@poser85: I've heard of them all, as an avid gamer since L.O.R.D. on a local bbs.

Grumps

Halo's Regen system DUMBED DOWNED FPS GAMING...not revolutionized it...

zombieistired

bah, too many people posted from when i opened and then finished reading...

for you who say halo, please tell me what the revolutionized. everything hal0 did had been done before

and the health system...puh-lease...that's the fratboyization of an FPS...oh look, you can't die...just stop for a few secs and you're god to go...sure it revolutionized FPS games, but in a horrible way

and really - grenades having their own button is revolutionary? get a life

goalielax

those games did nothing to revolutionize the genre...did you even read the article?

goalielax

I'm sick of people saying Halo didn't innovate anything. Before Halo (let's use Half-Life as a popular example), "melee" and "grenade" attacks were just other guns you could equip and fire. In Halo, both melee attacks and grenades are SEPARATE systems from gunplay and have their own DESIGNATED button (meaning you can use it at any time). Now, some guns in earlier games had "alternate fire" modes, which is similar, but I'm pretty sure Halo was the first game to treat grenades and melee separately from guns. Also, Halo was the first FPS game to have non-sucky vehicles (because of the clever 3rd-person viewpoint), and of course the health system definitely counts. How is that not innovation?

Now, Halo 2 and 3 really didn't innovate much, but it pisses me off when people say Halo 1 didn't.

Spiffyness

@Wyld: He didn't really collect any research, unless I missed it in the article. He basically differentiated the pillars of modern FPS back to its most popular beginnings.

Further, there are other games that might have had "firsts" but didn't make it onto the list because they didn't hit the mainstream in a way that really made their innovations available to the masses (which is important).

.endejas.

@frostcircus:

I know it's "cool" to hate Halo, but yeah, I agree. I'd put Halo on there for shock damage and vehicles alone.

jonathan

@Candlejack: You said it, Shadowrun awesomeness should be the innovation that someone takes to the next level. That was the first online fps I've played in forever taht seemed fresh. The magic system was incredible and I can't wait for a game to come out and do that style better. With stat tracking, more maps and a few more tweaks, there is the next ultimate online shooter in the making.

Grumps

I've never even heard of half of the games...

poser85

tripleR6

@.endejas.:
Well, it affected a lot of people, like you for example, but for me, I never played any of them.

But I had played a lot of Battlefield and Unreal.

I just don´t know if his research was based upon any kind of research from games statistics or if he was just listed old multiplayer fps´s and that´s it...

Wyld

Halo and Call of Duty: Not on it - And I agreeeeeeee.

Thanks so much for the fun I had on Unreal Tournament. and that´s it.

Wyld

I want dynamic maps. I want maps that have weather and change depending on different random variables. I want to be able to go on a map and not go in a certain area i could before because a storm came through and knocked over a tree. I think this kind of map would work best for a Battlefield type game. How awesome would it be to play one map only to have it the next time you load up be completely different yet the same and familiar at the same time.

Detre

As much as people like to deny Halo's effect on FPS, I also think the rechargeable health system was made huge with Halo and Halo 2.

I don't think I've seen a health pack in the games I've played over the past couple of years.

.endejas.

for consoles:

-Dedicated servers as an option. And not crappy ones.

-facial recognition a la RS Vegas. Except make it better. RS Vegas 2 still won't except the images I give it for no apparent reason with the Vision camera (and no, they're not of my junk).

-bring tactical fighting back. I haven't had a good tactical experience online since Rogue Spear and the first SOCOM. everything is a frag-fest or arcadey nonsense. COD4 is a great game, but tactical it is not.

Bulletkkake

@jarjarwang: Sony released an Online FPS along those lines about 6yrs back. I 'think' it was called PlanetScape although i cant find anything about it on Google.

SmokeyTab

Candlejack

jarjarwang: The maps could go persistent. Battles could stretch on for months after launch

Smells like planetside.

/wonders if my planetside dev account is still active

lordargent

Seriously, if you want a token awesome game to exclude, choose Shadowrun. It took TONS of great Multiplayer FPS traditions and crammed them into one game. Low-grav, recharging health, melee, buy phase, Force-like abilities, multi-class... and then balanced them all at once. But for all it's awesomeness, it only refined, but it's level of refinement WAS it's innovation.

Edge of Blade

In what games are B or circle jump? Isn't it usually A or X(PS)

AUAnonymous

I would argue that Halo 2s poliferation of the re-charging health has gone on to be the main health system in almost every recent FPS to date (to at least some degree) and the melee system alone in Halo changed close quarters in FPS forever...was there a game previous that employed such an easily acessible melee attack? I can't recall one.
In terms of what they could be doing, it seems we have come to a stand still in multiplayer FPS, with more refining and innovation really only coming in gimmicks.
Lovin your idea though, jar jar.

wef

I'd like to see Bots reintroduced into FPS games for local multiplayer. I used to have a blast being on a team with buddies against bots in TimeSplitters and Perfect Dark

Sandbox_Emperor

"a dedicated core group of players entering the fight for a few hours after work"

You must think a lot of us working stiffs...

Edge of Blade

At first glance, the list makes perfect sense - but I don't understand why Tribes and Battlefield are on there. I don't see what Battlefield did that went beyond embellishing what Tribes did. Time to read the article.

...interesting. Couple of points!

1. Halo should've taken a spot for the recharging shield/health mechanic. It's become pretty damn ubiquitous.

2. The universal stats and unlockables - wasn't that Battlefield 2? I could be wrong, I've hardly played either.

3. Team Fortress was a pretty major omission. Its innovations were covered by the Tribes entry, but TF came first and was just as popular. Unless it wasn't.

frostcircus

"what else could a multiplayer FPS be doing right now?"

The maps could go persistent. Battles could stretch on for months after launch, with a dedicated core group of players entering the fight for a few hours after work, checking up on how things went during the last 8 hours. Update your friends on how the war is going, work on strategies for the upcoming week... So many things... but I like his list a lot and agree with it for the most part.

jarjarwang

Hmm... No Perfect Dark or Goldeneye? Is this PC games only?

rbelmont000

@frostcircus:
Frostcircus, I don't disagree that Halo has had some influence, but I completely disagree it should replace Tribes (or any of those other 6, frankly).

IMO, the Halo series in general has actually picked up some of its cues from Tribes, such as the vehicle-based gameplay, the general artistic direction, the open environments, the one-button grenades, and the energy-based weapons that don't require ammo as they deplete a regenerating energy bar. One of the things I thought repeatedly when playing Halo: CE was "this feels like a ground-based Tribes with melee.

