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[Jonneh3003]

I have a soft spot for a lot of first person shooters from this generation, a ton of them seem to follow in the footsteps of Half Life and push the boundaries for what the genre could be. There's also a ton of mediocre ones but I thought it would be fun to share out personal favourites. Three instantly come to mind for me:
1: Halo 2

Halo 2 was huge jump over the original in almost every way. The gunplay feels tighter, the presentation took a huge leap and the online multiplayer defined the Xbox. Whenever I play The Master Chief Collection, Halo 2 is the game I search for. While the campaign isn't as strong as the original the lasting appeal is eons ahead of it. Truly one of the best shooters ever made.

2: Red Faction

I don't tend to hear much about the Red Faction series outside of the PS3/360 games, the first two Red Faction installments were brilliant first person shooters with destructible environments. If you wanted to you could get a rocket launcher and slowly chip your way into a crevice of a wall. The single player is outstanding but to this day it remains one of my favourite multiplayer shooters. Great maps, fantastic weapons and brilliant mechanics that haven't aged a day.

3: Timesplitters 2

The entire Timesplitters trilogy is a wonderful continuation of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark but my favourite has to be the second installment. It's a huge wacky package and is one of the best games to play with a bunch of friends.

 

[Anth0ny]

Metroid Prime

If that doesn't count, Halo CE.

Halo 2 for multiplayer, what a game.

 

[AR15mex]

Time splitters as well.. so many modes, create your own leves, and a lot of characters. Not to mention the weapons they all had a lot of alt modes.

Great game overall!

 

[Caffeine]

007 nightfire!

 

[Baron Von Beans]

Black - it was like a PS3 running on ps2 graphics. The amount of destruction and explosions going off at any time was insane. Would love a remaster in some capacity.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I had a lot of fun with local multiplayer in Halo 2 and Timesplitters 2

 

[Azzawon]

1: Halo 2

/thread

 

[Jonneh3003]

Metroid Prime

If that doesn't count, Halo CE.

Halo 2 for multiplayer, what a game.

I'm not so sure if Metroid Prime does count, Prime 2 enters shooter territory in its multiplayer mode but for the most part its a Metroid game from a first person perspective.

 

[GunBR]

 

[pswii60]

Black - it was like a PS3 running on ps2 graphics. The amount of destruction and explosions going off at any time was insane. Would love a remaster in some capacity.

That reminds me just what incredible wizards Criterion were. Another EA casualty

 

[privitsan02]

007 nightfire!

A much better 007 game than Goldeneye was, that's for sure. I'd suggest Black.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Yep Black is also fantastic. I picked up both it and Killzone a year or two ago and while I found Killzone average I thought Black was outstanding.

 

[Brofield]

Seconding TimeSplitters, which reminds me to check out the TS: Rewind project to see if any new progress has been made. God knows it's excruciating to watch at a snail's pace, but at least it has Crytek UK's blessing.

 

[Jawbreaker]

My vote goes to Metroid Prime, even if it's really a first-person adventure more than a shooter. I think it can skate by.

 

[The Lamonster]

Solid list. As others mentioned, Metroid Prime is another huge one.

Also you mentioned Half-Life...just a reminder that Orange Box with HL2 and Portal came out on Xbox too

edit: just Half-Life 2 standalone, not Orange Box with Portal.

 

[FZW]

Black - it was like a PS3 running on ps2 graphics. The amount of destruction and explosions going off at any time was insane. Would love a remaster in some capacity.

It looked much better on Xbox.

Also, Halo CE is the undisputed champ. Timesplitters 2 in second and Halo 2 in 3rd (the trash campaign really brought it down).

 

[RedAssedApe]

halo 2 for the online.

 

[WITHE1982]

Black - it was like a PS3 running on ps2 graphics. The amount of destruction and explosions going off at any time was insane. Would love a remaster in some capacity.

Was going to be my suggestion. It's staggering what they managed to get out of the hardware. The destructible environments alone were groundbreaking at the time.

It'll be overshadowed by Timesplitters, Halo and Half-Life but I had more fun with Black then any other FPS on PS2.

 

[Bishop89]

timesplitters trilogy is fucking fantastic.
Best FPS series in that generation (on consoles)

 

[Sir Abacus]

Metroid Prime

One and done.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Solid list. As others mentioned, Metroid Prime is another huge one.

Also you mentioned Half-Life...just a reminder that Orange Box with HL2 and Portal came out on Xbox too

I know Half Life 2 was on Xbox but Portal was as well? I only have HL2.

 

[Phatosaurus]

Black.

It was also the best FPS through most of the 7th generation too, in my opinion.

 

[Coxy100]

Awesome OP - fully agree with the choices.

 

[psyfi]

Halo 1 for campaign and 2v2, Halo 2 for 4v4+.

All other games lag far behind those two.

 

[chemicals]

Black - it was like a PS3 running on ps2 graphics. The amount of destruction and explosions going off at any time was insane. Would love a remaster in some capacity.

this guy nailed it. BLACK on the OG Xbox was (is) excellent.

 

[Dynasty]

I'm not so sure if Metroid Prime does count, Prime 2 enters shooter territory in its multiplayer mode but for the most part its a Metroid game from a first person perspective.

