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By Andrew S. Park
Designed by Katie Bush
The PC shooter as we know it dates back about 10 years to early first-person games. You could say that one game in particular, Wolfenstein 3D, started it all. In Wolf 3D, you played as agent B.J. Blazkowicz, a member of the World War II resistance, who was charged with infiltrating the candelabra-filled Castle Wolfenstein in order to defeat an army of evil, low-resolution Nazi soldiers and equally pixelated guard dogs. You began B.J.'s dangerous adventure armed with a single pistol, but along the way, you'd pick up bigger guns--which you'd need to fight some of the game's more powerful enemies. And you'd get blasted to bits if you didn't keep a close eye on your health meter or grabbed a few first-aid kits, which your enemies were considerate enough to leave lying around the castle.
 B.J. takes on an enemy soldier in Wolf 3D. |
Back then, Wolf 3D was one of the most exciting computer games around, but by today's standards, it looks crude--and maybe even a little silly. That's because shooters have come a long way since then. For starters, they look a lot better. Wolf 3D's blocky, simple graphics gave way to more-detailed, rendered 2D graphics, as in Doom, which helped make 2D monsters and levels look much more like realistic 3D objects. Later on, the rise of advanced 3D graphics and the increasing availability of affordable, powerful 3D-graphics hardware made 3D polygonal graphics the standard for modern-day shooters.
 Unreal Tournament offered lots of different team-based game types. |
But there's much, much more to a good shooter than just graphics. Over the years, newer games have made other additions. The most important of these has been multiplayer play--the ability for different people to play with or against each other at the same time, originally in modem-to-modem matches, and now usually either over a network or, more commonly, online via public Internet servers. Multiplayer first gave rise to the popularity of deathmatch--head-to-head competition, in which you must "frag" your opponents by shooting them down or be shot yourself. Later on, other kinds of multiplayer games became popular, like capture the flag, in which a team of players must capture the enemy team's flag while defending its own. And other great shooters have set all sorts of other precedents--not just in terms of technical advancements, but also in the way shooters are played. For instance, since Duke Nukem 3D, we've come to expect interactive environments in shooters. Since Half-Life, we've come to expect good stories and characters. Since Spec Ops, Delta Force, and Rainbow Six, we've come to expect exciting squad-based games. And since Starsiege: Tribes and Unreal Tournament, we've come to expect lots of interesting modes of play, both for head-to-head competition and team-based games.
 B.J. is back, but this time, Wolfenstein isn't the only game in town. |
So where does that leave shooters today? There are lots of very promising shooters in the works for next year, and there are nearly a dozen major PC shooters that have either already been released or are scheduled for release later this year. In fact, there's never been a better time--or, more specifically, a better year--to be a fan of shooters. And if you're not one yet, but you're interested in becoming one, now's a great time to get started. But which is right for you? Should you get a realistic shooter or a futuristic, sci-fi-themed game? Which shooters can you play alone, and which are really good to play with your friends? Will any of these games even run on your computer? Don't worry...we've got all that covered in this year's shooter roundup. In fact, we've got all of this year's shooters lined up for your perusal, complete with exclusive new screenshots of games that aren't out yet, as well as complete breakdowns of each game, so you know what to expect.
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