infinitely better game than Halo, but I'd agree with you as anyone that played it would know it's not a shooter.

Am I the only one who thinks Doom doesn't hold up? I mean it was good at the time, but I'm not seeing how someone can think it's the top FPS ever made.

Doom is a lot like Goldeneye imo. Both incredibly important games in the genre, both borderline unplayable nowadays.

 

[Jb]

BIoshock 2 is stupidly high. It had slightly better gunplay than 1 and inferior everything else.

 

[Red Hood]

Thief isn't a shooter? And even though I don't categorise it as a shooter, where are Deus Ex and DXHR?

 

[Razzorn34]

Wow.... No mention of Tribes 1 and 2, and Tribes Ascend makes the list? Come on... Also, Planetside 2 has no business around the other stuff in the top 10.