Halo 2

You could make a case for any Halo game featuring on this rundown – Halo 3 for its gameplay, Halo 4 for its writing and character development, Halo: Combat Evolved, where it all began. But Halo 2 gets the nod here because it has all those standout elements but additionally its easily the most varied in terms of locations visited, with each locale itself superbly designed. The introduction of Arbiter Thel ‘Vadamee as a playable character not only put new weapons into our hands, but greatly expanded Halo’s lore too, presenting deeper purpose underlining Covenant motivations.

]]> 600361 https://gamingbolt.com/30-best-first-person-shooters-of-all-time-2024-edition Fri, 06 Sep 2024 17:19:23 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=596510 The first-person shooter genre is one that’s persisted for decades. It served as the framework for all kinds of experiences – multiplayer, single-player, and everything in between – while delivering unforgettable stories and gorgeous visuals. Among the hundreds of titles released throughout, select choices remain the very best that the genre has to offer. So without further ado, here are our picks for the 30 best first-person shooters of all time, as of 2024.

Duke Nukem 3D

3D Realms’ Duke Nukem 3D hasn’t aged well when examining its more risque elements. At the time, it stood out for imbuing some character into the first-person shooter genre, courtesy of Duke’s one-liners. The environmental interactions and destruction also felt fresh, to say nothing of bizarre weapons like the Shrink Ray for cutting enemies down to size.

SUPERHOT

What should be a gimmicky concept – time only moving when you do – results in an engaging, clever experience in the first-person shooter space. Superhot isn’t just about scoring headshots, throwing weapons, or swinging katanas to take out scores of enemies – it’s the assessment, the moments between each kill, that make it sing.

Valorant

Mix Counter-Strike: GO’s tactical shooting with characters befitting a hero shooter and you get Valorant, in a nutshell. As slow-paced and odd as it may seem, this is also one of the best tactical shooters, if not competitive multiplayer titles, out there. Despite only being out for a little over four years, Valorant offers tense gameplay that’s hard to put down.

Borderlands 3

Ignore the base game’s story, characters and writing for the sake of your sanity, and the gameplay in Borderlands 3 is a significant step up. From the smoother response and feedback and improved mobility to more varied gun types and deeper build crafting, it’s a strong looter shooter, though nowhere near as timeless as its predecessor.

DOOM 1 + DOOM 2

While fairly recent, DOOM 1 + DOOM 2 collects the best of both titles into one excellent package. Boasting all their additional content, Sigil, and a great new campaign by MachineGames, the release is made even better with in-game mod support, a stellar remixed soundtrack and cross-platform multiplayer deathmatch, with 26 new maps to cause chaos on.

Killzone 2

After the infamous E3 2005 incident, Guerrilla Games’ first-person shooter had nowhere to go but up, and subsequently knocked it out of the park. The gorgeous visuals were a factor, of course, but the well-designed missions, gunplay, intelligent AI, and tight level design made for an incredible experience (even if the ending was underwhelming).

Halo 3 ODST

Though not quite the follow-up that fans expected, especially after Halo 3’s thunderous conclusion, ODST was still a worthy side story. It focused on one of the most compelling units, the Helljumpers, as they infiltrated New Mombasa and engaged in urban warfare with the Covenant. Perhaps its biggest contribution is the introduction of Firefight, a Horde-style variant with difficulty modifiers, a shared lives pool, and multiple sets to overcome.

Bulletstorm

People Can Fly and Epic Games had a pretty simple goal with Bulletstorm – gamifying stylish ways to kill the opposition. The story and characters are ultimately secondary; kicking enemies into environmental hazards, sending them sky high for some skeet shooting, and more for extra points is ultimately what sold the experience. Even if it remains underrated (no thanks to its terrible VR port), Bulletstorm is still a hell-raising good time.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

The Zone remains as haunting as ever in GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, the third title in the series and most compelling yet. Though it has its share of bugs, the sandbox gameplay combined with the atmospheric horror and survival elements make for a harrowing time, whether you’re dealing with Anomalies or the various factions.

