Top 5 Online FPS of all time!

1. Counter Strike. 
 
No surprise really, it is the most popular of all time that revolutionized everything and is still being played by millions today. What I love Counter Strike for, which really sets it apart from the rest is the hitboxes and how you can really aim for them.  Sure other FPS have head shots and that but the shooting always feels more floaty and the hitboxes don't really stand out like they do in CS. What I also love is you don't respawn until the round has ended and there is none of that leveling up stuff. Online FPS today have all become about gaining XP and achievements, I hate that and this is why it's still my favourite, no nonsense good shooting. 
 
2. Team Fortress 2. 
 
I'm not really a fan of how Valve have done the updates because it upsets the game for a month while everyone unlocks and, I just don't like the system they've chosen to unlock them. However if you look past that then you find an Online FPS which such depth and character to which we've never seen before. Just how they've given each class a personality is genius and more importantly, they're all fun to play. Just such a frantic crazy fast paced shooter and I just hope the Eng gets a Mech for an unlock instead of a sentry gun, come their update.  
 
3. Planetside. 
 
SOE have long but ruined this game, and if you tried to play it today, then you'd find it to be pretty dead. However in 2003 when Planetside came out, it was so innovative and I really thought it would pave the way for the future of the genre. Sadly SOE released a crap expansion 3 months after launch, to which a lot of people left because they were fed up with their management of the game. They then didn't touch the game until 2004 to which they released a lackluster patch called "The bending" which got rid of an island, replaced it with 4 mini islands and noone liked it. They then finally killed off the game by releasing BFRs which were totally overpowered and ruined everything. Even though they are useless today, the population never recovered and SOE ruined another mmorpg.  
 
However Planetside introduced an MMORPG levelling system, which still allowed for new players to be competitive. Also because it was PVP only, levelling up never felt boring and you always had that incentive to level up, to get a cert, so you could purchase more unlocks. Hundreds of people would fight seamlessly on massive Islands and each person could have their own vehicles from land to air and it made for some frantic mass scale battles. The FPS genre had never seen anything like Planetside before and it was the mass scaled battles which really set it apart and to include vehicles in that, made it even bigger. 
 
To this day no online FPS has ever gone anywhere near to the scale of Planetside, not even Battlefield, Not even MAG. Just a shame SOE killed it off, though they are making Planetside 2, so fingers crossed SOE have learnt their lessons... though I doubt they have lol. 
  
My two was hard to pick because it came down to Five Titles; 
 
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein 
- Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield 
- Tribes 2 
- Joint Operations 
- Battlefield 1942 
 
Sure there was Unreal tournament and Quake 3 that could be there but these FPS really came at a time when no many people had internet connections and I just remember lots of lag. On top of that they were pretty boring and got old really fast, never did anything that amazing for their time. 
 
- Rainbow Six 3 was an amazing game but it loses out because of poor controls and it was so buggy.  
- Tribes 2 loses out because it wasn't really popular with my friends and graphically it was ugly and buggy. 
- Battlefield 1942 loses out because to me the game was never really good until DC mod came and fixed it. Also Joint Operations is so much better. 
 
4. Joint Operations. 
 
 Art wise it was pretty generic and not much to look at, however gameplay and scale is where it excels. It was the first FPS (that you didn't have to pay a subscription or download a mod for) to go to 150 players and the maps were huge, which a great day and night cycle. What tended to happen was because the maps were so big, you could easily sneak behind the enemy and hide in bushes and just wait for them to come pass. You'd be camping there for hours as it went from day and night, some how that was fun because that cycle gave it a sense of being a real battle.   
 
Now why I chose it over Battlefield 1942 for many reasons but the main one is the fact that vehicles were not overpowered. In Battlefield games they would dominate and Planes would just own up the whole map. However in Joint Operations you needed whole squads to be in them to make them effective, this really built up team play. Also they were mainly for transport, to just get around. So you'd have people who just became Black Hawk pilots and going back and forth to the drop zones, transporting players and that was their role. 
  
Really amazing game, great scale and had the gameplay mechanics to pull off proper teamplay which Battlefield has never done. 
 
