What the hell? I haven't evenw atched last weeks episode! Commodore, Y U NO WAIT TO POST AT NORMAL TIME? I save the wringer for the weekend most of the time. I'm gonna be watching that episode later today and then this one, when I get to it. You better have a good excuse...

I'll save my hugs for later.

First I just have to say that, from the camera height, the white empty background and reading a book... I thought you were going for an "I'm on the toilet" theme this week.  I'm glad you didn't!!!  I don't know why you would.  Anyway...

I might be tempted to say Wolfenstein 3D, because I believe it was the first.  I might say Quake because it added a "real 3rd dimension"  like level depth, where you needed to look around in a complete 360 degree environment (up and down not just left and right) to proceed.  However, I feel that Half-Life was more ground breaking because of the story and how you were dropped into not only it but the setting.

Ninto, he talked about it at length both on Monday and today. The Winger has moved days.

John, he needed the background to give enough contrast to the Shatner/Hamill pics.

As for this week's question, the answer is Goldeneye.

You know why.

I dont really know where to begin for this week's wringer. FPSs have had a pretty interesting evolution in the sense that a handful of FPSs did a ton of revolutionizing, and its hard to decide which was the most revolutionary.

You could say a Wolfenstein 3D or Doom for kicking it off, maybe quake for starting the 3D models in the game (im pretty sure every FPS before Quake was 2D "pop ups") Goldeneye for showing that shooters can be successful on consoles. Hell even Halo 1 for creating a larger FPS market for gamers.

Anyway, I'll say Doom. Yes, i know that the argument "well people who say doom should say wolfenstein 3D since it came out a year earlier" will probably be mentioned, but doom had a much larger effect than wolfenstein 3D, and much longest lasting. Doom sparked tons of controversies over its gameplay, while to my memory wolfenstein's big controversy was using nazi symbolizations and songs.

Doom also sparked the phrase "doom clone", which was how people described the entire genre before people started saying "first person shooter". Wikipedia has a great graph that shows this too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Doom_clone_vs_first_p...

I will say that tribes 1 and unreal tournament are my favorite shooters of all time though. And that will probably never change due to a handful of reasons.

I'm just gonna say Metroid Prime because it's the only FPS that I've really ever enjoyed.

The unreal engine opened the doors for so many gaming companies as well as enthusiasts to dabble in armchair game design. Without unreal, we wouldn't even have some of the amazing games we have to day, like one of my all time favorites that I share with you Commodore, Bioshock. The engine has been so influential, that even Square-Enix, a company known for using its own proprietary engines, attempted using it, albeit to terrible results, with The Last Remnant on XBOX 360 and PC. You could even possibly go as far as to make the statement that Unreal tech is the one thing that helped to bridge the gap between console and PC gaming.

Perfect Dark

I'm surpised no one has mentioned Goldeneye for the N64! 

I think the game to have the biggest impact on first person shooter was the first Half Life. Without half life shooters today would probably be where they were prior, crazy fast clickfests. Half Life brought scripting to the forefront, with an interesting story, character driven narrative, and constant plot turns. People say today that Call of Duty is the king, but it is the kingdom of Half Life that it rules. The game was not only the first in the story department, but its level design was amazingly diverse, and interesting, seeing stuff going on just past a door that had been sealed, not being able to help, because the electricity was out. The environment was as big an enemy as the aliens and military. Plus the  G-Man is one of the best enemies ever, he was a mystery that was so well implemented, that the ending put shivers down my spine.

Before Half Life, I would say Wolfenstein for really giving birth to the genre, but if Wolfenstein was Eve, then Half Life was Mary.

Also I have to give a salute to tribes, that games was so many levels of awesome.

I also forgot to mention the Half Life mods. Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, and Team Fortress also did an unbelievable job of pushing multiplayer experiences to new levels (even if steam really sucked back then).

