well... (in somewhat chronological order, sequels added to first game for space saving purposes)
[spoiler a short list, not featuring games with questionable shooter pedigree, such as the GTA's, Red Dead and le Saboteur, or mass effect (despite 2 being a pretty functional shooter)]
Doom 1,2 and 3
Quake 1,2 and 4 (3 i played but couldn't stand)
RTC Wolfenstein & Wolfenstein (wasn't around for 3d)
Duke Nukem 3d, LoTB, TtK, Manhattan project
Half Life, Blue shift, OpFor, 2, 2ep1, 2ep2
Team fortress classic and 2
Oni
Tribes 2
Battlefield 2 and bad company
GUN
Halo 1, 2, 3, ODST (wars) and Reach
Serious Sam TFE, TSE
Tom Clancy's Ghost recon, Ghost recon 2, GRAW, GRAW 2 (graw harder)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow six 3, Rainbow six 3 raven shield, Lockdown, Vegas, Vegas 2
Bioshock & 2
Call of Duty 2, 3 (worst game ever), Modern warfare, World at War, Modern warfare 2
Condemned: Criminal origins & 2: bloodshot
Prey
Far Cry Instincts, evolution and 2
John Woo's Stranglehold
Frontlines: fuel of war
Kane and Lynch: Dead men & dog days
Army of two
F.E.A.R
007 Quantum of solace
Mercenaries 2: world in flames
Blacksite area 51
Area 51
Fallout 3 & new vegas
Left 4 Dead & 2
Gears of war & 2
The darkness
Dead space
Borderlands
System Shock 2
Deus Ex & invisible war
[/spoiler]
I no longer play online PC games (thanks to PC gamers) so my steam account won't show most of the PC games I have listed, I created a new account to stop getting hounded by the more angry PC crowd members
And I still rate halo as being one of the greatest series out there, simply because of the universe it has created, no one feature makes a game great, but halo really does have it all, the fantastic games are just a small part of that, The music by Marty, the artwork (which they still make), the story, which stretches across years, with games, books, anime, comics, full graphic novels and more making up the storyline, most of which I have assembled.
But most of all?
The community, because Halo has one of the greatest gaming communities out there, players who are not only incredibly fun to game with on a night in with a few cans of relentless and a pizza, people on other sides of the world, but also incredibly talented people, who craft maps, create films and utilise the game's very intricate theatre system combined with the photo option to create any image, from a humorous image of a shangheli warrior in a compromising position, to a picture of a great kill, to highlighting a gameplay glitch, to even creating great works of art utilising the tools at their disposal.
On top of this is the ever present Machinima, something that owes its entire pedigree to halo, starting with the warthog jump VHS video, then halo's very own Red Vs Blue, before which, machinima was largely unheard of, but then a couple of guys from drunkgamers make a random video and one of the most successful franchises in the online world, something that finances its creators real life to a degree where they can live comfortably, is created from halo, and is still the most successful, but it also lead to the rise of tons more machinima series being created that would otherwise never be seen.
And what is the best thing about all of that community stuff?
Bungie is directly involved, they see people like the rooster teeth crowd making machinima, so they put a theater system in their next game, to make the job easier, and lower the barrier of entry to new players.
They added a file share so that people could show their work to other players
They created one of the simplest, most elegant map editing tools outside of far cry to allow players to craft their own arenas or even areas for their machinima.
Next they create an entire system, a library, to store all of this stuff, peoples work immortalised on halo waypoint, information available on all aspects of halo lore, from the timeline, through the history of RVB, to the detailed down to individual screw images of vehicles and fighter craft that were not even featured in the actual games, combined with multiple pages of writing detailing their use in the halo universe.
The same system stores a wealth of interesting content for people who prefer to sit back and watch, the motion comics for example, a brilliant treat, complete with audio and exposition on parts of the war we would otherwise have not heard, as well as showing parts of the after effects of the human-covenant war, the devastation dealt to multitudes of planets, the same being seen by those who caused it, now freed of their bonds to the prophets, seeing what they had truly done, very powerful stuff if you get into it.
Finally (regarding halo anyway) the series has never hit a low note in terms of gameplay, it all fits together nicely for me, the energy shields, the health system, the weaponry, the grenades and the enemy types all work as one big fun unit, add co operative play to that and you have got the most fun anyone can have legally.
