Let me lay down some facts here, as you are all aware by now I grew up with the FPS genre - so when I say Classic FPS I mean games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. The principle of the single player - and indeed co-op - campaign in these games is simple. You run through the level gunning down everything that moves, until you get to the end of level goal - usually a big button that says end of level, and finally you get your level statistics. It was very simple gameplay back then, but hell was it damn effective; nothing compares to unloading a clip of ammo into any unsuspecting demon, nazi or indeed alien.

First Person Shooters nowadays have evolved. When you pick up and play the campaign mode in Halo, or Modern Warfare you are thrown into a different kind of gameplay that is more objective based. Instead of just gunning you way through hordes of enemies to get to your one and only goal, you have to fulfill objectives that go towards obtaining that end level goal. Now this is definitely a more in depth style of gameplay that most gamers have come to expect these days, but I find that this new style of first-person shooter is less of a stress reliever that Doom and Wolfenstein were.

The original Doom had the option of punching demons to death, now that's what I call an FPS.

Ever since the first Halo, I have come to accept this objective base style of First Person Shooter. The Unreal Tornament franchise tried to keep to the classic style with its tournament based killing spree, but for me it just wasn’t the same. Then Serious Sam came along, which was damn good for just non stop killing, but in my mind it lacked something, (AKA Story) and wasn’t the serious survival FPS I wanted. I was about to say goodbye to the old style FPS, but then I played Left 4 Dead 2.

Now I have got my hands on this demo I have been kicking myself quite hard. Mainly because I should have been bitten by the Left 4 Dead bug a while ago with the first game. Granted I had a little go on the first game over my mates house but I really didn’t take it in and I regret doing so. To my mind Left 4 Dead is the next generation FPS game I have been hunting for. It returns to the classic FPS game genre with its simple, run, gun and get to your goal in one piece, but not only that, it brings lovers of this type of FPS game play together. Being mainly a co-op driven game, it somehow gets the balance of single player action and team based survival just right, meaning you can either play this on your own or with friends, no problem. Kind of reminds me of the Doom Co-op campaign days, ahhh memories.

The one thing I love about the ‘kill everything that moves’ game design is that pretty much anyone of any skill level can pick up and play it, not only that, they can also get good at it. To be honest I did struggle a bit with my first encounters with a Tank and a Witch, as I hadn’t played the first L4D much, if at all. I really didn’t know what to expect when a Witch was around. Basically I heard the crying, saw a sobbing zombie, thought it would be great to put her out of her misery with a shotgun shell to the back of her head. Next thing I know I am on the floor screaming AHH MY FACE!!! Can anyone say N00b!1!

The beauty of this game and indeed style of First Person Shooter is that you can attack it in any way you see fit. Some people like to stay behind and pick enemies off. I personally love to grab the nearest melee weapon, smother myself in Boomer Bile and shout something along the lines of “Here Zombies!! Lunch Time!!” and see how many of the undead buggers I can decapitate, it was the same with Doom, find a horde of pinky deamons and hack them down with the chain saw.

I gave the Left 4 Dead 2 demo to GuitarGirl to try, seeing as we did the expo coverage together I thought why not. She had a go, and her approach to the gameplay was somewhat different to mine. I love to lead the group and kill as many zombies as possible, where as she likes to hang back and pick them off. Both methods are effective. It’s just I remember GuitarGirl playing the demo and accidently setting a car alarm off. It happenes to all of us in L4D at some point. So the zombie horde came in their thousands and she survives it. Thing is, her team mates were on the brink of dying and she remarkably still has pretty much full life and was standing on a table. Then she says “I think I pissed my friends off because they’re nearly dead - But I’m OK because I am standing on the table!”….Facepalm.

As you can see. Left 4 Dead to my mind is a welcome return to the classic style of First Person Shooting. With simple controls, non-stop killing and one goal in sight; to survive the zombie apocalypse. I will no doubt be putting both Left 4 Dead games on my christmas list, and now I breathe a sigh of relief that the classic, kill-everything-that-moves style of gaming is back. I welcome it with open arms, lets just hope a charger isn’t going to mow me down in the process.

