First-Person and Third-Person Shooters quickly became one of the most appreciated subgenres in the free to play segment, offering the great quality usually seen in some triple-A titles. Better still, some of those triple-A games are gradually becoming free, such as Team Fortress 2 or APB: Reloaded. The advanced social features are an added bonus and a great addition to the exciting action these games offer.
With so many good free MMOFPS and MMOTPS out there we decided to create our Top 10 Free to Play Shooters to play in 2012.
* This list will be updated regularly.
10 – OFFENSIVE COMBAT
For a browser-based game, Offensive Combat is amazing stuff. Graphics are just as detailed as you would expect from a client-based game, combat is fast-paced and fun and the game is a blast to play. Not only that, it’s a very funny game, one that you can spend a few minutes a day playing just to humiliate your opponents with some crazy gestures.
- > Play Now Offensive Combat Free
9 – GOTHAM CITY IMPOSTORS
From retail to F2P, Gotham City Impostors is a game that has everything to succeed, as long as you like the peculiar art style, where chubby jokers go shooting scantily-clad batladies. It’s funny, over the top and has a lot of crazy gadgets to go along with the polished combat.
- > Play Now Gotham City Impostors Free
8 – WORLD OF TANKS
It may look like just another action-MMO shooter, but World of Tanks is acclaimed not only because of the high production values (for a free-to-play title). It isn’t called “Counter-Strike with tanks” for nothing, a praise that is due to the tactical depth and the exciting team-based gameplay. A massive hit.
- > Play Now World of Tanks Free
7 – ARCTIC COMBAT
Described by many as the Call of Duty of the free-to-play first-person shooter games, Arctic Combat may not bring anything new to the table but is a polished and compelling experience. The light RPG elements add a welcome touch to gameplay and players are rewarded with perks such as health and aerial strikes.
- > Play Now Arctic Combat Free
Blacklight: Retribution is a quality free MMOFPS with a high degree of weapon customization, down to several small parts such as the barrel and sights. There are other appealing features in this game, one of the most interesting being the HRV (Hyper Reality Visor), a device that lets you locate you friends and foes through walls. The hardsuit is a massive mech-like armor that will give a player the upper hand for a while, at least for the time that it takes for the opposing players to join forces to take him down. The fast-paced combat and first-rate sci-fi visuals turn Blacklight: Retribution into a game that any real fan of first-person shooters just has to play.
- > Play Now Blacklight: Retribution Free
5 – GHOST RECON ONLINE
Another anticipated game that didn’t disappoint. Ubisoft’s first entry in the free-to-play shooter genre is a brave effort, one that is faithful to the series and that is like a breath of fresh air to the often stale MMO shooter market. Gameplay invites a tactical approach, so all you Rambos should go elsewhere.
- > Play Now Ghost Recon Online Free
4 – TEAM FORTRESS 2
After a troubled development, Team Fortress 2 first enjoyed success as part of The Orange Box and now as a free-to-play FPS is sure to please many fans. The amazing and original art style, clever humor and, most importantly, great gameplay mechanics propel it to the rank of classic. Team Fortress 2 is a videogame that just can’t be missed, even more now that it’s free.
- > Play Now Team Fortress 2 Free
3 – TRIBES: ASCEND
With the experience gained from Global Agenda: Free Agent, Hi-Rez delivered a superb new chapter in the lost but not forgotten Tribes franchise. Tribes: Ascend captivated players looking for fast-paced and exciting first-person shooter combat with jetpacks added to the mix. It’s a difficult game to master but one that is lauded for the depth of gameplay and the competitive nature. And it just looks good to. If you’re looking for a free-to-play quality FPS then it’s difficult to find better than Tribes: Ascend.
- > Play Now Tribes: Ascend Free
2 – FIREFALL
Firefall is another shooter of the new free-to-play generation, where quality games such as Tribes: Ascend and PlanetSide 2 prove that the F2P business model is gaining advantage over the current retail model. With a colorful yet desperate vision of Earth 200 years in the future, Firefall pits hundreds of players in intense competitive and cooperative gameplay. It’s an incredibly polished game and one where the developers actually valued player feedback.
