Shooters are like the Coke of video games -- everybody's had a taste, even if they prefer another flavor. If you're looking to spend some money on shooters for your shelves, check these 10 titles out.
- Team Fortress 2
- PC Preferred
- $20
Why you want it: It's one of the few team-based multiplayer games to earn the designation "shooter"
Team Fortress 2 doesn't require you to search endlessly for a good server or organize two dozen of your friends in order to play the game the way it was intended. Valve designed everything about Team Fortress 2—the player classes, weapons, level design, and the visual style—in a way that rewards players for working together. Like most recent Valve games, Team Fortress 2 also benefits from frequent gameplay tweaks and additional content, all for free. Unlike much of the competition, Team Fortress 2 doesn’t take itself too seriously—it's a lot funnier than watching brooding space marines trying to blow each other's head off.
- Red Faction: Guerrilla
- Xbox 360 Preferred
- $20
Why you want it: You get to do so much more than shoot things—like knocking buildings over
Sometimes, we play games to distract ourselves or see a new world or experience an interesting story, but sometimes, it just comes down to that primal desire to blow stuff up. In the category of games that aim to satisfy your destructive urges, Red Faction: Guerrilla has few equals. The secret to Red Faction: Guerrilla’s immensely satisfying spectacle of destruction is the Geo-Mod 2.0 engine, which allows players to dynamically destroy all of the game’s structures. A warehouse full of armed goons standing between you and the only door out? Just plant an explosive charge and make you own exit—or better yet, plant 20 charges and collapse the whole building on your way out.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Xbox 360 Preferred
- $47.99
Why you want it: It's only the fastest-selling shooter ever
We could've put Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 here as a budget buy, but when it comes to Call of Duty, you go loud or go home. Black Ops, the latest in the series, has both a strong campaign mode that takes you through some interesting bits of history and a deep multiplayer experience that’s already begun to get new content via map packs and updates. Also, it's No. 1 on the list of most-played multiplayer game on consoles, whereas MW2 sank to No. 5.
- Dead Space: Extraction
- Wii
- $30
Why you want it: The Wii doesn't get enough shooters, and this one is damn good
It's tricky finding a good shooter for the Wii, but if you're going to take a chance on one, make sure it's Extraction. Sure, it falls more in the survival-horror niche, and the shooting is an arcade light-gun experience as opposed to a first-person shooter, but the formula works well on the Wii, and its storytelling is solid. Plus, it's a prequel—so no spoilers for Dead Space or Dead Space 2.
- BioShock 2
- Xbox 360 Preferred
- $20
Why you want it: The shooting possesses a layer of strategy that makes you feel smart
BioShock 2 bulked up the shooting elements in the original BioShock to the point where players may dual-wield both the plasmid attacks (read: magic) and various guns. Additionally, you may combine various plasmids and mix up which types of ammo the guns use for a more strategic approach to shootouts with enemies—and then hack turrets and sentries for even more shootery shooting.
