Paste?s Top 50 FPS of All Time

Hawki

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hanselthecaretaker said:
I find it very interesting that you are a big Halo fan and also gave Killzone 2 props. I agree the latter deserves a nod for presentation, physics, and its generally visceral nature. Before Killzone 2 the closest thing to its style was Black, which also deserves a spot.
I know that Killzone was touted as a "Halo killer" back in the day, but while they're supposed to be rivals, I enjoy both franchises. Both offer different experiences both narratively and mechanically, and I can enjoy them for separate reasons. Still like Halo more at the end of the day, but Killzone is a fun series as well (granted, only played KZ1, Liberation, and 2, so I can't comment too much on the games beyond that).

Ironman126 said:
OP: Why is Battlefield 3 (I.E. the worst Battlefield game) on the list but Bad Company 2 isn't? Bad Company 2 is obviously superior in all ways that matter. Plus, you know, it ran day one and PC players didn't have to fuck with Battlelog.
Worse than Modern Combat?

Snark aside, I thought that people generally preferred BF3 to 4, but the last Battlefield game I played was Bad Company, so go figure.
 

Ironman126

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Smithnikov said:
Glad to see STALKER make the cut, but why SoC? Call of Pripyat improved on it in every single way....
The consensus as I understand it, is that while CoP was mechanically and visually better, it did not have as interesting a plot or atmosphere. When I think S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I think SoC, the "wish-granting" monolith, the mind scorcher, and Strelok, not a botch military operation.

Hawki said:
Ironman126 said:
OP: Why is Battlefield 3 (I.E. the worst Battlefield game) on the list but Bad Company 2 isn't? Bad Company 2 is obviously superior in all ways that matter. Plus, you know, it ran day one and PC players didn't have to fuck with Battlelog.
Worse than Modern Combat?

Snark aside, I thought that people generally preferred BF3 to 4, but the last Battlefield game I played was Bad Company, so go figure.
Was Modern Combat bad? I legitimately have never even heard of it, which I suppose is telling.

Never played BF4, either, but I know it had some pretty horrific netcode issues and other launch problems. BF3, however, promised much, but delivered little, especially compared to Bad Company 2, which immediately preceded it.

OP: I also totally forgot about the Red Orchestra and Arma series, which should be on the list. Probably towards the bottom because those games are not for everyone.
 

Hawki

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Ironman126 said:
Was Modern Combat bad? I legitimately have never even heard of it, which I suppose is telling.
Basically a watered down version of Battlefield 2. Singleplayer basically popped you in maps lifted from multiplayer, with the illusion of a narrative, but really nothing deeper than "you, kill the enemy."
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

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FEAR is no 49? but overrated FPS like Halo and COD4 are in top 5?? Bioshock over SYSTEM SHOCK 2???? what?? the poor mans rip off is better than actual game??


list is not that bad but ranking is awful. FEAR still have best shooting mechanic of all time.
 

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How is Bioshock Infinite lower on this list than Bioshock 2? Why is Bioshock 2 even on that list? Far Cry 3 would have been a better fit. Also if you're going to put a Fallout game on an FPS list why go with 3? New Vegas was much better and the shooting actual worked in New Vegas.
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

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Smithnikov said:
Glad to see STALKER make the cut, but why SoC? Call of Pripyat improved on it in every single way....
Call of pripyat is no where near as good as Shadow of Chernoboyl. COP has too much moving around and its world is way too smaller. clear sky was pretty bad.

none of Stalker games are close to SOC. Stalker SOC is too low in list. it should be in top 5 FPS.
 

Vigormortis

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Meh, it's a listicle. What did you all expect?

For me, it's an okay list. A few changes here and there and it'd be mostly in alignment with my own.

Though Halo 2 being above Half-Life 2 and a few others is just baffling, no matter how you look at it.

[sub]~ Halo 2 was trash. I know I'll get a lot of flak from 'true' Halo fans, but it really didn't leave me feeling as satisfied as any other game in the series did. The campaign was forgettable. They spent ages hyping up the story's move to Earth, yet you're there for, like, ten minutes. It had a worse ending than Half-Life 2: Episode 2. And its multiplayer wasn't really that ground-breaking nor great. And, bare in mind, I was one of those plebs who waited in line outside a Gamestop at midnight to get a copy.~ [/sub]

Silentpony said:
Go back and play the original Doom. Its very clunky, very obtuse, the jumping is ass, and the soundtrack was terrible. Its like saying Pong is the best multiplayer game of all time, simply because it was the first.
....Its very clunky, very obtuse, the jumping is ass, and the soundtrack was terrible....
....the jumping is ass....
Wat...
 

Bad Jim

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Vigormortis said:
Silentpony said:
Go back and play the original Doom.
~snip~
....the jumping is ass....
Wat...
You don't actually have a jump button but there are a few spots where you have to 'jump' by running off your platform towards another platform. Then you have to stop before you run off the end of that platform. And forward/backward movement is bound to the mouse, so it's easy to fall off a platform anyway.