And about Team Fortress, that was originally a Quakeworld mod, so you could argue it's pretty much covered with the "Quake" entry.

Zeliard

Just to add one more note yes, the "popularity" of Marathon was limited by it being generally a Mac game (Marathon 2 had a PC version but I don't think it sold all that well), but why is it that you think MS bought Bungie again? You think they did it based on Myth and their original Mac Halo tech demo? They knew what they were getting, and it was people who helped pioneer balanced multiplayer to make the showcase game for Xbox Live. For all its many, many faults (not simply being Marathon games, for one thing :P), the Halo series has brought us some excellent FPS multiplayer, and brought it to a venue, consoles, where it had only occasionally succeeded before.

Still wouldn't put Halo on this list though, just because it doesn't meet the parameters.

DaiMacculate

Whoops. Bad grammar. Apologies for the use of 'practically' twice

Hylian1

Where the HELL is Goldeneye? Seriously, Goldeneye is the game that practically brought FPS games to consoles. The strafing, its intuitive controls (for its time)... GE practically made FPSs what they are today.

Hylian1

Doesn't seem fair that no matter how many times people point out what Halo did that was influential, naysayers can just say "yep, Halo did nothing" and leave it at that. That's a weird, nebulous burden of proof.

I honestly didn't notice that it was the first to do the melee/grenades thing, but I honestly can't name any other FPS that got in there before it. The whole 'bomb button' had been a mainstay in all kinds of shooters since the 80s; it's kind of weird it took so long for FPS devs to catch on.

Actually no, Alien Trilogy did it. But that's not so mainstream.

frostcircus

second on marathon. way too much influence on how fps would be made afterwards, if not on the population of players.

DrkBgrk

@DaiMacculate: Man you're having serious typo issue lately...perhaps you're relying more on spell check than proofing?

this list came out
just ran better than DOOM on our network.

I've particularly noticed I've been missing things like than/that, makes me look like a dunce at best. Sorry for the junk comment, but I felt the need to correct myself ;)

DaiMacculate

@Spiffyness:
Team Fortress had a separate grenade button long before Halo did. It even had buttons for both primary and secondary grenades.

As for melee attacks, several games on PC had dedicated melee and/or kick buttons long before Halo as well.

Halo may well have been the first on console to do that, but there were several games that had those things before it did.

Falcon

@Clamchop: Yeah, I originally wrote a longer reply but simply deleted it to make a shorter "to the point" response.

While I know Halo didn't introduce vehicles, I believe it innovated with types/controls. This, unlike shock damage, is up to debate, though.

jonathan

@DrunkenTrom: Savage and Savage 2 are RTS/FPS hybrids (well third person I think but still shooter).

bleeps

COD4 is a game that does not innovate but instead combines a number of innovations and does it very well.

Also health regen definitely has been a denigration. I find TF2 and the BF games much more interesting and exciting then H3, COD4, R6V2 because you only have some many chances to get hit while with regen health you can be shoot an infinite number of times and still live. Especially a game such as R6V2, where your moves should be planned. The change I think explains the reasons the series has gone south.

Spl1nter3

Needs more Marathon.

Seriously, I played TEAM DM LAN games of Marathon before every single game on this list game out other than DOOM, and since we actually had a computer lab with 16 PCs and 8 Macs (6 LC 580s and 2 PPC 7100s, the PCs were generic 486DX jobs), I can tell you than in late 1994 there was no comparison between the two games running netplay. There was a wait to play on the macs during lunch period...nobody ever got that big a game of DOOM up that I saw.

Marathon had a full physics engine and map editors, not to mention it just ran better that DOOM on our network.

Thats not to rob ID of any of its well deserved credit, not just for DOOM and Quake but for Wolf 3D as well.

Quake especially, I wonder what online FPS gaming in general would look like without that game, I don't know if it would be better or worse but it would certainly not be the same at all.

I have no beef with any of the games on this list, just a little recognition for Bungie on its contribution. Looking at the comments on the linked article I'm not the only one to note its omission. Again its not about anything other than what games added to the evolution of team FPS multiplayer...and Marathon 1,2 and Infinity deserve a place there.

DaiMacculate

@goalielax: You're right, keeping an eye on 1-100 number and spending time hunting down and hoarding health packs is SO much more fun.

NPlace

@Grumps: I agree. I played Shadowrun on the 360 at a friend's place (my 360 was broken by then) and was positively surprised by the speed of it. I heard crushing review scores especially of the PC version though. Well, my mate and I enjoyed it, although the "local-crazy-fun-party"-bonus was in effect ;)

Candlejack

@Ess: Team FPS man, FPS! But yea FM2 did do a lot of stuff.

I remember the pain in the ass setting up Doom II multi was, even with ZDoom

SkutSkut

@Snake726: Ironsights! I love them so!

I mean that without a hint of sarcasm. Truthfully.

.endejas.

I can definitely see Halo not being there, although if the list was a bit longer, you'd have to push really hard to justify denying it a spot.

Wow, some of those vids brought back memories. I miss Tribes 2.

And what's with listing numbers of players as an innovation? Seriously?

Moonshadow101

Twisted Metal 2:

1. Truly different characters with their own special weapons which made each character a unique adversary.

2. Alterable environments (Eiffel Tower!).

3. Fighting game-like combos. Allowing you to shoot out the back (among other things) which itself is a innovation.

4. Innocent bystanders that would occasionally get in the way.

5. Something besides people or bipedal robots to control.

Ess

@jonathan: Tribes brought vehicles into the mix way before halo did. It did it better as well. Man I miss that game.

There are things Tribes and Tribes 2 did that also haven't quite been copied well in modern FPS' lately. The integrated forums and clan/player browser Tribes 2 had hasn't been re-created in a good FPS as of late. Unreal Tournament has gone halfway and integrated IRC into their games but I'd like to see clan and team integration like Tribes 2 had again someday.

Clamchop

Except recharging health and a melee system that wasn't a seperate weapon.

Oh, and open ended levels with awesome vehicles.

Bluur

@poser85:

You don't play many video games do you?

Mpalm.

He doesn't think that MoH's and CoD's iron sight aiming is a gameplay innovation for FPS's?

I agree with him mostly; those games are more or less the father figures of the modern FPS, but there have been small innovations since then.