Also Commodore, the Joker voice would not make me laugh as a child, it would make me cry, in return of the Joker Mark played one of the most twisted version of the character I have ever seen, excluding the frighteningly non cool purple jumpsuit.

jsc315, Mr. K mentioned Goldeneye. In bold too.

Lenois, I agree!  You said what I was horribly trying to say about about Half-life in a heck of a lot better way than I could even collect my thoughts about it.  Major props!

As for the new release day, I completely fine with it.  I'm sure we will all still be here regardless of what day you decide to post the next Weekly Wringer!

Firstly, I was going to say Doom, but the genre was so young when that game came out, there wasn't really much ground to break.

I'm going to go with Quake, not only because of the game bringing the genre into a "true" 3-D space, but also, Quake is responsible for making multiplayer an integeral part of the fps expirence.  Yes games before Quake had competitive multiplayer, but in those games it just felt like a thing that was tacked on at the last minuete.  In Quake, it was the best part of the experience.  Of course it wouldn't be untill the internet evolved a little further that people would acctually be able to enjoy multiplayer the way it was ment to be (see XBox Live).  After Quake, every fps needed to have multiplayer (some exceptions like System Shock, BioShock, Deus Ex, what have you...).  Also, this was the game that established id as one of the greatest video game building engine makers in the industry.  Think of all of the great games created by id 2 engine and its many successors.

My runner-ups include:

Half-Life 2:  I would go as far to say that HF2 was even more ground breaking than its predecessor in that it changed how games were developed and how story was told in a first person.  I say story was better in HF2 for one major reason: characters.  In HF1 the only 2 notable characters were Gordon Freeman and  the "G-Man," and one never talked and the other we litterally know nothing about.  With such endearing characters as Alyx Vance and Barney, there's a lot more emotion in HF2 because of the expertly executed character development.  And with all of the spinoffs and mods, plus the creation of the extremely well done Source engine,  this game (arguably) established Valve as the greatest developer of first-person of all time, and one of the greatest video games of all time.

and

Halo: Combat Evolved:  This is the game responsible for the shift from the PC fps, to the console-fps.  The PC is loosing some of its edge as a gaming platform, one of the many reasons being most of the successful fps are being developed for consoles.  You could also say that the Microsoft platforms have been the first person shooter power houses that they are directly because of the influence of Halo.

I remember playing Doom somewhen in 1995 at a friends house and it was breathtaking, I seriously thought that graphics couldn't be better any time.  With the same friend, I played Duke Nuked 3D and also Quake. But the most groundbreaking FPS to me is also Half Life. It did a terrific job in telling a great story (without cutscens) and combining this with superb gameplay. I think none of todays FPS would exist without Half Life. 

That's what I think about Single Player, but I would like to separate this from Multiplayer Shooters, which also have evolved over the years. Counterstrike is probably the MP shooter which influenced many games. I remember a time when almost everyone, who played Multiplayer games was playing CS. I'd go as far and say, without CS there would be no Battlefield or Cod MP. Unreal Tournament was also a great game, I used to play it with friends via LAN . Seriously, nothing better than the UT voice saying you dominate and you keep fragging your friends :D. 

Also, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault launched WW2 to FPS. I played so many WW2 shooters, I really am oversaturated and can't play any of those no more. But when it was released there weren't that many WW2 Shooters and it greatly influenced the first Call of Duty. I think most people don't even remember the first CoD, I certainly don't if I think about Black Ops or MW2. It was incredible to play the D-Day scene from Saving Private Ryan in MoH:AA . CoD 1 also "copied" some WW2 movies, for instance Enemy at the Gates. I would even go as far and say that between 2000 and about 2008 there were so many WW2 Shooters released, it almost was its own genre.

Halo I think was also important for shifting the Shooters to the consoles, though I never will play shooters on consoles, the controlls with the Sticks just drive me mad and I keep wishing I was playing this with a good mouse.

Ultimately I'd say for SP Half Life ist the most important FPS to me. When it comes to multiplayer I would say Counterstrike is THE most influential game.

