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I grew up with first-person shooters. My brother and I spent countless hours battling each-other on GoldenEye and my friends and I spent hours (and a lot of money) playing Counter Strike and Battlefield: 1942 at an internet cafe in the CBD.
To commemorate the memories I have and to share a bit of my nostalgia with you all, here are my ‘Top 7 multiplayer first person shooter maps’, in no discernible order.
Blood Gulch – Halo: Combat Evolved
If I were ever going to make a list with any sense of order, Blood Gulch would more than likely be number one. I spent more time playing this map against my younger brother than any other map in Halo: Combat Evolved.
The map itself is basically a symmetrical canyon with a base at either end, with the option to add all the vehicles from Combat Evolved. More often than not, my enemy and I would pick up the sniper rifle, head to the roof of our respective base and jump and fire until one of us was dead. Again and again and again.
Firing Range – Call of Duty: Black Ops
A lot of people agree, Firing Range is one of the best Call of Duty maps ever introduced in the series. Firing Range presents a lot of short and medium gun battles, and the ability to introduce a huge amount of strategy to your gameplay. I often think about the introduction of Firing Range to Black Ops 3, because adding the element of wall running to an already intense scenario sounds like a dream come true.
Facility – GoldenEye N64
Based on one of the most memorable missions from the classic N64 game, Facility is a definite shoo-in for any ‘Top X’ list concerning First-Person Shooters. With multi-level, multi-room combat, Facility delivers in every way – especially with the introduction of proximity mines.
Who can forget the countless hours sitting around a Nintendo 64 console, swapping controllers with each death/game and running four separate cables across the room? Ah, memories.
2Fort – Team Fortress 2
2Fort is a Capture The Flag map from Team Fortress 2, and a remake of a 2Fort from Team Fortress. 2Fort was the first map I ever played on Team Fortress 2, and subsequently holds a special place in my little video-game oriented heart. Two forts are located on each side of the map with three entrances each – a recipe to watch your back at the very least.
If you haven’t played Team Fortress 2, it’s free-to-play on Steam. I highly recommend it.
Wake Island – Battlefield: 1942
Wake Island was my first introduction to long-range gun battles online. I’ll never forget how intense it felt, sitting in that internet cafe with my friends, staying as low to the ground as I possibly could, paranoid about every sound, every plane and every angle. Wake Island is good enough that it has been included in eight different Battlefield games, including Battlefield: 1942.
Crash – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
One of my favorite fast-paced maps from Modern Warfare, Crash has a lot of tight corners which promotes quick gun fights. The ability to gain altitude over your opponents means that the threat of being hit by a well placed sniper bullet is a distinct possibility, which adds a good element of fear to your engagements.
Dust – Counter Strike
Dust is featured in every installment of the Counter Strike series. It features a bomb located in the Counter-Terrorist spawn and one in the open. Narrow pathways and sharp, blind corners mean all weapons are featured and engagements are intense. Dust is the predecessor to Dust 2. Constantly voted on CS:GO, Dust 2 offers the same level of engagements with a new, polished feel.
These are my most notable multiplayer FPS maps, I’d love to hear yours – let me know in the comments section below!