Sure it does. FPS stands for First Person Shooter.
Metroid Prime checklist:
First person perspective? - check
Can you shoot? - check

 

[Hanmik]

Solid list. As others mentioned, Metroid Prime is another huge one.

Also you mentioned Half-Life...just a reminder that Orange Box with HL2 and Portal came out on Xbox too

xbox 360 not Xbox..

 

[VRMN]

Killzone 2 has to be one of my favorites. The dark, oppressive atmosphere was thick enough to feel.

Wrong gen. Though the first Killzone was a graphical showpiece, especially on PS2, I can't place it above the Halo games on Xbox. Halo 2 is just so good on the MP side and Halo 1 is still one of my favorite shooter campaigns.

 

[Caffeine]

oh ye i forgot about black that was something else back then.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Sure it does. FPS stands for First Person Shooter.
Metroid Prime checklist:
First person perspective? - check
Can you shoot? - check

I'm not so sure, is Super Metroid a shooter? I personally don't think so but then again the debate for whether Metroid Prime is a FPS has been going on for over a decade now. I think its just a Metroid game (which is its own genre) from a first person spective.

 

[GlamFM]

Black

Halo

Prime

 

[Forerunner]

PS2- Half Life
Xbox- Halo 2
GC- Metroid

 

[Horns]

Halo 1, Halo 2, or Half Life 2

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Halo 1 & 2 and Metroid Prime are the standouts for me. As much as I like the genre I didn't play too many of them from that time.

 

[eFKac]

Black.

Incredible game for the hardware.

 

[Magicpaint]

It looked much better on Xbox.

Also, Halo CE is the undisputed champ. Timesplitters 2 in second and Halo 2 in 3rd (the trash campaign really brought it down).

This post basically.

Also, while they are PC ports, I loved Half Life (PS2) and Half Life 2 (Xbox) .

 

[Jonneh3003]

PS2- Half Life
Xbox- Halo 2
GC- Metroid

Interesting vote for Half Life, the PS2 version had exclusive modes that didn't come to PC including a new co-op campaign, a different death match mode and a few graphical improvements. It also supports USB Mouse and Keyboard.

 

[CoolZombie360]

Enjoyed the timesplitters games. Still can't understand why they haven't wanged out 1080p versions onto the current gen machines with online play. I think they'd do pretty decently.

 

[DarkConfidant]

1. Time Splitters 2, most def.
2. Half Life Decay for PS2. Great port, and better campaign, imo, than the second game.
3. Metroid Prime isn't that good of a shooter, and is still more of an action-adventure game. However, it's amazing and in first person, and though you don't really aim ever at all, you still technically shoot in first person.

Enjoyed the timesplitters games. Still can't understand why they haven't wanged out 1080p versions onto the current gen machines with online play. I think they'd do pretty decently.

Dev was working on it for PS3, and they got shut down.

RIP Time Splitters 2 HD
RIP Battlefront 3

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Black - it was like a PS3 running on ps2 graphics. The amount of destruction and explosions going off at any time was insane. Would love a remaster in some capacity.

Yep, this is what I was coming in to say. I'd love it to get a PS2 on PS4 re-release, but for whatever reason (despite it being a great game) EA just had no love for it at all.

Also, Cold Winter on the PS2 was genuinely great. It was a spy shooter like an off-brand Goldeneye, and it had really good level design and fantastic physics which to this day I haven't really seen bettered. It had lots of varied and interesting weapons which were a lot of fun as there was quite a bit of destruction and you could turn enemies into mincemeat, and it had some depth like large explorable levels and multiple routes to objectives sometimes. It was a really solid game and it's a shame it wasn't a success.

 

[Strickland]

Black.

 

[Jawbreaker]

Wrong gen. Though the first Killzone was a graphical showpiece, especially on PS2, I can't place it above the Halo games on Xbox. Halo 2 is just so good on the MP side and Halo 1 is still one of my favorite shooter campaigns.

Whoops, I read the title totally wrong, haha.

 

[oneida]

Timesplitters and Halo.

Dreamcast?
Quake III Arena

 

[Tizoc]

Does Stranger's Wrath count?

 

[Kill3r7]

Xbox: Halo CE and Halo 2
GC: Metroid
PS2: Black or Time Splitters 2

Honorable mention: The Chronicles of Riddick, Brothers in Arms, Doom 3, Rainbow Six 3,

 

[NH Apache]

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

 

[PantsuJo]

1)Black
2)Black
3)... Black?

Edit: played on Xbox, of course.

 

[Magicpaint]

Does Stranger's Wrath count?

I didn't include it because of the ability to switch to third person, but yeah, it's fantastic and was somewhat overlooked at the time.

 

[KneehighPark]

XIII was one of my favorites. Shame it never got a sequel.

 

[VRMN]

Sure it does. FPS stands for First Person Shooter.
Metroid Prime checklist:
First person perspective? - check
Can you shoot? - check

Let's be fair. Retro and Nintendo started this themselves by inventing the First Person Adventure tag to describe the game. It has first person shooter elements because of how Samus fights, but that game is not about combat in the same way as others listed here as a conscious and marketed design decision.

I still think it counts, but Nintendo going out of its way to shout that Prime is not a FPS is why this is a thing.