So what is *the* best modern FPS campaign?

[micrometers]

Clarification: modern should be drawn around the release of Call of Duty 4, which IMO marked a new era in shooters.

 

[CurseTheSky]

This.

Or the original Deus Ex.

Anyone mentioning a COD game newer than COD1 should probably find another thread to post in. :|

I disagree. COD4, although it had its flaws, had a great campaign. Yeah, endless waves of senseless enemies and lame regenerating health both suck, but the storyline was well done, and the pacing was quite good.

Metro 2033 and Stalker: SOC both get my vote as well. Excellent atmosphere and great game play. HL2 is another of my favorites.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I disagree. COD4, although it had its flaws, had a great campaign. Yeah, endless waves of senseless enemies and lame regenerating health both suck, but the storyline was well done, and the pacing was quite good.

Metro 2033 and Stalker: SOC both get my vote as well. Excellent atmosphere and great game play. HL2 is another of my favorites.

The story to COD4 was absolute trash. Nothing compared to SS2, Deus Ex 1, Deus Ex HR and so forth. Was it a fun game? Sure. Was it good? Sure. Was it great? No.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Deus Ex or FEAR are the newest FPSes I would even bother making note of for their campaigns and FEAR isn't universally loved.

I ****ing love the original FEAR. I still play it through once a year or so, same goes for Mirror's Edge. I'm not too hard to please when it comes to single player FPSs, so I certainly like all the usuals, but I love plenty of the newer games like Metro 2033, STALKER, etc. I also enjoy the original Halo (on PC of course!) quite a bit, it's probably the oldest single player FPS I play on some sort of regular basis. It's nice to just jump into a straight forward FPS without the gimmick BS like Bioshock or Deus Ex: HR.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Borderlands

 

[exdeath]

I'm talking like story, innovative gameplay elements, setting, atmosphere. What is the best modern FPS campaign? Modern Warfare 1, MW2, MW3, BF3, MOH, etc etc.

None of the above.

You'd have to go old school like Half Life, original Ion Storm Deus Ex, or System Shock 2 in order to even get an FPS that *has* a story first.

Those three are pretty much among the best FPS solo games there ever was.

If you go old school and play Half Life you HAVE to get a Aureal 2.0 3D sound card and play the whole game with headphones. It's unreal.

 

[exdeath]

Borderlands

This too.

Splinter Cell is another great play in the dark by yourself FPS.

 

[sandorski]

hmm, nvm

 

[exdeath]

Wow I just back-read from here to the OP and see everyone already mentioned System Shock 2 and original Deus Ex multiple times.

Makes me :wub::wub::wub: that there are people out there who remember games before CoD infested everything, let alone *the* kings of single player story FPS.

 

[RampantAndroid]

None of the above.

You'd have to go old school like Half Life, original Ion Storm Deus Ex, or System Shock 2 in order to even get an FPS that *has* a story first.

Those three are pretty much among the best FPS solo games there ever was.

Agreed, though the HL2 storyline is OK as well, and has some more potential, if they ever continue the game. Maybe explain more of what happened in the years between HL1 and 2.

And actually, I guess Mass Effect 1 deserves a mention - best of the 3 games in terms of atmosphere and story. Clunky at times, but the best of the 3 IMO.

 

[exdeath]

Every couple years, when I have a 4 day weekend, I get the itch to lock the doors, turn off my cell phones, shut all the window shades, and settle in for a System Shock 2 playthrough in one sitting, with headphones.

And of course I'm a hoarder that has to get every last cyber module, credit, and pretty much every pick-up-able item in the game, max stats, several copies of fully upgraded weapons, etc

By the time I get back to the real world, I'm in this daze and everything in real life sounds "digitized" and I'm hearing all sorts of ambient sounds for like 3 days after.

Same with Deux Ex. Gotta pick every lock hack every box etc...

 

[Zenoth]

I would have to say Half-Life 2 including Episode One and Episode Two (otherwise it's rather bland overall, in my opinion, referring to vanilla). It's not finished yet (where is Episode Three or H-L3?), but so far it's still the overall best FPS experience since... almost forever. I would say that the original Half-Life along with the expansion pack Blue Shift is following very closely behind.