Snake726

@jarjarwang: &@Detre: I think you're both on to something that could be very enjoyable. After reading both of your ideas I started to think about the possibilities of a RTS/FPS hybrid. Imagine a month long battle with not only weather effecting the battlefield but also man made changes to the environments. Maybe have a general on each team that can drop in supplies and equipment like in Battlefield 2. But also give them RTS like options for example let them build different structures like concrete barriers or the ability to dig trenches on the front line. Also construct bunkers or clear trees for airfields. Or even build those portable bridges over a river to move heavy machinery like tanks across to otherwise unaccessible areas of the map. The possibilities seem almost endless.

DrunkenTrom

Halo definitely needs to be on the list, if only for the matchmaking mechanics that helped keep the games exciting by keeping people near the same skill levels. Bungie moved everything a huge step forward by doing that -- the games before became VERY new user unfriendly.

jayntampa

As good as Halo might be, it did nothing that wasn't already done before..

CockroachMan

I'm confused, WSDA is for movement and mouse is for free look, what are these "left and right sticks" of which you speak?
That list seems pretty comprehensive. But I'd like to see FPSes evolve a little more (and RTSes, but that's for another discussion). The Half-Life series are still my favorite FPSes but then again, I'm kind of a story nut.

paradox

Gah, sorry. Thought I goofed on my first message because it didn't show up.

Hylian1

@Toprem:
The old style % base health system is assenine. If you are going to litter HP packs everywhere, it only serves to grind the gameplay to a hault having players go collect after every fight.

pb00

@frostcircus:
@frostcircus:

Goldeneye may not have been geared twoard team play, but Perfect Dark 64 certainly was. I've yet to see a FPS have as many multiplayer options that it made available. And if I'm not mistake, was it the first FPS to introduce BOTs?

Hylian1

@frostcircus:

Goldeneye may not have been geared toward team matches, but Perfect Dark 64 certainly was and there's not doubt about that. I've yet to see a multiplayer title to this day include as many mp options as it. And if I'm not mistake, was PD also the first FPS to introduce BOTs?

Hylian1

@Zeliard: I never said Halo should replace Tribes! That would be silly.

What I originally meant was that Tribes should replace Battlefield. But since Battlefield is on there for another reason (even though he obviously meant Battlefield 2), I can understand it being there.

And to those decrying the regen system: an influential gameplay mechanic doesn't stop being an influential gameplay mechanic just because you don't like it. I don't like about half of the features highlighted by the article, but it would be absurd to say they weren't influential.

frostcircus

@Zeliard: Not to mention that during Halo's development (after it it because an FPS, before MS bought bungie) it was seen as a direct competitor to Tribes 2 as a team multiplayer outdoor shooter featuring vehicles prominently.

Defenestrated

Goldeneye, how could I forget? And what about the myriad of multiplayer options in Perfect Dark? If only the 360 version could hold a candle to its predecessor.

Goldeneye was the first true great FPS on consoles, but I think you would be hard pressed to find another good one till Halo. Red Faction was kinda cool on the PS2 for its destructible environments, but still lacked the tight mechanics of Halo.

olinred

who cares which came first. It's like the chicken and the egg. It doesn't really matter which did what first, they both taste yummy in my belly.

ExistentialEgg

Hell yes Tribes! No multiplayer FPS before or since has captured my attention like that little gem of a game. One of the most skill-intensive games out there.

Also, while I'm loathe to admit it, I'd say that Halo should have been in that list. This game made the regenerating health model the industry standard.

However, just because it was influential doesn't mean I have to like playing it ;)

Defenestrated

@Hylian1: I actually disagree there. As much as I love it, and as many hours as I've poured into it, Goldeneye only really made FPS games what they were... and only for two games. Goldeneye, and Perfect Dark. The two had a very distinctive approach, which modern console FPSs (including Timesplitters) simply don't use.

If we're talking control, and I had to pick a forerunner to today's games, I'd probably pick Medal of Honour.

Also, the article is about team shooters, and neither game was especially geared towards teamplay. I don't think the maps even had team spawn points, did they?

Goldeneye definitely deserves credit for simplifying the game setup phase, though. And that has stuck around, undeniably.

frostcircus

@Wyld: I concur.

Woodwater

Halo should be on the list for two reasons;

1) as mentioned by many before the rebounding health meter has become an integral part of most FPS's on the market today

2) it legitimized console shooters, both online and off

olinred

Gah, semblance not "semblence"

Toprem

steliosco

Halo and Call of Duty: not on it

Nor should they be. As for the people saying Halo for the regeneration system, that is the biggest bunch of faggotry to ever grace FPS games, Halo itself withstanding since it easily takes the cake for that. In games like Crysis and TimeShift, it makes some semblence of sense, but in games like Frontline or CoD, it's beyond fucking retarded.

As for melee attacks, Halo wasn't the first game to have melee attacks for guns, Soldier of Fortune I and II both had melee attacks for the hand guns and shotgun. (I think SoF I had it, but it's been so long since I played it. But I know SoF II had them.

Toprem

If anything, Halo should be commended for how hype, along with a half decent game can make a title huge.

zephyrum

The only thing worse than whining that Halo isn't on the list is whining that Goldeneye isn't on the list.

The Halo series is great because they took a whole slew of elements and packaged them neatly. It's an example of the refinement of many of the previous games (Especially Tribes).

Goldeneye isn't anything special at all. I realize it was baby's-first-shooter for people that never heard of a PC game or Quake/Doom, but it didn't bring anything new to the table. Fun? Sure. Influential? Not in the least.

Nikolii

@Grumps: Hell yeah. Too bad Shadowrun tanked, which crushes good chances of another game like that anytime soon. And since the original game has terrible netcode, I feel pretty bummed on that front.

@Spiffyness: Halo is unique because it has that oft referred to "Golden Triangle" of guns, melee and nades. It's not an innovation, just something that gives Halo a special favor. Most shooters are about one or two of those, not all three.

Xiedo

@jonathan:
Anyone else think that Halo 2 and the matchmaking system warrant it being on the list? I think Halo 2 is certainly worthy just by being the game that sparked the shift from PC to console online gaming.

Sonic_and_Tails

@frostcircus:

I believe it just randomly respawned you across the map.

As for team play, you could actually have up to 16 players in a match. 4 humans and the other 12 were bots, but you could really have some good times there. Not to mention, it wasn't limited to 1 team vs. the other team. You customly create the teams yourself. For instance, if there are 4 human players playing, y each human player could have 3 bots assigned to his/her team. So essentially, you have 4 teams battling against each other. Or heck, you could even go teams of two and have EIGHT different teams fighting.

