PadrePlayz Top 10 FPS list

When I hear the term "first person shooter" I see images of a 10 year old me popping in a shareware disc into my old IBM Ambra. The excitement of loading that disk and jumping into the world of a game like Heretic, taking on demons and undead. Man those where the days just the clickity clack of my keyboard in my bedroom and slowly being desensitized to gratuitous violence. Since then, there have been so many epic industry defining FPS titles to grace our monitors. As a big fan of the genre I wanted to go over my top ten list and encourage you to send me yours. Like my previous blog posts nostalgia points will be weighted heavily in this list.

Lets get into it shall we?

10. Wolfenstein 3D

I've always said there is no bigger and badder bad guy in video games, cinema, or novels than Nazis. Released by ID and Apogee in 1992 the player takes on the role of BJ Blazkowicz an Allied spy trying to escape the prison castle of Wolfenstein. There are plenty of Nazis to take out with your MP40 as you traverse the levels in this game. When you finally blast your way through to the final boss you take on a mechanized Adolf Hitler!? Total ridiculousness and probably would not fly if released today in 2022. Based on my age when this came out I did not end up playing it until after I played some of the more graphically inclined games on this list. So it may not have had the biggest impact for me as others. Which is why I placed it number 10 on this list.

9. Halo CE

Growing up everyone I knew had a PlayStation 2. So I did not get a lot of exposure with the original Xbox. However, I remember one kid invited us over to his house on lunch hour. We wandered into his finished basement with a living room and there it was. This large black rectangular box with green accents. He booted it up with a Sci-Fi game that had 4 player multiplayer, and it was glorious. Sniping your buddies from across the map. Sneaking up on them and planting a sticky grenade. It was an all around good time. Later on I ended up getting the windows port and played the campaign. The story was a really cool concept with the Halo being this ring planet that's was basically a WMD. I never finished the game actually until last year with the Mastercheif collection. It's a solid game no matter which version you play.

8. Heretic

Back in the day the way you played a lot of games was by getting a shareware disc. For those of you that do not know what shareware is its basically like a trail version of the game. In the 90s lots of these shooters would give you the first chapter of the game and if you liked the game you could order the full version. It was a great way as a kid to play some amazing games on a budget. As a kid I had a shareware disc that had Doom and Heretic on it given to me. Released in 1994 and published by the legend John Romero Heretic was a first persons shooter that took place in a fantasy world. Using the Doom engine you blasted demons and monsters using magic wands, cross bows, and staffs. I was really young when I played it and haven't played it in years so my memories are a little fuzzy on the game. I do remember spending hours playing and loving every minute of it. If you love Doom and have never tried Heretic I would definitely recommend.

7. Doom

What a great way to bridge this blog into the game that changed PC gaming forever. Doom was released in 1993 by Id Software using a 3D engine developed by fabled computer programmer John Carmack. Kids today may recognize the game by all the online memes about people playing it on their calculator or on their smart fridge. When I was a kid it was MS-DOS that delivered this masterpiece into my household (SNES less graphic version was later made available). This is the plot.. Are you ready for it?? You are a space marine, fragging demons ripped from hell, on.. Mars!! Sign me up all day long. By todays standards the gore is tame, but seeing blood when you shot a baddie was just so amazing for its time. What creeped me out too as kid was when your character lost health the face of Doom guys got bloodier and more beat up. I tried not to get hit so I didn’t have to look into his mashed up face full of disappointment for my terrible gameplay. This games legacy is unmatched. People play this game to this day and there is such a huge modding community making .wasd files for others to play. Brutal Doom, which is a mod for the base game is unreal. So many quality of life enhancements and the blood and gore is just over the top and amazing. Doom is always a game I pop back once and a while when I need a demon shooting fix.

6. Star Wars Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight

I got this game as a kid just based on the box art alone. In the mid 90s LucasArts was king and I was becoming the ultimate Star Wars nerd. When I saw this game advertised with Kyle Katarn fighting the Sith Lord Jerec on the cover with Stormtroopers popping shots I literally lost my mind. Funny story when my parents did buy this game for me we realized our home computer couldn’t play it. That’s when we learned about graphics cards and minimum system requirements. My dad (god bless him) eventually bought a graphics card so I could enter the Star Wars universe as Kyle Katarn. This game is the ultimate Star Wars adventure. You go on this mission to find out who killed your father and go on the path to become a Jedi. This has to be the first game where your moral decisions impact the game. Do nice things and you become a Jedi Knight, do bad things you go to the dark side. Depending where you fell on the force spectrum impacted the games ending. Also, can we get a shout out to the full live action cut scenes with real actors. It was basically a Star Wars movie you where directing as you played through the levels impacting the outcome. If this was a Star Wars list this would be a contender for the number one spot for sure. HOURS and HOURS playing this one my friends.

