Shooters are fun, whether first-person or third-person. From aliens to zombies, and everything in between, there are many variations on these types of games.

Most importantly lets look at the difference between first and third person shooters. A first-person shooter (FPS) generally is from a point of view perspective. In other words, you are seeing the environment from the characters eyes. You can see your hands which hold the weapons and tools. A third-person shooter, by contrast, is usually from a behind and over the shoulder perspective. Meaning that you see the back of the character and what they are holding.

First-person shooters have been around since the early 1970's, however in 1992 Wolfenstein 3D was released. This game is widely considered the grandfather of the modern 3d first-person shooter. In 1993 DOOM was released, and caused a controversy due to the interactive violence. In November 1998 the game Half-Life was released by Sierra Online. This game revolutionized PC first-person shooters, by combining shooting with puzzles, while making the player follow a scripted story. Half-Life is considered by most to be one of the greatest video games of all time. Since 1998, the game has sold more than 20 million units, and spawned a multitude of additional games. The other revolutionary thing about Half-Life is that user modification has always been included and encouraged. This has lead to user made mods, that become commercially viable games. The best example of this is Counter Strike, which started as a user mod and became a commercial game in it's own right.

Third-person shooters were popularized by Tomb Raider. While some would argue that Tomb Raider is not a third-person shooter, but a puzzle game from an odd perspective, with a high stylized avatar (Lara Croft). We disagree, Tomb Raider is a puzzle game, but there are enough baddies that have to be killed to consider it a shooter as well.

Below you will find links to some of our favorite shooters. These are games that we play, so we know what we are talking about. There are many shooter type games out there, almost too many for anyone to know them all.