No other FPS multiplayer game that I can recall has ever done that aside from PD 64.

Hylian1

@Edge of Blade:

You are so right! Shadowrun has to be one of the top 3 most underrated games ever. The number one thing about it is BALANCE. Shadowrun is one of the most perfectly balanced FPS's ever created. Running a close second is character customization. Mixing and matching the various races, magics and techs allows each player to create a character that perfectly suits their personal play style. I love FPS. It's pretty much all I play. My motto is "no gun.... no fun" and Shadowrun is pretty much all I have played for a year now because nothing else compares.

robinandtami

@Hylian1: It most definitely wasn't the first FPS to do BOTs, but it was one of the most earliest and most enjoyable that did it, on a console.

.endejas.

I'll take the Big Keg O'Health over anything else, anyday.

Jest

@Hylian1: You're right, I'm remembering a lot of its multiplayer modes now. I'm still not convinced there were team-based levels or even spawn points (were there?), but its teamplay 'worked.'

But remember, Perfect Dark did come out quite a bit after Unreal Tournament.

frostcircus

@pb00: That really depends on the genre. I completely agree that the regenning health system worked well for Halo. For an action FPS where it's supposed to be balls-to-the-wall action the entire time with the least amount of dead time possible, it makes sense.

For survival horror like the upcoming Left 4 Dead, it would be a horrible mechanic. Even in Half-Life 2, the health packs worked very well.

Falcon

technology is the main limitation to furthering gameplay, but as you see in BF:BC, destructible environments are going to be part of the next big step.

i_lie_to_fit_in

@pb00: And having a game set up cover for you so you can sit around with your dick in your hand and magically regenerate after being filled with bullets doesn't slow the gameplay down? I'd much rather medics, health kits, or health stations be set up so I could quickly get healed and get back into the shit than to sit around like an ass and just waiting for my ass to be miracled back to health.

Also, to any game developer that doesn't show your health and armour on screen in all modes of gameplay besides hardcore, FUCK. YOU. While the screen getting red, blurry, etc is nice, I still want to see my fucking health/armour.

Also when I said CoD earlier, I meant CoD4 since everyone currently has a hardon for the game still. I honestly don't remember hearing so much stuff about the other ones as I do CoD4.

Toprem

Nice to see Tribes get some credit it deserves.

Inglix

Missing TF... :(

ph15h

@bleeps: Savage and Savage 2 both must have slipped below my radar. I just checked out the S2 Games website and they look interesting. I've thought for years that an RTS/FPS hybrid would be an amazing idea if implemented well but had no idea anyone had already made one. Thanks for the tip I'll definitely check it out(downloading now)!

DrunkenTrom

There are a few things that interest me in shooters:

1. An interesting premise. Eg: Bioshock - an underwater metropolis with mutated freaks and homemade weapons. It was such a unique environment that it really got me interested purely from watching the first cinematic trailer.

2. An interesting story. Usually comes in hand with an interesting premise. I don't consider games like COD and MoH games to have interesting stories. Especially the "look at us, we're americans and we fight for liberty" bs. Theres no story to that.

3. Customization. Eg. Perfect Dark - the customization in PD kept me playing multiplayer for a very long time. That keeps me interested in the game when there is so much you can try. UT is good for that too, at least 2003/2004, UT3 not so much.

wicko

They are all the same, run & pop them before they pop u! with basic left right control.

UT is the only exception with the addition of Dodge & combo weapons. That is why its the only FPS game that appeals to me. since its the only one that feels different from the rest!
& I feel gears gave something new as well but thats a 3rd person :P

STHD

FPS has certainly cleaned up its act in recent years.Its still not perfect but its nice to see more strong fps games rather than mountains of weak stuff like Turok.

Resistance, CoD4, TF2, Crysis, Vegas 2. All decent titles that released within a year of each other (I'm going by UK release dates here).

TheSmiterer

@DaiMacculate: Good points. Happy to see that others know that

_Ted_

@Falcon: Yeah, I thought about Team Fortress right after I posted that... my bad. I still stand by my point, though. The main thing that me and my friends agree on is that Halo is very... hmmm... it's not a pure shooter. Most other classic shooters are pure tests of shooting skill (and some team strategy stuff), whereas Halo has things like low-level platforming, risk-reward systems (think sniper on Hang-'em-High), driving, melee fighting, stealth, and weapon management all worked into your typical slayer match. Other shooters have done those things, yes, but they were still "shooters." Halo put a pretty BIG emphasis on things that were un-shootery, which I thought was really neat. It's almost more of a "First-Person combat game" with lots of guns. Especially in Halo 3 with the hammers and swords and equipment and whatnot.

Spiffyness

@NotTheGuy: The same way that vehicles, increased player counts, buildings or unlockables do. They may not explicitly relate to teamplay in and of themselves, but they certainly impact it.

For a particular example, let's say your team holds off the enemies while you hide and recover your health. Nice and simple.

frostcircus

Right, and how does a regenerating health system create teamplay?

NotTheGuy

@Hylian1: Quake had bots long before Perfect Dark. As for customization, Quake is probably the most extensively customizable (and customized) FPS ever.

Zeliard

Didn't Rocket/Clan Arena sort of start the trend towards a spawn weapon that didn't completely suck? Or was that too minor of a thing to really matter?

muu

i think this list makes sense. Honestly, Halo's online is just an evolution of Goldeneye

@frostcircus: the recharging health/shield mechanic? while Halo might have done it first, is that necessarily a good thing?

@Edge of Blade: some of the things you named about Shadowrun were done in Counter Strike back in the 99/00

@Candlejack: now this is on the money! Actually not that i think about it; Halo should probably be on this list just because it made FPS' accessible to those that couldn't figure out/couldn't be bothered with a keyboard and mouse

@Detre: i think this is a REALLY good idea. However, I foresee lazy developers using it as a means to not make a whole bunch of maps and release more later as DLC

jp182

needs more halo and TF.

roflwaffles

@frostcircus: Or, you know, you could have a medic class that actually heals people. THAT is teamplay. Sitting around and regenning health is not teamplay. What do you even mean by "unlockables?" As for buildings, I don't see how those impact team play in the least. Same goes for vehicles, unless they seat multiple people.

Toprem

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

It says Doom was the first to do network play but I'm pretty sure it was good ol' Marathon that did it before Doom did.

Absent Blue

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

I'm probably over-generalizing, but it seems you can really tell when people got into FPS's and on what platform by their responses in this thread.