I'd definetley have to say that Halo is the most groundbreaking FPS. And I say this for three reasons.

Reason the first: Halo brought people together in a new way. In the same way Super Mario Bros. perfected platforming, Halo refined cooperative gameplay for every game to follow. I have very fond memories of playing Halo on weekends with my friends in an effort to see the end of the story.

Reason the second: Halo brought Microsoft into the foreground of video games singlehandedly. Put simply, the Xbox would've fizzled out fast without Halo as a launch title.

Reason the third: Halo popularized the whole genre. FPSs were primarily PC based before Halo, and Halo brought the genre into millions of homes all over the world. But even more importantly, Halo was popular with everyone who played it. The heavily sci-fi influenced story was popular with every type of gamer be it casual, hardcore or even sports gamer. After this game, the FPS became the prominent force in video games and it still remains even today.

To review, it perfected co-op, it introduced Microsoft to gaming, and it popularized FPSs for every type of gamer. And it's influence is seen everywhere. Halo 3 was considered the most anticipated title of this generation, and it sold like a bajillion units in one day! Even now, the hint of Halo 4 has brought every gamer (hardcore or peripheral) onto its toes in anticipation.

So I pick Halo, on the Xbox.

I say story was better in HF2 for one major reason: characters. In HF1 the only 2 notable characters were Gordon Freeman and the "G-Man," and one never talked and the other we litterally know nothing about. With such endearing characters as Alyx Vance and Barney, there's a lot more emotion in HF2 because of the expertly executed character development.

I do follow your line of thought, but Half Life 2 allowed these characters to exist for a different reason. It was a group of people surviving the alien takeover. Half life was you against the government, and the alien. There were characters, but their lives were short, they were scared not knowing what would happen. The characters in Half life 2 were the cream of the crop, forged in the resistance, while those in Half Life 1 were scared scientist, not knowing what would happen or even how long they would live. plus the two sequels fleshed out the characters a lot, and told the same story from different perspectives.

My point is that the characters are different, but it is for te greater narrative scope of the game.

There are so many games that you could make a good argument for this question it's overwhelming.

I'm tempted to use an example like Doom or Half-life, just becasue their obvious choices, and are milestones in gamming.  However, I'm going to say the first Halo.  There are a lot of things that Halo did that you still see influence in games today (for better or worse).  Perhaps the most important aspect being the social importance of it (even more so with Halo 2, which I say had the greatest impact for competitive online games on a console).  Yes, pleople played goldeneye 64  together, but Halo had professional gamming leagues.  I think it's also held up well over the years; not sure if you've played goldeneye recently, but it's not nearly as much fun as I remember it being.

Wow came a bit late to the party and still surprised noone's said this one. Honestly the most ground breaking, and I'd argue also, most important fps. 

System Shock.

Firsit FPS to incorporate a true 3d environment (Doom had elevation, but you couldn't map a room on top of another room for example)

First FPS to incorportate Mouse and Keyboard controls.

I can't even begin to say the ammount of influence this game has had on FPS's to come:
 - Elements of survival horror
 - An actual story rather than the run and guns that existed up to this point.
 - Powers you could activate 

And while not necessarily important. You have to give points for one of the most frightening villans to date in FPS's... SHODAN. For those of you who don't know. SHODAN is kind of like the original GLaDOS. Only SHODAN makes GLaDOS look like a newborn kitten.

Oh and on a side note.. I wonder Commodore, if you and I aren't on the same wavelength. I think perhaps you may of had a bit of obscure foreshadowing with that book of yours.

For me and my friends, it was Duke Nukem 3D that blew us away. We had all played and fairly enjoyed Doom, but when Duke 3D hit the scene, we were awestruck. D3D integrated "up and down" along with forward/back, left/right with the addition of the jet pack and under water levels, plus we could really get a good number of players going for death matches. We spent uncountable numbers of hours killing each other in my first 2 years at college with D3D. We LAN'ed 4 computers in 4 different dorm rooms by drilling holes between adjoining closets, and running ether cable under carpet in the hallway. Ahhhh... good times! It definitely holds a special place in my heart.