5. Return to Castle Wolfenstein. 
 
Back in 2001 this was the first Online FPS I remember that really gave proper support roles. You could be a medic and revive people or give out ammo or just be a gunner. I also loved the class which had the air strikes, so the screen was constantly shaking because of them and felt so hectic. What really made this game for me is the map design more than anything, such great maps such as Deport (I think it was) and Beach. There were tons more and another innovative map was tram which had tram rides back and forth and was a lot of fun. The maps used to go in stages where you had to get the objective and again I'd never seen this before until RTCW.  
 
The only problem was they released ET in 2003 and killed the game off because then people just got the free version. Personally though I thought RTCW was a lot better, which much better map design. It was really the first online FPS I ever got totally serious about because it came at the time when I switched from 56k to IDSN (or whatever it was called) lol. 

1. Counter Strike. 
 
No surprise really, it is the most popular of all time that revolutionized everything and is still being played by millions today. What I love Counter Strike for, which really sets it apart from the rest is the hitboxes and how you can really aim for them.  Sure other FPS have head shots and that but the shooting always feels more floaty and the hitboxes don't really stand out like they do in CS. What I also love is you don't respawn until the round has ended and there is none of that leveling up stuff. Online FPS today have all become about gaining XP and achievements, I hate that and this is why it's still my favourite, no nonsense good shooting. 
 
2. Team Fortress 2. 
 
I'm not really a fan of how Valve have done the updates because it upsets the game for a month while everyone unlocks and, I just don't like the system they've chosen to unlock them. However if you look past that then you find an Online FPS which such depth and character to which we've never seen before. Just how they've given each class a personality is genius and more importantly, they're all fun to play. Just such a frantic crazy fast paced shooter and I just hope the Eng gets a Mech for an unlock instead of a sentry gun, come their update.  
 
3. Planetside. 
 
SOE have long but ruined this game, and if you tried to play it today, then you'd find it to be pretty dead. However in 2003 when Planetside came out, it was so innovative and I really thought it would pave the way for the future of the genre. Sadly SOE released a crap expansion 3 months after launch, to which a lot of people left because they were fed up with their management of the game. They then didn't touch the game until 2004 to which they released a lackluster patch called "The bending" which got rid of an island, replaced it with 4 mini islands and noone liked it. They then finally killed off the game by releasing BFRs which were totally overpowered and ruined everything. Even though they are useless today, the population never recovered and SOE ruined another mmorpg.  
 
However Planetside introduced an MMORPG levelling system, which still allowed for new players to be competitive. Also because it was PVP only, levelling up never felt boring and you always had that incentive to level up, to get a cert, so you could purchase more unlocks. Hundreds of people would fight seamlessly on massive Islands and each person could have their own vehicles from land to air and it made for some frantic mass scale battles. The FPS genre had never seen anything like Planetside before and it was the mass scaled battles which really set it apart and to include vehicles in that, made it even bigger. 
 
To this day no online FPS has ever gone anywhere near to the scale of Planetside, not even Battlefield, Not even MAG. Just a shame SOE killed it off, though they are making Planetside 2, so fingers crossed SOE have learnt their lessons... though I doubt they have lol. 
  
My two was hard to pick because it came down to Five Titles; 
 
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein 
- Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield 
- Tribes 2 
- Joint Operations 
- Battlefield 1942 
 
Sure there was Unreal tournament and Quake 3 that could be there but these FPS really came at a time when no many people had internet connections and I just remember lots of lag. On top of that they were pretty boring and got old really fast, never did anything that amazing for their time. 
 
- Rainbow Six 3 was an amazing game but it loses out because of poor controls and it was so buggy.  
- Tribes 2 loses out because it wasn't really popular with my friends and graphically it was ugly and buggy. 
- Battlefield 1942 loses out because to me the game was never really good until DC mod came and fixed it. Also Joint Operations is so much better. 
 
4. Joint Operations. 
 
 Art wise it was pretty generic and not much to look at, however gameplay and scale is where it excels. It was the first FPS (that you didn't have to pay a subscription or download a mod for) to go to 150 players and the maps were huge, which a great day and night cycle. What tended to happen was because the maps were so big, you could easily sneak behind the enemy and hide in bushes and just wait for them to come pass. You'd be camping there for hours as it went from day and night, some how that was fun because that cycle gave it a sense of being a real battle.   
 