Destiny 2

Bungie’s live service shooter has had a long history, one with many ups and downs. Even throughout all of the changes, it remains perhaps the best of its kind. Between excellent campaigns like The Witch Queen and The Final Shape, an unmistakable feel for its weapons, gorgeous art direction, and stellar raids, Destiny 2 is still worth playing.

Unreal Tournament

When Quake 3 Arena was believed to reign supreme, Unreal Tournament appeared out of nowhere and claimed the throne. While the former still held a strong esports presence, the latter was the overall better product, from its map design and visuals to the sheer variety of mode types. Assault alone is an incredible addition to the competitive FPS formula and playing with AI bots actually felt enjoyable, even on the higher difficulties.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Turok may have initially come across as “What if FPS but killing dinosaurs instead of humans?” but surprised many with its exploration and gorgeous visuals on the Nintendo 64. Of course, the combat was no slouch either, as each of the 13 weapons resulted in ample gore. Together, these elements made for an unorthodox but memorable shooter.

Prey (2017)

What could have been with the Prey franchise if Human Head Studios’ sequel wasn’t cancelled? We’ll never know, but in the meantime, Arkane Austin’s 2017 reboot, which embraces a more immersive sim structure and deep space paranoia, is excellent. As Morgan Yu, players must survive in a massive space station overrun with Typhon, but not everything is as it seems. The result is one of the finest first-person titles ever made.

Far Cry 3

Moving away from Far Cry 2’s realistic sandbox, Far Cry 3 went much bigger, returning to the tropical island setting while introducing a compelling new villain. Though the story is far more structured, the open world is rife with quests, enemy camps, wild animals, and much more. To this day, Far Cry 3 remains in a class of its own.

Metro: Last Light

Much as Metro Exodus embraced an open-world-style approach to its large areas, there’s something about Metro: Last Light and its linear narrative. Maybe it’s how well-designed each section felt, whether you were escaping from captivity or slinking through the surface, avoiding contact with its mutants. Perhaps it was the moral dilemmas that Artyom faced. Either way, the series’ brand of survival and fast-paced gunplay is at its peak here.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Classic)

Ignoring the utter cluster that Aspyr’s re-released turned out to be in the online department, the classic Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is still a timeless game. The campaign is enjoyable enough but Galactic Conquest was a game changer of a single-player mode, offering a Risk-like map to fight through and conquer. Multiplayer was still arguably the highlight of it all, especially with 24 maps and modes like Hero Assault.

Medal of Honor (1999)

Developed by Dreamworks Interactive, it was the premiere World War 2 title, immersing players in the conflicts of the time while offering a top-tier presentation. Allied Assault would be more remembered thanks to its recreation of the Battle of Normandy, but Medal of Honor still deserves its flowers.

Left 4 Dead 2

Decried as little more than an expansion pack before launch, Left 4 Dead 2 expanded so much on its predecessor’s already compelling co-op gameplay. New Special Infected, deeper campaigns with more varied objectives, a wider variety of melee weapons and guns, and incredible replay value courtesy of its AI Director were just some of the reasons it stood out. Of course, its modability over the years has also ensured some great laughs.

Resistance 3

As the conclusion to the Resistance trilogy, Insomniac’s Resistance 3 is also its least successful. It’s a shame because, on top of new and old weapons, the atmosphere and dark subject matter added to the stakes, making it feel like humanity’s last desperate attempt to stay alive. While it still needed some polish, the gunplay and overall presentation made for a fitting end to the series.

System Shock (2023)

One of the best first-person titles ever made, System Shock is also far from easy to remake. Nevertheless, Nightdive Studios took a swing, rebuilding the visuals from the ground up while staying true to the far-future cyberpunk aesthetic of the original. Even with the improved UI, overhauled Cyberspace and other changes, it still maintains that sense of dread and terror that defined the original.

GoldenEye 007

Rare was already pretty well-established before GoldenEye 007 and yet, its launch raised the developer’s stock considerably. It isn’t just one of the best video game adaptations of a movie (usually a formula for failure back then), but proof that console shooters could be great. The local multiplayer alone defined many gamers’ lives growing up.