But, to be fair, I'd say that Half-Life really opened things up with it's game play and story.

Even if these aren't the most ground-breaking FPS's, they definitely paved the way.

The obvious choices in this are Wolfenstein and Doom. They were the ones who set the original bar, and as someone who doesn't play a lot of FPS games that's really about the best I could come up with... Or is it?

Portal of course, because it lets you muck with physics Ahhh but... Before that there was Descent. I did not own this game but my cousin did and I watched him play it. I think it was revolutionary. It had a 3D environment to move about in 3D... You could move and maneuver anywhere in just about any way. Gravity was not a consideration and it made for sone difficult navigating at times... somewhere between Star Fox and Metroid Prime.

I also happen to think Metroid Prime is revolutionary in its own way. Not as a game changer for the industry, but definitely for Metroid itself. I didn't think it could work as a FPS and I was very skeptical I'd even want to play it given my aversion to FPS games in general. Boy, was I wrong. All the Metroid games are atmospheric, but Nintendo did their damndest to pack atmosphere into Prime and it worked.

The first part on the space station was sparse and creepy and covered with bugs and steam vents and sparks flying and things randomly falling and exploding out of things. I was TERRIFIED of that opening level, and once I got to the planet? Wow. Just.. wow... water effects, movement, and controls that were very tight and made sense. I really enjoyed playing it. It had that 3D navigation I just now realize was heralded by Descent many years before it.

So that's my contribution to the mix.

I remember getting queezy just watching my friends playing Descent. Definitely a game that needed good spatial orientation skills and a strong stomach!!

Hah! The most groundbreaking FPS ever? That HAS to be Daikatana! At least John Romero told us so and he wouldn`t lie to us, would he? Don`t you guys / gals remember the ads?

To be honest I have to cue in with Half Life. It was the first shooter I played that realy got me into an almost movie like experience. Still it`s definitly not the most fun FPS I`ve ever played. That would be a tie between "DOOM2 Hell on Earth" and "Realms of the haunting".
I use the term FPS a bit loosly because RotH just like Systemshock is more like an first person action adventure to me than an actual shooter.

While Daikatana was a bad game, and gets a lot of flak for its hype, it tried to push the genre forward in ways that hadn't previously been done. It was a matter of technological limitations that prevented daikatana from being the breakthrough it could have been.

I did think of another game which had an enormous influence on the first person fantasy genre. Herectic, and my favorite Hexen. This game made the fantasy game action oriented, and previous games were roll based, they took place in first person, but in a slow tactical way. Heretic paved the way for Elder scrolls oblivion, and more so dark messiah of might and magic. It took the FPS out of the gun realm, and let you swing a sword and shoot magic. It was deffinitely a revolutionary title that is oft forgotten.

I would have to say, personally, I would not chose either one to babysit my child as far as the Real life person.  However, if we are gooing on them as there characters I would probably say Mark Hammil.  Suimply because I havent seen much of Shatner aside from those Priceline commercials (I think thats him anyway). 

Anyway, On to the wringer for this week, god I hope Rage is good. 

I'd have to say that as far as the most ground breaking Shooter....I think we need to do a quick history of ground breakingFirst person Shooters. 

