Battlefield 4
When it comes to evaluating any title in the Battlefield franchise, it's important to remember that the only reason anyone plays campaign mode is to unlock new weapons in multiplayer. Despite great voice acting by Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire), campaign mode is little more than a four to six hour tutorial teaching you how to play the game. Multiplayer combat, on the other hand, captures the awe of destruction. You can run across the battlefield, ducking in and out of cover, board a helicopter, hop on the mini-gun, cut enemies to shreds, then hop off the gun and repair the helicopter while in flight. It's all in a day's work on the battlefield.
Bioshock Infinite
Shattered dreams form the foundation of BioShock Infinite, the third installment in Irrational Games' impressive saga exploring the devastating effects of isolation (and isolationism) on the human psyche. But even if you loved the original BioShock (2007) and its sequel, BioShock 2 (2010), this chapter won't leave you with the impression your dreams have been betrayed. Wedding familiar gameplay elements from the preceding titles with exciting new mechanics, an engrossing story, and stunning visual design, BioShock Infinite is the culmination of the series' aesthetic and its promise to turn a mirror on humanity by probing as deeply into the self as possible.
Borderlands 2
Gearbox Entertainment and 2K Games take you back to the warzone with Borderlands 2, the sequel to the hit apocalyptic RPG-shooter that isn't Fallout. If you played the original Borderlands, you understand this game. You play a Vault Hunter, a treasure hunter looking for an alien vault on the barely colonized planet of Pandora. While doing so, you cut a swath of death through thousands of Mad Max-style raiders, mutant animals, and robots. Throughout your adventure, you level up your character in an RPG-like fashion, and collect hundreds of different guns, each with its own unique stats and attributes.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops is less like a traditional first-person shooter than it is a plunge into someone else's fever dream. A jolting collection of intense action sequences, haunting writing, and ultra-dark humor, this installment in the popular franchise revitalized the historical-fiction FPS genre. Though its captivating campaign is on the short side, it's loaded with additional things to do, including cooperative and competitive multiplayer scenarios and plenty of unlockable extras.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Let's start with what will be the meat of the Black Ops II experience for many: multiplayer mode. Developer Treyarch has not toyed significantly with the formula, giving players numerous options for facing off against others across the country and around the globe. The missions include Team Deathmatch, Free-for-All, Search & Destroy, Capture the Flag, and eight others; you can also engage in two types of Combat Training runs to hone your skills, or play four Party Games that put interesting for-entertainment-only spins on the weapons you can use and the rules you play by.
Doom
Don't let the non-numerical name fool you. Doom is the latest sequel in the hallowed series, and it's the best modern update one could hope for. It's also the best first-person-shooter in recent memory—so long as you stick to the gory, frantic, and lovingly satanic campaign. The multiplayer is lackluster and the DLC is a shame, but the real star, the single-player mode, blends old-school design with modern know-how to form a satisfying, unholy concoction.
Far Cry 4
Far Cry 4 is a fun sandbox of shooting with an interesting land to explore and tons of missions to find and collectibles to grab. It slavishly follows Far Cry 3's structure, but when the action is this entertaining, hard to complain. Far Cry 4 doesn't do much new, but it's an enjoyable and good-looking excuse to spend some hours stomping through jungles and sniping people from towers.
Gears of War 4
Gears of War 4, the newest entry in the series that defined cover-based shooting, brings satisfying alien-blasting action to PC. The Coalition-developed title offers a new team to fight with, new toys to play with, and all-new enemies to shred, either alone or with a friend. And, like Forza Horizon 3, Gears of War 4 is a part of Microsoft's Play Anywhere initiative, so you can play a digital copy on either a Windows 10 PC or Xbox One console with a single purchase—a nice perk. The gameplay grows a bit repetitive as the story progresses, but if you want to sneakily kill lots and lots of enemies, Gears of War 4 is a worthy pickup.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, the first DirectX 12 PC title, just about sets the standard for what a remastered game should offer. The third-person shooter was already a great game when it debuted a decade ago on Xbox 360, but this updated title adds 4K resolution, unlocked frame rates, and content that was once paid DLC. That said, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition isn't perfect; it doesn't work well with AMD GPUs, bugs from the original game are still an issue, and it lacks some of the updated mechanics found in later Gears games. But if you own an Nvidia-powered gaming rig, you'll be good to go.
Halo 5: Forge
Free
It's easy to recommend Halo 5: Forge to anyone who's looking for a solid multiplayer shooter. Forge comes with a wealth of multiplayer modes, including the titular map-editing mode, giving you a ton of content to chew through. It does have a few shortcomings that are worth noting, however. Multiplayer matchmaking is restricted to private lobbies, so sessions are limited to playing with your Xbox Live friends. In addition, Halo 5: Forge suffers from a tight field of view that makes playing the game unexpectedly stressful. Still, if you are willing to overlook these and a few smaller issues, Halo 5: Forge is well worth downloading. After all, you can't beat free.
Halo: Spartan Strike
Is there anything that sounds more cynical than a top-down shooter Halo spin-off for phones and tablets? Ever since single-handedly saving the original Xbox, Halo has remained Microsoft's gaming cash cow, so sticking its name on something is a great way to drum up extra interest. However, instead of being a mere cash-in, Halo: Spartan Assault is a legitimately fun and well-produced game, triumphantly translating Master Chief's missions to PCs and mobile devices. Halo: Spartan Strike maintains much of that game's strengths, while cutting out most, but not all, of its weakness.
Overwatch
Shooters don't always need to be dark, gritty, or realistic. Cartoony fun has its place, too. Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch is a prime example of exactly that, with its colorful levels, multiple game modes that focus on teams attacking and defending, characters with vastly different play styles, and a few MOBA-like twists. Overwatch is a thoroughly enjoyable first-person shooter that's filled with mechanical variety, but it has one glaring problem—its awful micro-transaction structure.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
The original Garden Warfare married PopCap Games' zany Plants vs. Zombies universe with strategic, class-based third-person shooting, resulting in an addicting, polished multiplayer shooter. Garden Warfare 2 expands the roster of playable characters and variants, adds all-new customization options, introduces new game modes, and fleshes out the single-player experience, creating a much more rounded game than the original. That said, balance issues make some classes feel more potent than others, and the server connectivity is spotty at times, resulting in jittery matches. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is a solid title nonetheless, and one that fans of the original and newcomers alike can enjoy.
Star Wars: Battlefront
Star Wars: Battlefront is a multiplayer shooter that reboots the classic LucasArts video game series. Unlike previous games in the series, Star Wars: Battlefront lacks an overarching narrative and historic battles to reenact; it's basically a modern shooter given a liberal coat of Star Wars paint. The veneer is a fine one, and Battlefront has some good action to offer, including a playable Emperor Sheev Palpatine. However, once you look past the façade, the game doesn't have enough content or variety to keep you invested for a super-long time.
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