Cyberpunk 2077

After all the updates, revamped perks, and improvements, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from a good first-person shooter to a great one. It’s backed by actual build variety, whether you’re a manic Mantis Blades user, a Netrunner overloading every single enemy, or skilled in a variety of guns. Of course, everything else that makes the game great, from its side quests to its open-world activities, doesn’t hurt either.

Wolfenstein 3D

While not quite the first-ever FPS made, Wolfenstein 3D is what ultimately led to the genre’s rise. It was frantic and fast-paced, with revolutionary visuals and excellent weapons. Though it offered secrets to discover throughout its ten episodes, the simplicity is ultimately what made it such a universal hit.

Quake 2 Remastered

Crafted with Nightdive’s assistance, the recent enhanced edition of Quake 2 packs all the mission packs, Quake 2 64, and a new episode from MachineGames into one package. Then it adds the id Vault, AI opponents in multiplayer, 4K/120 Hz support, and various quality-of-life features, turning one of id’s best shooters ever into a contemporary must-play.

The FINALS

Embark Studios’ THE FINALS is often forgotten when discussing competitive shooters, especially free-to-play options. Nevertheless, it’s a strong package with some unique modes, dynamic combat thanks to full environmental destruction, and extensive strategy, thanks to the unique gadgets. The arena-style combat may not appeal to everyone, but it still makes for some intense PvP sessions.

Black Mesa

If developing a sequel to Half-Life is challenging, remaking the experience, especially as a small team of fans, is an almost Herculean effort. Yet throughout many years of waiting, Black Mesa was finally a reality, delivering everything we loved about the original with gorgeous revamped visuals and entirely new sections like Xen.

DOOM (2016)

Considering how diminished interest had been in the franchise, it’s a miracle that DOOM even released. The fact that it’s this good is just an anomaly. Everything about it, from the visuals and action, particularly the new Glory Kills, is simply fantastic.

Perfect Dark

GoldenEye 007 showcased Rare’s surprising expertise for incredible first-person shooters and Perfect Dark only solidified it. With a tighter narrative focus and strong characterization (as seen with the iconic Joanna Dark), it weaved stealth, tense gunplay, memorable set pieces, and stellar levels into one cohesive package. The fact that it delivered so much despite the Nintendo 64 nearing the end of its lifespan is an achievement unto itself.

Titanfall 2

While it’s a shame that the original didn’t become all that popular, Titanfall 2’s fate is even more tragic given the sheer quality involved. The multiplayer is much more involved with its variety of Titans, weapon types and abilities (even if some maps could be hit or miss). Furthermore, the campaign is simply an all-timer with its level design, boss fights, and stories, making it worth the price of admission alone.

Half-Life 2

When you’re in Valve’s shoes and Half-Life is the pinnacle of narrative first-person shooters, there are high expectations. Yet, Half-Life 2 surpasses with relative ease, from the presentation and world-building to the story-telling and characters. Each area is memorable and unique; the Combine makes for enjoyable foes to fight; and the Gravity Gun is iconic all on its own.

And another thing – visually portraying a weapon’s character is only half the story. Animators must stimulate that most nebulous of concepts too: game feel. How does the player feel holding the weapon? Of course, there’re additional aspects at play: the weapon’s appearance, its fire rate and sound design, for instance. These aspects exist in harmony with weapon reload animations creating a tactile sensation for the player. If a firearm’s reload animation doesn’t match the rest of its design elements, then game feel is lost, and player satisfaction gone.

So, without further ado, here are fifteen totally awesome reload animations, ranging from rapid in-and-outs for breakneck gunplay, to stately, tactical, detailed reloads, with unnecessarily inefficient but visually epic flamboyance stuffed in-between.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Wearing its retro-future 80s action clichés firmly on its sleeve is Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Playing as Cyber Commando Sergeant Rex Colt, himself a tongue-in-cheek homage to Terminator-esque half-man half-machines, gave animators plenty of wiggle room for flashiness. There’re excessive exaggerations in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon’s reload animation; movements are wide and freewheeling, shotguns unnecessarily spin mid-air before cartridges are coin flipped down the barrel in carefree volition, providing both visual ostentation and information for players of Sergeant Colt’s robotic strength and precision. In short, they’re totally unrealistic, eye-popping attention-grabbers.

