The 2000s — or the noughties, when you’re British — have been a pivotal period for first-person shooters (and a few third-person shooters, too). The last decade prior had genre-defining video games equivalent to Doom, Quake, and Half-Life that each one launched mechanics nonetheless seen immediately. Whereas many video games after the flip of the millennium tried to do one thing comparable, there have been additionally loads that appeared spectacular on the time… however completely don’t maintain up immediately, for one purpose or one other.
Listed below are seven shooters from the 2000s which have, sadly, aged like milk, listed in chronological order of launch date.
1
Name of Responsibility (2003)
Call of Duty is the most important, most profitable, and most constant FPS collection of all time, having launched yearly entries ever since 2005. Nonetheless, whereas the collection’ first entry, Name of Responsibility, was nice on the time and supplied wholesome competitors to the established Medal of Honor collection, wanting again, it isn’t fairly the sport it as soon as was.
A part of that’s to be anticipated. 23 years on, is anybody shocked future Name of Responsibility video games did it higher? Nonetheless, you solely need to look two years on to search out an instance: Name of Responsibility 2 was superior in each single approach. Even to today, it’s thought-about among the finest entries within the collection, particularly the multiplayer mode. For those who fancy cherry-picking some older Name of Responsibility video games to play in 2026 to know what the collection is all about, you possibly can safely begin with the second.
2
BlackSite: Space 51 (2007)
Do you know that legendary sport designer Harvey Smith, of Dishonored and Prey fame, was the manager artistic director on a 2007 FPS the place the participant has to mow down hordes of aliens? It is known as BlackSite: Space 51. Whereas it launched some attention-grabbing ideas, equivalent to the power to command your two AI squadmates, the contextual button presses did not at all times work.
Trying again, it additionally has completely woeful enemy AI, and in a 12 months that additionally noticed Name of Responsibility 4: Fashionable Warfare, Halo 3, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, it is baffling that BlackSite: Space 51 bought any consideration in anyway. For some purpose, there was additionally a movie within the works from Paramount Photos, though it seems to be lengthy lifeless now, with no updates since 2009.
3
Haze (2008)
Haze was certainly one of PlayStation’s makes an attempt to create a competitor for Xbox’s Halo. It had the appears to be like: a soldier with a putting yellow helmet and a crack within the steel the place his eye is adorned the duvet, however regardless of the pre-release hype, it did not fairly ship. Which, given developer Free Radical Design’s historical past with the TimeSplitters collection, was a shock.
The issue with Haze wasn’t that it was horrible, however as we have seen with video games equivalent to No Man’s Sky, Fallout 76, and Cyberpunk 2077, there was merely no approach it might stay as much as such sky-high expectations. Halo 3 was superior in each approach, however even on the PS3, it needed to cope with Name of Responsibility, Battlefield, Rainbow Six, Medal of Honor, Crysis… the listing goes on. Haze was the type of sport you thought kicked ass if you have been a child, however as you bought older, you realized simply how subpar it’s.
4
Fallout 3 (2008)
Alright, hear me out on this one: Fallout 3 is an outstanding online game. It was my first Fallout sport, and the explanation why the collection is now certainly one of my all-time favorites. Nonetheless, regardless of its unbelievable quest design and engrossing world, it’s not a great shooter. Enjoying Fallout 3 with out utilizing VATS (the auto-targeting system that bypasses needing to manually shoot enemies) is akin to torture.
For a sport so targeted on ranged fight, you possibly can’t even intention down the sights of your weapon. That performance wasn’t launched till Fallout New Vegas, two years later. Nonetheless, Fallout 4 amended this, to the purpose the place that sport is taken into account extra of an open-world shooter than a real RPG. Bethesda has confirmed that remakes of both Fallout 3 and New Vegas are within the works, and in the event that they solely repair one factor, please, god, please let it’s the taking pictures mechanics.
5
007: Quantum of Solace (2008)
There have been quite a few James Bond (or 007) video games over time, with probably the most iconic undoubtedly being 1997’s GoldenEye 007, which numerous millennials take into account to be one of the crucial nostalgic multiplayer shooters. 007 First Light is the newest, and was a return to kind for the legendary British spy. Nonetheless, within the 29-year interim, there have been loads of different Bond video games, most of which might have featured on this listing.
We have opted for 2008’s Quantum of Solace because the one which aged most like milk. This can be a Treyarch-developed sport, aka the identical studio behind roughly half of the Name of Responsibility collection. In actual fact, Quantum of Solace launched only a week and a half earlier than Name of Responsibility: World at Battle, however the two video games have been met with vastly totally different receptions. Maybe the Bond sport’s greatest crime is its heavy deal with weapons-based fight, when Bond himself is extra geared in the direction of gadgets, puzzle fixing, and melee fights.
6
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (2009)
I bear in mind being so excited to play Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising again within the day. After spending just a few years enjoying Name of Responsibility to dying, I could not wait to dive right into a extra lifelike, hardcore shooter. Certainly my expertise topping the leaderboard again and again on Fashionable Warfare would translate, proper?
I used to be, in fact, very mistaken. However Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising wasn’t only a dangerous sport due to that. Sadly, it was extremely slow-paced and really tactical, and whereas that was distinctive and novel again within the day, an expertise like that’s far more frequent and executed much better immediately in video games equivalent to ARMA 3 and Insurgency: Sandstorm. It was an bold sport, however is not value your time in 2026.
7
Duke Nukem Eternally (2011)
Lastly, we have now a sport that’s simply pushing the boundaries somewhat given its launch date, however because it spent a whopping 14 years in growth, I believe it is honest to incorporate it right here. Duke Nukem Forever is one other instance of a sport that was extremely disappointing upon launch regardless of all of its pre-launch hype. In any case, that is what 14 years in development hell will do to a sport.
Duke Nukem Eternally had some memorable moments, however they have been let down by tasteless jokes, linear ranges that detracted from the light-hearted nature of the sport, and much too many platforming sequences. The taking pictures was completely serviceable, however it was an underwhelming approach for the duke to exit, after three a lot stronger principal collection entries earlier than it.