- > Play Now Firefall Free
1 – PLANETSIDE 2
Words just cannot describe how awesome PlanetSide 2 and its epic scale is. This is the game that – just like its predecessor – gives true meaning to the acronym MMOFPS, with massively multiplayer online battles up to 2.000 players on foot and in land/air vehicles. It’s easy to get lost in the middle of such large maps and chaotic action, but organized teams will make the best of the game, using advanced tactics to capture sectors and resources. PlanetSide 2 is a true FPS lover’s dream come true.
- > Play Now PlanetSide 2 Free
This list includes some of the best realistic, sci-fi, cartoon and military free MMOFPS and MMOTPS games but is obviously based on personal opinion. We had to leave out some renowned games that nearly made the list, such as War Rock, WolfTeam, Project Blackout, Quake Live, Alliance of Valiant Arms, or S4 League. With more games on the way this list is very likely to change soon, so keep checking regularly and share your top 10 in the comments!
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BattlefieldPlay4Free is the most poor game in content of all games. I’ve been playing it in closed beta and just play it yesterday. They brought 2 new maps, couple of new BF weapons and nothing more since closed beta, that’s horrible. I’m talking about period of 5-6 months. I don’t understand people who spent any money on that game. You don’t have server browser, bugs are all over the place (not in game, but their game client, launcher, sucks completely), 3 free weapons, 5 BF only weapons, pistols and shotguns are available to all classes….amazingly poor game. As far as I can see they only want to make money by bringing only new BF (Battlefunds) weapons. You can play it for a month or two and you’ll get bored to death with so little maps and weapons. Developers are sloppy as hell, during the whole closed beta stage the game was crashing after each round, it took them months to resolve that problem, same thing with every other bug. If you ask me, this game shouldn’t be on this list, many things make it horrible, cheap and unfinished comparing to other games.
It’s true that there’s something disappointing with BattlefieldPlay4Free, mostly that it is blatantly a game trying to surf on the Battlefield wave without truly respecting the franchise. It can be fun, sure, and there aren’t many quite like it, but the game just doesn’t seem like it’s getting a lot of love from EA.
It should be more polished and offer much more content, but time will tell if it will sustain itself or shut down in a few months. There’s only so much you can do to sell in-game items…
Thank you for your insightful comment, the list will be updated soon with new quality games being released, such as War Inc.
Number 2 under TF2 for me would Battlefield Heroes.
Well, you can’t expect the typical Battlefield behind “Battlefield Play4Free”, I think the name of the game is the only problem here.
Other than that, it’s a solid game in my opinion.
Bump all those up and put PLANETSIDE 2 FIRST. You have battlefield F2P and old ass TF2. What about Planetside or Firefall? Or even Dust 514 from ps3? Horrible list, just horrible?
The list is about to be updated, those games are not there yet just because they were just in development when the top was last updated.
Why is TF2 not #1?!? Is it because you have to pay to get the stuff that makes it the best?
Not really, TF2 is a great game and was top of our list until a month ago. However, Planetside 2 and Firefall are amazing shooters that manage to be even better and are absolutely recommended.
Planetside 2 is terrible. Experiance unlocks are so retardedly expensive. Cash unlocks are worse. Balance is terribly done. Game is either a mass zerging of infantry getting rocket spammed or a boring, slow slog through miles of empty terrain. Base design is atrocious. One of the most “noob” unfriendly games I’ve played in 20 years of gaming. Performance issues range from apocolyptic to highly annoying, especially in base fights.Yeah, it looks great on a super high end PC, but even on a gaming PC that’s only 2 years old you have to set it to fugly to get a reasonable framerate. And without the “eye candy” graphics it IS fugly.
Slow, boring and unintuitive.
noob unfriendly ? yeah sorta …but if you want to see a worse game take a look at what COD has become over the years