5. Call of Duty Modern Warfare

I have been a Call of Duty guy ever since I played the first one for the PC many years ago. So I knew I had to put one of them on the list, but was struggling which one to put up. There have been some amazing entries into the series that stand out to me. I was super close to putting World at War but then I remembered the first Modern Warfare. That game was the definition of a classic. I remember first playing it at a friends house on xbox. The mission where you are fighting Ultra-Nationalists in Russia. Instantly I was hooked. When I got a PS3 it was the first game I ran out and purchased. Who can forget the sniper mission where you have to stealthily move through the Pripyat Exclusion Zone, assassinate the terrorist ring leader, then get out of dodge before being a bullet riddled corpse. I think what makes Modern Warfare make my list too is it was the first one where I really played multiplayer online. Countless hours unlocking new guns and ranking up. No micro-transactions. No $10 skins. It was just pure and uncut multiplayer goodness. We do not get anymore.

4. Goldeneye 007 (N64)

Every top FPS list has to have this title on it. This game fostered and destroyed friendships all over the world when it was released back in 1997. 4 player multi-player was something I know I played non-stop with my pals after school. One time on a Saturday we started gaming and in what felt like no time 8 hours had passed and the street lights where coming on, which was the signal to get your ass home. Amazing single player, terrific weapons selection, epic gadgets, it was just all around a great game. I have to be honest I played the game a few years before I even saw the movie it was based on. It is still to this day one of the best video games based on a movie and was actually really true to the story. I knew the whole movie while watching it because I played Goldeneye on my Nintendo 64. With the leaked Xbox Arcade version floating around online and the rumours of a Xbox Game Pass release on the horizon I hope some new fans get introduced to this gem. Remember kids.. No Oddjob.

3. Quake

The original Quake is .. Just..wow.. Just wow.. I think this is the first game I played that was like fully 3D with the maps and sprites being 3D rendered. Another hit from Carmack & Romero this game to me as a nine year old just scared the shit out of me. It was dark, the baddies where creepy, the maps reminded me of those haunted castles from a vampire movie. I remember one level where you end up in spot where its dark, your wading through water, and there is zombies attacking you. Jesus Christ that haunted me as a child. Oh and those monsters they where like on all fours, no eyes just a bloody mouth, and like spikes for hands..like what nightmares where these characters spawned from. The nail gun was so enjoyable and nothing beat turning bad guys into bloody goo with the shotgun. Quake is just an amazing title. Go out and play it. If you have Xbox Game Pass the original is on there .. Give it a spin.. Please.

2. Duke Nukem 3D

Mash together every cheesy 80s/90s action hero into one man and crank up the crudeness to 11 and that is Duke Nukem. Duke has made the jump from side scroller to 3D FPS in an outrageous plot to stop the aliens from enslaving humankind. If only my parents knew what their nine year old son was playing with some very adult themed levels like strip clubs and dingy porn theaters. What I really loved about this game was the levels where non-linear and you could explore and go alternative ways. I also loved how interactive the environment was. You could turn on the lights in a room by activating the light switch which blew my little mind as a kid that they included that details. Also who doesn’t enjoy urinating in the urinal after wasting a couple alien punks. This game is a solid FPS, but would probably not stand up to today's more politically correct environment. If you are offended easily maybe skip this one as it very tongue and cheek and full of innuendos. After Duke Nukem I waited 11 years for Duke Nukem Forever which was basically hot trash. I do not see Duke Nukem really making a comeback, but he will forever be a big piece of my gaming memories as a youth.

1. Blood

Less popular than Doom and Quake I personally feel Blood is just piece of art and should be hung in the Louvre. Released in 1997 by Monolith this was another game that had me soiling my britches every time I booted up. In the first level you literally rise from the crypt as Caleb a formerly living cult leader killed by his own god Tchernobog. You are on a mission of revenge as you shoot your way through zombies and cultists in this interesting vague time period of the 30s or the 40s. This game was just so cool to me as a kid. If you shot someone with the flair gun they would ignite into a burning figure and run around until they would drop dead. If you shot the head off a zombie you could kick it around like a soccer ball around the map. It is these little details that really impressed me with games like this and Blood was full of them. The level design was so amazing from cemeteries, to churches, to a moving train they where so immersive and detailed. If you play any FPS from the 90s I highly recommend Blood. The game is currently available on Steam with what looks like some quality of life enhancements. Its listed under the title "Blood - Fresh Supply" and is $11.49 CAD.

Honourable Mentions

Perfect Dark was super close to making my list. Some might call it just a Goldeneye clone as it was also made by Rare. I believe Perfect Dark builds on Goldeneye and does it better with some additional features that where different for its time. Nostalgia of Goldeneye; however, had me pick it over Perfect Dark.

Rising Storm: Vietnam was also a close one to make the list. From the people that brought us the Red Orchestra series RS Vietnam gives you a real authentic feeling tactical Vietnam war experience. Fighting Viet Cong guerillas in the jungles and rice fields or holding back PAVN forces in Saigon its an amazing experience. There is a level I believe called "Resort" where the American side initially has to enter via Huey helicopter. It is a really terrific game and regularly goes on sale so keep an eye out for it.

Well that’s my list. Let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter. Later Gamer Friends!!

Some Research was completed using Wikipedia.org

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