Favorite FPS Arsenals

The title says it all, what are your most favored sets of guns from FPS games? I'll kick off with five:

Star Wars: Dark Forces: It was neat getting a look at other weapons used in the SW series besides the trusty Stormtrooper Rifle, like the Imperial Repeater and the Fusion Cutter. And of course, the ridiculous Assault Cannon, which may be the biggest FOV blocker I've ever known in an FPS, feels like the BFG that it is. 

Descent II: Precisely doubling the amount of weapons from the first Descent, you have a lot of energy weapons and missiles to work with. You could probably get by with your basic lasers most of the time, but I remember mostly abusing the sweet delicious Gauss Cannon in my time with Descent II. It made me feel like the Spider Mastermind, haha.

Blood: Major kudos to any game that makes the pistol actually powerful; in this case, it's a flare gun that's perfect for incinerating those pesky cultists. The shotgun's a great workhorse, the tommy gun's great for fragile enemy suppression, and the dynamite is so, so satisfying to use. I do think the intended BFG of the game, the Life Leech, falls a bit flat somehow, but I heard it was nerfed in later builds of the game, so I would have liked to see how it was originally.

Turok 2: Of course, everyone hails the Cerebral Bore as they rightfully should, but there's also the trusty Tek Bow, the bouncing projectile Shredder, the meaty Firestorm Cannon, and the deadly and re-useable Razor Wind. Oh, and the bit where you ride a Triceratops with a cannon and a machinegun is pretty incredible.

Painkiller: Doing more with less, you only get five weapons but each is valuable in combat and are all essentially two weapons in one. It may be the least practical of them all, but... electric shurikens. Nuff said.

• Unreal Tournament (Redeemer)
• Unreal 4 Ever mod (Baby Nuke, Nuker, Drunken Master, QSG)
• Quake 3
• Serious Sam (Serious Cannon, Parrot Bombs)
• DOOM (BFG. Basically the granddaddy of superweapons in FPS games)

Duke Nukem 3D has the most well balanced bunch of weapons I've ever seen. It accomplishes what doom eternal tries in terms of conserving ammo with weapons such as the pistol and pipe bombs.

Quake 1's weapons always feel so satisfying to use to me.  Especially the rocket launcher, which is my favorite rocket launcher in any FPS game.  Quake 2's weapons were also pretty satisfying, especially when you gib low-level enemies with the double-barreled shotgun.

Aside from that, Space Hulk: Deathwing is really nice in the weapons department, at least IMO (though I'm a 40K fangirl, so I'm likely biased).  Mowing down things with an assault cannon or burninating the countryside with the flamer is just 100%.

Rise of The Triad's MP4 is probably my favorite machine gun, though.  Also... firebomb.  And flamewall.  And the Hand of God.  Actually that whole arsenal is just awesome.

I really like the weapons in Amid Evil.  Every one of them remains useful through the entire game - even the basic starting staff - and the Star of Torment rivals Doom II's super-shotgun for just how good it feels.  Pinning monsters to the wall with that thing is so damn satisfying.

Plus you can throw actual planets at people, which is pretty badass.

Blood, F.E.A.R, Painkiller, Unreal/UT99, Quake 4, Quake 3, Dark Forces, RtCW.

On 3/2/2021 at 7:44 PM, Orcsbreath said:

I really like the weapons in Amid Evil.  Every one of them remains useful through the entire game - even the basic starting staff - and the Star of Torment rivals Doom II's super-shotgun for just how good it feels.  Pinning monsters to the wall with that thing is so damn satisfying.

Plus you can throw actual planets at people, which is pretty badass.

So is Amid Evil worth getting after all? 

I know Andrew Hulshult made the soundtrack, but finding out that the game is supposed to be Heretic's spiritual successor made me lose interest. It is not that I hate Heretic, but I feel it was not as well designed as Doom and its arsenal is rather underwhelming. Also I am more of a sci-fi person, so it does not feel quite right to me to go around shooting a wand or a staff like it is a machine gun.

38 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

So is Amid Evil worth getting after all? 

 

I know Andrew Hulshult made the soundtrack, but finding out that the game is supposed to be Heretic's spiritual successor made me lose interest. It is not that I hate Heretic, but I feel it was not as well designed as Doom and its arsenal is rather underwhelming. Also I am more of a sci-fi person, so it does not feel quite right to me to go around shooting a wand or a staff like it is a machine gun.

As someone that's waiting for the release of the Amid Evil new expansion. I can say it's really different to Heretic with a great points.

1. The enemy variety from every level, each dimension have they own unique roster of enemies and they weapon weakness, so that's make that you play in a way that dimensions fits better for the weaponery, in contrast in the slog that's Hexen after the firsts chapters.

2. The dimmensions are really self contained, it's length it's a great balance for all their 7 episodes and the boss battles are really different each of other.

