A Brief History of the FPS
Consoles Get In On The ActionUntil 2001, the FPS wars had been fought almost entirely on the PC, with console ports and games as an afterthought. By 2001, though, the console wars were in full swing. Sony owned the console market with the Playstation and the Playstation 2, Nintendo's Gamecube was playing catch-up, and deep-pocketed Microsoft entered the market with the Xbox. In a testament to the popularity of the FPS, Microsoft staked the success of the Xbox release on one title: Bungie Studios' Halo: Combat Evolved. Microsoft had little to worry about as Halo drove initial sales of the console and went on to sell millions of copies. An engaging story and top-notch gameplay outweighed the bland and sometimes repetitive level design. Gamers accepted the role of Master Chief with enthusiasm and flocked to Microsoft's Xbox Live service for online deathmatches. Halo 2, released in 2004, garnered the same level success as its predecessor. The Halo franchise is now a bona fide mega-success, and for the first time PC gamers are waiting in line for the port from the console version. Just as Doom solidified the PC as a viable FPS platform over a decade earlier, Halo proved that the fickle console market can support a marquee FPS title.
The FPS spoils, though, weren't all Microsoft's. While no other console title could match the force that was Halo, both the Playstation 2 and the Gamecube saw some FPS goodness of their own. Retro Studios resurrected Samus Aran from her 2D past in Metroid Prime, a continuation of the Metroid storyline in FPS format. Wildly successful and universally hailed by critics as a great example of a modern FPS, the game generated a Gamecube sequel and is due for a follow-up on Nintendo's new Wii console sometime this year. Developer Volition created a console-oriented FPS called Red Faction for the Playstation 2. Looking to push the genre though technical advancement, Volition gave players the ability to alter the game world by blasting through walls and blowing up obstacles. Previous FPSs allowed select interaction with the environment, but Red Faction's "Geo-Mod" technology let players determine their course through the game more liberally. For instance, a player could bomb through a wall around a locked door rather than search for the key. 
TimeSplitters
Alternate paths such as this are limited at times by the necessity of controlling the storyline, but Red Faction and its sequel are nonetheless fun and innovative. And in what began as a Playstation 2 launch title, Free Radical Designs' Timesplitters made its way to the Gamecube and Xbox, and spawned two multi-console sequels. As its name suggests, Timesplitters' story sends the player through a series of time periods, each period defined by unique weapons and level design. These games, along with other console-only FPSs, indicated that the days of PC-only FPS were over. As console gamers finally got a taste of what an FPS is really supposed to embody, PC gamers feasted mainly on sequels. Id Software farmed out creation of Quake 4 to Raven Software while they handled Doom 3 in-house. Brought to life by a new Carmack-designed engine, both games were graphically superb. Gameplay was a return to the familiar single-player FPS id Software is known for, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Quake 4 rekindled many gamers' love of blasting away at the Strogg, while the under-lit world of Doom 3 had enough cheaply surprising moments to warrant at least a couple underwear changes. After painfully missing an announced Fall 2003 ship date, Valve Software's Half-Life 2 hit shelves in late 2004 and garnered so many "Game of the Year" awards that even Gabe Newell likely stopped counting. Well-executed from top to bottom, Valve successfully expanded the Half-Life universe while simultaneously re-inventing digital distribution of games via their Steam network.
In an exception to the proliferation of sequel madness, developers old and new tried their hand at new franchises. FPS old-timers Monolith Productions delivered a hit with F.E.A.R. in 2005. Its combination of exceptional visuals and decidedly spooky storyline, complete with frightening dream-like cutscenes, are evidence that game developers have taken writing cues from movies. Newcomers Crytek gave us the visually stunning Far Cry in 2004, and this year first-time developer GSC Game World finally released their much-delayed game, the RPG/FPS hybrid S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.
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