Well, Obviously, the first (At least the one credited as the first) succesful FPS If memory serves is Wolfenstien 3D.  Then right after that, came the game everyoen and there grandmother knows about (For better or worse) Doom.  Now Honestly, I know very little about Wolfeinstien period, much less 3D, other than the fact it was probably the first FPS to include you Shooting the Snot out of Nazis and Hitler. (talk about the ultimate Godwin's Law.).  Now, Doom on the other hand.  I pratically Grew up with Doom 2 so I know a bit about the Doom Franchise.  Doom, from what I know, Revolutionised FPS's in many ways.  If wolfenstien brought FPS into 3D, the Doom Damn near perfected it....for it's time anyway.  No longer were you limited to single levels and Squared off sections, you could actually move in waht felt like a Three dimensional Space; going upstairs, down stairs, and more.  hell, if memopry serves, Doom also gave way to the moding community with people making there own levels and even full fledged games.  If memory serves some people have made a Ghostbusters game and a Batman Game that6 ran off the Doom Engine. 9It might have been Doom 2 that brougth this, but Im not sure.) 

Now the next game that comes to my mind is Goldeneye.  I know Quake goes in here somewhere, but I honestly dont know anything about Quake aside from....its good.  Anyway, Goldeneye was a game that very popular for good reasons.  one, Its a Good Movie tie in game.  and not only good, but Really good.  That alone should be enough to revolutionize gaming considering the garbage most Movie games are.  However, there is more to Goldneye than jsut that.  Goldeneye made Console FPS's possible.  Utilizing the controls of the Nintendo 64, Rareware was able to make a game that felt really great to play.  It also made Multiplayer on Consoles fun as well.  I remember Owning an N64 and this being one of the games I wanted.  I loved this game and played it for years with my cousins and Friends. 

Now Im getting into a bit of unfamilar territory so feel free to correct me and add on if I miss somethign (Wich I will.) 

Now I beleive there was a game series called Half Life That was released around 2001 or so.  From what I understand, Half Life did what no other FPS was cappable of Doing, tell a GOOD story...or so Im told.  Well, Considering the fact that peopel are STILL begging and waiting for the third game, I'd beleive them. 

After that we have the Halo Series wich....I dont know why people like this game series.  Most say its the Multiplayer, wich I dont even think came until Halo 2, and others say the story, but I didnt find anything impressive about the story to be honest.  Im just gonna go with the Online aspect since it makes the most since... I think.  As you may have guesed being able to play Multiplayer online with a console was but a pipe dream until halo came out.  Now its an every day thing for us.

Im not sure where to go from there.  I mean Bioshock was a great game for it's story and innovative "Magic/Plasmid" gimmik, but, well half life proved a story can be good in FPS's and I hardly doubt the Plasmids are that ground breaking.  Dont get me wrong, Bioshock is great, but hardly ground breaking.

Then comes the portal series proving yet again, that we can think with Portals.  Just another puzzle solvign aspect for a freaking awesome it is. 

Call of Duty is another game I dont get.  I dont even see how its revolutionary.  I've asked people and some say "It's got a great story" But...no one can tel me what its about.  some say its them ultiplayer wich....well Halo beat them to the punch years ago so we cant add that to the list. 

It was probably a better idea for osmeone else to do this list, FPS's are definitly not my thing with Doom 2 and goldeneye beign the only real FPS's I've played unless Fallout 3 counts. 

But I would have to say, the most revolutionary FPS is....Doom.  I mean seriosuly, Has there been any other FPS thats caused as much contraversy as Doom.  I'm not even talkign about the Violence; I'm talking about the fact that people would play the damn game during work and school.  It was one of the most popular titles of it's time and without it, we probably wouldnt have games liek Call of duty and Halo.  They sure as hell would not be nearly a popular as they are. 

Doom also gave way to the moding community with people making there own levels and even full fledged games.  If memory serves some people have made a Ghostbusters game and a Batman Game that ran off the Doom Engine. It might have been Doom 2 that brougth this, but Im not sure.

This is a very good point, there were a plethora of mods for doom, and you were correct in assuming the original was responsible. I remember playing the Barney mod.

However, there is more to Goldneye than jsut that.  Goldeneye made Console FPS's possible.

Technically the Snes did have doom, although the N64 did feel a lot better with controls.

After that we have the Halo Series wich....I dont know why people like this game series.  Most say its the Multiplayer, wich I dont even think came until Halo 2

There was multiplayer in Halo 1, it was just local multiplayer, although with some tweaks you could play online. You could also play with up to 16 players over LAN, by hooking xboxes together.