First of all, this is multiplayer focused analysis. CoD definitely hasn't brought anything substantially new to the genre. 1 2 and 4 have had great multiplayer. But nothing innovative.

Halo's big multiplayer innovation was bringing a letitimately good alternative for console only gamers to the PC style FPS games. No more PC style game on console. It defined console friendly FPS in speed and control.

These are big things for CONSOLES, but in the pantheon of multiplayer FPS's, it's mostly just late to the party, and refinement.

The only game I'm dissapointed isn't listed is the team fortress games. I feel the class system and grenades were a huge influence on modern stuff. Though I could be off and something else came before it.

skewt

Now Battlezone. That was a game. I should distribute my copy amongst my friends and urge them to all get in on some action via Hamachi. Cause nobody plays it anymore...

Anyway, I thought this was kind of a given. Obviously the games that will be most inventing on a genre will be the best classics of the genre. Newer stuff may contribute small aspects here and there but newer games that completely reinvent a genre are rare. Not nonexistent, just rare.

Rubiximus

I miss me some medkits.

juliopalio

Halo follows Microsoft's over-riding business model, which is almost never about innovation, but more about best in class. It's not a bad thing, and obviously it's been highly successful -- just not innovative. Then again, innovating rarely makes a ton of dough.

kingclip

Console-wise.. bots and user-generated maps. PCs have had this stuff since Quake 1.

terraform

Halo hasn't done anything innovative just because bascially everything it did was first done in Marathon :)

I think Marathon deserves to be on that list solely because it was the first multiplayer FPS with a Y-axis. In Doom, you could hit someone with any weapon (even the chainsaw, which is endlessly amusing) no matter how much above or under you they were. Apologies for bad phrasing.

man_in_gauze

@Toprem:
They were features highlighted by the article; I'm playing by its rules.

@jp182:
We're not talking good, we're talking influential. Regen = definitely influential. I mean, is that even in question?

As for good, I couldn't say, since I've never actually played a multiplayer game with regen (I suspect Insurgency might have used it, but I never confirmed this). I've certainly welcomed it in singleplayer, though. Halo 1, CoD2 & 4, R6 Vegas - I definitely prefer the regen approach.

And just to put a spanner in the "these responses tell us when a player got into FPSs" theory - I've been playing FPSs solidly since '92, and I don't think it makes a difference either way. A player likes what a player likes.

frostcircus

@Spiffyness:
Medal of Honor had those. Metal Gear Solid, and The Getaway also had a health regenerating system.
But I have to give it to you, Halo 1 also gave a huge push to the health system popularization.

That said, I hate the system, and I wish games will slowly go back to health bars, and some kind of new healthpacks

Jomi294

@poser85: that's because most of these came out back in the 90's and were on the PC

@Spiffyness: Actually, I think you hit the nail on the head why Halo may not be on this list. Most of these games are pretty much straight-forward shooters. With the exception of Tribes and Battlefield, the rest are pretty much about your ability to aim and shoot or get to the right weapons you needed.

@jayntampa: i'll give you that. Halo also had a good matchmaker system.

@pb00: i'd have to disagree as the percentage style works fine in current games like TF2. I think it actually brings alittle anxiety to the player as they have to be more aware of their health.

I gotta say that I'm not a big fan of the health regen and just getting less ammo. Plus it just doesn't work if u want to do a tactical FPS.

jp182

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

this list is cool, but this guy has a lot of subjectivity plopped into what i would imagine is supposed to be an objective piece.

for me, no other game caught me up in a frenzy like goldeneye did when it released. bringing my controller and my skills over to my friends' houses every single day after school to kick serious ass in team deathmatch for about three years are still some of my fondest FPS memories. that game really was the multiplayer experience of my life, even now. GOLDENEYE WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. it would make MY list for that reason.

clearly, the more PC centric list here is a product of a more PC heavy gaming background. i can't say i disagree with any of the choices, but battlefield to me is kind of weak. as someone said way up top, it seems like more of an elaboration and refinement of tribes than anything.

doom and quake seem a bit similar.

but i think since this list is just about innovation in team MP, goldeneye SHOULD be on it. ten year old kids traveled for that game every day, all over the world.

the wheel

I guess there's still room for other team mates with a heal action.
And there's still revive (as seen by gow).

And on that matter no mention of RTCW which I think was the first teamplay game to feature revive?

NotTheGuy

Can't understand any people thinking Halo should be there, unless they'd never played any FPS apart from maybe CS until Halo came out. It's basically Marathon with a bunch of stuff taken from Tribes and UT. Nothing particularly evolutionary. There's no way it should replace Battlefield, even if you only think of Battlefield 1942 without any of this unlocking weapons or statistics crap, it's probably the only online FPS to ever have a perfect implementation of a crazy variety of vehicles (everything from motorbikes to aircraft carriers). Even BF2 and stuff can't hold a candle to it, since jets, choppers and super fast and accurate tanks just destroy the balance between vehicles and infantry that BF1942 had.

I have no real problems with this list, even though I love Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, the latter still being the best console FPS.

vantesaur

Halo has TERRIBLE team battles. This is why it's not on the list. As for Cod4, it's a good game, it's just that it's not much different. For a team FPS to be really good, different people need to specalize in different areas. This is why class based FPS games (Team Fortress 2) are much better in teams than non-class based games will ever be.

RichChap

I just want to comment that recharging health is the worst concept that any series has brought to FPS. It makes it far too vague to know how far you are from dying.
I prefer to know exactly how many shots it is going to take to take someone down, and how many shots I can take.
It also eliminates the "medic" class from games like Battlefield ( I hope they don't start using regenerating health in future BFs) and to me that is a detriment to team shooters, having to rely on someone to heal you encourages teamwork.
Don't get me wrong, I love CoD, but when I play "in a team" it feels more like everyone playing on their own, as a big grenade/launcher target.

Cronofan

@roflwaffles: TF, yes. Halo, fuck no.

@jp182: now this is on the money! Actually not that i think about it; Halo should probably be on this list just because it made FPS' accessible to those that couldn't figure out/couldn't be bothered with a keyboard and mouse

How's that good? That's forever dumbed down FPS games, even those on the PC. PC games are now going to suffer because companies are going to cater to fucking retards. Health regeneration aside, take a look at how BioShock was dumbed down for console idiots.

Toprem

@Absent Blue: Marathon came out on December 21, 1994, DOOM came out on December 10, 1993. Not to mention Marathon being fairly obscure in comparison to DOOM, Mac ftmfl.

Toprem

Here's another vote for Halo. Every shooter released since has copied the game in some form or another.