3.Again, the weapons it's not heretic, im gonna say it's fits more like a magical Quake instead, and the Soul mode make the weapons really epic when you have a hordes of enemies.

4. The level desing in almost all levels it's a great balance in gameplay progression and beuautyful.

5. There also 2 levels that are Sci-fi vives, so all it's not all magical.

Also, the music it's fenomenal.

If you say so! I guess I was reminded of Heretic because of the fact that most weapons are wands or staves that all happen to shoot projectiles.

Shame that there is no demo, though.

Duke Nukem 3D's arsenal feels like if you took Doom's and gave it steroids. 

1 hour ago, N1ck said:

Duke Nukem 3D's arsenal feels like if you took Doom's and gave it steroids. 

Except for the Chaingun; I still do not understand why 3DRealms thought it would be a good idea to make it sound like it is silenced.

On 3/2/2021 at 12:30 PM, Redneckerz said:

Serious Sam (Serious Cannon ....

Yes, this weapon was hilarious. As was the rest of Serious Sam.

Wolfenstein 3D: Chaingun

Doom: Rocket Launcher

Duke Nukem 3D: RPG

Quake: Rocket Launcher

Quake II: Railgun 
Serious Sam: Chaingun

Duke 3D.

Shadow Warrior.

Quake 1.

HL: Opposing Force.

AvP series.

Hexen.

Blood.

Amid Evil.

5 hours ago, Taw Tu'lki said:

Serious Sam: Chaingun

Speaking of which, I wanted to know something: what is supposed to be the difference between it and the Tommy Gun? Is there even one?

Ok, i will take 2 weapons for their respective slot and see why it's my favorite.

Pistol: LoverBoy (Ion Fury) and Halo Magnum.
Submachines or Rifle: Tommy Gun (Blood) and Quake Nailgun in any variation.

Shotgun: Automatic Shotgun (NuWolfestein) and Scattergun (Scout TF2)
Super Shotgun: SSG+Meathook (Doom Eternal) and Triple Shotgun (Quake Arcane Dimensions and more mods)

Chaingun/Minigun: Chaingun (Doom Eternal) and Minigun (Serius Sam), plus Minigun for Ion Fury for that sprite Work.

Grenade: TNT (Blood), Plasma Grenade (Halo), plus Stickrang (Rage 2)
Electric Weapon: Trident (Amid Evil) and Ligthing gun (Quake Arena).

Sniper Weapon: Unreal Sniper and Rail Gun (Quake Arena).

Explosive Weapon: Devatastor (Duke 3D) and Nuclear Warhead (Shadow Warrior)

Special Weapon: BFG 9000 (Classic) and (New),plus Purple Pasta (Amid Evil) and SOAP (Dusk).

 

20 hours ago, Rudolph said:

So is Amid Evil worth getting after all? 

It totally is. The weapons may not be sci-fi, but the scenery definitely is taking notes. Being magic based the whole lore holds very little ground to reality, but its been a proper title for some time.

You could also try your luck with a lesser known clone called Undaunted, or if you are into Heretic, Perhaps Ziggurat? There is also a sequel of that.

12 hours ago, ReX said:

Yes, this weapon was hilarious. As was the rest of Serious Sam.

Totally. But, did you like Serious Sam 2? The hugely colorful one?

3 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Speaking of which, I wanted to know something: what is supposed to be the difference between it and the Tommy Gun? Is there even one?

Different kinds of ammo, rate of fire and tommy gun bullets do more damage per bullet at the cost of rate of fire, i believe.

It also becomes available earlier in the game, being a great tool of the trade to kill the Witch Harpies that fly towards you.

1 hour ago, Redneckerz said:

But, did you like Serious Sam 2? The hugely colorful one?

You know, I bought the game but it remains unopened in its shrink-wrapped plastic skin.

Aside from it being colorful, is there a compelling reason for me to play the game?

My Top 5 in no particular order:

Doom 2

Quake

Quake 3

Unreal

Amid Evil

51 minutes ago, ReX said:

You know, I bought the game but it remains unopened in its shrink-wrapped plastic skin.

 

Aside from it being colorful, is there a compelling reason for me to play the game?

It has a very peculiar, deadpan sense of humour that you either find the funniest thing you will ever see in games, or completely abhorrent.

Its a solid title. It gets completely ignored by Croteam in the Canon (And perhaps porting it over is difficult due to it being Serious Engine 2) but even when you don't dig the jokes, the colorfulness and the variety of enemies keep things fresh. I don't know, the whole game screams fun to me.

2 hours ago, ReX said:

You know, I bought the game but it remains unopened in its shrink-wrapped plastic skin.

 

Aside from it being colorful, is there a compelling reason for me to play the game?