Garv.

My love for the genre started back around 1994. I would of been about 6 years old. Yeah at the age of 6 I was murdering Nazi’s and zombie’s a plenty! What game am I talking about? Wolfenstein 3D of course.

This game was created by, who I love to call, the gods of FPS gaming, id, they created a game which by today’s standards is very simple. Point, shoot and walk along.

As well as killing you could collect treasure and watch your score go up. Wolfenstein was an innovation in gaming because it was the first game from a first person perspective. But, lets be honest here, the sound effects are still to this day truly amazing. Just the sound of ‘Guten Tag!’ coming from the mouth of a huge blond German guy with two machine guns who goes by the name of Hanns still cracks me up. Did I also mention Robot Hitler? This game still is awesome!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGnZKq4EipA]

Genius!

Then things for the FPS genre evolved slightly. With id spewing out another FPS gem called Doom! Now Doom for me is the FPS that brings back the most memories. To be honest my Dad kicks butt on it and has done for lord knows how long. I used to spend days trying to kill him over a LAN game but still to this day it can’t be done really!

Anyway Doom is where id took it all to the next level with more guns, better sounds and of course the all important enemies! Doom offered us the knuckle dusters, chainsaw, pistol, shotgun, machine gun, rocket launcher and BFG. Doom 2 offered us all those with the addition of the double barrel shotgun. But the big change was the amount of enemies and variety of them. I mean who would blame id, they had hell demons from Mars to muck around with, and what they came out with was awesome. The story line was pretty engrossing too, but the beauty of the game still lies in the simple point, shoot run away design.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC3fOEcSAFQ]

Then there was a couple of years of me playing Doom 2. Until I came across something which was new, grimy, dirty, had an attitude so awesome you could not help nut smile and at one point had the main character literally ripping a space aliens head of and shitting down its neck.

I’m talking about Duke Nukem 3D. One of the best innovations in FPS gaming. It had a brilliant array of weapons for people to choose from, but not just your bog standard ballistics it also had shrink rays and freeze guns, which, to be honest I had hours of fun with. The squelching noises when you blew up an alien were fantastic and the ridiculousness of some of the ballistic weapons just made you want to cry tears of joy! To this day I still take much pleasure in killing a horde of Pig cops with a akimbo rocket launchers, which also fired like five rockets at a time. OWNAGE!

Duke himself was a great character. I have said this before in a previous article and I will say it again. If a guy has the attitude to say ‘this sucks’, or ‘damn’ after he has been blown to kingdom come he must be cool.

The mixture of enemies such as octo-brains and pig cops just to name a couple was great and the whole concept of aliens stealing women just to piss off a guy like duke, simple but damn effective.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksf8D1_1qtc]

Whilst the craziness of Duke 3D was happening on the side another FPS was grabbing my attention. Earlier I said id were the gods of FPS, so there is no wander that I would not skimp out on the Quake phenomenon!

I could go on for several centuries talking about Quake but the one that really got me and I still mark as one of the best FPS games is Quake 2. To this day I think the game the graphics, the attention to detail were fantastic for its time and still held the great, kill everything in sight game play which I love. Quake was the next generation from Doom so it still had some of Dooms‘ characteristics. It still had the BFG and the double barrel shot gun, but it brought to the table one of the single best weapons in FPS gaming. The Nail Gun! Shredding enemies apart this was pretty much and unstoppable giant of a weapon. Get in the firing line of this beasty and you would not last three seconds!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHVZwvWAUo]

After Duke and quake I was at a bit of a loss for new FPS games. I tried Unreal Tornament at my mates house. Blinking awesome game I must say! I ended up owning UT 2004.