The first Halo had the better story. Halo 2 had the better multiplayer. Halo 3 was just fucked in every way. I gave up on the series after that.

Despite Halo 2 being the first one on xbox live, i gotta go with halo 1 being the most influential out of the 3. Halo 1 created a whole new market practically. Before halo 1 console gamers were very oriented towards games originated in japan. Halo 1 kinda changed that.

Ah, first person shooters.

What those useless plastic safety scissors the dumb kids had to use are to a surgical scalpel, the FPS is to the space flight simulator.

Too dumb/brain damaged to think in three dimensions? Well, check out a first person shooter! Even ones with great story writing, give or take, 90% of those are killing everyone in this room before killing everyone in the next room.

I hate these. They're all the same. There have been some good attempts at doing something different. System Shock and Descent have both been mentioned. Because after Doom, everything was basically repackaged Doom.

If flight and space sims don't count, I'd have to say the only FPS I respect in any way is America's Army. Yes, the propaganda game.

Also, a really good game for enforcing teamwork and planning. If you go off running around on your own, you quickly die. And you don't respawn. You get to watch the other team accomplish their objectives, and win.

Just like life. Except you don't get to watch after you screw up.

Eventually, you either quit playing, or learn to work with the other people on your team. There are a lot of these cooperative ones nowadays, like the L4D games, but I think AA was really the first one that encouraged teamwork on a multiplayer game so extensively.

Also, good use of real weaponry, tactics, and scenarios. You couldn't just run and gun, take a lot of hits, then wait behind cover until you're healed, then try again. It payed to be smart, and methodical, and use cover fire, and room clearing.
 

Just like life.

Got about 10 more episodes until you hit week #52-53, Commodore. Any big plans for the one year mark?

Also, the Wringer move is good for me, if that makes any difference.

First time contributor, long time viewer reporting in! ( Roo´s 16 bit gem on Earthbound was the one who got me here)
Looking forward to be part of the community.
This weekly wringer is a tough one. I don´t think I can decide on one specific title that has not been mentioned by the community already, so I´m just going to list some titles that deserve to be mentioned when talking about groundbreaking fps in no particular order.

First of a title that probably wouldnt win the title of most groundbreaking fps of all time but for me it was a groundbreaking experience. Serious Sam: The first Encounter.
A solid arcade-like shooter with fast and simple but challenging gameplay, good humor and an AWESOME soundtrack!
( Dunes level, anyone? For quick reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_fXkzWvhzI )
The Egypt setting was fresh and it all came from a small previously unknown studio.
But my reason for considering it one the best fps is its scale.
Since the first doom game I was used to wander narrow corridors and semi- open rooms collecting key items till i beat the final boss. Serious Sam was the first game that threw me into a massive enviroment with enemies charging at me frome every side. The bosses were huge and threatening. It was the first time where i felt that my character was small when compared to the enemy army. This made the feeling of accomplishment that much better after beating the game.

Another awesome shooter and underrated shooter: The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
What?! A movie licence game....uggghhhh. But wait. This is actually quite good.
The way this game combined stealth gameplay, solid shooting mechanics and good storytelling was quite remarkable. The game featured full body awereness (you see your feet when you look down) and high-quality shadows that really helped the immersion AND the stealth gameplay. And in my opinion the best thing a game can achieve is to merge aesthetics and gameplay to make it feel just right.

I have to agree with Mr. K on Goldeneye. No comment needed on this one. But I like to mention a very similar game to this one. The Timesplitters series.
A series that got better with every single title. it always improved and expanded the awesome multiplayer and was just plain fun. Goldeneye might win because of its influence but timesplitters comes pretty damn close to it.

