Summary
If there’s one genre where weapons matter the most, it would have to be first-person shooters. This genre was when video game weapons really started to get cooking in terms of their destructive nature, making them memorable and stand out long after you’re done playing.
If you go back to a certain title, you’ll know the one or two best weapons you must seek out first because they’re that good. Not only are the best FPS weapons destructive, butthey’re often incredibly creativeand something you would never even think to put in a game.
10BFG 9000: Doom
The Fastest Way To Clear The Horde
Probably the most iconic FPS weapon of all time would be the BFG 9000 fromDoom. It’s famous for its destructive power, but in its original form, you’ll find the weapon more balanced than you’d think. The ammo capacity is great, and the weapon does wreck house, but killing a Cyberdemon with it still takes a bit of time, and the firing rate’s pretty weak.
This makes for a great skill ceiling, as maps likeGo 2 It from Final Doomtest your limits of the BFG with the sheer amount of enemies and Cyberdemons on the map. Regardless, if you’re overwhelmed, you may always bet on the BFG getting you out of a sticky situation, no matter what Doom game you play.
9Shrink Ray: Duke Nukem
Size Does Matter
Many of the best FPS weapons feel incredibly satisfying to use, but not a lot of things feel better than the Shrink Ray. The Shrink Ray inDuke Nukem 3Dand Forever is so good because it’s essentially a guaranteed kill. All you have to do is land one shot with the Shrink Ray, then walk up to them, and you’ll instantly kill them with your boot.
For flying enemies, you’ll have to shoot their tiny bodies after shrinkage, but that’s just as easy. It’s one weapon you’ll always want in your arsenal, whether in single-player or multiplayer because it can make so many scenarios vastly easier.
8Cerebral Bore: Turok
Pure Savage
The old-schoolTurokgames have, unfortunately, aged pretty badly, but there is one element that has stood the test of time. That would be the weapons because they’re still awesome to use today. The most legendary, infamous, and iconic of the series would be the Cerebral Bore, first used in Turok 2.
It’s a weapon that shoots out bores that drill into the enemy’s head and then explodes. Not even Jigsaw can make a contraption that gruesome. It’s brutal as all hell, even today, and gives these old-school titles a much-needed edge to them.
7SBC Cannon: Serious Sam
A Literal Hand Cannon
When it comesto FPS horde shooters, the SBC Cannon fromSerious Samis, without a doubt, one of the best weapons ever made. First off, the idea is genius, taking the hand cannon term literally, but it’s not just a joke because the weapon itself feels amazing.
That cannonball will mow down everything in its path, and when you’re playing the classic titles on Serious mode, your ammo capacity is doubled, so you can have a maximum of 60 cannonballs on you. The wreckage left in your wake will be astronomical. It’s still great in the future titles, and in Serious Sam 4, you can dual-wield them. This allows you to kill a Khnum with one up-close double cannonball blast.
Mindblowing Stuff In 1997
Shadow Warriorwas an FPS title far ahead of its time, with elements like usable turrets and vehicles despite the game not using a real 3D engine. To highlight the absurd carnage you can pull off in this game, you can use a Nuclear Warhead or Nuke for short.
The effectiveness is exactly what you’d expect with anything in its blast radius getting Thanos snapped out of existence. It takes a while to actually fire the Nuke, and you better not be close to it, but damn, it’s the most destructive weapon out of any 90s retro shooter. You thought dropping a Nuke in Classic Modern Warfare 2 was wild; well, this game did it 12 years earlier in a 2D game engine.
5Gravity Gun: Half-Life
Make The World Your Weapon
Out of Valve’s vast catalog of weapons, the most iconic would be the Portal Gun, but you don’t actually use that to directly kill enemies, so the runner-up would be the Gravity Gun. Introduced inHalf-Life 2, the Gravity Gun makes anything not nailed down to the floor your weapon. It’s great for saving ammo because if your throwing object doesn’t break, you can continuously use it for as long as you want.
Valve even encourages this playstyle because there’s an achievement for beating the entire Ravenholm chapter using only the Gravity Gun. It’s an amazing weapon that encourages experimentation and adds so much depth to the combat that Half-Life 2 just wouldn’t be the same game without it.
4Thundergun: Call Of Duty
The Most Reliable Zombies Weapon
In the popular Zombies mode to theCall of Dutyseries, there are a ton of stellar wonder weapons, but you may always rely on one to get you through the higher rounds, and that’s the Thundergun. Debuting in Call of Duty: Black Ops and becoming a staple in Zombies, the Thundergun will instantly kill anything around you.
It’s best used in hordes, as you want to line up and gather around a huge group of zombies to maximize the weapon and save on ammo. When you’re above round 15, that inevitably becomes a natural occurrence. You can pack-a-punch the weapon, turning it into the Zeus Cannon, which has a wider range and bigger ammo capacity. It’s great all around, but you do have to keep its ammo in check because it’s pretty small.
3Energy Sword: Halo
The Best FPS Melee Weapon Ever
The Energy Sword has to be the most iconic weapon in theHaloseries, and for good reason. Its design is phenomenal, and the gameplay feels so good once you get your hands on it. Most of the time, this weapon instantly kills every player that gets struck, and it doesn’t have to be at close range.
You can do a normal swing with it, but you can also lunge at them, which travels a good distance and goes by so fast.It’s truly savageif you properly know how to use it, and even if you’re casual, the energy sword can give you vastly more success than a normal gun.
2Battle Rifle: Halo
The Gold Standard Of Startout Weapons
Yes, the best FPS weapons should be destructive and feel great, but the fun factor matters a lot, too, and that’s the big, strong trait of the Battle Rifle from the Halo series. Even though it was introduced in Halo 2, Halo 3 is when everyone universally loved the Battle Rifle because it was the starting weapon in multiplayer.
Its pinpoint accuracy and three-round burst made multiplayer so fun and accessible right from the get-go. This weapon alone is why some favor Halo 3 over all the other ones, to the point where plenty of folks were upset when Assault Rifles became the starting weapons in Halo Infinite. People really wanted their beloved BRs back, and that’s a sign of how much the weapon affected Halo’s overall multiplayer.
1Shotgun: Fear
The Best Shotgun Of All Time
Of all the shotguns in video games, the one at the very top of the mountain would have to be the Shotgun fromFear. This weapon is so good, mainly because its one main drawback doesn’t matter. At close range, it shreds through enemies really quickly. It’s virtually unstoppable.
The one drawback would be using it anywhere else but close range. The problem here is that close-range combat consists of most of the game, and rarely in Fear do you have to shoot from far away. You can and should use this weapon for about 90 percent of the campaign because it’s that destructive.
