How 7 Games Created the Modern Team Multiplayer FPS

The First Person Shooter (FPS) genre is weaved into the fabric of PCgaming's history and development. These games are what drive thedevelopment of the most cutting edge technology, form the backbone oftournament level eSports, and typify gameplay innovation at the highestlevel. My recent bout with Frontlines,the latest addition to the genre, left me wanting, to say the least,and prompted me to do a little thinking about where the genre came from.

Firstoff, the FPS genre is pretty huge. It covers everything from RPG/FPSgames like System Shock to tactical oriented games like America's Armyto plain old deathmatchingin Unreal. All of these types of FPS's havetheir own charm, but I want to consider them all in their own niches tobe able to focus the conversation down to a specific style of gameplaythat I love. It's the big, multiplayer, team-based games that that Ithink provide the richest, most intense online experiences and I wantto highlight the games that developed that genre specifically. Here arethe key titles in the evolution of the Team Multiplayer FPS:

Doom, 1993

Gave us: First networked multiplayer gameplay
Anytalk about FPS's is going to include Doom, and I'm going to start herebecause Doom was the first game I remember playing multiplayer on alocal BBS. I literally remember in full detail the first time I gotinto a 4 way deathmatch and I consider it one of the defining momentsof my gaming obsession. id Software and John Carmack vaulted themselvesinto legendom as a result of this title.

Quake, 1996, 1997, 1999

Gave us: Internet play, 3D engine, team play
Theyknew they were onto something with Doom, and id Software continued thelegacy with the Quake series over the next couple of years. These gamesare largely considered the father of the FPS deathmatch and introducedcapture the flag modes, bots, and community modding which developedinto the first team-based gameplay, including the first Team Fortress.

Tribes, 1998 and 2001

Gave us: Player classes, vehicles/aircraft, 32 player servers
Thisgame was truly ahead of its time and debuted some incredible featuresthat had never been seen before. Jetpacks and a physics engine forrealistic flight, support classes that emphasized teamwork to a wholenew level, huge outdoor maps that leveraged height as well as distance,and base assault/defense scenarios built around repairable turrets,sensors, and power generators.

Battlezone, 1998

Gave us: Commander with distinct top-down view and abilities, and faction-unique weapons, vehicles, and buildings
Oneof the only FPS games to incorporate real RTS elements, each team'scommander could command AI-controlled vehicles, some of which could betold to construct buildings which had any number of purposes. Thecommander could also assign those vehicles to the control of players onhis team, who could then give them commands. Players could fight asinfantry or enter any number of vehicles and even some buildings, allof which were unique to each faction.

Unreal Tournament, 1999

Gave us: New game types, including Assault
AlthoughUnreal Tournament is an obvious classic with a huge following since thefirst game's release, it's hard to give the game any credit for any big"firsts". Much of the game's charm revolved around the graphics, voiceacting, and cool guns, none of which I can cite as monumental to thedevelopment of the genre. However, the Assault mode wasa very unique gameplay enhancement and certainly emphasized team playin a way which had never been done before. The best part about it wasthat each of the many Assault maps had completely different objectives,ranging from the attacking team having to blow something up, flip aswitch, open a door or any number of other things while the defendingteam tried to stop them.

Counterstrike, 1999

Gave us: Tactical gameplay for the masses
WhileRainbow Six would probably be considered CounterStrike's forerunner inthe tactical sense, CounterStrike playability for the average gamer farsurpassed it. It was able to combine fast-paced action with strategicand realistic gameplay in a very team-centered scenario for up to 32players. Classic maps, game modes, and weapons make this one of themost successful and noted games of all time -- and it all started froma community-developed mod for Half Life!

Battlefield, 2002

Gave us: 64 players, vehicle gameplay innovations, cohesive in-game command structure, universal stats with unlockable weapons/abilities
Thisseries provided vehicle gameplay that is so rich and varied that is hasnot yet been surpassed. From battleships to aircraft, with richlydetailed and well thought out maps, the game holds such a huge range ofdifferent possibilities for strategy and gameplay that it easily holdsthe current title for the benchmark of the genre by far. The commandstructure that EA implemented into Battlefield makes the game perfectfor creating teams around players who can specialize in any number ofthings, from commanding to specific battle skills to pilots. Theuniversal stats and upgrade system I especially appreciate because ofthe rewards that squads can "earn" by playing well as a team in-game.This promotes teamwork which is essential in a game of this type.

Ofcourse, this being an FPS list, I would have loved to include gameslike Halo and Call of Duty, but I don't feel like those games addedanything new, in their time, to the team multiplayer FPS genre.Further, there are other games that might have had "firsts" but didn'tmake it onto the list because they didn't hit the mainstream in a waythat really made their innovations available to the masses (which isimportant).

After all these good vibes from my blast from past,I have to hope the next great title is on the horizon somewhere. Thisgenre is stale, to say the least -- while single player FPS's haveconsistently great titles coming out all the time, the MP arena hasbeen the same old for quite a few years now. Every one of the games onthis list I played until no one would play them with me anymore, and Iknow that the innovation that they brought to scene made them hugelypopular and made their developers a lot of money. All I'm asking is forthat to happen again. Like tomorrow.

Any console FPS aren't mentioned because they were FAR behind the times back then, PC games started the whole FPS scene.