We have truly stumbled into another FPS Golden Age. Sure military shooters are cool, and power-armored spacemen shooting rifles at quad-mouthed aliens is enjoyable. There’s just a simple, well, simplicity in picking up a gatling rocket launcher and gunning down hordes of enemies like it was 1995.
The somewhat insultingly named, “Boomer Shooter” is on the rise once more, and while it was once the domain of the PC crowd, modern consoles have been blessed with a handful of entries that just so happen to be fantastic. Whether it’s old or new, there’s a Boomer Shooter waiting for you.
5 Immortal Redneck
Immortal Redneck takes many elements that made the subgenre great back in the day, gives them a fresh coat of paint, and injects it with an addictive roguelike loop. Throwing Rogue into most genres works well, and few games prove that more than Immortal Redneck. Taking visual cues from the likes of Serious Sam and Unreal, Immortal Redneck has you running through procedurally generated pyramids with a myriad of bombastic weaponry.
The enemy count is high, ammo is plentiful and death is swift. Utilizing classic survival methods like circle-strafing is key to survival, although a steady aim and uncompromising trigger finger go a long way too. Because this is a roguelike, death is expected, and dying just gives you an excuse to jump back in and cause more chaos. You also unlock more goodies as you go, giving Immortal Redneck a distinctly modern feeling, despite its retro-inspired roots.
4 Serious Sam Collection
Serious Sam is less well known than the likes of DOOM, Duke Nukem, or Quake, but that isn’t a reflection of its quality. Launching at the start of the millennium, Serious Sam looks and feels noticeably more modern than your traditional old-school shooter. This collection gathers Serious Sam 1-3, with all of their expansions, and lets you go to town.
Instead of tight corridors and claustrophobic encounters, Serious Sam has ginormous levels filled with hundreds of enemies. The goal is to advance through each level, although rather ironically, you’ll spend more time holding back to avoid the hordes than anything else. Sam is kitted out with some of the biggest guns in gaming, so when 200 skeleton horses start running towards you, with 20 killer robots coming round the flank, you are prepared. Serious Sam is seriously old-school, and seriously difficult. Don’t expect to just jump into the game and perform the murder-waltz.
3 Ion Fury
Ion Fury is a game that is worth lauding, applauding, and most importantly, playing. Many games try to evoke a sense of nostalgia by imitating the greats of yesteryear. Ion Fury doesn’t do this. Instead, Ion Fury is built on a modified Build Engine - the same groundbreakingly beautiful engine that Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, and Shadow Warrior used. Ion Fury doesn’t feel like an imitation - it feels like a new entry. Gorgeous, interactive, and destructible environments, instantly recognizable and memorable enemies and one-liners everywhere - this is the ‘90s done right.
It also plays wonderfully, with an explosive arsenal carrying the show. Everything from your starting pistol, to your heat-seeking bowling bombs, to your two-in-one shotgun/grenade launcher combo feels punchy and powerful. As is always the case, death can come quickly making the game rather difficult, but it comes with a host of difficulty options to smooth out the experience. There is a general lack of Build Engine games on console, but Ion Fury is one of the best. Hail to the Queen, baby.
2 Quake
Quake was the natural evolution of DOOM. It took everything that made DOOM and DOOM 2 great, made it 3D, and replaced demons with Cthulian horrors. What it did for the industry cannot be overstated. Huge levels, amazing combat, gore coming out of every orifice - Quake was something special. So special in fact, even later Quake's don't quite feel like Quake.
A remaster of Quake was released on modern hardware as a shadow drop in 2021, and it’s one of the best remasters ever created. Not only does the game tidy up the graphics and smooth out the performance, but it contains every expansion pack Quake ever received. It also comes with a whole new expansion built for this release. They even added in content that had to be cut from Quake due to memory limitations. Throw in a 4-player co-op option and full online functionality for Deathmatch, and you have the complete package. Oh, and Quake’s gameplay still holds up thanks to fantastic sound design, a great art style, and superb combat.
1 DOOM 64
DOOM requires no introduction. Its music is instantly recognizable, its gameplay is timeless, and its impact on gaming is borderline unfathomable. DOOM 64 is none of those things, mostly because it was released on the N64 and nobody knew it existed. Until very recently, many people probably assumed it was a port of DOOM, but on the N64. This assumption is logical, yet incorrect. DOOM 64 is very much its own bespoke game, and it’s one of the best. So good, in fact, many consider it to be the “true” DOOM 3. Partially because it was the third DOOM game to release, and partially because DOOM 3 turned out to be a bit lackluster.
As is always the case, Nightdive is responsible for this modern port of a forgotten classic, and they nailed it. DOOM 64 has never looked or ran better. This is especially noteworthy because nothing looks like DOOM 64. Unlike, say, Turok which utilized fully 3D worlds and models, DOOM 64 went for super high-quality sprites giving it a distinctly DOOM feel. It also pushed horror more than any DOOM game before it, utilizing impressive lighting effects, disturbing environments, and a foreboding soundtrack that sells the whole thing. The final cherry is the combat, which maintains that crunchy gunplay DOOM was known for.