Need help choosing a game.

Hi, I'd like for some help finding a multiplayer versus shooter game for the PC to play. So recommend me a few! Here are the things I want, ordered by importance...

Very Important-
-Teamwork.
-Strategy. I want a high number of choices to be made during gameplay.

Important-
-Equal access, so no paying real money for better weapons, or a very light xp system.

-Guns should be fun to fire and pack a punch, and have a degree of realism with many attributes per gun. Doesn't mean that they have to be real guns, fictional is fine.

-Winning shouldn't be about who has the fastest reflexes (hard to circumvent in FPS, I know)

-A number of viable strategies; so no OP strategies.

I've been playing a lot of Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad/Rising Sun. It doesn't have larger maps like a Battlefield game, but the guns are powerful and I like the flow of the combat. The matches aren't as drawn out as ARMA but not too close quarters and fast like COD. I believe most of the maps consist of one side attacking and the other defending. It has also has a simple XP system.

Counter Strike is by far the best answer. It's everything you just described. No unlock grind bullcrap, kill dudes, get money, get guns... I don't think I need to explain it to you.

If you want teamwork and strategy then check out natural selection 2, it isn't 100% an FPS because one team are aliens but it's the most teamwork intensive FPS I can think of. It's also in the current weekly humble bundle.

Counter Strike. Fits your criteria pretty perfectly.

But @hencook doesn't want the game to be about reflexes.

@afrofools: Then don't play a shooter? Decent reflexes are a baseline requirement for all of them.

CS:GO at least has the ridiculous recoil system, so you are better off being good at ambushes and flanking rather than reflexes anyways.

Team Fortress 2

Seconding Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad/Rising Sun.

The XP system is very light but still rewarding, by no means will the highest level players just dominate the game. Levelling up guns for example gives a % decrease in time to reload, accuracy etc.

It also has a lot of teamwork, probably the most teamwork I've seen in an FPS in recent times. I think every server I've been on has had at least 3 - 5 people mic'd up these people usually are the teams commander and squad leaders. Commanders can call in artillery strikes so there tends to be co-ordination between that and then attacking/defending sections of the map. There's also a very minimalistic UI which means most of the time the only way to tell if someone is friendly or an enemy is by identifying their uniform. But of course if you make sure you're aware of where the front line is, and the team works together to deny the other team flanking manoeuvres etc it's easy to tell who's who by where they are.

The weapons you can use are divided into classes, i.e. marksmen get scoped rifles, machine gunners get deployable machine guns. And these roles are limited per team somewhere around 40 riflemen, 2 marksmen, 5 machine gunners etc. This in my opinion is one of the best things about the game as it stops half the team just picking sniper and sitting back when you need to go capture objectives.

Well I think some kind of war simulator may involve locating enemies and then taking them out through strategy more than running around, jumping, shooting, and stabbing dudes on a tiny map ;)

Cool, now i'm deciding between RO2 and the new Insurgency game. Played lots of NS2 already. If CS:GO has a ton of recoil compared to its predecessor, I think that might actually be fun to play.

@hencook: You might want to consider ARMA III.

I haven't played the game in years and don't know if anybody is still playing it, but SWAT 4 is a great FPS with good weapons and can be played very tactical if the player wants to.

I will yield that point. :P

@hencook GO has... Odd recoil. It's exaggerated as fuck, but still a bit predictable when you get used to it. I can't decide if I like how it changes up the game, or if I hate how it's making shooting feel a little random. But I'm a Quake person to begin with, so not having pitch perfect accuracy might be less frustrating for someone else.

Battlefield 4. Being smart is more important than having the fastes reflexes. There's nigh endless depth to master with all its weapons and gadgets and vehicles, as well as customizations. BF4's Naval Strike expansion just came out, and it's rather glorious.

...but since Battlefield is such an obvious choice, I guess it's not what you're looking for.

I second Battlefield. 4 is a bit rough around the edges currently, ESPECIALLY on the PS4.

I'd look into BF3 if you're wary, that game is rock solid and totally rad.

Battlefield is in my genuine opinion the best shooter there is. It's not a twitch shooter a'la Quake or Tribes or something, and having a good K/D ratio helps but will in no way make you win instantly.

Playing the objective is the most important thing. Look for the Giant Bomb platoon (or whatever it's called) and there's should be lots of teamwork and voicechat going on.

Also, there's fuckin' helicopters and shit.

Counter Strike has strategy and a high number of choices? And there's no OP strategy? You either snipe or go for the objective, and the OP strategies are seriously exploited by veteran players who know every nook and cranny.. Where to stand and how to move forward.

I'd say Battlefield 3 fits your criteria pretty well. Except for the reflexes thing, but at least you get a good chance to shoot/shoot back rather than get one-shotted by a pro player with an AK-47 standing 20 meters away behind a crate. The lush environment hinders instant kills.

The teamwork is great when you find a good squad working together, and the difference gadgets, guns and vehicles at your disposal continuously create new crazy scenarios and strategies to proceed to the next point. The land, buildings and skies are all yours to make your way through. You can plant mines or use an RPG to take out a tank, or maybe grab a jet to clear the flag, etc..