Fortunately most source ports let you disable the forward/backward mouse binding and some give you a jump button. Also, there isn't that much tricky platforming in the game. But it is indeed a flaw in the original game. Another source of fun is the infinite monster height that means they can stop you running off a cliff edge while standing at the bottom.
 

Ironman126

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Hawki said:
Basically a watered down version of Battlefield 2. Singleplayer basically popped you in maps lifted from multiplayer, with the illusion of a narrative, but really nothing deeper than "you, kill the enemy."
That sounds pretty similar to what Red Orchestra 2 does, but RO2 wasn't advertised as a singleplayer game.
 

Jeroenr

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not_you said:
Far Cry 2?
In the top 5 of ANYONE'S list?

Fuck yes!

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who thought it was a great game...
Sure, the story is meh, but the gunplay+environment was what made the game!

As for my opinions on the list... I don't think Halo 1+2 together deserved to be that high... (Then again, I never got the whole "Halo" thing)

Happy to see the Metro games there too. STALKER got it's standard mention as "honourable"
Don't know how Left 4 Dead 1 is so high, but L4D2 isn't... Since they patched all the L4D maps into L4D2...

Since it was mostly a Nostalgia dump I kinda hoped to see RoTT... As that was my personal favourite from the 90's game bin...

Also; WHERE IS PAINKILLER!?!
That's it, I'm done...
Farcry 2, there's an interesting one.
Your character has malaria, and has to take a pill every time a fever flares up.

which started as an interesting story/game mechanic, but soon turned in a bit of a bother and later on when you ran out of pills in a downride nuisance.
 

Choppaduel

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Silentpony said:
Eh, I can't take these 'I'm a real gamer, see I made the first Doom game the best FPS EVAR!' lists seriously.
Go back and play the original Doom. Its very clunky, very obtuse, the jumping is ass, and the soundtrack was terrible. Its like saying Pong is the best multiplayer game of all time, simply because it was the first.

Bioshock is better than the original Doom in every way. As is Doom 2016. Duke Nukem, Hexen, Bioshock Infinite, etc...all better. Hell most of that list is better than the Original Doom. I'd have put it at either 49 or 50
I went back and played Doom and I couldn't disagree with you more. I love the soundtrack (its helps that I'm into sludge metal) and the lack of jumping, fast run, mechanics, etc... at this point, is a nice change of pace.
Also, when you consider the "best FPSs of all time", you should consider how influential the game was/is, shouldn't you?
 

Trunkage

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B-Cell said:
FEAR is no 49? but overrated FPS like Halo and COD4 are in top 5?? Bioshock over SYSTEM SHOCK 2???? what?? the poor mans rip off is better than actual game??


list is not that bad but ranking is awful. FEAR still have best shooting mechanic of all time.
It depends if your talking back in the day or how they feel now. Bioshock feels and plays way better than SS2. I replayed the later last year, and it felt awful. But then Half-Life doesn't hold up anymore either...

not_you said:
Far Cry 2?
In the top 5 of ANYONE'S list?

Fuck yes!

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who thought it was a great game...
Sure, the story is meh, but the gunplay+environment was what made the game!
I loved it but thinking about the story... it doesn't make sense. Also, opponents can snipe you from anywhere, through anything
 

The Rogue Wolf

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I'm sorry, no. Rating Bioshock ANYTHING over System Shock ANYTHING is just a sign of not having a clue. Bioshock was a pale, narrow imitation of its predecessor series, linear and shallow.

not_you said:
Far Cry 2?
In the top 5 of ANYONE'S list?

Fuck yes!
I liked Far Cry 2, but it was also a buggy mess, the weapon degradation was horrendous (some weapons would visibly degrade from one shot), and you couldn't spend five minutes enjoying the scenery without some asshat in a car or boat coming to ruin your day no matter how many of them you gunned down. I wasn't too big on FC3 (Jason Brody is a shithead), but at least clearing territory in that game produced results.
 

Vigormortis

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Bad Jim said:
Vigormortis said:
Silentpony said:
Go back and play the original Doom.
~snip~
....the jumping is ass....
Wat...
You don't actually have a jump button but there are a few spots where you have to 'jump' by running off your platform towards another platform. Then you have to stop before you run off the end of that platform. And forward/backward movement is bound to the mouse, so it's easy to fall off a platform anyway.
Who the hell used the mouse to move in Doom?! For fine aim left and right, sure, but most people I knew used the arrow keys. In fact, all you really needed were the arrow keys, space bar, left control and shift, and the number keys. (and maybe tab or M)

Fortunately most source ports let you disable the forward/backward mouse binding
You could do that in the original too. You could alter all of the controls.

and some give you a jump button.
As far as I'm aware, only those that run their own engine. I.E. Skulltag, et al.

Though...god damn does having the ability to actually jump trivialize some of the maps, puzzles, and challenges of the first two games. There's an early map in Doom 2 that you can beat in seconds, literally skipping 90+% of the map, simply by jumping up onto a three foot high ledge.