But this was kind of the end of my PC FPS gaming, I now turned to consoles and it was my mate over the road who had Halo: Combat Evolved. For me this game had it all, vehicles, good variety of guns. Everything! This is what kicked off indeed my love for Xbox and my love for console FPS games. The whole Halo series I can play time and time again and not tire of it. At the moment this is the pinnacle of the FPS gaming genre to me.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ImlA_gvnE]

OK, I can hear you now, your screaming at the screen shouting WHAT ABOUT CALL OF DUTY YOU NOOB!!!! or words to that effect. To me Call of Duty is good and I have played it but its just the whole war thing that gets to me. Zombies and monsters I can quite happily kill no problem. Zombie Nazi’s on Call Of Duty: World At War. Awesome can do that for hours, but for me I am not too comfortable playing it as it seems to real. For me FPS games have to be unreal and that’s where you get the most wacky and awesome ideas.

Garv!

KAIN

I’ve always been a fan of vampire stories for as long as I can remember – so naturally a vampire game would be  something I’d enjoy. Over a decade ago, a game called Blood Omen was released in March of 1997 – and on an impluse rental I gave it a whirl – and was instantly captivated. Kain was perhaps my first encounter with a type of character seen much less at that time – the anti-hero. Killed within five minutes of the game’s start, Kain became a vampire with nothing but vengeance on his mind. Years later, I happened to stumble upon a copy of the game of my own – having almost forgotten it’s dark delights. I fell in love with the game once more.

As if by fate, I later stumbled upon a game called Soul Reaver – something that was, as far as I was aware – a completely new game I’d never heard of before. As I played the game, it was one of those moments where I was again enthralled by a dark fantasy, and I cannot remember when I actually discovered that it was connected to the Legacy of Kain that I had played so long ago, but then I found myself at the start of a grand adventure with Kain as its master, the amazing voice acting of Simon Templeman bringing Kain to life as he had done so once before. The Soul Reaver, once a powerful weapon obtained in Blood Omen, became a relic of Kain’s, an ultimate, soul devouring sword that acted as a critical plot point to countless twists and turns as I was immersed in the world of Nosgoth.

Although Kain started as quite a simple creature of bloody murder, he evolved over time into something quite different a ruler, a manipulator of time and fate – casting Raziel into the abyss, creating a character to rival even himself in sheer depth and character. Together, the pair became entangled in one of the cleverest, most complicated plots that I had ever seen, all starting from the first days I heard Kain scream the words “Vae Victus.” -Leon

SONIC

Most gamers of our generation can be slpit into two groups when it comes to what console you grew up with – the Sega gamers and the Nintendo gamers. So the war against a blue hedgehog that can run as fast as hell and a weird sounding Italian plumber who can throw fireballs has been going on for quite a while.

Personally I see Sonic as more to my taste. Not just becuase I was one of the Sega generation, and not becuase I just happen to think he looks cooler. Its because the sheer game play you got out of him. You didn’t just get a platforming game, you got a running and dodging game amonsgst others. Up until the later games, Sonic to me is the one of the best gaming characters out there, becuase he lets nothing get in his way. In the earlier games he really didn’t seem to care if ther was a strange two tailed fox following him around and dying every 5 seconds. And he has attitude. None of this ‘oh mamma miiaaa’ rubbish. Make Sonic wait and he will frown and tap his foot. He takes no crap.  -Garvaos

SQUALL

Over my years of gaming, as well as many other gamers I found myself enjoying Final Fantasy as the most enjoyable RPG series of them all – trying a number of other RPG’s I never really found anything that could match it’s brilliance. It was one of the few RPGs that managed to deliver on all aspects – story, gameplay, depth, length – it had balance. The first one I played was actually VII – another rental. I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay style and it was the first time I’d played a game with such a detailed plot. Now, I’m sure many people would choose Cloud over Squall, but I personally disagree.

After taking my rental of FFVII back (still on Disc 1), I soon purchased my very own copy of Final Fantasy VIII. Instantly I was impressed with the graphical overhaul from VII, opting for a more realistic approach. I was instantly hooked and couldnt put the game down for weeks.

