a blog by a man with hair.
Published on May 19, 2009 By baldgye In PC Gaming

Ok, so I've been playing FPS's since I was about 5 years old, and some of my oldest memories are of me and my dad playing Doom on a LAN, and completing Doom, Doom 2 and Hexen. I've been a PC gamer much longer than a console gamer, but I still love my PSX, PS2 and PS3... and yes the PS2 is the best console EVER!...
...anyway, I decided to do this top 10, just so I knew how games I've played stacked up against the best.



10. Fallout 3


Fallout 3 is one of best games of last year, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm an MGS fanboy it would have been my GOTY. That said, its not the best action FPS. Instead its a full blown RPG in an FPS shell, and it does this so well that its the most fun I've had in a long, long time. I've played it for almost 100 hours and still have new places to explore, and that’s not counting the DLC.

9. Prey


When this game came out I didn't know what to think. But the game play is super tight, the guns are crazy, and then the physic's. This was the first game I'd played that introduced the idea of portals appearing at random, add to that environments that didn't have a set gravity, where enemies would come from all sides, literally. There are puzzles you have to solve that seem to happen on levels that at one point are the size of a tennis ball, and then next seems as big as a small moon. Add to all that its no compromise gore, and it is a great FPS.

8. Call of Duty 4


This game seems to be hated by a lot of people for being a casual FPS for n00bs. Well I'm pretty sure its because those guys suck. The single player experience is like nothing else I've played in the last few years. And the loading screens are insane... you never leave the action... even when your waiting for the levels to load your getting a fully 3D map of the city you are suppose to be attacking and then smooth as silk will zoom in straight into the 1st person perspective and boom your back in the game. And then there is the multiplayer. The MP really was a revolution. In pretty much every MP game since CoD4 there are XP points for kills shown on screen, a lot even use the same damage 'X' when you land a shot. I have spent a lot of time on the MP levelling up customising my guns setting the diff camo when I unlock it. GOTY for 2007 no doubt.

7. Unreal Tournament


Now this isn't the original, but the whole series of games, as they seem to evolve, and change only slightly in game play. I have no real preference between any of them. I just need the latest copy of UT, because I know its going to be fast paced, crazy non stop action with pretty good a pretty good AI. Now only that each UT brings a whole new level of graphics that are like little else. And I still think that UT3 is one of the best looking games out their... and that’s saying something.


6. Portal


This would be higher if the game was longer. This game is one of the most amazing an unique experiences I've ever had in an FPS. And is the only FPS I've played where I haven’t killed anyone or anything directly for the entirety of the game. Love it.

5. Battlefield 2


The fun I used to have playing this. Me and my brother would play this for hours and hours for days and days for about 2 years since it came out. It was, and still is amazing. Its by far the best FPS MP only game with vehicles I've ever played. Joining a game with 64 other people was like nothing else. Trying to out snipe the other teams top sniper and then trying to find places where you could hide, without getting noticed, so much fun. It also had a levelling up which I really liked, and I think this game could have been in the top 3 if it wasn't for the fact that EA stopped support it, and from the outset it was plagued with untold bugs. But even with all those problems its still one of my top FPS's of all time.


4. Counter Strike Source


When I was at school till about a year ago I played this game every night for about 5 hours. That’s about 4 years I played this game every night. Admin’s of servers would kick me from there server because they though I was cheating. I used to be able to get headshots and I would only be using my default pistol. I played this game an unhealthy amount. And when my friend set up a dedicated server for it, it only got worse. Then we would endlessly play maps (just the two of us) trying to find secrets, and playing around with the hundreds of mod’s that where out their. I used to play the surf maps, maps where you had to climb an insane number of randomly shaped boxes to get to the top so you could get a gun and kill the other people getting up. There are zombie mod’s that inspired Valves latest game. The way this game is designed is almost perfect in its simplicity, and then its wrapped up in the ever evolving steam and its even better.

3. Half Life 2


With this I'm counting in all its add-on packs. This game does what FPS's should do, and does them perfectly. Open world? No thanks. A super tight liner game that leads you through this incredible new world? Yes please. A super insane high res engine? No thanks. An engine so robust and well designed that it looks pretty incredible on high end rigs and looks good and plays just the same on crappy old rigs? Yes please. Not only that but the physic's in the game are second to non. The gravity gun has pretty much changed FPS games for ever. The fact that you can pick up nearly any item and throw it or drop it brings so much more to the FPS genre. Moving objects to act as a shield, stacking u boxes to get into secret area's. This game is the highest rated on meta critic for the PC for a reason.

2. Quake 2


This game is very close to perfect for me. Using the Doom logic of shoot everything that moves or looks like its going to move was what id did best, and this is one of the best examples of it, EVER. Not only that, but it has a surprisingly good story for a run and gun, although the story definitely plays second fiddle. The graphics for the time where insane. But the most important thing it brought to FPS's was the use of the mouse and keyboard. Before Q2 games used a weird combination of they keyboard for looking around and the mouse for movement. In Q2 you use the mouse to look around your environment, and the keyboard to move around. Now I'm not sure if it was the first game to implement this system, but it was defiantly the first game that did this that I ever played. It also had an incredible soundtrack that I still have and listen to, mostly done by Sonic Mayhem it was awesome having it blasting out as you shot the s*** into anything and everything. It was called The Best Game Ever by PC Gamer, and went on to sell over one million copies, it was also the most popular online game for all of 1998. This game defines the FPS genre. The mod’s and add-on packs that came out later further added more and more game play to it. Quick start was the one I played the most, and this added bots and a whole bunch of MP features to it, making it a fully featured game, and my second FPS of all time.

