Every encounter with an Elite enemy in the original Halo was a harrowing one, because the bastards weren't just tough and didn't just absorb a lot of shots. The alien Covenant were generally not idiots-they fought hard and smart, taking cover when they were hurt, grouping up to channel their fire, throwing grenades to flush you out of your hiding places, and charging up when they knew they had you on the ropes. In the very first mission, as players took on the role of genetically enhanced supersoldier Master Chief, developer Bungie was throwing together elements that shifted how playing shooters felt on a fundamental level. Halo's arrival on the console FPS scene didn't just herald the shooter future, it manifested it. It was a glimpse of the possibilities of the shooting genre's future, and it was glorious. For those whose gaming consisted purely of console experiences, it was the first time a shooter experience would become something similar to playing paintball or laser tag. The Xbox's system link multiplayer, the console market's first experience with LAN, meant you could play with seven other friends-and more than that, you could work together as teams and execute tactics that your opponents couldn't anticipate simply by glancing over at your side of the screen. For the first time, the discussion around console shooters opens up to a huge number of new possibilities. Imagine, then, the arrival of Halo: Combat Evolved. Now Playing: The Most Influential Games Of The 21st Century Video: Halo: Combat Evolved There were standout titles of the era, of course, but the FPS field was nothing like what we experience today.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's In the nascent days of console online multiplayer, squaring off against other players, the thing that could really make shooters exciting, was limited to split-screen battles (often on tiny TVs). Where PCs had the fluidity of the mouse-and-keyboard setup, controls on console struggled to capture the same feel-to this day, two of the best-regarded FPS games of the era, GoldenEye 64 and its follow-up, Perfect Dark, were played with controllers that didn't even sport dual analog sticks.
While PC players had been enjoying FPS games for years, the experience was never as strong on consoles. It's hard to explain what it was like to be a console first-person shooter fan in 2001. These aren't the best games, and they aren't necessarily games that you need to rush out and play today, but there's no question that they left an indelible impact on game developers, players, and in some cases, society at large. Join GameSpot as we celebrate gaming history and give recognition to the most influential games of the 21st century.