Day of Defeat (2001 Half-Life Mod)

Impact: Combined player classes, sprinting, a variety of melee attacks and "forced" teamwork (by requiring two people to take certain points) to great effect. One of the first games to allow the surprisingly under-utilized prone ability.

Gaming Bliss:

• The bayonet and the crazy swinging shovel is something sorely lacking from other FPS games. 
• Throwing a hot potato grenade back at the enemy. 
• Setting up a machine gun in a choke point.

Favorite Maps: dod_avalanche, dod_anzio, dod_caen, dod_flash

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)

Impact:  A perfect blend of twitch and strategy.  Capturable spawn points, complementary player classes and the intense air strikes/artillery really gave the maps a true battlefield feel.  

Gaming Bliss:

• The flamethrower.  I'm as amazed by gaming tech as any good nerd and the flamethrower still stands out as a wow --it just felt right and looked spectacular. 
• The moments of pure chaos you could rain down on the enemy with air strikes/artillery was good clean fun.

Favorite Maps:  Beach Invasion, Depot

Ghost Recon (2001)

Impact:  Extending the excellent Rainbow Six tactical style of gameplay to huge outdoor environments. One of the few games where patience is essential.

Gaming Bliss: 

• Working with teammates to pin down and eventually flush out an enemy.
• Finding and dispatching that pesky sniper who has made your life miserable for the entire map.
• The pace of the game makes every kill satisfying. 

Favorite Maps: N/A

Halo (2001)

Impact:  Only the second console FPS game (Nintendo 64's GoldenEye being the first) to really get it right.

Gaming Bliss:  

• Cracking someone's noggin with a skull. 
• Tearing ass around the map with the Warthog.  
• 2+ television action. Playing with more than four players is what makes Halo really shine over its console competition.

Favorite Maps:  Blood Gulch

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002)

Impact: WWII comes to life in all its cinematic glory.  The first great historical FPS.

Gaming Bliss:

• Sniping Allies coming out of the landing craft or storming Nazis with a Thompson on the Omaha Beach level was about as good as it gets for a WWII game.
• Hearing the "ping" for the first time as your M1 cartridge ejects was pure ecstasy for a WWII fanatic.

Favorite Maps:  Omaha, Algiers

Ricochet (2002 Half-Life Mod)

Impact:  While not revolutionary, the simple Tron-like competition can still be more fun than the latest epic FPS.

Gaming Bliss: 

• Beheading foes with the razor discs. 
• Launching foes into oblivion with bank shots.
• "Tron Jousting" -- bouncing an opponent in the air while launching off of the jump pads.

Favorite Maps:  rc_deathmatch (there are only three maps)

America's Army (2002)

Impact:  A "free" FPS (covered with US taxpayer money) created as a recruiting tool for the United States military.  Interesting use of offline training tools.

Gaming Bliss: 

• Although it'll get you thrown in the brig, America's Army will let you shoot a superior officer. Perfect for recreating Full Metal Jacket scenes.
• Sitting through basic first aid courses to advance my character.  On second thought...

Favorite Maps:  Bridge Crossing, Insurgent Camp

Battlefield 1942 (2002)

Impact:  Possibly the single greatest jump in focus in FPS gaming history. Although it wasn't the first game to have vehicles and classes it was the first to really balance them effectively. A huge variety of land, sea and air vehicles expanded the gameplay tremendously.  BF1942's  huge scope allowed for endless possibilities. 

Gaming Bliss: 

• Parachuting from a plane directly into a tank.
• Running down an enemy in a jeep.  
• Littering enemy spawn points with mines.
• Blasting enemy positions from a battleship.
• Sniping the tank's machine gunner.  
• Convoy tactics -- bouncing from flag to flag with a massive group of vehicles and soldiers.  

Favorite Maps:  El Alamein, Bocage, Wake Island

Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002)

Impact:   The updated Unreal engine was probably the most significant upgrade.  The football themed Bombing Run was a simple idea executed perfectly. 

Gaming Bliss: 

• Although I had heard of "rag-doll physics" I didn't fully graspy what it meant until I saw bodies getting bent into every imaginable position in UT2003 (eat your heart out Kama Sutra).
• The polish and surrounding elements of the game really ratchet up the cyber-sport  feel.  You actually start to buy into it after awhile... until you realize you've been sitting on your ass all night.
• Getting the bomb into the enemy's goal in Bombing Run is another great sports-type moment.