ThisIsSick

FPS games need to bring back competition. This ended with Quake III Arena. Since then, it's been one consolized game after the other, including Quake IV which was a colossal disappointment, and Quake Wars which isn't really a Quake game (although I like Enemy Territory) but the model animation in the game (not the client render speed) is capped at 30fps which really hurts it from a hitbox standpoint.

However, the console players are the ones guiding the industry now, and they don't want to play FPS games with steep learning curves and high-level play. As a result, I think the golden age of FPS is over. Anyone here old enough to remember how frustrating their first game of QuakeWorld was? That sensation has gone out the window and has been replaced by samey auto-regen gameplay that takes away the entire resource-gathering element of FPS games. Games like COD4 (decent in its own right) take this even a step further by providing you with a weapon loadout, which makes Team DM a complete bore as there are no hotspots (you have to play something like Domination to shoehorn that element back into the gameplay). This could be remedied, but there'd have to be a good (read: financially sound) reason, and laymen / casual / console gamers would be more likely to buy a game they wouldn't get totally dominated at because it's so difficult to learn. They had to patch in tutorials into Quake Wars because people weren't getting it.

A lesser, more reasonable request: let's see some more co-op campaigns. Even if they're shallow/mindless like Serious Sam, people want to play *with* their friends just as much, if not more so, than they want to play *against* them.

UltraMagnus

Halo isn't on there because it didn't do ANYTHING new for FPS' in general. For consoles? Sure. It was the first big online shooter. But for pc's? Nothing in halo hadn't already been done in either quake(mods), hl, ut, or tribes. Just because it's your favorite shooter doesn't mean it innovated much.

Cpt_Bongwater

All of the games listed in this article are PC games, so to not add even one console team FPS, to me at least, is saying that console FPS didn't influence the Modern Team FPS at all.

Console FPS have huge popularity today, so it all had to start by the influence of one console shooter. To me, you could argue that Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Halo, and others were the most influential, but I think at least one console FPS belongs on this list.

The list should be amended to be "Modern PC Team FPS">

Callidux

Quake started it all. Large multiplayer games over the internet became popular with Quake. Most, if not all, of the multiplayer gamemodes we have today started out as Quake mods. Capture the Flag, Team Fortress, Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill, vehicular combat, counter-strike style rounds, rocket arena, etc, I could go on and on and on and on. Internet stat tracking was attempted with Quakeworld. Clans became popular with Quake.

In terms of multiplayer FPS, nothing groundbreaking has really been done since Quake to be honest!

baccardi84

I have to laugh at all the people whining about Halo not being on the list. Did you even read the damn article? He specifically states why other fps's didn't make the list because they brought nothing new in terms to the TEAM-FPS genre! It's not a list about innovations in multiplayer fps, its about TEAMPLAY games!

belo

I know I might get shot down for this but what about interactive destructible environments of Red Faction. The game as a whole wasn't that great but how fun was it to be able to bore a whole through a wall and be able to shoot through it?

I see Turok is missing and for inotiative weapons can you really get passed the brain bore?

Chuco

Come to think of it. Golden had that concept of non regen. Maybe that's why it was so fun ^^

pyropetey

@frostcircus:

horrible.. charging shield thing... ruined FPS' for generations to come.

@skewt: For brinigng FPS to the masses (aka console masses -_-;;), it was golden eye first NOT halo. halo brought it bigger but it was never brought any better than golden eye.

@frostcircus:
Healing by standing still away from fire is a lame attempt at gameplay mechanics. It also generates the crappiest gameplay ideals ever, two people that cant shoot right will never kill eachother "in theory"

You offer one ideal of gameplay where you hide and heal but it does relatively little. IN comparison something like a medic or even disposable medpacks would suffice (not useable in battle). Ideas like that generate similar concepts. The TRUE fact that this "ubiquitous" ideal was created was because users are NOT good at FPS'. This gameplay mechanic was derived solely so that users (of any level) can play through the game cuz they would hardly die, sure i'll salute them for that but honest to goodness its a flawed mechanic removing strategy and on the fly thinking and replacing them with run hide and heal.

pyropetey

Duke3d had a dedicated melee button (you could kick at any time, infact if you were on the melee 'weapon' you would kick with one foot; and the dedicated melee button would kick with the other foot, so you could kick with both feet at once - quite awesome).

TF had dedicated gren buttons. (primary AND secondary). It also had some of the best level scripting I had ever seen. You could do crazy stuff; there was a map called 'hunted' which was basically hunt the VIP mode from CS; it had a map called canalzon that was much like a hold-the-point style map. NOT just the CTF variants that everyone associates with TF.

MeateaW

@jarjarwang:

S'been done, but it needs to be redone, deffinently.

[planetside.station.sony.com]

belo

@skewt:

I agree. It's almost as if there are two camps; People who played PC FPS before playing consoles, and then people who only played consoles.

The gamers who started on consoles can't see halo or goldeneyes place in the grand scheme of things. Its what they remember and its what influenced THEM, so obviously it should be on every list from now on.

In my opinion, HALO (series) is the greatest console shooter ever made. Should it be on this particular list though? No.

Eyerox

Okay, reading all these comments half of what I see is "No Halo" and "Yes Halo". So let's beak it down.

Halo: Combat Evolved:
1. Good controls on a console FPS (Yes I know it's not the first time)
2. Recharging energy shield. Halo 1 still had health packs, so this is one of the problems; it's a half-innovation. To everyone who says it sucks, that's not relevant. The list wasn't "GOOD multiplayer FPS innovations". Also, while I certainly don't believe recharging health works in every game (Unreal Tournament for example is better without it), it has it's place. It slows down the pace of gameplay, priveliges the intelligent use of cover, and creates a way for enemies to be difficult to kill that does not rely on simply giving them more hit points.
3. Someone said this already, but: The combination of guns, melee, and grenades together is something I have not seen executed so well outside the Halo series prior to the Halo series. Particularly, the two-gun limit forces difficult decisions about what weapon to take.

