The First-Person Shooter, or FPS¹, is one of the most popular computer gaming genres around at the moment. The basic premise of the FPS is simple; you view the game world through the characters eyes, and then shoot what you see.

First-Person Shooters are, in general, very fast-paced and exiting games, and practically all of them feature a wide variety of weapons and a multiplayer mode². Common variations on the theme include squad-based games - where you command a group of soldiers, and role-playing games – which tend to have a much deeper plot and rely a lot less on running around and blowing stuff up.

Contrary to popular belief Doom³ wasn’t the first FPS. Neither was Wolfenstien 3D. The earliest recognisable example of the FPS was a game called 3D Monster Maze, released for the Sinclair ZX81 in 1983. After that the genre stagnated until 1991, when id released Wolfenstein 3D⁴.

Run Around and Kill Nazis

Simple, isn't it? That is the whole premise of Wolf3D, sure they tried to insert a weak plot about escaping from dungeons and killing mad scientists but 'run around and kill Nazis' is basically it. By today's standards the game is virtually unplayable and in attitude is horrendously jingoistic, but that didn't matter at the time because id were on the verge of starting a revolution...

We're All Doomed

In 1993 id Software released the shareware game Doom⁵. Suddenly the rules had changed; adjacent areas had different lighting levels, there were stairs to climb and balconies to peek over, the soundtrack actually contributed to the atmosphere and the sprites were quite realistic⁶. Above all this the game was (and still is) both addictive and scary, reports came thick and fast of gamers doing 12-hour stints and having to sleep with the light on... of course this came with a price, almost as soon as the game was released the media lept on it in a frenzy of self-righteousness and 'Ban This Filth!' headlines.

The premise of Doom is simple yet compelling: a group of scientists on Mars have been experimenting with teleporter technology and accidently opened a gate to Hell, you are the last survior of a marine squad which was sent in to investigate. Now go kick some demon!

Modding

Short for 'modifying', modding is the act of altering a game to create something new. This can range from something as simple as creating a few new levels for the purpose of filling any plot holes or continuing the storyline or as complicated as altering the game itself to create something entirely new.
Although there were very basic editing programs available for Wolfenstien 3D, modding really exploded when Doom came out. There were a great many editing programs of various types available to download and there are still thousands of Doom mods out there. Duke Nukem 3D⁷, while not particularly innovative in it's own right, introduced something which would become very important to the modding community: editing software available free with the game itself. No longer would the budding modder have to spend ages trawling the 'net to find the tools of the trade, for the first time they were already at his fingertips.

Quaking All Over

In 1994 id announced that it had started development on its next big game: Quake. Quake was to be a departure from the usual FPS in that it was to be fantasy rather than sci-fi. You were to control a hammer-wielding barbarian warrior called Quake... and then the information stopped. A few teasing screenshots were leaked but nobody really knew anything until the beta⁸ was released. The first thing people noticed was the presence of guns, id had dropped the fantasy concept⁹. The second thing people noticed was that it was brown. Very, very brown. Not that this was an issue, as Quake was not only the first (successful) 'true' 3D game, but it was also the first to include purpose-built multi-player levels. id had just revolutionised 3D gaming... again.

Multi-Player and Deathmatch

"No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"

GoldenEye¹⁰ for the Nintendo 64 was undoubtedly a great success. Putting the glamour and vast array of equipment available to James Bond in your control, the game has been said by some to be the best FPS released for the N64. The game follows the chronology of the GoldenEye movie and the player must shoot, fight, sneak, and explode their way through 20 missions. The game also became famous for its simple controls and addictiveness. Aside from a few problems with the graphics and AI it was pretty realistic; guards sounded alarms when they saw you and only the occasional moron ended up running around in circles.

The multiplayer options are perhaps the best feature of this game however. There are six different styles of play for up to four players, with eleven arenas to choose from and a wide variety of weapons and combinations to use. Many still claim it to be the best Bond game ever published, but that of course is up to the player.

"Welcome to Black Mesa..."

In 1998 id Software suddenly found that it was no longer the king of the castle. Valve released what is regarded by many as the best game ever: Half-Life. Based on a modified version of the Quake II engine, Half-Life was the first true innovation in the genre since Quake came out. Although let down by some fiddly controls¹¹ and weak later levels, Half-Life remains at the top of many 'all time classic' charts¹².

No Angel

The FPS reached what many considered to be its zenith with the Xbox¹³ game, Halo¹⁴. Halo sees you take the role of a genetically modified super-soldier, fighting for the survival of you and your men on a strange world. The different types of enemies are so varied, and have such wonderfully brilliant AI, that the game is rendered completely immune to the common ailment of repetition.

The most engaging element of Halo is the multiplayer mode, it is often said that multiplayer can make or break a game, and this is certainly true with Halo; even after the single-player game is long completed the multiplayer mode can keep gamers entertained for months.

But, of course, it couldn't stay on top for long.

We’re all Doomed... Again.

In 2004 id released Doom 3, not a sequel proper but rather a 're-imagining' of the original Doom... making it into the game it always wanted to be.

Through the use of highly sophisticated graphics (including bump-mapping¹⁵ and rag-doll physics¹⁶), atmospheric lighting and well-scripted events id created a mindless, terrifying, gore-fest. In short, it was the perfect FPS... but not for long...

"Welcome to City 17..."

Valve did it again. After five years in development Hell, including the well-documented (and possibly apocryphal) theft of a chunk of the source code in 2003, Half-Life 2 was unleashed upon the gaming world in autumn 2004. Although nowhere near as advanced as had been promised it easily outstripped Doom 3 in almost every aspect, the physics were better, the levels more detailed (and less repetitive) and just to spoil us even more Valve roped in many of the voice actors from the original game. It’s going to take something big to topple Half-Life 2.

Still no Angel

The release of Halo 2 in 2004 was, according to your point of view, hugely anticipated or massively hyped. There were new game play features such as dual-wielding ¹⁷ and the ability to hijack vehicles. If you’re a devotee of the Master Chief, you might be dismayed to discover that you’re in his armour just half the time in story mode. For the rest of the adventure, you play a disgraced Covenant captain known as the Arbiter. Whether you’re slaughtering aliens or marines, though, you’ll find your adversaries to be diverse and convincingly self-willed. The graphics and the AI in this game are of a very high standard, and the storyline is as clever as the first time around - if a little short. The multiplayer experience of Halo 2 is simply exceptional, the main innovation being the on-line multiplayer mode, which includes novel statistics recording at the Bungie website.