1. Doom 2


This game is perfect. Everything it does, it does perfectly. This is one of the first games I've ever played and one of the hardest. I used to play with my Dad at his office over the LAN that he had gotten the bosses to set up so he could play Doom 2 over it with everyone on his floor. I recently bought it on Steam as my computer doesn’t have a floppy drive and I couldn't be bothered with dos-box. And I could still remember every level, where all the secrets are and it was still fun to play. The fact that a game from 1994 is still as much fun as any modern FPS shows that this is something very, very special. Not only that but its still very much a challenge, the last boss of Doom 2 is probably one of the hardest end bosses I've ever played. Most people would rate Doom over Doom 2, but for me Doom 2 is number one due to a mixture of fond memories and insane game play. I can only end this one way, IDKFA and IDDQD.


Comments (Page 2)
3 Pages1 2 3 
on May 21, 2009

And no one mentions Alien vs Predator?

Playing as the marine is probably the best FPS experience ever.

 

on May 22, 2009

baldgye

/\
 

it was aout bioshock!

but I didn't mention bioshock?1!?!?

on May 22, 2009

1. System Shock

2. Team Fortress Classic

3. CounterStrike

4. System Shock 2

5. Deus Ex

6. Half Life

7. Doom

8. Left4Dead

9. Aliens vs. Predator

10. Dark Forces II : Jedi Knight

 

I also think if GSC can develop one of the future Stalker games on the CryEngine that could potentially be a beast of a game, to challenge the likes of SS and DeusEx.

on May 22, 2009

TFL BigBANGtheory
1. System Shock

2. Team Fortress Classic

3. CounterStrike

4. System Shock 2

5. Deus Ex

6. Half Life

7. Doom

8. Left4Dead

9. Aliens vs. Predator

10. Dark Forces II : Jedi Knight

 

I also think if GSC can develop one of the future Stalker games on the CryEngine that could potentially be a beast of a game, to challenge the likes of SS and DeusEx.

 

Why the CryEngine? STALKER has an awesome looking 3D engine of its own, albeit a bit heavy on the system, but afaik so is the cryengine. STALKER CS looks awesome with DX10 and they've only just begun! There is a third STALKER game on the way btw, based on version 1.6 of their engine (CS was 1.5)

on May 22, 2009

 

I have the original Unreal Tournament occupying the top slot for me.  That game was amazing.  Of course--the real game (as with Sins of a Solar Empire) is online multiplayer against human opponents and not silly bots or feckless AI, so if you only played it in single player, you missed out on a huge amount of fun.

The original Unreal Tournament, released in 1999, helped to revolutionize gaming and helped usher in the era of online multiplayer.  The game play was, for all intents and purposes, perfect.  Over 10,000 custom, user-made maps and mods were released, hundreds of clans were formed and competed on ladders and in leagues, and in its heyday you could find thousands of people playing it online 24/7.  Even today, as the game approaches the 10th anniversary of its release, people still greedily play 5v5 capture-the-flag PUG matches using voice comm.  UT 2004 was also very good but in its own way; the Onslaught game is great fun.

on May 22, 2009

A top 10 is really limiting, I had to make some really hard choices here.

 

10. Unreal (1998)

9. Half-Life (1998)

8. Medal of Honor Allied Assault (2002)

7. Star Trek Voyager Elite Force (2000)

6. Star Wars Jedi Knight (1997)

5. Far Cry (2004)

4. Aliens vs. Predator (1999)

3. Dark Messiah (2006)

2. Aliens vs. Predator 2 (2001)

1. No One Lives Forever (2000)

on May 22, 2009

Why the CryEngine? STALKER has an awesome looking 3D engine of its own, albeit a bit heavy on the system, but afaik so is the cryengine. STALKER CS looks awesome with DX10 and they've only just begun! There is a third STALKER game on the way btw, based on version 1.6 of their engine (CS was 1.5)

The main reason Clear Sky looks so good is cos GSC put a lot of time and effort into the assets, they have complex, detailed (dangerous word on these forums), varied and interesting structures. These could be imported into the CryEngine...

CryEngine is sooo much better at handling physics in particular motion, some of the Xray engine motion looks like something out of Quake ffs sure it makes nice screenshots but there is no comparison really when it comes to realtime rendering. GSC should stop screwing about with their buggy engine and spend their time building up a story, gameplay and assets of one of the best scenario's ever developed for games on one of if not the best fps game engines.