Now why I chose it over Battlefield 1942 for many reasons but the main one is the fact that vehicles were not overpowered. In Battlefield games they would dominate and Planes would just own up the whole map. However in Joint Operations you needed whole squads to be in them to make them effective, this really built up team play. Also they were mainly for transport, to just get around. So you'd have people who just became Black Hawk pilots and going back and forth to the drop zones, transporting players and that was their role. 
  
Really amazing game, great scale and had the gameplay mechanics to pull off proper teamplay which Battlefield has never done. 
 
5. Return to Castle Wolfenstein. 
 
Back in 2001 this was the first Online FPS I remember that really gave proper support roles. You could be a medic and revive people or give out ammo or just be a gunner. I also loved the class which had the air strikes, so the screen was constantly shaking because of them and felt so hectic. What really made this game for me is the map design more than anything, such great maps such as Deport (I think it was) and Beach. There were tons more and another innovative map was tram which had tram rides back and forth and was a lot of fun. The maps used to go in stages where you had to get the objective and again I'd never seen this before until RTCW.  
 
The only problem was they released ET in 2003 and killed the game off because then people just got the free version. Personally though I thought RTCW was a lot better, which much better map design. It was really the first online FPS I ever got totally serious about because it came at the time when I switched from 56k to IDSN (or whatever it was called) lol. 

" 4. Joint Operations."

1. Counter Strike: Source
2. Battlefield 2142
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
4. Return to Castle Wolfenstein
5. Team Fortress 2

I thought you left ? or banned ....
 
Also this list is too PC biased for my liking

" I thought you left ? or banned ....  Also this list is too PC biased for my liking "

" @turbomonkey138 said:

" I thought you left ? or banned ....  Also this list is too PC biased for my liking "

That's like me saying a top 5 platforming games list is too console biased. "

1. Quake 3 Arena
2. Quake 3 Arena
3. Quake 3 Arena
4. Quake 3 Arena
5. Quake 3 Arena
   

Really solid choices. But for me, the first UT would be up there instead of Planetside.

While Halo proved that FPS' can work on consoles, and Modern Warfare is undoubtedly one of the most popular online shooters ever, that doesn't necessarily make either of them the best. PC shooters were doing what console ones are doing now ten years ago, and although I would have made a couple of changes to the list personally I think most people who were PC gaming during what could reasonably be construed as the first golden age of the FPS would say that consoles are still playing catch up.

" @thecleric said:

" @turbomonkey138 said:

" I thought you left ? or banned ....  Also this list is too PC biased for my liking "

That's like me saying a top 5 platforming games list is too console biased. "

But were not talking about platformer games . We are talking about FPS which are on consoles also . Hmm perhaps the list maker is forgetting about ..Halo ? Call of Duty ?  now if this was a list called ...Best PC online fps shooters then i would be fine with his choice ...apart from Counter strike (which i hate) "

" @turbomonkey138: So you want him to include a console game to make you happy?  There are no console shooters that come even close to any of the games on his list. "

I'm pretty sure a chess analogy is better-suited to RTS games, since there definitely are better and worse ways to 'move your pieces' in an FPS.
 
I submit as an example of accuracy being fun in and of itself: Duckhunt.

1:  Half Life series and its mods - impossible to overstate what the Half Life series of games did for online gaming. Mods like TFC, Counterstrike, Garrys mod, Natural Selection, Action Half Life etc etc etc. have revolutionised multiplayer fps gaming time and again.
2: Unreal Tournament 2004 - put this one over Quake 3 because of the sheer amount of mods and customisation that this game offered while also offering a fine core game multiplayer experience (something the Half Life games don't).
3: Quake 3 - Pure distilled multiplayer fps. No need for mods or any enhancements. Still feels and plays almost perfectly today.
4: Battlefield series - Nothing quite like assaulting a control point as some of your team mates provide support fire from an artillery piece or roll up in a tank/helicopter etc. 1942 had some great mods.
5: Call of Duty series. Chose this over Halo for the fact that it successfully bridged the gap between consoles when it came to online console gaming and the pc online experience finally giving console people what pc players had been enjoying for years.

