The Forgotten PC Games 06.19.08: Top 5 Old School Shooters…Ever

Posted by Chris Vicari on 06.19.2008

Playing some of these oldies but goldies reminds me how far the shooter genre has come, but it also shows me how much it hasn't really changed either. I mean, why mess with a good thing right? Here are five of the best old school shooters ever created, do what you can to get a taste of these precious morsels before they're lost in time forever.

Before there was bump mapping, anti-aliasing or cutting edge 3d graphics there were pixels and lots of them. Wolfenstein 3D was the first game to pave the way for shooters everywhere and despite the genre's infancy, some of those pixilated wonders back then still rival the games we see today. These games didn't have deep storylines, intelligent AI or fancy gimmicks seen in most games these days. It was just you, some guns and a whole lot of enemies.

While there are many great shooters that came out back then, these five stand out in my mind as some of the best depictions of the genre. I'm sure you already know most if not all of the games on this little Top 5 list, but it never hurts to be reminded what you first played when you were a little wet behind the ears. These Top 5 games do not follow a certain order, trying to do otherwise would have made me go insane, they're too difficult to place in any particular order.

Greetings mortal. Are you ready to die?



Released by Raven Software back in 1996, Hexen: Beyond Heretic is a solid shooter built on the Doom engine and is a sequel to Heretic the also-popular prequel. An all-around good shooter and highly praised for its delivery, Hexen is a sure thing due to its fun factor and difficulty. Hexen, along with the other games in its series, can be purchased on Steam for a fair price.

Following the story right after the events in Heretic, three heroes quest to a realm called Cronos to kill a second Serpent Rider named Korax, who is part of the army of monsters you kill throughout the series. While Hexen felt like a standard shooter at the time, its environments, monsters and combat system were pretty top notch. Several new features were also made with this game and those include Hub levels, where the hero traverses one large area and breaks into smaller levels to solve multi-level based puzzles and the opportunity to select multiple character classes at the start of the game.

The ability to choose different kinds of characters. Unique for shooters at the time.

Hexen is thankfully a fairly long game and its puzzles aren't all situated in one level forcing players to be a tad more aware than usual. The game is great, it's loads of fun and a good choice to start you on your path to playing oldies but goldies.

I live…again!



Blood and gore, as the title suggests, is the name of the game for this Monolith classic released in 1997 and there is a lot of it. Totally loads of fun and containing great comedy, an unique assortment of weapons and enemies makes Blood a great shooter and easily recommendable.

Playing the role of Caleb, you cut, shoot and explode your way through hundreds of enemies in an effort to exact revenge on Tchernobog, a dark god who betrayed and killed him and his girlfriend while they were members of its cult, the Cabal. With a large assortment of weapons ranging from sawed-off shotguns, tommy guns, dynamite and even a voodoo doll, Caleb has a lot of tools at his disposal. Nothing was more exhilarating than throwing dynamite into a horde of zombies and playing soccer with their heads. Caleb is an amusing character not just because of his obvious enjoyment for inflicting pain, but for due to his use of sarcastic one-liners where a few pay homage to the great Army of Darkness film starring Bruce Campbell.

Heads will roll.

While Blood may not be as well-received as some of the other games here, it still provides a great deal of fun and vicious mayhem which is more than enough to warrant multiple plays. With a couple level packs, a sequel and one dedicated modding community, you just can't go wrong.

Hail to the king baby!



You had to be expecting this, I mean who hasn't heard of the Duke? Probably one of the most famous first-person shooters out on the market due to Duke Nukem himself, the enemies, the humor and of course the level design and graphics, Duke Nukem 3D was and still is a classic. If he isn't saving babes from the clutches of aliens he's mouthing off one-liners as he wades through his enemies. Without a doubt, Duke Nukem is one of the best and most well-known protagonists ever seen in the realm of FPS games and quite possibly gaming itself.

The story goes that aliens invade Los Angeles and its up to the Duke to exact some revenge. With weapons which remain unique even today like the freeze thrower, pipe bombs and four-barreled machine guns, Duke is a force to be reckoned with. What set Duke apart from other games besides for the reasons described above are the destructible environments. Well, they aren't destructible in the same way as Red Faction, but in certain locations the player can cause enough damage to put gaping holes in walls and at one point topple a building completely.

I'm gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck!

Duke Nukem is definitely tough to beat. An excellent singleplayer experience coupled with engaging multiplayer support, makes Duke 3D unable to be recommended enough. It's one of the best out there, through and through, and completely worthy of all of its praise, not to mention the insane amounts of compilations, expansions and user-made content out there makes Duke even more difficult to pass up.

The comet struck our planet without warning…



Ahh yes Strife, probably the most unknown game out of the bunch, but no lack of quality. Released in 1996 by Rogue Entertainment using the Doom engine, Strife is a phenomenal shooter featuring a great story, unique RPG elements for its time and takes place in one large world rather than a multitude of individual levels.

Playing as an unnamed hero in a post-apocalyptic future which seems to mix medieval architecture with futuristic weapons, you must join a rebel group attempting to take out The Order, the world's new human overseers. With the ability to interact with other characters, take on missions along, multiple endings and an inventory system, Strife was pretty unique for its time and in certain aspects feels like an old Deus Ex.

Strife and its many different locales

Sadly I don't even think it's possible to find Strife anymore and that's a damn shame. It really is a classic and one of the best shooters out there. If you can find a copy, pick it up, do whatever you can to play it, seriously.

Hell on Earth



You knew this was coming and why not? Doom is the best shooter ever and practically kick-started the entire FPS genre. Known world-wide as being the definitive shooter, I don't think anyone hasn't heard of this game. Featuring several sequels, hundreds if not thousands of user-made maps and signature run-and-gun gameplay, Doom is in a league of its own as I'm sure most would agree. You just can't go wrong.

Doom one, episode one, level one.

I can play all of these games on XP and Vista with updated graphics? HOW!?

The answer is ZDoom. Thanks to the wonderful modding community of all these games, every game listed in this column except for Duke Nukem, which can work on DosBox, can be played using ZDoom. All you have to do is head on over to Zdoom.org, install the free client and move the .WAD files over from the games and you're done. Enjoy these oldies with a new polished look and relive the glory days, simple as that.