[PC] Top 10 First Person Shooters for Netbooks

We noticed a jump in our page views the last time we posted a Top 10 referring to games on a Netbook, so we want to please you guys so much for reading (or just seeing the pretty pictures) that we decided to host a new Top 10 and this time it's the First Person Shooters.

This genre, has been one of the most persistent and ever growing genre of gaming history. So it wouldn't they developers try to find new ways to grab your attention and by that the games evolve, they become better, more appealing to the eye, harder to kill, and more strategic, from the old style Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, to the eye candy that is the new Deus Ex, Crysis and Killzone (just to name a very few). The genre has a huge library which makes it nearly impossible, to catalog all the games.

Although in the modern days we are confronted with gray\brown pallets of "realism" which for some are a complete turn off due to the immensely overflow of this type of games in the market, the FPS's continue to endure, resist and captivate new gamers alike. 

All the games were tested on a clean, Toshiba NB200-N Netbook with Windows 7, so be sure to check the specifications of your computer to see if its compatible with this machine.

Now you must be really fed up with all this chatter, so without further delay, we present to you, the Top 10 First Person Shooters for Netbooks.

10 - Abandonware (Dosbox and GOG.com)

Remember the old days? where you were possibly playing with only the keyboard? where all the games had colours like ocean blue? 

Special number 10 is for some those were the golden days of gaming, new ideals and new ways of playing the game would blow your head. So why just stay in the nostalgia mood? Dosbox and GOG.com (if you don't have the games) have found a way for you to reminisce those days. Youngsters of today, curious enough to delve into the depths of Duke Nukem 3D strip bars and money shaking or the terror of the era Doom 1 and Quake 1 and 2 will find yourself entertained for a couple of hours with these little games, and for those who are old enough to remember can now take the dust of those diskettes or CD's to play your favorite old time FPS. Remember! Don't go doings 360ºs in the game you might get nauseous.

Special Note: If you have the game and don't know how to work with Dosbox, there are tons of information on how to do it, but if you don't want to be hassled about it and might find yourself with some loose cash, drop by GOG.com, abandonware's ready to go for a couple of dollars/euros/pounds/etc. 

9 - Onlive

Metro 33, Splinter Cell, and other high-end games that need a beast of a machine to play on a netbook? Ridiculous!!
Well, not so much ridiculous, coming in number 9 makes sure of that. Onlive. This program is just like steam, you buy the games and you can download them which is perfect if you have to constantly travel from point A through Z and don't have the space to bring CD's and the boxes that come with them but here is the twist of it all, if you have a internet mobile connection strong enough, you can actually play the games. This goes through streaming the game from the servers directly to your computer so you wont give your netbook a heart attack.
While browsing through the store you have a lot of options to buy the software: You can rent some games, buy them, and even if your interested paying monthly for an explosive package, the "PlayPack Bundle", which has Borderlands, F.E.A.R 2 and Battle: Los Angeles just to say a few, not sure what game you want to buy\rent? You have also the option of testing it for a limited time, so you know what you are getting. The downside of it? Needing a constant feed on a mobile connection can be expensive on most countries and if you have a 1st generation netbook you might find yourself unable to play any game.

8 - Quake Series (Quake 3)

Jumping a bit towards the future, without the use of Dosbox or any emulation program comes our number 8 choice, Quake 3 (or Quake Arena). The game focuses on an arena type game where you face off multiple opponents in ultimate slaughter, there is almost not detail in design only to enhance the skills of the players to a fight or flight situation. This game was used to the extreme on professional online gaming, and if your lucky you might find yourself cursing and swearing to the screen while playing online, because yes, its still working and there are A LOT of people still playing, and if you have time to take from your studies to go Pro be sure to check Clanbase Ladders which are still active (click on "Clanbase Ladders" to go to the website!)

7 - No One Lives Forever Series (1 and 2)

Hot woman with latex-like outfit: Check
007 inspired game: Check
Bad AI: Double Check


Coming in 7th, the hot 70s U.N.I.T.Y spy, Cate Archer comes to the rescue from generically evil masterminds and sharks with lasers (OK, kidding on the last part) in these series, our female spy will need to save the world (US mainly) from the 70s evils. Count with evil corporations like H.A.R.M and her arch enemy Volkov (which reminds you of the NBC series "Chuck" and his arch enemy Volkoff, wonder if there is any similarity) and snow chases a la 007. The A.I is really horrible, glitchy and overall bad which drastically reduces the game playability and fun. 

