First-person shooters have been around for over two decades, as hard as that might be to believe. During that time, the development and advancement of PC hardware has never moved so quickly. The result is that games quickly and decisively became better looking and more full featured.
Over on YouTube, user drloser333 has uploaded a retrospective look at first-person shooter graphics over the last 20 years. Starting with Wolfenstein 3D, released by id Software in 1992, drloser333 spans through some of the most popular FPS games over the years, giving you a look at how the graphics and detailing has progressed over the years.
Some of the other series featured include Quake, Half-Life, Battlefield, DOOM and Crysis. The video wraps up with the 2011-12 shooter Battlefield 3, released by EA DICE. Technically the game hit shelves in 2011, but as the DLC season continued so prominently into 2012, it makes sense to feature it as the last entry in this video. Curiously, no Call of Duty title appears on the list. While the franchise certainly hasn't stretched the boundaries of graphic capabilities in recent years, it was certainly a pioneer in the early 2000's.
None the less, we can't even imagine what a video like this will look like in another 20 years.
Check out a full list of all the games included after the break. Enjoy!
Games included:
1992 Wolfenstein 3d (id Software)
1993 Doom (id Software)
1994
1995 Dark Forces (LucasArts)
1996 Quake (id Software)
1997 Quake 2 (id Software)
1998 Half-Life (Valve Software)
1999 Quake 3 (id Software)
2000 Project I.G.I. (Innerloop Studios)
2001 Return to Castle Wolfenstein (id Software/Grey Matter/Splash Damage)
2002 Battlefield 1942 (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment aka DICE)
2003 Deus Ex: Invisible War (Ion Storm)
2004 Doom 3 (id Software)
2005 Battlefield 2 (DICE)
2006
2007 Crysis (Crytek)
2008
2009 Arma 2 (Bohemia Interactive)
2010 Metro 2033 4A (Games)
2011 Battlefield 3 (DICE)
2012
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