PCGamer's The best shooters of all time

[FordGT90Concept]

How is Call of Duty an Allied Assault clone?

Play them both. I did, and the entire time I played COD, all I could think about is how much it was like MOH. Sure, Call of Duty did some things a little different but as far as being a "shooter" goes, Call of Duty didn't bring anything new to the table Medal of Honor hadn't already explored. Call of Duty 2 did.

It's made by the same people, first off.

Medal of Honor was originally made by DreamWorks Interactive (1999-2002), Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002) was made by 2015, Inc., and Call of Duty (2003) was made by Infinity Ward. No connection.

What is BioShock Infinite a clone of?

BioShock was shitty as far as shooters go (what this topic is about). It is predominantly story driven, not mechanics driven.

What is TF2 a clone of?

Short answer: Team Fortress
Long answer: Quake multiplayer with the infusion of RPG-based classes.

What year are you living in?

The same as you: 2013.

We can't just name every game that did an element first and demand that it be on a best of list. Are you going to try to say someone can entirely ignore Sleeping Dogs simply because GTAIII happened first, and therefore is "better?" That's not what an entertainment medium is about.

It needs to have advanced something in the shooter genre. Sleeping Dogs did not.

 

[AngryMerchant]

Medal of Honor was originally made by DreamWorks Interactive (1999-2002), Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002) was made by 2015, Inc., and Call of Duty (2003) was made by Infinity Ward. No connection.

Numerous (supposedly 22) members of Infinity Ward, including both founding members, branched off from 2015. This is pretty common knowledge, and far more than "No connection."

BioShock was shitty as far as shooters go (what this topic is about). It is predominantly story driven, not mechanics driven.

BioShock and BioShock Infinite are not the same game.

Short answer: Team Fortress
Long answer: Quake multiplayer with the infusion of RPG-based classes.

Except the gameplay of TF2 is fundamentally different from TF. The classes all control differently, have different roles, and different maps with entirely different mechanics. So you can completely re-engineer and rebalance a game, but it can be ignored for no reason other than that it is based on another game that came before it?

It needs to have advanced something in the shooter genre. Sleeping Dogs did not.

Why? Innovation isn't an assurance of quality. Doom is basically the same game as Wolf 3D, except it's vastly superior. Does that mean you should only play Wolfenstein, for literally no reason other than it came first? You place more emphasis on influence than quality, and disregard incremental refinements as if they mean nothing. Genres don't advance purely by leaps. There's more going on than a sudden lightbulb, and suddenly we have Quake instead of Doom, then MOHAA instead of Quake, and so on, and everything in between is meaningless. That's simply not true, and anyone who only plays the most influential games of each genre would be incredibly uninformed.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I'm not doing this. PCGamer published a terrible list. FIN

 

[NinkobEi]

F.E.A.R. 15 places behind Planetside 2 is a disgrace. Those two need to be swapped.

 

[AlwaysHope]

It's a list.. Made up by people like you and me. It's subjective.

Well said! and that's why discussions like this are futile and endless, like the old saying - one mans meat is another mans poison.

 

[Frick]

I'm not doing this. PCGamer published a terrible list. FIN

YOU are a terrible list.

 

[Atomic77]

Yeah nice list but im surprised nobody mentioned the PC version of Halo or COD modernwarefar e2. both were and are pretty cool titles.

 

[AsRock]

Yeah nice list but im surprised nobody mentioned the PC version of Halo or COD modernwarefar e2. both were and are pretty cool titles.

Because they suck.. But i guess this all so depends on wheen you started playing games and what kind of FPS games you like as for me OFP or any other VBS based games, Ghost Recon and Deus ex own all those games imo.

All 3 of those games you are on about are disposable games too which is happening more these days sadly.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

A subjective list, with no qualifications and no criteria other than the author's opinion. This is baiting for trolls on the internet, to increase page views, 101.

Max Payne 3 is my least favorite of the trilogy. Put down the bottle, put on a smile, and make me remember why I put up with that BS running on a blood trail in the dark section.

Serious Sam should be there. 1 was great, 2 was basically an expansion pack for 1, and 3 managed to be fun and provide anti-piracy laughs.

Time Splitters didn't make the cut? It lacked polish, but the story more than made up for it.


I don't think I'll be caring about any lists from PCgamer again. You've got to love how editorials tend to do that.

 

[AsRock]

A subjective list, with no qualifications and no criteria other than the author's opinion. This is baiting for trolls on the internet, to increase page views, 101.

Max Payne 3 is my least favorite of the trilogy. Put down the bottle, put on a smile, and make me remember why I put up with that BS running on a blood trail in the dark section.

Serious Sam should be there. 1 was great, 2 was basically an expansion pack for 1, and 3 managed to be fun and provide anti-piracy laughs.

Time Splitters didn't make the cut? It lacked polish, but the story more than made up for it.


I don't think I'll be caring about any lists from PCgamer again. You've got to love how editorials tend to do that.

OOh PC Gamer they make my blood boil more often than not they never been that good with reviews.. Hate to think how many people have took their reviews to heart to find the total opposite of what they said or so many other details they forget to bring up..

