First-person shooters are relatively new when it comes to video game genres compared to ones that started in arcades, like beat ‘em ups. Doom and Wolfenstein 3D led the way in the 90s, and now decades later, there is a cavalcade of them ripe for the picking.
Focusing on triple-A games made by big studios, there is something for everyone out there. Borderlands 2 is a great RPG shooter, while Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare advanced the more grounded efforts of war. What other games are worth highlighting and are must-play games for the genre? These will be ranked based on quality, replay value, and if they hold up.
Perfect Dark
A Conspiracy-Filled Thriller
Perfect Dark was everything Rare did with the James Bond license in GoldenEye 007, but better. Thanks to it being an original idea, the developer could get a bit more wild with its story involving big corporations, conspiracies, and aliens. As weird as the campaign got, it remained grounded thanks to special agent Joanna Dark and her skill set.
Whether players were just gunning down enemies or sneaking through compounds, every level had something new to offer. The gameplay may not be as sharp as it used to be on the N64, but shooter fans would still dig it.
Timesplitters 2
Time Crisis
Timesplitters 2 has an excellent campaign that goes through several iconic periods in history. To stop an alien invasion, players will have to go through different eras looking for anomalies to prevent a universal disaster. From shooting soldiers and zombies in a frigid base in 1990s Siberia to gunning down mobsters in 1930s Chicago, each level brought a new surprise.
Like Perfect Dark, the controls in Timesplitters 2 may not be as innovative as they once used to be, but it is an example where everything else is so well executed that players will forgive some outdated design choices and still call it a masterpiece.
Crysis
Jungle To Jungle
“Will it run Crysis?” That became a question that a lot of PC players asked in the 2000s to gauge whether or not a PC was running at full capacity because Crysis was a marvel for years. It looked as good as it played with amazing graphics, a steady framerate, and sharp shooting across open levels set in brightly lit jungle landscapes.
Players are armed with a vast arsenal of weapons, a power suit with several features such as invisibility, and there are vehicles to hijack. It can be one heck of a power fantasy for anyone looking to feel like a superhero in a shooter.
Battlefield 1
An Arabian Night
Battlefield 1 was a surprise hit because it wasn’t playing with modern war, which was more attractive in the gaming space at the time, and it wasn’t even about World War 2. Somehow, DICE made a compelling World War 1 game across different theaters of war, and each one was compelling, from riding horses through bombed-out towns to driving tanks through the trenches.
The campaign had great set pieces, but multiplayer was excellent too, making it one of the best-balanced Battlefield games ever made. While some fans may prefer the flashier modern or future settings, Battlefield 1 fans prefer the more limited, down approach to combat, which made things more visceral.
Borderlands 2
A Handsome RPG
There are a lot of great Borderlands games, and some have better RPG features than Borderlands 2. However, this first sequel cannot be topped because it has the best story of the pack, thanks to its charismatic villain: Handsome Jack. He constantly chided players along, making them hate him more and more as the campaign went along.
Not only that, but Borderlands 2 found the perfect balance in weaponry, characters, and surpassed the original while not trying to do too much to feel bloated, and the first-person shooting remained solid and addictive.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