Not really. Nothing at all in modern warfare is particularly difficult to master, and having a terrible BR in halo 3 doesn't matter when you can get a banshee and warthog running.

1. Battlefield 2
2. Counterstrike: Source
3. Battlefield 1942
4. Quake 3 Arena
5. Call of Duty 2

I won't make a list, because I know the fanatical basement dwelling PC monsters will eat me.

1. Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 blows. This thread is missing Rainbow Six Vegas.

No love for Battlefield?

I'm gonna get so much hate for this. But I absolutely hate Counter Strike, and I can't see a reason why people still play it.

" No love for Battlefield? "

I've never liked Battlefield mechanics reallly and the only good one was DC mod. BF2 was so buggy and broken when it laaunched and really did nothing new. Joint Operations had much better gameplay, just a shame the graphics are too dated now. BFBC2 just feels like a stripped down Battlefield game for the consoles and just doesn't do anything to impress, nothing innovative or new.

Also Battlefield games prior to BC2 had problems with Dolphin divers and floaty movement.

>_>
<_<
Red Orchestra

BY TODAY'S STANDARDS
1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - BY FAR!!!!!!!
2. Killzone 2 (even if you hated the "weight" feeling, the maps were great and cquads/class were good too) 
3. Team Fortress 2
4. Resistance 2
5. COD: Modern Warfare 2? (lol)

" @turbomonkey138: So you want him to include a console game to make you happy?  There are no console shooters that come even close to any of the games on his list. "

"

1. Team Fortress 2

 
/thread

"

CS does have a sort of ranking system with it's money, you need kills for cash, or to save money to buy the "better" guns. Replace the $ with XP and it's the same thing really, just no persistant. 
Though I'd have left 4 dead on there, it wasn't ground breaking, but man it was fun.

Planetside? OKAY BUDDY

I may be flamed but I don't care. 
 
#1 - Halo 2.

Not my list,
But some good choices none the less
 
Although most of the games you listed I know I wouldn't be able to pick up now and enjoy for any real length of time.
And being able to stand the test of time is a big part of being "Best of all time"

"

1. Quake 3 Arena
2. Quake 3 Arena
3. Quake 3 Arena
4. Quake 3 Arena
5. Quake 3 Arena
   

"

No Natural Selection?

" @Noted said:

"

1. Quake 3 Arena
2. Quake 3 Arena
3. Quake 3 Arena
4. Quake 3 Arena
5. Quake 3 Arena
   

"

Yup.  Not sure how you can do a top FPS list without Quake 3.  "

I'd put CoD4 up there, seeing as that's what every online fps is striving to be now. MW2 doesn't have shit on CoD4.

" Fact: Most PC gamers are fags who revel in games 10 years old. "

UT2k4 or bust

"(BTW i am a PC gamer) "

" Fact: Most PC gamers are fags who revel in games 10 years old. "

I just feel like I prefer most older shooters, because innovation really died around 2004 as the 360 came out in 2005 and took most of the PC franchises and started casual gaming. However I show that there is room for good new games with TF2 because Valve made a great game, just no one else is doing the same in recent years for the genre. Sure we're seeing BFBC2 and COD4 but.... they just don't innovate, so I find them boring. For me to find games interesting, because I've been playing them for so long. I need to see innovation, otherwise they play like all the hundreds of online FPS before it and that bores me. Like how EQ came along and then WoW innovated on that formula, now we have the hundreds of lackluster clones like WAR and AoC.

good list only played 1 or 2 of them. counter strike source and team fortress 2.

Ordered in amount of hours played:  
 
1. Quake 3 Arena
2. Quake 2 
3. Quake(World) 
 
Don't think I've spent more than an hour or two in any other online FPS. 

Top lists are dumb.

" Top lists are dumb. "

1. Counter Strike Series 
2. Battlefield 2 
3. Wolfenstien: ET 
4. Quake 3: Arena 
5. Call of Duty 1

I wasn't expecting to see Planetside on that list, pleasantly suprised.

No doom? Really?