The Carcano – Sniper Elite 4

Sniper Elite 4 – as evident from the title itself, has a great assortment of sniper rifles that players can utilize in the game’s many missions. The Carcano however, stands out from the rest particularly due to its ability to deal some crazy amounts of damage along with a decent magazine size, which makes it a great choice for those wanting more stopping power. It can be hard to master though, particularly because of its high recoil – but those who do will undoubtedly have a great time sniping heads from afar.

Firewatch

This Campo Santo-developed first-person adventure was released in 2016 and sees players taking the role of a man named Henry who is a fire lookout at a national forest. The game has some great art direction which is also minimalist, alongside quality voice-acting. Firewatch does not have much in the name of action, but the beauty of nature and its environments remains constant throughout. Players will also have to choose dialogues from an options tree, which can significantly impact your relationship with other characters.

People Can Fly had made a name for themselves with the critical darling Painkiller, while they had also worked quite extensively with Epic Games over the years, not only for the PC port of the first Gears of War, but also providing development support for its two sequels. Their partnership made a lot of sense, and when the new game the two of them would be releasing together was revealed, the strength of that partnership was reaffirmed.

Called Bulletstorm, this new IP was a brand new first person shooter that somehow managed to stand out in a market that was, at the time, drowning in first person shooters looking to cash in on the genre’s popularity. Bulletstorm looked unique, stylish, and best of all, a whole lot of fun, and with the names of both People Can Fly and Epic Games attached to it, it inspired a lot of confidence in people looking forward to it.

The final product definitely did not disappoint. Praised for its dark humour, its bombastic action, and its unique approach to brutal and violent combat, Bulletstorm immediately had the potential to be something special. To this day, fans of the game look back on it fondly. But with nearly a decade having passed since its launch, we still haven’t seen a Bulletstorm 2. Why exactly is that? The first game was clearly received very well, and its premise and unique ideas would have benefited hugely from a sequel- so why haven’t wee seen one? Where the hell is Bulletstorm 2?

The answer to that question isn’t exactly a straightforward one, and has kept changing over the last few years. In the months and years immediately following Bulletstorm’s launch, the biggest reason for there not being a sequel was rather simple- the game’s critical success wasn’t reflected in its commercial performance. Both Epic Games and publishers EA deemed the game’s sales to be disappointing, with Epic declaring a few months after its launch that they had failed to turn a profit.

As People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski would later go on to say, the context surrounding the IP had a lot to do with that. As the next game from the people behind Gears of War, the game was expected to sell a lot more than it did, and while in relation to those expectations the game’s sales of nearly 2 million units were deemed a failure, in isolation, that wasn’t exactly the case.

Regardless, that turned out to be a death knell for Bulletstorm, at least at the time. Epic Games and People Can Fly had a sequel planned, and early pre-production on it had kicked off, but after the game’s disappointing sales, Epic – who at the time owned People Can Fly – pulled the studio off Bulletstorm 2 and put them to work on a new project (which turned out to be Gears of War Judgment).

In 2015, however, People Can Fly bought back their independence from Epic Games, and in doing so, also retained the ownership of the Bulletstorm IP, and in the years since then, the future has looked a lot brighter – at least relatively – for the series.

For instance, 2017 saw the release of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, a remaster of the original game that included bonus new content created by People Can Fly. Full Clip Edition received positive reviews at launch, and best of all, also sold rather well, with People Can Fly and publishers Gearbox both deeming it to be a success. While raw sales figures were not made available, People Can Fly considered the remaster to be more commercially successful than the original game. Maybe that was because of the aforementioned context of the situation, but either way, Full Clip Edition proved to People Can Fly that the Bulletstorm IP was one with plenty of potential. The fact that the game’s 2019 Switch release was also commercially successful only went on to reaffirm that belief.