Also, there isn't that much tricky platforming in the game. But it is indeed a flaw in the original game.
I don't know that I'd call it a flaw. 'Course, I've never been sympathetic to the complaints about platforming in first person. I was always a natural at it, so it's hard for me to grasp the apparent difficulty people seem to have.

Not to say I discount those complaints, just that I can't appreciate them.

Another source of fun is the infinite monster height that means they can stop you running off a cliff edge while standing at the bottom.
I wouldn't really call that fun. Maddeningly infuriating, maybe.
 

spartandude

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Well for me, I'd have to say 60 fps is the best. It provides smooth gameplay and pretty much any worth while machine can run- Oh you meant as in shooters.
 

sXeth

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Silvanus said:
The original Doom is not that good. Most influential is not the same thing as best.
Yeah, that's generally my issue with these style of lists. IDK how someone'd get Doom being better then Doom 2, other then "Well, it was first". As compared to UT to UT2004, where maybe they don't like vehicles, the jump in some other cases is just layers of polish on a janky first draft.
 

Hawki

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Seth Carter said:
Yeah, that's generally my issue with these style of lists. IDK how someone'd get Doom being better then Doom 2, other then "Well, it was first".
Hawki said:
Every Doom game I've played, with the exception of Doom 2, has been somewhat unique in the context of its series. Doom 1/3/2016 all do different things. Doom 2 is simply more of the same of Doom 1. It does add some monsters and weapons, but that isn't enough to defeat the feeling of monotomy.

Also, I find that Doom 1 is presented better. Now, Doom 1 is hardly a masterpiece of storytelling, but there's at least something interesting going on in its settings. We start with Phobos (a purely human environment), go to Deimos (where Hell is starting to overtake the base), and then Hell itself. It's a nice case of visual storytelling. Doom 2 lacks any of this, and all of its bridging story is told via text.

Doom 2 isn't bad, but it's easily my least favorite installment of the series.
There you go.
 

Bad Jim

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Vigormortis said:
Who the hell used the mouse to move in Doom?! For fine aim left and right, sure, but most people I knew used the arrow keys.
I used keys initially but I switched in the mid 90s. It's clearly the superior control method, even with the forward/back movement.

Vigormortis said:
Fortunately most source ports let you disable the forward/backward mouse binding
You could do that in the original too. You could alter all of the controls.
Nope. You could disable the mouse altogether, but there was no option in the game or in the setup utility to disable just the forward/backward mouse binding while still using the mouse to turn. Someone actually wrote a TSR called Novert that disabled vertical mouse movement just to play Doom with the mouse.

Some releases of Doom, such as the versions you get with the Doom 3 BFG Edition, fix this issue. But you will get it if you play the original through DOSbox.

Vigormortis said:
and some give you a jump button.
As far as I'm aware, only those that run their own engine. I.E. Skulltag, et al.
Not entirely sure what you mean by that. The Eternity Engine plays demos correctly, so it is close enough to the original, and also allows jumping.
 

Arnoxthe1

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Garrett Martin said:
41. Destiny

Regardless of whether you enjoy Destiny or not, it's hard to deny that it's a unique approach to creating a first-person shooter.
Seriously? Borderlands already did everything Destiny did. Bungie, where hast thou gone? Oh, down the Activision hole. That's right.

Timesplitters 2
Alright, that's fair. But you guys do have the third one somewhere in here, righ-... What? Seriously? TS3 made TS2 almost entirely irrelevant!

Jim Vorel said:
9. Goldeneye 007

... it doesn't hold up all that well today in either single or multiplayer modes, which are crippled by the incredibly clunky controls and inability to see more than 20 feet into the distance, but none of that really matters.
Bullshit. It matters, Jim. It's a biggy. A big biggy. It even states in this same damn article that PD is better than GE in every way. I wouldn't have cared that GE is on this list but PD is rated 20 ranks lower than GE. I think the writers here need to put down that crack pipe.

Javy Gwaltney said:
19. Unreal Tournament
This should be WAY the hell higher. Like, in the Top 5.

Suriel Vazquez said:
13. Half-Life 2
I'm actually really torn on this one. HL2 gave us a lot in terms of new things to see and the Source engine itself is pretty nice, but the actual gameplay has aged pretty horribly and it's definitely not something I'd recommend newcomers to the FPS genre should play. It's a lot like GoldenEye in that regard.

Patrick Lindsey said:
7. Halo: Combat Evolved
A worthy addition, but Halo 3 is missing. If I have to choose between Halo 2 or 3 though, it's gonna be 3. Reach also needs a place on this list too even if it's not that high at all.

Reid McCarter said:
5. Bioshock
BioShock was pretty darn good but it wasn't Top 5 good at all. Especially compared to some other entries.

Patrick Lindsey said:
4. Far Cry 2
THANK YOU for giving some love to FC2 finally. Again, I don't know if it really deserves a spot in the Top 5 but alright.

-

Notable absences:

Halo 3
Crysis
Timesplitters: Future Perfect
Serious Sam: The First Encounter
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Painkiller
ARMA
Aliens vs. Predator 2
Far Cry