Favorite Maps: N/A

Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (2003)

Impact: The third installment of Rainbow Six took tactical gameplay to a new level with top-notch graphics, sounds and all sorts of fun gadgets. The upgrades were a nice break from Counter-Strike which by this time was really showing its age.

Gaming Bliss:  

• As with other Tom Clancy games, picking your weapon loadout for a match was half the fun.
• A coordinated group could easily mop up on the typical free-for-all team deathmatch types found in most servers. 
• One of the few games where getting to higher ground actually felt like you were gaining an advantage.

Favorite Maps: N/A

Aliens versus Predator 2 (2003)

Impact:  Although the first iteration of AVP featured similar gameplay it was the sequel that really took it to the next level.  The infamous near-invisible Predator  and the lightning quickness of the Aliens combined with the standard gun-toting Marines really led to tremendously tense action.

Gaming Bliss:

• It took a little getting used to, but the Aliens ability to crawl all over the walls and ceiling allowed for some of the best stalking this side of Splinter Cell.  No game before or since has captured the primal hunt as well.
• The moment you fire up the Predator's heat vision or the Marine's motion detector all your memories of the two classic movie series start swirling around in your head. 
• Gory melee attacks with the crafty Predator or the lunging Alien made the numerous gameplay imbalances worth while.

Favorite Maps:  N/A

Call of Duty (2003)

Impact:  Yeah, I know -- another damn WWII game.  Call of Duty improved on nearly every aspect of Medal of Honor including being able to melee attack an enemy with ANY weapon including the grenades.  The Behind Enemy Lines and Headquarters gameplay modes provided a nice change of pace.

Gaming Bliss: 

• Did I mention that you could bash enemies with any weapon?
• The thoughtful multiplayer map layouts always seemed to force battles in certain spots which allowed for great flanking opportunities.
• Taking cover behind a dead cow always served as an interesting reminder that war annihilates every living thing in its path.

Favorite Maps:  N/A

Call of Duty: United Offensive (2004)

Impact:  United Offensive added a fun vehicle-centric mode of gameplay called Base Attack and fine-tuned the already excellent Call of Duty multiplayer experience by adding in-round rewards, tanks and a few superb maps.  

Gaming Bliss:

• Earning the Platoon Sergeant rank (giving you the ability to drop artillery) first in a round. One of the delights about reaching this rank first  is that nobody knows when the arty will start raining down.
• Once again, the excellent maps are what really set CoD apart from its peers.  Flanking positions always led to great push and pull battles.

Favorite Maps: N/A

Half-Life 2 (2004)

Impact:  Perhaps the most anticipated FPS ever made. The powerful Source engine provided gamers with updates to extremely popular games Day of Defeat and Counter-Strike and will probably be providing all sorts of innovative mods in the future.  Valve's oft-annoying Steam really opens the doors for direct distribution of games.

Gaming Bliss:  

• Tossing furniture at foes with the gravity gun.
• Although Valve had to patch the game to add it, the crowbar made its long awaited return. Note: Valve might have called it an "update", but Half-Life without the crowbar is a gigantor bug that required a "patch".

Favorite Maps:  N/A

Battlefield 2 (2005)

Impact:  The BF 1942 mod Desert Combat provided a lot of the same modern warfare, but BF2 brought over some cheap RPG thrills to the FPS masses with stat tracking, awards and ranks. Having a commander that can coordinate efforts with squads, spot enemies, drop supplies/artillery and illuminate areas with the UAV makes sophisticated coordination part of everyday gaming. Just like Battlefield 1942, there are so many opportunities for mayhem narrowing down specific moments is becoming harder and harder to do. 

Gaming Bliss:

• Waiting for a chopper/plane to take off before detonating C4 -- bonus points if you can wait until they turn to face you before blowing the packs.  
• Playing with a balanced caravan full of engineers, medics and support soldiers clogging up choke points and rapidly capturing flags. 
• Killing an enemy with the medic's shock paddles. 
• Having squadmates spawn to your position just when you need them. 
• Watching that sweet life-giving supply crate drop from the sky.

Favorite Maps:  Strike at Karkand, Mashtur City, Ghost Town, Warlord, Daqing Oilfields