6 - Soldier of Fortune Series (1 and 2)

Limbs fly off in our 6th place with Soldier of Fortune series. The game is actually pretty fun and the story is superficial but you might let out a "Ohhh" or a "Okay..." in a couple of places on the campaign. The A.I on the first is rather dumb, and in the second one are too good for their own good, you might find yourself in a dense jungle, crouching your way to the enemy only to be riddled by bullets and "There he is" scream's, I actually think the player is wearing a fluorescent pink camouflage suit for them to see you that way. I honestly didn't play the multi-player since there was none to zero people or, the servers weren't showing up, so don't count this game with online at least from my part.

5 - Operation Flashpoint

Coming in number 5, released in 2002, and for most people, the best war simulation game in existence comes Operation Flashpoint. Its multiple expansion packs, and patches made the game a true strategy FPS game, dealing with ambushes to protecting objectives this game had it all, and it still has because it counts with a good online community. You wont find a more intuitive and strategy based FPS online with this trust me.

4 - Deus Ex.

One of the games that redefined FPS, Deus Ex. comes in 4th place. The game combined for the first time on the FPS genre an in-game inventory, weapon upgrades and a leveling system, it also melded FPS with RPG elements that made this game a breath of fresh air on the selection we had on the day and included most people who didn't like the core FPS games. Intuitive and fun.

3 - Medal of Honor Series

Possibly one of the first games to actually simulate Omaha Beach on a large scale, on 3th comes, from Medal Of Honor series, Medal of Honor Allied Assault. The campaign mode, makes go dive to the sand while trying to cover from nested machine-guns to running on the fields of France in intense fire fights. Not wanting single player? Then multi-player still counts, like most of the games here, with a large gaming community with championships and ladders for the Core Gamer in you, just be ready to run from the grenade spam and glitchers that you will definitely encounter online.

2 - Call of Duty Series

The father of the multiple awarded games and acclaimed the best game by community (although in my opinion I don't think so), comes in number 2, Call of Duty 1. The game itself is largely based on stories of the second world war, but involving the player to experience more emotions then its competition (Nr. 3 in our Top10) by making us run away from a Tank, being shelled in a small village in France and making the bloody conquest of Stalingrad (which is comparable with Omaha Beach on MOH:Allied Assault). Once again, the game still counts with some people online if you chose to play it online, but its steadily in decline due to the massive releases of the series.

Honorable Mentions (Will be Updated from time to time)  

Wolfenstein Series (Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Enemy Territory)

Interested in the bizarre? Well this might be for you, the Wolfenstein series always focused on the occult and strange, and the setting is none other then the world war II environment. The plot mostly takes you from a direct conflict of men, to seeing fat people explode, super-soldiers programmed to exterminate you on sight, or even skeletons of old German army, you name it. If multi-player is your game, then i suggest Enemy Territory, see it like Valve's Team Deathmatch, only with a couple of perks. You have objectives in an World War II setting like RtCW and there are many ways to win a match, and if you can't shoot the side of a barn you can actually help your team by defending or healing your team-mates.

Thief Series (Thief: Dark Project)

The thief series is something that actually blows my mind, I never understood how someone can stay in the shadows like him and not be seen. Anyway, its a good addition to the Honorable Mentions, the game itself is set on the Medieval Age, and honestly I have no clue of whats the story (won't lie to you on this). So for a better review (and funny) check out Yatzee's, Zero Punctuation Review of the game. For the gameplay however, I can tell that it's like Sam Fisher or Solid Snake went back in time, picked up a bow and some arrows and start assassinating everything, or just steal the place without everyone notice, the controls are solid and the A.I for the time this game was released was somewhat good (taken the fact if you are hidden inches away from him he doesn't see you). All in all its a very good value and just like Deus Ex a cult game and not for the average person.

1- Counter-Strike 1.6

Its of no surprise that this comes in number 1, counter-strike molded the FPS genre into its prime and ultimate online masterpiece, if you still have a steam account with it, I strongly recommend you try it on your netbook, and see the results yourself, Server lag problems aside, the game still delivers and just like the previous mentioned games, if you want to go pro then you might have a fighting chance here. The is still serving a large fan base and it still packs a punch without consuming much of the netbook's capacity, trust me, you will love it if your into FPS. There are downsides to this game though, you might get tortured with online weird microphone songs, laggers which will teleport on your side and you wont even notice, team killers, kids and so on and so forth, which is basically what plagues most of the console and PC FPS games online.


So this is our Top 10 First Person Shooters for Netbooks, I hope this will enlighten you if you didn't know what games work best for it. The games here have been tested in a clean netbook, by saying this I'm meaning that if your computer is cluttered the games might have a decrease on the frame and will\might be sluggish.

Know a game that isn't mentioned? Then comment below and tell us why it should be on the list! Your comment is important to us.

Editor Note: Once again I'm extremely sorry for the typos and grammar in general, if you find some of these just let us know.