Evolution of the FPS: 27 Years of Fragging

L31mr0d

Pretty interesting look back at the last 27 years of FPS's.

My favourite in that list is Descent, first game I played regularly in multiplayer with a few of my friends on a LAN we'd set up on the weekend. Good times.

Evolution of the FPS

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I remember playing descent online over the modem... loved it, loved it so god damn much

was so cool to dial someone else's phone nujmber using a computer and playing a game. The future was then!

tman

Serial cable connection ftw:p

Wolfenstein 3D was my introduction to the genre, hard to believe that that was 15 years ago...
My fave would have to be the original Quake... I used to love totally owning my mates, they always made me use the pc with a dodgy mouse, but that didn't stop me.
Followed by HL1 DM - I would've gone past first year in college if it wasn't for that damn game!:p

NotWormBoy

Wolfenstein was mine also.

Doom followed. Closely by Doom 2.

Which happens to be my favourite.

Even Half-Life, brilliant as it was, never hooked me as completely as Doom and Doom 2. Half-Life is still the biggest leap forward - it was one of, if not the, first game that properly got stuck in and tried to bring a sense of actual proper storyline to a game - and the first that made people realise that games could rival Hollywood if done properly.

A game of Half-Life's (relative) vision with todays hardware and graphics could really completely takes games to a new level. Just like Civ and Dune/C&C changed genres completely, we're waiting for the next big step forward.

weemcd

sat and scratched my head as to why i couldnt see ANY quake game, ctrl+f "quake", nothing.

thats complete and utter bollix, yet they still found time to include marathon?

Stephen

That was to keep the mac/halo fanboys quiet

the_syco

1990 - LHX AttackChopper - Excellent
1992 - Wolfenstein 3D - Sweet
1993 - Doom - Awesome
1995 - Descent - Mind Bending
1996 - Duke Nukem 3D - Sweet
1998 - Half-life - Unreal, cool
2002 - Battlefield 1942 - Unbelievable multiplayer
2004 - Doom 3 - Fun for a few levels, then just the same sh|t
2007 - Crysis - Meh. Beta sucked, haven't got around to the full game

Played Wolf before I played LHX AttackChopper, which was around the same time as I cam across a flight sim called Retal (F-29 Retaliator, came out in 1991) which also ruled. Doom was sweet, esp as the AI was better than Wolf (they would hunt you down a bit more). Descent was mind bending, as after a while, there was no up or down, so getting lost sometimes just happened. Duke 3D was the first time I played a multiplayer FPS (C&C being the first multiplayer over a null modem), but HL really awed me, as the AI was excellent. The playability of BF42, the way you could jump into any plane, tank, sub, jeep was truely awesome.

Morlar

Doom then quake for the cd audio, level design, multiplayer-abililty and being able to look up and down and jump etc.

Quake on a dedicated 3d blaster vid card with the verie rendition engine was awesome even at that time. If its not on their list of groundbreaking games ion the evolution of fps then they need a new list.

L31mr0d

It is a bit odd they don't have quake in the list.

shanethemofo

*Cough* or counter strike *Cough*

Stephen

I guess that's covered under Half-Life, since it was just a mod for HL. I think HL2 should have got the mention for 2004, it pisses all over Doom 3.

robinph

Unfortunately I've been around long enough to remember playing the first one on the list, Battletank.

Crash

No rise of the triad? for shame...

Creamy Goodness

no fps list is complete without Daikatana (hope i'm spelling that right)

the_syco

Didn't Duke3d or RotT not come out before Quake? Also, it's not so much as "good" ones, but which ones altered ones perception, me thinks, of gaming.

cosgrove80

Outlaws was pretty good too.

K.O.Kiki

Deus Ex.

C'mon, noone's mentioned this yet? No?
Frag it.

Sabre0001

Some major ommissions from that list alright! I think my first was Quake...Them were the days!

Damn!!

çrash_000 wrote: »

No rise of the triad? for shame...

gotta love the cheat codes! johnwoo = dual handguns

Ciaran500

Pretty sure its showing the evoulution of the graphics of FPS's rather than anything in the gameplay so they just picked the prettiest games of the year.

mayordenis

quake is on the list 1996

Cravez

Unreal isn't on the list. One FPS that i used to love was Zero Tolerence! Heretic/Hexen isn't on the list either, loved those games.

Retr0gamer

Rise of the Triad was really just a stop gap before Duke 3D and the build engine games. It was very flat, a bit boring and the supposed room over rooms were just sprites. My favourite Build engine game was Shadow Warrior.

Quake is an absolutely massive omission from that list. It was the first true polygonal FPS, started a massive growth in online FPS gaming over the internet instead of dialling a mates modem and GL Quake was one of the first games that really used 3D graphics cards.

Unreal doesn't deserve to be on the list. It looked gorgeous at the time but was really just a pretty Quake 1 and a very poor game at that. Nice multiplayer though.

Also where the hell in System Shock? It was hugely innovative and way ahead of it's time when it came out and many of it's features are only now being seen in games. It was one of the first FPD games with room over room, an inventory, crouch and lean functions and a primative mouse look.

KdjaCL

No MOHAA 1st "epic" FPS , no OpFlash 1st FPS sim, No Soldier of Fortune 1st gore fps, No Postal 1st insane FPS.

crap list.


kdjac

Jazzy

2 call of duty's ?

MooseJam

quake is on the list

Ciaran500

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Unreal doesn't deserve to be on the list. It looked gorgeous at the time but was really just a pretty Quake 1 and a very poor game at that. Nice multiplayer though.

:eek:

You're just trying to step on toes now. Off with your head!

conzy

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Unreal doesn't deserve to be on the list. It looked gorgeous at the time but was really just a pretty Quake 1 and a very poor game at that. Nice multiplayer though.

gtfo

Unreal and Quake are almost equally awesome but i'd say Unreal is better

tman

[troll]What about the Darkness? that should be there for 2007!!![/troll]

po0k

Cremo wrote: »

no fps list is complete without Daikatana (hope i'm spelling that right)

No-one cares

OMFG!!!1 They left out Alien Breed 3D and Death Mask!!!1

Canis Lupus

Yeah Quake is in there as 1996 before the greatness that was Goldeneye.

BlitzKrieg

all those pointing out Quake being on the list, note that it was slipped in as an edit later on *look at the comments*

Retr0gamer

What I can remember of Unreal is me and my mate making each other play a game that we hated. My friend got Deus Ex which became one of his favourite games ever. I got to play Unreal which was one of the most unoriginal and uninspired pieces of thrash I've ever played in my life. FFS the game had a weapon that shot out blobs of green goo.

Makaveli

Needs some AvP2 on that list.

Kiith

Retr0gamer wrote: »

FFS the game had a weapon that shot out blobs of green goo.

And it still does :rolleyes:

Morlar

mayordenis wrote: »

quake is on the list 1996

Wahey. This is a new list - they added quake - it for sure wasnt on there a few days ago.

conzymaher wrote: »

Unreal and Quake are almost equally awesome but i'd say Unreal is better

Now thats just crazy talk.

deZire

I think my introduction to the genre was either Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. Quickly followed by Quake, then Unreal Tournament and Half Life.

armour87

My favourite games in the genre

Half lifes
Halos
Exhumed
Timesplitters
BioShock
COD's
Serious Sam

quarryman

anyone else getting a 404 error?

cregser

yeah the whole site is down