What are the “classic” single-player FPS games?

[prfsnl_gmr]

New thread! Yes!

Current list in first post. What should we add? What should we take off? What about the first-person Star Wars games? Do squad shooters count?

[Jagosaurus]

I think 2 sleepers contributors are:

The AvP & AsvP series. Adding in the ability to play as all 3 characters and the horror atmosphere.

Turok series. The fog gets made fun of today, but these were big at the time.

[Ziggy]

Turok series. The fog gets made fun of today, but these were big at the time.

Yeah, it wasn't just Goldeneye that helped to prove FPS was doable on consoles. Turok Dinosaur Hunter was very popular, hence the many sequels and remakes. I'm not sure why it doesn't get remembered that way by some people, but I think it's because of just how popular Goldeneye really was.

[bmoc]

What about the first-person Star Wars games? Did any of them really push the genre forward?

Dark Forces utilized a fair amount of puzzles in its gameplay from what I recall. That wasn't something you saw a lot of at the time. Otherwise it wasn't all that different from other "doom clones" of the day. Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight however, really stepped things up and was a far superior game. Dark Forces II kept some of the puzzle solving gameplay and added light saber combat (with an automatic switch to third person) as well as some very light role playing elements. You had a skill tree in the form of force powers. You could choose the light side or dark based on the force abilities you pick and got different endings depending on the path you take. Dark Forces II also had a better narrative than the typical FPS around that time. Cut scenes were done with actors in FMV sequences. The other Jedi Knight games felt like more of the same to me but with better graphics and no FMV sequences. All of them, even Dark Forces, are worth playing in my opinion. I'd stick with the PC version of Dark Forces though. The consoles ports are not so good.

[MrPopo]

I'd agree that Dark Forces didn't necessarily do anything too terribly special, but Jedi Knight adding in the lightsaber was. Though since it spits you back to third person it also sort of was the beginning of pushing Star Wars out of the FPS realm (outside of Republic Commando and the beginning of Jedi Knight II and that one Jedi Academy level).

[Ack]

I actually dislike how Dark Forces 2 approached a lot of the Jedi elements, but I preferred sticking to blasters and never cared for the Force anyway. It's not the most important in terms of that FPS/RPG hybrid development, but it added its own layers

And the genre stopped being known as Doom Clones around the time that it managed to reach full 3D. Quake and Half-Life showed us what could be done, and while the term stick around a little while longer for folks who didn't play much FPS, those of us who did were seeing how much further things could go beyond simply copying Doom.

And Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is important. It marks not only a major step up for console FPS games, it's also one of the first times a non-Nintendo game managed to reach enough in sales to warrant a Player's Choice re-release.

[marurun]

Don’t forget that Duke 3D had lots of interactive elements in the world and robust (for the time) scripting. You could see your reflection in mirrors, drink from water fountains, pee into toilets.

Marathon does indeed deserve lots of praise. It did so much with so little so early on.

[Ack]

And you just explained a lot of why I don't like DF2. I wanted more FPS goodness...but it comes down to what I enjoyed about Star Wars and how that impacts my feelings on the game's design.

[RCBH928]

You are missing counter strike, which was popular but I also dont know why maybe it introduced competitive play with a goal like capture the flag.
Are we talking most popular or defining? I dont think the following defined anything: Bioshock, Borderlands, Portal, HalfLife2, PerfectDark, Duke Nukem, Battlezone, Doom II

Duke Nukem 3D was more like defining of the times, but I dont think it added anything new to the game.
Halo it started a huge IP but not sure if the game itself is great, I didnt play it. Its halo2 with multiplayer that defined popularity of modern FPS.
Unreal had a campaign game but I think its remembered for popularizing competitive play, but wasn't that what Doom II or Quake did?
COD is interesting. It defined the FPS competitive online play on the PS3 generation but I don't know why, I just dont see how its special. Its a shooter like any other, but maybe because it had perks? Perks are nothing new to videogames, its RPG element.

I dont see why Marathon, system shock, or Medal of Honour defining anything.

[Ziggy]

Good point with Counter Strike, I forgot how huge that game was. But it's not really a single player, at least unless you can count bots.

Medal of Honor really kicked off the whole WW2 FPS, there were so many and it was so popular for a while it could almost be a sub genre. I think MoH also took a step forward in being cinematic. The presentation, the narrator, and the score. I know Steven Spielberg worked on the first game, and IIRC the first few games. There was really nothing like it at the time.