It was mentioned on the Tek that "best lists" are a bit pants. It got me thinking, what would be on my list of games.
I'm what might be thought of as a mature gamer, in other words I'm an old git. I have been gaming since I was 16, not because I started late but much before that age computer games did not exist for regular people. I have been playing computer games for over 33 years. My favorite game type is fps, the first person shooter.
So not in any particular order, based on personal experience here is my list of fps games you might want to have a look at and why.
Wolf3D the original Wolfenstein. It's just about the first of it's type if not the very fist it was the first I played. Then Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, much of it's popularity can be put down to the multi-play being free and now open source.
(Doom & Quake just have to be on the list but it's not the only one of these early fps games you might want to look at Heretic if your all doomed/Quaked out.)
Delta Force and the Novalogic family. Delta Force marks for me my fist foray in to gaming online in multi-player games (we are talking dial-up here guys). The last of these I played was Joint Ops, real sketchy by modern standards and I'm not sure it's suitable for modern gamer's but damn we had a lot of fun with it at the time.
Medal of Honor AA:SH:BT these are the first three primarily for the multi-player. Pacific Assault gets a mention for it's single player (the Perl Harbor section is worth the game on it's own) Much after this and the franchise lost it's way. The less said about Airborne and the last Warfighter the better however MoH:Tire One had a reasonably good Multi-Player.
Half Life. Difficult to underestimate how good and more importantly "different" the game was at the time. More than just this one game, it is what came from it both official and user made mods. (Sven coop, you and some friends want a real good time get Sven coop, trust me) The importance of HL was massive and only eclipsed by Half Life 2. The game was good, but just like the first the things that came from it were just amazing. Many tens of thousands of people are playing these games today. (my personal fav being Day of Defeat:Source and I still play it today)
Call of Duty: (I can feel the wave of hate come through my screen but hear me out) If you like fps games you can not ignore CoD. The first with it's single player reminding us of classic war movies. The Multi-Player picking up the torch dropped by MoH for many at the time. Much the same high quality was maintained by United Offensive and CoD:2. The franchise missed 3 with a console only release (the bullshit has always been strong with Call of Duty). CoD:4 has to stand out as one of the greatest of all Modern Military shooters. Tight and compelling Multi-Player and a single player that stands head and shoulders above nearly everything that came before it and most of what has been done since. An Honorable mention for CoD:5 as it stands the last CoD to have mod support, custom maps and game modes. The less said about everything since the better, it's all utter shit but that's manly the people that play it.
Battlefield: What's not to love? EA of course how a publisher can ruin a game franchise. The whole BF experience is the gamer against the publisher these days. 1942 through to Bad Company:2 are worth your time. I was never a great fan of BF:3 and to me BF:4 is little more than an expensive expansion. Bad Company:2 with it's destruction was a massive change to the fps scene. Other games has some destruction but nothing like Bad Company:2 the whole map would be a barren wasteland by the end of the round. BF:2 mods extended the life of the game for many players.
Operation Flashpoint/ArmA: The games of Bohemia Interactive will always hold a special place in my heart. The iterate nature of the games. The way the developer has embraced the community of modders. Basically the game is a canvas for you to play with and play on. The complete opposite of the way most of the industry works.
As you can tell my list is just that "my list" there is a heavy bias towards Multi-Player and I have always disliked uber-fast, double jump arena shooters. So no Unreal Tournament or Quake:Arena on my list. There are games I just missed, Deus Ex for instance, I have never played the game so can't have an opinion.
An Honorable mention to the games of Tripwire, Red Orchestra and Killing Floor. More for my like of the developers rather than the games themselves, they have a good attitude towards their community.