max power said:
Me first? I'd put Doom at the top of the list. Like I said in the OP, FPS's were literally called "Doom clones" more than anything else for much of the 90's. Romero did some great level design, it invented deathmatch and LAN play. That's my #1, and really should be #1 on most of these lists. Half Life 1/2 are clearly single player games. They both added their own deathmatch, but they were originally packaged with TFC and CS:S for multiplayer, if you recall. Half Life 2 is the best single player FPS, IMO. Duke3D would be up there. That game was ridiculously fun. It's biggest flaws were definitely the lack of a true 3D engine, and the lack of internet play. Dukematches were ridiculously fun. You could set up pipe bomb traps, and blow them from a distance. Even while watching your target on a security monitor. HoloDukes could be used to set up a decoy. And if you play long enough, you can even stand still and pretend to be a holoduke to trick your friends. Laser trip bombs, freeze ray, shrink ray, bounching shots in a mirror, the game had TONS of awesome multiplayer stuff that still hasn't been mimicked for whatever reason... Of course Quake added internet play and true 3D, as well as a huge modding community, so that's a hugely important one. Jedi Knight was another terrific, but largely forgotten FPS. It also was the first game to give us light saber deathmatches... but I remember it mostly for building up my Force powers. Deflecting shots from enemy storm troopers with my saber, then grabbing their weapon out of their hands from a distance and watching them run around helplessly. It was classic. Wolfenstein would of course get a spot. Counter-Strike. I was lucky to be in college when that came out. It was ridiculously fun having an entire hall playing, yelling to each other for extra teamwork. Still played by a huge community. Portal would deserve a spot on the list. If you played it, you'll understand and I don't have to say a word to justify it.
That's a good start for me :D |
that counterstrike comment reminds me of something:
LAN play >>>>> local multiplayer >> online play
i guess most of the players today have never been to a real LAN party, since everything can be done online now (which is nice of course because it's not possible to always be at a LAN ;) ) but i can't really stand playing all the (generic) online shooters nowadays - with mostly random guys.
playing duke3d, counterstrike, quake 3 arena or unreal tournament on a lan party with 20 (more or less) friends was (and is... ) pure magic!
the yelling at each other and cheering for victory is sooo much more fun than any voice chat with mostly random guys will ever be.
for me, multiplayer gaming is actually more about the social factor (hence i only own a wii this gen...).
i play Anno 1404 Venice with a friend quite regularly. We sometimes play online with vocie chat, but whenever possible we play it while sitting in the same room. to me (or us) that makes a HUGE difference in the "fun factor".
i remember the days when we played The Settlers II in split screen mode with two mice attached.
...i've never had that much fun online, even while playing with the same friend(s).