I believe everyone who plays games with a real passion has found at least one character they felt they could really relate to – well Squall was mine. Whether his personality suited my mood at the time, or he was simply well written, I found myself feeling what Squall felt, caring about what Squall cared about and hating who Squall hated. Wielding possibly one of the coolest weapons in gaming, the gunblade, Squall, an apparently strong character, turned out to secretly have a lot more depth to him than on the surface. Along the way, he kicks ass whilst discovering his true self and finally fighting for what he believes in – and for the girl, of course.

When Kingdom Hearts came around, I was incredibly happy to see Squall make a return, with a new longer haircut and going by the alias Leon (where I got my own alias I’m using right now). Voiced brilliantly by David Boreanaz (KH1 only), Squall fought once again as one of the main ‘Final Fantasy’ characters of the game, and was part of one of the coolest scenes in the game alongside Cloud in Kingdom Hearts II.

SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMW6QYcPVBY]
-Leon

GANON

The only bad guy to be in this top 10 (well ish, to be honest I don’t know what alignment Kain is anymore) Ganondorf is your typical baddie. His main aim is to destroy the realm with great power and strength, while at the same time steal a beautiful princess and get hunted down by a guy in a green suit. What I really like about Ganondorf is that he laughs at anything, anything trying to get in his way and the first thing he does is just laugh at it. Second, he is one of those typical badguys who likes to just sit down and let everyone else do his bidding until his obstacle is physically in front of him.

He walks with purpose and does nothing half heartedly. Hell he can even turn into huge boar and still be awesome. If anyone of these heroes in this top 10 should have a worthy opponent, Ganondorf is their man. -Garvaos

LARA CROFT

Perhaps one of the more well known characters in the list (aside from Sonic, of course) Lara Croft is the ultimate videogame heroine – articulate yet kick-ass, beautiful yet headstrong, shes the kind of lady that every guy wants and every girl wants to be. And I’m sure that Lara is the main reason the Tomb Raider series did so well. Think of it – with a male lead, would the original Tomb Raider looked interesting or unique at all? Probably not.

Over time, Lara is another character that has evolved. Originally a overly-busty woman (due to a mistake the creators made, then decided to keep), Lara gained respect through the gaming community over the years, and changed into a more realistic female, yet managing to retain all of the beauty and kick-assery as much as ever – with Angelina Jolie taking the role of Lara in the live action movie based on the same character.

The games have seen some amazing landscapes, Lara scaling gigantic cliffs in countries such as India, battling tigers one minute, then fighting guards in London or Nevada the next. Always in the search for the next relic, Lara is always on the move ready to face the next challenge, whilst constantly showing off her wide intellect and occasionally dealing with her own personal demons. So really, whats not to like about Lara?

DUKE NUKEM

Hopefully all you FPS fans out there already agree with me that Duke Nukem has a rightful place in any top 10. If not, I suggest you turn on Duke Nukem 3D, find an RPG and retrospectfully blow yourself up with it. Doing that will just give you an insight of what attitude this guy has. He blows himself up and the first thing that comes to his mind, (regardless if his mind is in sevral tiny peices splattered across the pavement) is “This sucks” Or “Daamn”.

He has not just been an icon to us FPS fans, he started off in a side scrolling platformer in the 1991 game Duke Nukem. He didn’t say much back then, only kill aliens. Then in 1996 he became the Duke we know and love today, he also had 3rd person action games after Duke 3D, which granted weren’t his best games, but still retained that awesome attitude of  saving women, blowing up alien scum and dropping the classic one liners.

I believe Duke will have a welcome comeback eventually. Duke Nukem Forever may have died but something tells me he will come back, kick ass and chew bubble gum! Reguardless if he’s out of bubble gum or not. -Garvaos

RIKU

As I mentioned before, I rather enjoyed the game Kingdom Hearts. Sceptical as I was originally, the melding of Disney and Final Fantasy worked fantastically well, resulting in one of my favourite games of all time. In the end, you’d think a game with an all-star cast of two such huge franchises would struggle to create characters that would shine amongst the rest of them.