Lando talked about counterstrike and i have too agree 100%. Here in Germany the game was especially big. Everbody was playing it and the players where highly skilled. I still remember all the guys that got in trouble for installing CS on school pcs...me included.ahhhh good times

Another title that didnt get mentioned (i think) is Thief: the Dark Project
I don´t think this title as aged very well, but for its time it was truly outstanding. instead of relying on combat as part of the gameplay the player had to try to actually avoid combat situations. An interesting idea that imo suceeded 100%

With the release of Deus Ex:Human Revolution I´m suprised to see the the original title mentioned so little.
For its time the perfect blend between rpg and fps. Sadly it aged very very horribly

Even though it has ALOT of flaws i think i have to atleast mention the original Crysis.
Crytek really showed balls when they decided to release a game that was so technologically advanced that years after its release the avarage pc still struggles to run it perfectly.
 

FinalFan777, I have to agree with you on HalfLife 2. Imo one the the most "perfect" fps of all time. you already covered the story of the game and i can add not anything to that. 100% agreed. I´d like to mention the gameplay and leveldesign of the game. For me it is what makes the game so perfect. The gravity gun made the enviroment part of the gameplay. Killing zombies in ravenholm with sawblades or stackin boxes and various other objects to advance in the game....great memories

The next one hurts abit....Call of Duty:Modern Warfare.
Even though i cant stand the multiplayer of the game (the campaign is worth atleast a quick rent though imo) it really set the standard of how a modern shooter must be to be successful. I absolutely HATE the mutiplayer for it because it spwaned dozens of carbon copies and every shooter tries to emulate the COD formula but you cant deny how successful and influencial the game is today.

Props to DTX180 for your thoughts on Doom. Nothing to add.

And with my last contribution I´m going to kiss your ass Commodore128.
Bioshock. You already said most of what i think about the game and if i absolutely have to decide in my opinion it wins the title.
Bioshock really transcended being "just" a fps. It painted a vision of clashing philosophies, wrapped it an absolutely amazing setting, soundtrack and writing and decorated the whole package with almost perfect shooter gameplay and innovation. One of my favourite games of all time and it deserves the throne.

Looking forward for the next wringer, keep up the good work, greetings to the awesome community.
Have fun reading this wall of text full of mistakes written by a tired, slighty hungover non-native speaker  while wondering how to pronounce his fucking stupid name.

Sylgr

Rise of the Triad (1994, PC), developed by Apogee Software using a crazily modified Wolf3D engine, I feel tried to take the FPS in a slighty different direction than it ended up going in.

There was System Shock, Strife, and finally Deux Ex, which really opened it all up in terms of adding new gameplay elements and in some cases level design.  Then Half-Life came along and basically started turning the genre into a more cinematic experience with story and setting.

But RotT did something else; it's campy, and (IMO) has a distinct arcade-like quality to its gameplay and level design - and it's just FUN.  You choose a character to play from five possible H.U.N.T. agents (each with their own gameplay attributes), and you blast your way through the tons of available levels, not only taking out the baddies, but avoiding the many traps and pitfalls scattered around each level.

On the surface it's easy to dismiss it as another DOOM-clone, but it really isn't; I get the feeling I just sank some quarters into an arcade game.  Also, the levels are HUGE (many sections with open space) and very long, yet completely linear.

Another interesting element to the gameplay is that it's just as easy to die on spikes and fire traps than it is to be shot.  Further, there's a point system in place that's more old school arcade-like than DOOM or its clones; instead of the game tallying up a ratio of what you did at the end of the level, there's a counter in the HUD that tells you exactly how many points you got for whatever action.  There are also multiplayer modes in which you blow up or collect as many triads as possible.

The level of camp in this game is also very high; you can morph into a dog, or even a yawning god who shoots lightening bolts.  There's a code you can type into the DOS prompt before loading the game that makes a spinning, belching head appear before the game starts.

No other FPS has the feel of RotT.  And it's still installed on my harddrive.

As for a modern equivalent to RotT, I guess the Serious Sam series might qualify in some aspects, but certainly not all.