 

[Mindweaver]

I can't believe they did not have TF Classic on this list... No Quake 1?, Quake 2?, Half-Life?, Unreal?, Prey?, L4d? I played more of L4d then I did L4d 2... I didn't even like L4d2 until they added all the maps and characters from L4d.. This is a bullshit list to get a reaction for the community... They got me.. lol

 

[d1nky]

FEAR 3 sucks arse!

all the rest are pretty damn good, then ya get to 3 and its like an arcade feel and really poor gameplay.

 

[Easy Rhino]

The best shooters are the ones that moved the field goal.

this is absolutely true. the best games are the ones that change everything!

 

[Jaffakeik]

Best shooter I played was Doom 2

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

I am gonna lay it out there.... I hated TF2 with a passion. TFC was better IMO

I didn't hate it and actually had a pretty good time with it from release to like 9 months in. Would probably have never gotten so into it were it released as the "game" it is today. At the time that game actually got me back into online shooters because I was drinking too much and as a result generally really sucked at anything fast-paced. But it was simpler and more casual and thus fun than other shooters for me, at first. I don't even recognize it anymore, though.

Yeah this list is pretty whacked; opinion or not. Forget Tribes: Ascend (though a good game) but Tribes 1 (maybe even 2) hell yes. Many other glaring omissions as already pointed out.

 

[lyndonguitar]

Team Fortress 2 was great, the community, events, market, economy, the metagaming but I don't think it tops Half Life 2 in the list. I mean Half-Life franchise on its own is not that great but it's effect on gaming are huge. It popularized modding, and proof the modding can take you far(Counter Strike devs). It popularized competitive FPS and even competitive gaming.(e-sports)

Counter-Strike should be higher(and really? L4D2 was higher than CS???) If you will include L4D2 and CS:GO in that list might as well include Half Life 1.

Battlefield 3 should be a bit Higher.

I don't care how badly received the whole Call of Duty series is now, there's should be at least one COD game in that list. probably COD2 or COD4:MW

Star Wars Battlefront!! Don't forget Star Wars!!!!

Rainbow Six please... maybe Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield or Vegas 2 should be in there

Planetside 2, Rising Storm and Tribes: Ascend.... Why!?!? they should be lower or gone, it's too early to put them there.

I don't even see the reason why did they put Max Payne 3 in there. I mean, the gameplay, story and graphics is good, but imo the first two games were better. As soon as I finished MP3 I already forgot all about it lol, I haven't played the Multiplayer though.

My list.

1. Half-Life - sophisticated storytelling at the time and popularized modding
2. Counter-Strike - popularized competitive gaming and e-sports
3. Quake III - fast-paced-everything-explodes-inyourface online deathmatch multiplayer
4. Half-Life 2 - similar to HL1, and it uses the greatest game engine ever made.
5. Battlefield 3 - proof that you can have the Best Graphics on the largest multiplayer games
6. Star Wars Battlefront II - Star Wars + Battlefield, should I say more?
7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - took online console gaming to another level
8. Doom - It started it all
9. Battlefield 1942 - 64 Players multi-class combined arms war, nuff said
10. Team Fortress 2 - Took metagaming and F2P gaming to another level
11. Battlefield 2 - 64 Players on modern war
12. Bioshock - Follows the footsteps of Half-Life 1 and provided the best SP experience in years.
13. Duke Nukem 3D - Took "main character" to another level
14. Unreal Tournament - popularized the use of Bots
15. Max Payne - never before seen slow motion shooting mechanics
16. FarCry 3 - revived the series and renewed the people's interest in Singleplayer Shooters
17. Borderlands 2 - mashed up FPS, RPG and Coop gaming
18. ArmA 2 - Who said that a software used for training soldiers can't be as fun as a video game?
19. SWAT 4 - Best tactical FPS ever
20. Wolfenstein 3D - Help popularize First Person Shooters on PC
21. Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield - Very complex tactical gameplay
22. Medal of Honor(the original one) - First historical WW2 FPS
23. Dead Space - combination of terrifying Horror + Enjoyable Shooter and cuttable limbs!
24. GoldenEye 007 - proved that FPS works on consoles
25. Serious Sam - showed us that not all games should be "serious"

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Yeah. Your list is way better.

 

[Easy Rhino]

any list that does not contain pong, pacman, and asteroids is devoid of any history.

 

[caleb]

I think that id Tech 3 (Quake3) engine deserves a throne here ...Solder of fortune, Enemy territory, Star Trek Elite Force.

Still the UT2 engine gave birth to my personal best shooter every made Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

Too bad no more SDK's for those great creative teams out there...

PS. I think TF2 (idea) always reminded me of Enemy Territory. Curious fact on wikipages is that TF Classic was based on a Quake Engine too.

 

[Frick]

Tribes: Ascend.... Why!?!? they should be lower or gone, it's too early to put them there.

Because Tribes have been around for a long time, and be the looks of it that is the best of them.

I think that id Tech 3 (Quake3) engine deserves a throne here ...Solder of fortune, Enemy territory, Star Trek Elite Force.

Still the UT2 engine gave birth to my personal best shooter every made Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

Too bad no more SDK's for those great creative teams out there...

PS. I think TF2 (idea) always reminded me of Enemy Territory. Curious fact on wikipages is that TF Classic was based on a Quake Engine too.

Not to mention Jedi Outcast/Adacemy and American McGee's Alice.