If you have a shrink wrapped one, I would probably leave it be. It's definitely the black-sheep of the family, and I'm not going to go price checking, but it might possibly be worth something (probably not a lot, but just because it's uncommon to find an original copy still wrapped). If so, sell that copy and make money, then buy it on Steam. Cro-Team regularly has sales. If it's not worth enough to make it worthwhile, open it up and try it.

As for the game, yeah it's worth playing. It can be a bit overwhelming with how colorful/cartoony it is, but the core gameplay remains the same, and it's still really fun. Some of the jokes fall flat, some really hit, most are in the middle. But the combat is still fun, it's Sam through and through. And it's a long ass game that'll keep you busy for awhile. I would actually rather have the cartoony feel of Serious Sam 2 over the over-the-top military real-world theme that ended up being Serious Sam 3 and 4. But I'd prefer the middle ground that TFE and TSE hit, kind of serious, kind of cartoony.

5 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

the colorfulness and the variety of enemies keep things fresh. I don't know, the whole game screams fun to me.

4 hours ago, Jello said:

It can be a bit overwhelming with how colorful/cartoony it is, but the core gameplay remains the same, and it's still really fun.

Cartoony, I can definitely handle. I found some of the appeal of Serious Sam to be how over-the-top the game was. So, I suspect that being overly colorful and cartoony might just appeal to me.

The only reason my copy of the game is still shrink-wrapped is that I didn't have the time to play it when I first bought it. Subsequently, I just forgot about it. I'm not holding onto it for any kind of investment reason.

i found Serious Sam 2's gameplay to be a step above the previous games, and especially BFE that came after it. if you liked First and Second Encounter, then the gameplay is largely similar, just with some tweaks to the formula that makes it better to play (IMO of course, most people don't share this opinion.)

the breaking point would be if you find the plot of the game to be funny or not. the game is largely comedic and cartoony in tone, and considerably wackier than the previous games. some of it can be funny, but if you don't find most of its cartoony humor to be funny, then it could turn you off from the rest of the game. however, i still think it's worth a playthrough if you enjoy the style of Serious Sam. graphically speaking, the game holds up remarkably well for being a 2005 era game too.

funny you should mention your copy being shrink-wrapped. it was the exact same thing for me too, getting the game a long time ago, but never actually played the game when i got it. i'd say breaking the seal of it is worth it unless you really need some money from selling it.

17 minutes ago, Viscra Maelstrom said:

i'd say breaking the seal of it is worth it unless you really need some money from selling it.

Luckily, I do fairly well by selling plasma (no, not the kind that is used in plasma rifles), so I'm okay on the money front. Perhaps I will venture into the game.

Speaking of plasma rifles and "favorite fps arsenals", I'd have to say this is probably my all-time favorite weapon in a game. The weapon sound, alone, is worth the price of admission.

9 hours ago, ReX said:

 

 

Cartoony, I can definitely handle. I found some of the appeal of Serious Sam to be how over-the-top the game was. So, I suspect that being overly colorful and cartoony might just appeal to me.

 

The only reason my copy of the game is still shrink-wrapped is that I didn't have the time to play it when I first bought it. Subsequently, I just forgot about it. I'm not holding onto it for any kind of investment reason.

Then SS2 might be worth playing. For the humour though: Think Timesplitters: Future Perfect and Monty Python. It definitely is cheesy, far more so than all other Serious Sam titles.

The game was also re-released on Steam in 2012. At max settings, Serious Engine 2 still puts up a good look, which for 2005 was pretty impressive. Personally i like that engine's features more than Serious Engine 3.

I can't comment on overall favorite arsenal (as there are many games with great weapon set), but I do have personal favorites for each weapon category.

Best Pistol: Loverboy from Ion Fury

Best Shotgun: SSG from Doom 2

Best Rocket Launcher: RL from Quake 1

Best Machinegun/Minigun/Assault Rilfe: Precision Rifle from Red Faction 

Best Plasma gun/Rapid fire projectile gun: Plasma Gun from Quake 3 and SNG from Quake 1

Best Sniper/Railgun/Long-range weapon: Rail Driver from Red Faction and Railgun from Quake 2

Most creative weapon: Gravity Gun from HL2

Favorite OP weapon: Redeemer from Unreal Tournament

Doom

TF2

Unreal Tournament

Shadow Warrior (1997)

Unreal Tournament 2004: Shock Rifle (doing Shock Combos feels AMAZING) and Flak Cannon (specially it's alt fire)

Doom1/2: Rocket Launcher and Plasma Rifle

HeXen: Cleric's Wraithverge (a weapon that shoots killer ghosts? Heck yeah!)

Blood: Sawed off shotgun and Napalm Launcher

Quake: Grenade Launcher

Quake 2: Railgun

DN3D: Devastator

blood, doom 2 (obviously), f.e.a.r, painkiller, and timesplitters 2

Halo
F.E.A.R
HL Opposing Force

CS:GO
Doom (new ones included, specially the new meathook SSG, mmm)
Duke3D