Best FPS games: top 10 shooters of all time
There’s nothing quite like a good first-person shooter game, and in this list we’re breaking down the all-time best.
There’s nothing quite like a good first-person shooter. We’ve all seen compilations of hardcore gamers flicking their mouse in order to get a frame-perfect and borderline unbelievable shot. It elicits the kind of feeling that has made Call of Duty faithfuls scream lines like “Mom get the camera!”
In this list we’re breaking down the best shooters of all time. Make no mistake, these games aren’t all brand-new, but they’re instrumental in the shooter ecosystem we have now. The likes of Fortnite and Overwatch wouldn’t have been possible without the games in this list. These are the truly influential shooters that will stand the test of time.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo set the tone for a generation of first-person shooters. It was a simple story, but it elevated what we’d seen from console shooters, and had a multiplayer mode that was hard to put down.
All modern console shooters owe something to Halo, so it’s no wonder that the sequel would be the game to introduce online multiplayer to the masses.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Not to be confused with 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the original game was the fourth mainline COD title, and the modern setting revitalised the series as a whole.
This was the game that made Call of Duty a household name, from its memorable story setpieces to the online multiplayer that we all spent too much time playing. All Ghillied Up is still an iconic mission, and the campaign deserves to be played even now.
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark is essentially the sequel to the legendary Goldeneye, and what a sequel it is. Yes, the multiplayer mode is bigger and better than ever, but the story mode was a genuine marvel. It weaved betrayals, mystery, and aliens together in a memorable tale.
But the gameplay was the real highlight, with different difficulties even offering extra mission objectives, giving you more of the game to play with. Not just worth playing, but replaying, and the Xbox port is the perfect way to do it.
Titanfall 2
Titanfall 2 cannot be ignored. It might’ve met tepid sales at launch thanks to other shooters being released at the same time, but it is one of the greatest shooter campaigns of all time.
The physics that have you swinging through each mission feel sharp and refined, the guns kick and blast exactly as you’d expect, and the level design is genuinely some of the best of any shooter – ever. The FPS genre as a whole would improve if more developers took a few cues from Titanfall 2.
Team Fortress 2
The origin of the hero shooter genre, Team Fortress 2 introduced us to a gang of characters filled with personality, each with their own weapons and abilities.
Years of updates made this one of the best shooters you could play on PC, and now it’s free-to-play with a still active and thriving community, years after release. It’s unlikely we’ll get another update for TF2 any time soon, but it will go down as a game that started a genre and outlived many of its competitors.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
The definitive hardcore shooter. While it now has some stiff competition in Valorant, Counter-Strike has defined the competitive shooter genre on PC for two decades.
Esports corporations still have dedicated teams to compete for huge prizes in tournaments, but you don’t have to be that series. Counter-Strike is a great game to play with friends for some casual fun, not just a competitive experience.
Apex Legends
Possibly the best battle royale FPS, Apex Legends builds upon the foundation of Titanfall 2. The radical movement physics have been viciously toned down in order to lower the skill ceiling, but the core mechanics of sliding, jumping, and shooting are all intact.
Apex Legends changes with each and every season, introducing new maps and characters, so if you haven’t played in a while it will feel like a totally new game.
Doom (1993)
Doom changed everything. 3D shooters were incredibly basic before Doom, and Doom’s infusion of music, guns, action, enemies, and that defining fast-pace felt revolutionary – and that’s because it really was.
FPS games after this point were called Doom-clones for the longest time, and there’s a good reason for that. Even now, a good port of the original game is an excellent shooter experience.
Doom: Eternal
From the first Doom to the most recent, Doom: Eternal takes the reimagined Doom (2016), and cranks everything up to the maximum. The music is loud, the guns are huge, enemies are vicious, movement options have been increased, the challenge is brutal – everything has been maxed out and is metal as Hell itself.
If you want a thrillride for a shooter instead of hiding behind a chest-high wall, this is the game for you.
Half-Life 2
The original Half-Life defined how stories were told in shooters, and its sequel changed how you interact with the world. Half-Life 2’s physics system was a revelation, and the engine mimics realistic properties with a fair amount of accuracy, especially for the era.
The Gravity Gun was made to manipulate that physics engine, allowing you to pick up and throw pretty much anything. Boxes, blades, corpses, whatever you want.
The Half-Life series managed to set the bar for shooters twice in a row, and that’s worth remembering, even if we never actually get a true Half-Life 3.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
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