The First Person Shooter genre of video games has always been a narrow one. They typically involve one person, a gun bobbing at the bottom of the screen, and an ridiculous number of enemies. There are few games that really stand out as great innovators in this genre as a result, but those few games really left their mark.

Several of these noteworthy games, such as Red Faction and Soldier of Fortune, were entirely focused on their innovations, and left little room for other advancements. More recent games rarely incorporate more than a handful of these features. However, the general trend is one moving towards a more dynamic, open, environment with various features that add realism to the game.

Top Ten Innovative FPS (chronologically):

1. Wolfenstein 3D (1992) - This was the father of FPS such as Doom and Half-Life and the wizened old grandfather of the FPS of today. It came into the world and introduced the genre. From there it has quite literally exploded.
2. Doom (1993) - Doom truly defined the genre of First Person Shooters. It had the BFG and Chainsaw. Enough said.
   
3. Quake (1996) - Quake introduced both true 3D graphics and the now classic keyboard and mouse control system. These are two innovations that truly gave rise to the FPS empire. Quake also features the ever popular railgun.
   
4. Golden Eye (1997) - The first console FPS. It was one of the first games to make use of bullet tracking. This technology has since enabled the headshots of today. This feature is now present in nearly every shooter.
   
5. Half-Life (1998) - The first "story based" FPS. It was so different because until this point, the majority of FPS games were mindless "run and gun" types. Half-Life is based on the Quake engine, has had numerous expansions, and sold over fifteen million copies.
6. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (1998) - The first squad based, simulation shooter. It is centered on tactics and realism. The realism includes a normal amount of health and permanent character death. The entire series has great innovations including Rainbow 6: 3 which pioneered voice commands in the FPS genre.
7. Soldier of Fortune (2000) - The main selling point of this game was the immense amounts of graphic violence. The gore is based around the GHOUL system which creates 26 independent damage zones on the enemy characters. This allows for decapitation, dismemberment, and other forms of graphic death.
8. Red Faction (2001) - This game featured GeoMod technology. It allows the player to gently "modify" the terrain with explosives, rockets, and giant drilling machines. This is also one of the first games to freely incorporate vehicles into the FPS genre. Editor's note: Red Faction also has one of the best weapon sets of any game. Ever.
9. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) - Halo has three features that make it noteworthy in the annals of First Person Shooters:
   
   • Vehicles: The game demands the use of vehicles for transportation and heavier weaponry. This is one of the first instances of easy to use vehicles in both campaign and multiplayer modes.
   • Integrated Melee & Grenades: Before these functions were entirely secondary functions, but in Halo they emerge to be integral parts of game play.
   • Weapons: Halo demands the use of different weapons in different situations and limits the carrying capactiy to two. This adds a touch of realism in that it forces the player to make decisions which ultimately effect their capacity for killing
10. Far Cry (2004) - Use of CryENGINE allows for vast, open air levels. This is particularly noticeable in the multiplayer arenas. The huge levels allow for a more open ended campaign, with more than one route to accomplishing most objectives. Crysis, a game that uses the a new version of the CryENGINE and will be released this fall.
    

Honorable Mention (FPS):

• Doom 3 (2004) - Real-time lighting.
• Half-Life 2 (2004) - Advanced use of physics.

Honorable Mention (non-FPS):

• Kill.Switch (2003) - This game is entirely centered on the use of cover and firing from safety.
• Max Payne (2001) - Max Payne was popularized by the use of "bullet-time" slow motion in game play.

I'm not sure which game should receive the title of "Most Influential FPS." I'll leave it to my readers to decide which was the most important. Someday soon, I hope, there will be a game that changes everything... again.