But, yeah for me, Half-Life 2 did it all, physics, graphics, sounds, music, atmosphere, animations, facial expressions and animations (relatively new back then), level design (except for Highway 17, what a boring bland linear mess it was), story, voice acting quality... just name it, you have it. It was all about innovating the FPS genre again (when the original Half-Life had already done it prior to H-L2) on pretty much all aspects concerning FPS games.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I'll be crucified for saying this, but Crysis 2 had a really great SP campaign. Anyone who got lost by the story or didn't like it wasn't paying attention to all the subtle hints they added into the game.

Richard K. Morgan is an amazing writer by the way.

 

[Dkcode]

Operation Flashpoint: Resistance.

Still never played anything else like it.

 

[festa_freak]

It's a toss up between Star Trek: Elite Force and Call of Duty. That's CoD 1 for the uninitiated.

 

[z1ggy]

Bioschock 1 & 2 was pretty cool, I enjoyed it alot.

 

[QuantumPion]

I'll be crucified for saying this, but Crysis 2 had a really great SP campaign. Anyone who got lost by the story or didn't like it wasn't paying attention to all the subtle hints they added into the game.

Richard K. Morgan is an amazing writer by the way.

What? I thought Crysis 2 was crap. I hated how they turned the near-future realistic technology aspect of Crysis 1 into essentially, magic, for Crysis 2.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Stalker. All other answers are wrong.

 

[NAC]

I don’t understand why MW1 haters are so vehement. I just don’t get it. I guess because MW1 lovers are so happy about it?

Now, I can certainly see the difference of opinion. For example, HL2 is substantially slower than MW1 – just the pace of the story and the depth of the environment. So I enjoyed it a lot. And MW1 started at a jog and kept speeding up to a crescendo of mayhem were I just wanted to keep running and shooting and save the world. So I enjoyed that a lot.

I’m an old school doom era guy. But in my opinion it doesn’t get better than MW1. The level of immersion and speed of action and pure fun in that game was awesome. The various converging story lines, the short intros to each level, the nice variety of action. I simply had a lot of fun playing the game, and wont make any excuses about it.

But I’m happy we have faster & slower more immersive games to choose from and to each their own. Stalker Chernobyl & Bioshock were both too slow and I couldn’t get into it or enjoy them.

 

[jacktesterson]

The story to COD4 was absolute trash. Nothing compared to SS2, Deus Ex 1, Deus Ex HR and so forth. Was it a fun game? Sure. Was it good? Sure. Was it great? No.

Your opinion. I enjoyed its Campaign. I had fun with MW2 as well.

Black Ops was meh. World at War was meh. Call of duty 3 was meh.

I have been playing a little MW3 online, but haven't touched it a whole lot yet, and haven't tried the campaign. one day.

I like the COD series in general, but its getting to the point where I am still enjoying Black Ops online enough not to play MW3 yet... and Black Ops 2 will be out soon..... Too many too quickly, especially when you play other games like me. (Some stick to this and only this series)

I own BF3 and haven't touched it. Im on the "I hate Origin" train currently.

 

[jacktesterson]

Anyone else like Bad Company 2's Campaign?

I seem to be the only person to mention it.

 

[acx]

None of the above.

You'd have to go old school like Half Life, original Ion Storm Deus Ex, or System Shock 2 in order to even get an FPS that *has* a story first.

Those three are pretty much among the best FPS solo games there ever was.

If you go old school and play Half Life you HAVE to get a Aureal 2.0 3D sound card and play the whole game with headphones. It's unreal.

No love for number 47?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Anyone else like Bad Company 2's Campaign?

I seem to be the only person to mention it.

I enjoyed it a lot. Much better than BF3 IMO.

 

[DominionSeraph]

System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Half Life, Max Payne.

 

[RampantAndroid]

No love for number 47?

Not sure I'd say that Hitman games have a good story. Fun as hell, but story wise...eh. But yeah, they deserve a mention in any list of FPSes from the last 15 years.