It’s also worth noting that several times over the last few years – especially since they bought back their independence from Epic – People Can Fly have made it clear that they want to continue to invest in Bulletstorm. On more than one occasion, the studio has pointed to the success of the remaster as evidence for the fact that people do want more Bulletstorm. For instance, in a 2018 interview with GamesIndustry, Wojciechowski noted that the future of the property was People Can Fly’s hands, and the success of the remaster meant that they would give serious thought to that fact moving forward, even though they were not, at that time, working on anything new.

A year later, in an interview with Eurogamer, he said in very clear terms that People Can Fly held the property close to their hearts and definitely wanted to work on it in the future. “We are, as you can see [with the remaster and the Switch version], still holding this IP deep in our hearts,” Wojciechowski told me. “We want this IP to have its second life. We’re still not sure what that means but obviously since this is our IP – we own the IP – and the IP is known and has its fans, we would like to do something about it.”

Clearly, Bulletstorm is a property People Can Fly not only keep thinking about, but want to keep investing in, and thankfully, their recent investments with the remaster and the Switch release have paid off. Will that mean that the studio will eventually work on a sequel in the near future? That’s certainly what we’re hoping for. For now, People Can Fly are focused on the upcoming The Outriders, but once that’s been wrapped up, hopefully they’ll move on to a new Bulletstorm game.

Of course, there is the question of how the studio – which is a very different one now from the one that made the first Bulletstorm – will handle a sequel. Most of the creative leads that worked on Bulletstorm are no longer at People Can Fly, and are not working on The Outriders either, so a Bulletstorm 2 would be coming from the same studio, but definitely not the same people. Can they, in spite of that, deliver on the promise and potential of the first game with a sequel? Hopefully they can. At the very least, we would love to see them try.

No One Lives Forever

Zany 1960s spy aesthetic, hilariously clever writing, unique mission objectives and an endearing protagonist. What more could you want? No One Lives Forever was also releasing in a post-Half-Life era where stronger story-telling was valued in first person shooters. Alas, its success wasn’t to be. Despite rave reviews from critics, NOLF would release in November 2000 and only sell 36,501 copies by the end of the year. Even worse is the fact that current-generation players can’t experience it due to muddled IP rights. Nevertheless, whatever the future may hold, Cate Archer will forever be in our hearts.

Changing Mouse Sensitivity

The most obvious thing you’d probably do when loading up an FPS for the first time is changing the mouse sensitivity. Key bindings are also important but achieving that perfect mix of hip-fire and ADS sensitivity which is neither too twitchy nor too slow is important. Of course, you could also just rip off your favorite Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch etc streamer’s sensitivity because the act of choosing is a nightmare. We won’t judge.

Super Shotgun – DOOM (2016)

The Super Shotgun in Doom 1 and 2 was revered for its close range devastation and this carried over beautifully to DOOM (2016). It may not be the BFG 9000 but the Super Shotgun can rip a hole through several smaller enemies at once, besides inflicting heavy damage on bigger demons. It’s the Slayer’s signature weapon and is only getting better in DOOM Eternal with the introduction of a grappling hook.

Borderlands 3 may have been the center piece of their show today, but Gearbox did have other announcements they made during their PAX panel too. One of those was the long awaited Nintendo Switch port of their classic the name of which starts with a “B”. I am obviously talking about Bulletstorm.

Bulletstorm: Duke of Switch Edition will bring the foul-mouthed first person shooter to Nintendo’s platform this Summer, Gearbox announced, which is right in line with some of their teases earlier this month. It’s basically the same thing as Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and PC—meaning a remaster of the original game, all its DLC, and the ability to play as Duke Nukem through the entire game. Bulletstorm is a great fun game, so I’m not actually complaining that it’s coming to the Switch, where it can hopefully sell some more… I just wish we had also gotten Borderlands 2 on Switch…

That’s a whole different matter, though. Bulletstorm will be coming to the Nintendo Switch in early Summer this year, so it shouldn’t be a long wait. We can expect it to run well on the console, since Gearbox expressed surprise at “how well the game runs on the Switch”.