But they managed it – three kids, Sora, Riku and Kairi found themselves hurled into a grand adventure, where the worlds had begun to slowly vanish, and Sora became the Keyblade Master that would take the role of the games protagonist – battling with the most fierce creatures Square and Disney had to offer – noone else has ever defeated both Sephiroth *and* Jafar, thats for sure.

But I’m here to talk about Riku. Sora is a great character in himself, but his best friend had a story just as interesting. Being the one who wants more from his life, Riku falls into the wrong crowds and, jealous of Sora’s newfound powers, begins to fall into darkness as he tries to manipulate it to his own wishes. Riku fights a desperate struggle for himself, Kairi and Sora, having to fight his own darkness to eventually shine through and fulfil his own destiny. -Leon

RYU HAYABUSA

So we have covered my love for FPS, now its time to cover my love for 3rd person action. Next to Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden has to be just short of the best 3rd person hack and slash out there. Having only played NG2 personally, I can say that this game has all the weapons, combos and level detail you need to keep plenty happy.

Now for a minute look past the skin tight lycra body suit and look at Ryu himself. For starters he is a ninja, we all know for a fact ninja’s are awesome. (Pirates may beat them but I personally dont see a pirate in this top 10) He has a grudge that is built on anger, but he is not th kinda guy who will let it out in a rage. He seems calm but at the same time he is ripping his enemies to shreds with an oversized scythe. Now if that isn’t cool im not sure what is, really. He can walk on water, take down enemies 200 times the size of him pretty much bare handed. And he never shows his face. Thats either cool, or maybe he has bad teeth. -Garvaos

KRATOS

God of War was released on the PS2 a few years back, one of the late titles in the console’s life cycle. Going against the trends, God of War II was also released on PS2, when most series’ were developing for the next generation – regardless, Sony managed to create something incredible, maximizing the consoles potential. And if you enjoy God of War, don’t miss out on Chains of Olympus on the PSP – I enjoyed it as much as the other two, albeit a bit shorter.

As much as I enjoy being the good guy, saving the girl and having happy endings, sometimes you can crave something a bit more primal. Kratos is a beast of a man, uncaged and brutal, and noone will stand in his way. Kratos is perhaps the most bloodthirsty character even seen in the gaming world, and its one of those guilty pleasures to just dive in and indulge.

At a first glace, Kratos may seem like a nasty piece of work – a loud, arrogant spartan with nothing but killing on his mind. This may be enough for some people, but Kratos offers more than that. Beneath the outward rage, Kratos has a dark and haunted past, twisted to desperation, almost madness as he is continually manipulated and tortured, constantly seeking redemption but never finding it.

Its hard to explain all of the reasons that Kratos has reached such a high place in my love of gaming characters, without spoiling the plot points and twists of the series. He is perhaps the ultimate anti hero – his methods are bloody and violent, yet he still regains enough humanity so that in the end, you can almost do nothing but feel sorry for him, as he trudges on trying to salvage whatever he can of his cruel existence. -Leon

DANTE

The regular readers of Plus XP will probably not be blown away by his one. The last character we would like to mension is none other than the white haired, stylish, half demon that is Dante!

With a legendary dark knight for a dad, a twin brother who is in a different realm, enough weapons and swords to possibly cover the Isle of Wight and still have some spare to paddle back with and two lovely ladies (one looking like his mum) Dante is one level headed and witty character. I first came across him in Devil May Cry 3. Just starting out his new business slaying demons, he was summoned by his brother to a large tower which is pretty much the door to hell. Now I say summoned by his brother more provoked. He was a cocky, fearless and just damn right awesome guy and as I played through DMC 1, 4, and a touch of 2, none of that cockyness and attitude seemd to have died down, which is great. He is one of these guys who always wants the last word. He knows he can’t die and knows he is talented at what he does. If any of these characters in this top 10 deserve to some how be put in a machine and actually physically come to life, Dante should be the one. -Garvaos