As for CoD?
meh, fun game, played better, played halo.
[spoiler a short list, not featuring games with questionable shooter pedigree, such as the GTA's, Red Dead and le Saboteur, or mass effect (despite 2 being a pretty functional shooter)]
Doom 1,2 and 3
Quake 1,2 and 4 (3 i played but couldn't stand)
RTC Wolfenstein & Wolfenstein (wasn't around for 3d)
Duke Nukem 3d, LoTB, TtK, Manhattan project
Half Life, Blue shift, OpFor, 2, 2ep1, 2ep2
Team fortress classic and 2
Oni
Tribes 2
Battlefield 2 and bad company
GUN
Halo 1, 2, 3, ODST (wars) and Reach
Serious Sam TFE, TSE
Tom Clancy's Ghost recon, Ghost recon 2, GRAW, GRAW 2 (graw harder)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow six 3, Rainbow six 3 raven shield, Lockdown, Vegas, Vegas 2
Bioshock & 2
Call of Duty 2, 3 (worst game ever), Modern warfare, World at War, Modern warfare 2
Condemned: Criminal origins & 2: bloodshot
Prey
Far Cry Instincts, evolution and 2
John Woo's Stranglehold
Frontlines: fuel of war
Kane and Lynch: Dead men & dog days
Army of two
F.E.A.R
007 Quantum of solace
Mercenaries 2: world in flames
Blacksite area 51
Area 51
Fallout 3 & new vegas
Left 4 Dead & 2
Gears of war & 2
The darkness
Dead space
Borderlands
System Shock 2
Deus Ex & invisible war
[/spoiler]
I no longer play online PC games (thanks to PC gamers) so my steam account won't show most of the PC games I have listed, I created a new account to stop getting hounded by the more angry PC crowd members
And I still rate halo as being one of the greatest series out there, simply because of the universe it has created, no one feature makes a game great, but halo really does have it all, the fantastic games are just a small part of that, The music by Marty, the artwork (which they still make), the story, which stretches across years, with games, books, anime, comics, full graphic novels and more making up the storyline, most of which I have assembled.
But most of all?
The community, because Halo has one of the greatest gaming communities out there, players who are not only incredibly fun to game with on a night in with a few cans of relentless and a pizza, people on other sides of the world, but also incredibly talented people, who craft maps, create films and utilise the game's very intricate theatre system combined with the photo option to create any image, from a humorous image of a shangheli warrior in a compromising position, to a picture of a great kill, to highlighting a gameplay glitch, to even creating great works of art utilising the tools at their disposal.
On top of this is the ever present Machinima, something that owes its entire pedigree to halo, starting with the warthog jump VHS video, then halo's very own Red Vs Blue, before which, machinima was largely unheard of, but then a couple of guys from drunkgamers make a random video and one of the most successful franchises in the online world, something that finances its creators real life to a degree where they can live comfortably, is created from halo, and is still the most successful, but it also lead to the rise of tons more machinima series being created that would otherwise never be seen.
And what is the best thing about all of that community stuff?
Bungie is directly involved, they see people like the rooster teeth crowd making machinima, so they put a theater system in their next game, to make the job easier, and lower the barrier of entry to new players.
They added a file share so that people could show their work to other players
They created one of the simplest, most elegant map editing tools outside of far cry to allow players to craft their own arenas or even areas for their machinima.
Next they create an entire system, a library, to store all of this stuff, peoples work immortalised on halo waypoint, information available on all aspects of halo lore, from the timeline, through the history of RVB, to the detailed down to individual screw images of vehicles and fighter craft that were not even featured in the actual games, combined with multiple pages of writing detailing their use in the halo universe.
The same system stores a wealth of interesting content for people who prefer to sit back and watch, the motion comics for example, a brilliant treat, complete with audio and exposition on parts of the war we would otherwise have not heard, as well as showing parts of the after effects of the human-covenant war, the devastation dealt to multitudes of planets, the same being seen by those who caused it, now freed of their bonds to the prophets, seeing what they had truly done, very powerful stuff if you get into it.
Finally (regarding halo anyway) the series has never hit a low note in terms of gameplay, it all fits together nicely for me, the energy shields, the health system, the weaponry, the grenades and the enemy types all work as one big fun unit, add co operative play to that and you have got the most fun anyone can have legally.
As for CoD?
meh, fun game, played better, played halo.
