The FPS or First-Person Shooter genre has a long and storied history. Maze War, an FPS game developed in 1973 by high-school students Steve Colley, Howard Palmer, and Greg Thompson, is widely cited as the “first FPS game”, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that things really started to kick off.
There have been some monumental games, including a whole ream of titles from Valve which dominated for almost 20 years. FromCall of Duty 4toTeam Fortress 2, here are some classic FPS games that totally changed the genre.
Call of Duty 4was my first proper FPS game, although I’d previously played Quake and Counter Strike. COD 4 was where a life-long obsession began, however, as well as a fledging career as a teenage competitive gamer.
Call of Duty 4 introduced some key mechanics to the modern shooter that we take for granted now, like experience-based leveling, kill streaks, and the ability to customize your loadouts. All this seems pretty run-of-the-mill these days, but at the time it was like nothing else on the market.
Counter-Strikeis just iconic. What began as a mod for Half Life would become one of the most famous FPS games ever made, maintaining a huge playerbase for approaching two decades now, as well as one of the most important esports scenes currently still alive and thriving.
Counter-Strike revolutionized competitive shooters, with its round-by-round gamemode where every life matters and the unique economy system bringing unparalleled jeopardy to the format. It also brought “surfing” to the world, and to be honest, I spent more time mastering sliding along virtual ramps in dedicated surfing servers than I did shooting people.
You’ll start to notice a trend of Valve games coming up, and right at the peak isHalf-Life- a game that redefined the potential of narrative FPS games, introduced us to complex physics-based systems, and created a rudimentary form of immersive simulation, the sort of game that allows you to experiment and express yourself via gameplay.
While I’m not sure if we’ll ever get Half-Life 3 (maybe, just maybe), this Valve classic definitely goes down as one of the most influential FPS games of all time.
It’s quite difficult not towrite at least 1,000 words on why Left 4 Dead was such a brilliant FPS game. This was one of the first truly co-op shooters I ever played, and the memories I have of my friends screaming at the top of their lungs while being pounded into the ground by a Tank are stamped firmly in the deepest recesses of my brain.
Its smart enemy design, AI director innovation (the game literally changed and adapted to you, the player, as you progressed), and specialized zombie enemies, are now all a staple of modern co-op games, but at the time it was completely groundbreaking.
7Quake (1996) id Software
My early experience of Quake was playing the game as a very young child and getting absolutely destroyed by my mate’s older brother. We were sitting on the floor eating prawn crackers. Quake basically paved the way for modern shooters, introducing 3D graphics and the ability to look in multiple directions - previously we’d had Doom (genre-defining in its own right), but this was different gravy.
It was also one of the first shooters to go properly multiplayer, and I remember playing with some internet friends and thinking this is utterly bananas. It was difficult to comprehend as a kid, but looking back, it was a foundational moment for the genre.
This game was released before I was born, and I wouldn’t play it until many years later - like, a lot, lot later, because I’ve always been low-key terrified of the Wolfenstein games. Wolfenstein 3D is widely considered to be one of the original greats, the grandpappy of FPS games.
It was violent, had innovative 3D graphics, and revolutionized what an FPS game could be: ridiculously fast, chaotic, and bloody.
5Team Fortress Classic (1999) and Team Fortress 2 (2007) Valve
Double-bill here with both Team Fortress games because it seemed remiss to leave either of them out. The original Team Fortress was a mod based on id Software’s Quake, but later became its own standalone game, and even later, a fully-fledged sequel in Team Fortress 2.
At the time, it was pretty revolutionary because of its focus on team cooperation and objective-based gameplay - whereas Quake was all about kills, in TF you had to work together to win. Its unique class system - where each class had its own strengths and weaknesses - was also one of a kind back then.
System Shock - which I only played a few years ago - had to end up on this list. It transformed FPS gameplay and added in multiple layers of depth, from immersive sim elements to RPG elements like character upgrades and inventory management. It provided the foundation for future games like Half-Life and the classic Deus Ex.
In 1994, System Shock completely levelled-up the very concept of UI - you could even customize your HUD, which is a feature that some modern shooters don’t even offer you.
I went back and forth on whether to include Metroid Prime here, because really this is a first-person adventure game rather than an FPS, but you do indeed shoot stuff, even if you spend just as much time solving puzzles and exploring non-linear levels.
It took the classic formula of the 2D Metroid and moved it into 3D, which was completely revolutionary at the time. I remember playing it for the first time as a very young kid and thinking, “What the hell is this?”
I’ve had to save the best until last. The Battlefield series make up most of my favorite FPS games, and Battlefield 1942 was the very first to be released - and the first one I ever played. 64 players on a server way back in 2002 was just mind-blowing. I couldn’t believe the intensity of the battles and the sheer scale of it all.
The foundation of class-based gameplay and objective gamemodes complemented what was to become the foundation of one of the longest-running FPS series of all time, and a massive inspiration to the games that followed it.