Halo 2:
1. The recharging shield mechanic is fully embraced, and health packs eliminated completely. A significant change, and originated here.
2. Guns/Grenades/Melee. This is enhanced by adding dual-wielding, creating a real trade-off between single- and dual- wields.
3. Vehicles. It was done before, but the vehicles mesh very well with all the elements in point 2 (for example sticky grenades), and there is also the option of hijacking vehicles that the enemy is piloting; I don't believe that appeared in a previous game, although I may be wrong.
4. The Energy Sword. Melee weapons exist in prior FPS, I know. But the Energy Sword is certainly among the most memorable, and they did a good job using the lunge attack to balance it against the weapons without making it TOO good.
5. Matchmaking etc. I know matchmaking existed before Halo 2, as did stat-tracking etc. I also know that some of the credit here goes to XBOX-live, as someone else mentioned before. However, the matchmaking and stat-tracking are good enough to be worthy of a mention; they were integrated into the game from the beginning, and a lot of games released after are still struggling to come close to the standard that Halo 2 set.

Halo 3:
1. Addition of Equipment. This adds a fourth pole to the grenade/gun/melee triad of the previous games. I don't think it was as significant as it could have been, but I do believe it warrants a mention. I fully expect that a future game could do a lot with this: for example, I'd love to see a tactical FPS where you can use a Breaching Charge as a piece of equipment, or a Camo Net-so there's a lot of potential there, albeit only partially realized.
2. The ability to tear out an emplaced weapon, trading heavy firepower for speed/maneuverability, is an interesting dynamic, and the only other game i can think of featuring it is FarCry Instincts, which was certainly not influential. I think this also has untapped potential.
3. Saved films/Forge/etc. Yes, map editors and saved films existed before. But what Bungie does here is integrate the community very well with the game, and with themselves as a company. This is as much cultural as directly gameplay-related, but it's relevant. And while Forge is simpler than a map editor, I would argue that that's the point. It's supposed to be. Map editors can be intimidating; Forge is a step back from complexity and towards accessibility. It's a trade-off, but it does count as a significant innovation, to me.

Halo 1 teased several innovations, 2 fully delivered on those promises, and 3 was a further refinement of that formula. I think the hard part here is that while the series innovated, it's difficult to pick a game and say: THIS is the one that did it. They all took steps, new steps; but none was truly radical in and of itself.

Finally, to those who tout Marathon: I don't know how widely played it was in comparison to Halo, but even if it was played more Halo has much more mindshare culturally. And one of the criteria mentioned at the beginning was that the games on the list be influential.

Also, beyond Halo: How has no one mentioned cover systems! I believe either PDZ, Rainbow Six Vegas, or both gets the credit here, but cover systems are a hell of a relevant change from run-and-gun.

I am now exhausted. Bye.

KillianD

He pegged just about all of them. Anything else you've seen on the PC or console was indeed derivative of these titles, with minor incremental changes.

Regenerating health as a core and large scale gameplay mechanic that changed the face of team FPS? Get that weak stuff out of here.

crapsh00t

@ThisIsSick: That makes no sense, Halo copies stuff from just about every other shooter imaginable and it does a shitty job at it. Hell, most shooters copy shit from other ones for that matter. And HL2 and TF2 sure as shit didn't copy shit from godawful Halo.

Toprem

Actually; frostcircus you bring up a good point. Just because it was a gameplay innovation for a *multiplayer* game, doesn't mean it fits under the title for innovation for *team based* multiplayer game. The focus of the whole article.

Regenerating health; or not doesn't really change the team dynamics to increase teamplay. If anything it reduces team interaction and team reliance reducing the teamplay aspect thus diluting the team-game.

Thats where TF/Tribes/Tribes2/Beef excel; all of the innovations listed for those games enhance the team experience. Primarily by slotting players into niche's that require teamwork to get the most out of each class, but also by the innovative (or first) use of vehicles that require team coordination.

Unlike all of the innovations that console fpsers mention none of them have anything to do with *teamplay*. Vehicles perhaps; but not before tribes1/2. Control schemes have very little to do with multiplayer.

MeateaW

@Cronofan: As long as an opponent doesn't escape for any signifcant period of time, regening health doesn't make any difference going by the assumption everyone is at full health. In fact, by that assumption most times it should be easier to tell how many hits you need/can take.

I'll say I think regen health is good. Not necessaily the best or only system to be used, but I like it in Halo especially. It fits with the 1-man army mentality of Halo. It was Ubisoft/IW/etc. idea to "Halo-ize" their respective series unecessarily. (my opinion)

And about COD4 and medics... this is a reason I really liked COD3 better. It had medics. And Classes > Perks.

Xiedo

I just think TFC has more of a right than Halo to be on the list. In fact there are a lot of multi-player FPS mods that I would like to at least have mentioned on this list, because of their influence on modern FPSs (like becoming actual products in some cases). If anything I don't think I've played an original game-mode in Halo that hasn't appeared in every other online FPS, even as a mod.

Laughin_Caulk

@frostcircus: Uhh well said? lol

Hmmm I know the article is talking about influential :P. And yea I do agree, the health regen was definitely influential shaping FPS' to come.

I think the bigger issue that HAS come up is whether or not this is a good thing. Whether dumbing down our FPS' so that an audience of casual gamers can play them but at the same time removing what was core to FPS' when they first game out.

I will not claim that recharging health is a COMPLETE waste of time. In fact in many games they are an appropriate match and do help the gameplay out overall (inclusive of generating strategy and changing strategy). But the FAD that has come about from this ideal ruins many games further on which I think is a shame.

Personally I think halo 1 had it relatively balanced and well designed. Regenating shield with static health.

If you always have regenerating health it takes some of the franticness and fun out of many game play modes. Trust me o_O.

pyropetey

i would have to agree with the people who say halo wasn't revolutionary but it not that say it isn't a great game.

it did well on the console long after golden provide it could be done and people had forgotten fps on the consoles
my being a battlefield fan at the time i dint see anything there that wasn't already done not to say battle field did it first.

as for the comment that stated melee attack i can remember back to day of defeat where they had it on the bolt action rifles and some other gun while not on all weapons it has been around.

what halo did was to do everything it did well and was perfect in adding as such a game doesn't need to be innovative to be fun.

theboi

@pyropetey: So you think the feature "ruined FPSs for generations to come."

You could almost say it was... influential.

I don't get why the debate's turned to the merits of the gameplay features, that's not what the article was about. Truth is, I don't like about half of the ones mentioned in the article, but I'd be a fool to claim they weren't influential.

I may think that Lost is the worst thing to happen to television writing in a very long time, and that many shows have suffered as a result of it's influence, but again - influence. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not there. 'Influential' isn't inherently synonymous with 'good.'

..

..

..unless you're talking about recharging healthAHAHEAHAHAEH

frostcircus

Quake did all of that.
Quake 2 brought us crouching :)

h0mi

No mention of half life.