Yeah Call of Pripyat is based on Xray 1.6, unless they sort out the physics and animation of characters their game is held back by their own technology. Remember Deus Ex was built on top of Unreal and that was one seriously smart descision, Bioshock is based on UT3 as well... If you have a good idea a good game focus on that

on May 22, 2009

Best PC FPS of all time:  Quake 2 - Perfect maps, bots, skins for it's time. No one played PC games when I moved into one of my college houses.  By the time I graduated, every room had at least 1 PC on my lan for Quake 2 and Red Alert 1.

Best Console FPS of all time: Goldeneye 007 - Very well done for it's time.  Still remember people yelling "Dont' look at my corner of the screen!"

on May 22, 2009

TFL BigBANGtheory

Why the CryEngine? STALKER has an awesome looking 3D engine of its own, albeit a bit heavy on the system, but afaik so is the cryengine. STALKER CS looks awesome with DX10 and they've only just begun! There is a third STALKER game on the way btw, based on version 1.6 of their engine (CS was 1.5)


The main reason Clear Sky looks so good is cos GSC put a lot of time and effort into the assets, they have complex, detailed (dangerous word on these forums), varied and interesting structures. These could be imported into the CryEngine...

CryEngine is sooo much better at handling physics in particular motion, some of the Xray engine motion looks like something out of Quake ffs sure it makes nice screenshots but there is no comparison really when it comes to realtime rendering. GSC should stop screwing about with their buggy engine and spend their time building up a story, gameplay and assets of one of the best scenario's ever developed for games on one of if not the best fps game engines.

Yeah Call of Pripyat is based on Xray 1.6, unless they sort out the physics and animation of characters their game is held back by their own technology. Remember Deus Ex was built on top of Unreal and that was one seriously smart descision, Bioshock is based on UT3 as well... If you have a good idea a good game focus on that

Well I haven't played Crysis yet, so I'll have to take your word for it. Physics are not that important in the game and I agree animations look pretty standard  But the graphics the engine produces totally create the atmosphere you'd want in this game. And that is for me one of the biggest reasons to like the game. Once again I don't know how the CryEngine performes in real time. Xray is not that bad imo, and graphics are awesome (but heavy on system). The engine is not buggy anymore (it was for a LONG time with shadows of chernobyl though).

on May 22, 2009

Oh and I forgot, also:

 

No One Lives Forever (mentioned before), and

 

XIII, cell shading is so totally awesome in this game. And I loved the cartoony effects.

on May 23, 2009

Crysis has two major faults:

1. Once you have gotten over just how amazing the game looks you get used to the environment i.e. it gets a bit samey.

2. Although you can explore a wide area railed in by map design there really isn't much incentive to do so.

Neither of these are a weakness of the game CryEngine IMHO

ClearSky on the other hand has vast expanses of varied terrain and structure which rewards players exploring with a treasure hunt system for artifacts which are genuinely useful or valuable to your character.

However what ClearSky doesn't do well:

1. Water effects and terrain

2. Forrests

3. Grasses and bushes up close

4. Character movement/animation

5. Character detail

6. Weapon effects

7. Sound effects (not the music that is pretty good)

These are all game engine attributes, about the only thing I can think of where Xray does a truely outstanding job is its atmospheric lighting and shadows, its just not what GSC are good at. So if they focus their efforts on the game using a superior game engine thats got to be a recipe for success.

on May 23, 2009

TFL BigBANGtheory
These are all game engine attributes, about the only thing I can think of where Xray does a truely outstanding job is its atmospheric lighting and shadows, its just not what GSC are good at. So if they focus their efforts on the game using a superior game engine thats got to be a recipe for success.

Getting kinda offtopic, but I do agree. I once read an article about this, with some interesting info about developing your own engine or not. The end conclusion was that developing your own engine could be up to three times cheaper than buying one (remember, you can sell your own engine to others) but the issue was that you'd actually had to have the people with the knowledge to do so. Quite an intresting article, though it was a bit old so it might now apply to moders games anymore. TBH I wish more companies would develope a game engine and stick to the engine only! So do not make games, just make your engine better and better (preverably more scalable too). That way you'd have a great engine, and by selling it to as many game developers as possible they would be able to get the price down, making it available for lots of games. They can in turn focus on the looks and richness of the game itself. Exactly what for instance HAVOC did with physics.

on May 23, 2009

In no particular order:

1. F.E.A.R. part 1

2. Bioshock

3. Unreal Tournament (series as a whole)

4. Thief 2

5. Half Life 2

6. Mass Effect

7. Serious Sam 2

8. Clive Barker's Undying

9. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

10. Deus Ex

on May 23, 2009

I agree with everything already posted.  I`d like to add Doom 3.  This game create`s atmosphere and tension like no other.  I still think Half Life 2 is the best game of any genre ever made.

on May 23, 2009

NickJames
I agree with everything already posted.  I`d like to add Doom 3.  This game create`s atmosphere and tension like no other.  I still think Half Life 2 is the best game of any genre ever made.

If you wanna talk about atmosphere, the original Aliens vs. Predator by Rebellion was the most atmospheric shooter ever in my book. Walking down those dark corridors with the motion tracker, trying to stay alive, was actually frightening.

3 Pages1 2 3