The simple fact is that the most popular games in the world are first person games. While there are plenty of great franchises that see regular releases a number of great titles have fallen by the wayside in the last few years. Here are five first person games that deserve a brand new set of roman numerals next to their names.
#5 Condemned
Condemned: Criminal Origins is well-remembered as the dark horse of the Xbox 360’s launch. There wasn’t much buzz behind the first person horror game until word of mouth and solid reviews moved it off shelves. Condemned gave a unique spin to the horror genre. In a time when Resident Evil was moving toward action and Silent Hill was floundering, Condemned arrived with a grisly take on combat. Even though the game is an FPS, there is very little shooting. Most combat is in close quarters using improvised weapons like a baseball bat, shovel, or a 2×4 with nails jutting crookedly from the side.
The main character, Ethan Thomas specializes in bringing serial killers to justice. This translates to the gameplay as evidence collection sequences that were rather shallow in the first game but much more fleshed out in the sequel. A more consistent problem is the series’ haphazard storytelling. Each game starts with a genuinely interesting premise, but both games slowly fall into supernatural bullshit that becomes convoluted and nonsensical by the finale.
At the end of the day Condemned’s truly visceral melee combat is what carried it forward, spawning a sequel, and even the beginnings of a movie deal that eventually fell through. The developer, Monolith Productions is better known for its work creating the Fear series and is currently developing Gotham City Impostors. Condemned 3 was rumored but never announced, and nothing has been heard about the series since 2009.
#4 Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime needs no introduction. It needs a sequel. Especially after the tripe that was Team Ninja’s Metroid: Other M. Metroid is the franchise with which Nintendo has always taken risks. From the very beginning there was the fact the protagonist was a woman which was unprecedented for its time. Then the Game Boy sequel turned the core gameplay on its head by eschewing exploration for action.
Later they handed the reins to the unproven Retro Studios who hadn’t done much but start and cancel a few games. Between the perspective jump to first person, and the no name developer no one expected Metroid Prime to be one of the best games of all time. If you think about how great that game turned out, it really doesn’t make sense. So maybe that’s what Nintendo was thinking handing off the slowly paced Metroid to Team Ninja, who was only known for making frenetic action games and had just lost its leader the legendary Tomunobu Itagaki. As they say though, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Team Ninja’s Metroid: Other M wasn’t just another game with a bad subtitle, it was downright offensive. Nintendo, get your head on straight and give us a Retro developed, High-def, Metroid Prime on the Wii U.
#3 Doom
Doom is one of the most storied series in our little medium. Doom, along with Mortal Kombat spurred a public sphere fracas over violence and games. The success of the Doom series was never more pronounced than when it had political detractors. The killer graphics and almost singlehandedly popularizing first person shooters didn’t hurt either. That said, the series has some issues as well. To demonstrate I have two pertinent statistics to share with you. The first is that the last time a Doom game came out was 2004.
The second is that seven Call of Duty games have come out since 2004, seven. John Carmack and the Doom crew at Id must be throwing one raging party instead of making another Doom game. True, Doom 4 is announced, but it’s never been shown publically. I treat Doom 4 the same way I treat Brazil, I haven’t seen it so it’s not real. Silliness aside, Id’s yearly party, Quakecon is less than a month away. While unlikely there is a chance that Doom 4 will be shown off to the lowly plebes in the public space. What’s more likely is that we will have to pretend that Rage is interesting until October passes and then we may finally get to see Doom 4. Also if the Doomguy learned how to use duct tape and it wasn’t necessary to switch between the flashlight and the shotgun every fifteen seconds that’d be excellent.
#2 Unreal
In a current gaming landscape that is so dominated by multiplayer first person shooters it’s strange that Unreal is largely missing. Epic’s Unreal is a pioneering series that made wide ranging contributions to its medium. Obviously, it birthed the Unreal engine which has become ubiquitous for powering a metric ton of games in the current console generation. Unreal also aided Quake in laying the groundwork for competitive online first person shooters.
Unreal did this with inventive weapon design and absurdly fast paced play style that has lived on individually in anything made by Insomniac and Valve’s multiplayer mainstays like Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and Team Fortress. The Unreal Tournament series, along with many others bolstered the burgeoning competitive gaming scene. Alas though, Epic has shifted focus to licensing their proprietary graphics engine, collecting other studios like People Can Fly, and Chair, and of course making the Gears of War series. Unreal has been dormant since 2007’s Unreal Tournament 3 which featured hoverboards.
Screw Warthogs, tanks, perks, and chainsaw bayonets. All I want are hoverboards in all of my capture the flag games from now on. Epic should be wrapping up Gears of War 3 any day now. It’s obviously time for Unreal to take its place near the top of the heap of multiplayer action. Hopefully we won’t have to wait until Unreal Engine 4 to see another Unreal game.
#1 Half Life
I’m going to tell you a secret. I’ve never played a Half-Life game. I know, it hurts me too, but maybe one of you folks will gift them to me on Steam now that it’s out in the open. Here’s the thing though, Half-Life is still number one on this list. When it comes to first person shooters there is one reason Half-Life is the most important name in the genre. There is no controversy. There is no contingent of haters like there is for more popular games like Halo or Call of Duty. Everyone respects Half-Life’s place as the most important game in the genre. The series has one serious issue though. Half-Life 2 popularized episodic content, but unfortunately the game’s developer Valve forgot to conclude the season.
Half-Life 2: Episode 2 ended on an infuriating cliffhanger and it was released in 2007. As you can imagine (and I have to imagine,) four years is a long time to hang on a cliff. Hope abounds though, Valve has confirmed that they will have a presence at Gamescom and though it’s much more likely that DOTA 2 will be announced, there is always hope that Valve may reach down and pluck their fans from the precarious cliff they have been stranded on for four long years.