Mods existed back in the days of Doom but Half Life made it easier to deal with as an end user. Quake 2 brought FPS to windows and support for 3dfx cards. (Im aware quake worked under windows but it was an add on client.)

h0mi

@Spl1nter3: dude we are well past the era of health pack in FPS.

svexo

@zombieistired: No it didn't. If anything its made games better. I suppose your the kind of person that loved getting easy kills because people were constantly running around with no health due to health packs being limited on map.

Tiberian

@the wheel:
Doom and Quake aren't very similar at all, except on the surface. Quake was the first FPS that was completely three-dimensional, and was the first FPS that could be played over the Internet with other people anywhere in the world, rather than over LAN. Needless to say, this is a big change. And considering that describes literally every single FPS that was made after Quake, I'd say that's rather enormously impactful on its part. Quake was also significantly more of a team-based game than Doom, even in deathmatch.

Quake, in my estimation, is quite easily the most influential (and best, but that's another story) FPS we've ever had. You could perhaps argue that Doom is more influential since it came before, but then, you could simply have that argument all the way back what could be construed as the first FPS. Quake did a lot of things Doom didn't do, that still have a huge impact today; Internet play, its 3D engine (used by little-known games like Half-Life 1), and popular mods/creations like TF, CTF, Rocket Arena, machinima, bots, etc... These all got their start through Quake.

As for people saying TF should be on the list: once again, TF was originally a Quakeworld mod (much like the famous CTF was). Quakeworld was a hugely popular modification for Quake that allowed for far superior latency, making for far smoother online play, especially for those with a dial-up connection (which was damn near everyone back then). QW was yet another of Quake's influential creations (client-side prediction). Anyway, TF is completely covered by the "Quake" entry.

Zeliard

Yep, I really don't like Quake much at all (always been a UT guy), but there's no doubt it's done much more for "Team Multiplayer FPS" (that being what this entire topic is about) than any other game.

vantesaur

I forgot about clans, too, which someone mentioned earlier. That's right, clans (or guilds, gangs, whatever you want to call them) literally got their start with Quake 1. You never heard the word "clan" or any other word for what it describes before that.

Clans were a Quake phenomenon that naturally came into existance as a result of the game's revolutionary Internet play. Quake's impact is felt all throughout the online gaming scene, not just in FPSs.

Zeliard

Luziphir

I thought that the headshot, and diferent damage for each body part born in goldeneye. i played a lot of pc FPS but by the time, you shoot someone and it was like a water gun, his health numbers wend down but the player react like nothing happens. In Goldeneye, one revolver shot in your head and you were dead, the bullet proof vest was a really cool idea, and shooting through door or some materials was part of the gameplay. Before Goldeneye, you just ran for the rocket launcher, and everthing else was useless (except BFG9000).

Petrush

heromoua

Halo (1/2/30 does NOT belong on the list because it did nothing to innovate MULTIPLAYER FPS, which is what the article is about.

Sadly, I've wasted countless hours on every single game on that list, hehe.

@frostcircus:

Team Fortress was, at one time, the most played game that gamespy tracked. Beat out everything else, including Tribes. Both were awesome though.

@Owen Good:
Yeah, these games standardized controls, but not for consoles...these are all PC games.

yodablues

i coulda sworn Red Faction(ps2) was the first to have rechargeables AND destructible environment

黒天使

I would add Goldeneye to that list, it being the mother of console multiplayer.

crazydave_w

After reading through the article, I have to say I agree with most of what's said and after reading through all the comments I could rant on for an hour and still not say anything that hasn't been said already so I'll say this: Goldeneye, Perfect Dark - Great games and some of my fondest memories of multiplayer games are associated with them but they weren't innovative to Team-FPS' as a whole.
Halo: I'm probably going to get some perisable goods thrown at me but I don't like it's multiplay at all really, I would say however that health regen (although I think it was done before in MoH) is an innovation, especially for the likes of COD4 where the maps are small and the games when they feature the full 32 players are madness, it is better to have regen than run around looking for a medipak or medic.
As far as future innovations go I think that there needs to be integrated clan support and in the likes of clan members moving on to a random server together, automatching them together on the same team if possible. All in all, I'm happy with the innovations left behind by todays forerunners....apart from maybe VoIP, that can be just plain annoying, especially when pitted against some 12yr old on Live - probably why I stick to PC gaming

MasterDex

@Toprem: Heh, keep hating. Apple sold more Macs last year than any year in its history, and they're on pace to sell even more this year. Meanwhile MS continues to struggle to make Vista relevant to serious users, is already talking about Windows 7, and now there are rumors that MS is going to do retail? I hope they do, I've never seen a whole WALL of 360s RROD all at the same time, usually just one demo unit in a store...;)

Alex Seropian once said the only fault with the PowerMac was they didn't let him put Marathon into the system ROM.

So you might just want to take your Mac ignorance and shove it. Its already been said, but DOOM lacked Mouselook, 24-bit color, and several game modes that Marathon invented, and which were then picked up by dozens of other later PC games. If that doesn't qualify it based on the criteria for this list, then its a flawed list at best.

With the possible exception of DOOM, which still earns its spot based on being first, Marathon is not a better team multiplayer game than the others on this list...but without Marathon those games would look different, just because PC gamers were ignorant about Bungie in 94-95 doesn't mean other PC devs weren't playing their games and taking notes ;)

@KillianD: Nope, sorry Marathon has to come before Halo, since everything you like about Halo except jumping and newer tech was pioneered in that game by the same developers. Again, this list is about pioneers and influential features, not popularity. I like Halo myself, again it just doesn't work on this list.

DaiMacculate

DarkDragon9906

@Toprem: And that's why both those games suck.

Rhuno

@ vantesaur: agreed. i love Q2/Q3: Team Arena but UT was the only other FPS I enjoyed as much as Q2/Q3. Facing Worlds had much to do with that and the UT love hasn't died to this day.

______________________________
goldeneye did bring some great ideas to console fps games that made for awesome team based play. different damage based on areas hit made covering fire and sniping very effective. also i still believe goldeneye has the best rocket launcher compared to any modern day fps. Goldeneye's launcher has real splash damage that makes sense. i've seen many people try to wait a second and then run through the flames after the initial impact of a rocket only to be burned alive by the flames. i haven't seen this effect in halo Cod 2 or 3 ( i don't play 4) resistence timesplitters, turok, not even quake or unreal. again that effect was awesome for cover fire since the splash damage was letal and in some cases worst than the inital impact. saved many a teamate with that effect. good times...

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

@Absent Blue: Didnt Doom come out befor