A tactical shooter is a sub-genre of first- and third-person shooters, associated with using strategy, planning, and tactics in gameplay, as well as the realistic simulations of ballistics, firearm mechanics, physics, stamina, and low time to kill. Dating back to strategy games from the late 1980s, the genre first rose to prominence in the late 1990s with the releases of several well-received tactical shooters. The popularity of the genre saw a decline in the late 2000s as fast-paced "arcade"-like action shooters rose to prominence, it has seen a revitalization since the mid-2010s with the successful releases of several modern tactical shooters.
Unreal II: The Awakening is a first-person shooter video game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand for Microsoft Windows, the game was later ported to Microsoft's Xbox console by Tantalus. It is the sequel to the 1998 video game Unreal and part of the franchise of the same name. Cliff Bleszinski was an executive producer for the title.
Starsiege: Tribes is a first-person shooter video game. It is the first of the Tribes video game series and follows the story from Metaltech: Earthsiege and Starsiege. It was developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line in 1998. An expansion pack, Tribes Extreme, was cancelled; it was supposed to add single-player missions, multiplayer maps, and bot AI.
Unreal Championship is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Digital Extremes and Epic Games, published by Infogrames, and released for the Xbox. Part of the Unreal franchise, Unreal Championship is the console version of Unreal Tournament 2003, and was developed to take advantage of Xbox Live. The game is notable for being the first ever console game to receive a downloadable patch. In 2003 Unreal Championship was added to the Xbox "Platinum Hits" line.
Day of Defeat: Source is a team-based online first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve. Set in World War II, the game is a remake of Day of Defeat. It was updated from the GoldSrc engine used by its predecessor to the Source engine, and a remake of the game models. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on September 26, 2005, distributed through Valve's online content delivery service Steam. Retail distribution of the game was handled by Electronic Arts.
SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle is a 1999 tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Sierra Northwest and published by Sierra Entertainment exclusively for Microsoft Windows. It is the seventh installment of the Police Quest series and the third installment in the SWAT subseries. Set in the then-future year of 2005, the game follows the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Metropolitan Division SWAT unit as they combat a wave of violent crime and terrorism in Los Angeles in the lead-up to a nuclear disarmament treaty signing.
SWAT 4 is a 2005 tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by Sierra Entertainment exclusively for Microsoft Windows. It is the ninth installment in the Police Quest series and the fourth installment in the SWAT subseries. In SWAT 4, the player commands a police SWAT team in the city of Fairview, New York. Unlike its predecessor, SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle, SWAT 4 does not have an overarching plot. Instead, gameplay takes place over a series of mostly unconnected deployments of the player's SWAT team, as they are sent to apprehend criminals, terrorists, gangs, and cults in and around Fairview.
Police Quest: SWAT 2 (stylized as SWAT2) is a 1998 real-time tactics video game developed by Yosemite Entertainment and published by Sierra FX (both studios of Sierra On-Line) exclusively for Microsoft Windows. It is the sixth installment in the Police Quest series and the second installment in the SWAT subseries. The game follows the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Metropolitan Division SWAT team as they clash with a domestic terrorist militia launching attacks across Los Angeles.
Worms: Open Warfare is a 2D artillery tactical game. It was developed by Team17 and published by THQ for the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS. It is the first game in the Worms series to be released for seventh generation handheld consoles and marked the series' return to its original 2D gameplay style.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam is a third-person shooter published in 2004 for PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It takes place seven years after the One Year War Gundam storyline. The game includes 31 mobile suits which can be played in five different modes: Arcade, Versus, Universal Century, Survival, and Training.
Fracture is a third-person shooter video game developed by Day 1 Studios and was published by LucasArts. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October 2008. Set in the 22nd century, the story involves two factions, Pacific and Atlantic, fighting in a xenophobic America split by global warming. The player assumes control of Jet Brody, an Atlantic Sergeant ordered to capture Pacifican Commander Sheridan. The game is notable for its focus on terrain movement through the use of futuristic weapons. Fracture garnered mixed reviews upon release.
SWAT: Target Liberty is a 2007 tactical shooter video game developed by 3G Studios and published by Vivendi Games exclusively for the PlayStation Portable.
Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a third-person shooter video game, first developed and published by I-play in 2008, before being developed by Grin and published by Warner Bros. Interactive and distributed by Universal Studios in 2009, based on the film of the same name. It was released for mobile phones, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
SWAT: Global Strike Team is a 2003 tactical shooter video game developed by Argonaut Games and published by Vivendi Universal Games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It featured a new game engine developed by Argonaut developed to push the lighting capabilities of the Xbox and was the first SWAT game to ship on console systems. The game was inspired by the strategic elements of SWAT 3 with the instantly accessible arcade action of the Virtua Cop series.
Star Wars: Battlefront is a 2004 first and third-person shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise. Developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, it is the first installment in the Star Wars: Battlefront series. It was released in September 2004 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows to coincide the release of the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. Aspyr released a Mac OS X port in July 2005, and a cellular phone version, Star Wars Battlefront Mobile, was released on November 1, 2005.
Warface: Clutch is a free-to-play online first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek Kiev, co-produced by Crytek Seoul, and published by My.com. The full version of the game was released on 21 October 2013 as playable in North America and Europe. The game was developed with Crytek's in-house CryEngine 3. Warface: Clutch centers around online firefights in player versus player (PvP) matches, with microtransactions allowing players to purchase weapons, equipment, and cosmetic gear. The Xbox 360 port, which was developed by Crytek UK, was discontinued in February 2015. The console version of the game was relaunched for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018 and on the Nintendo Switch in 2020. Members of the game's development team split from Crytek Kiev in February 2019 to form a new development studio, Blackwood Games, who will handle future development duties for Warface: Clutch. A tactical shooter spin-off game named Warface: Breakout was released on 26 May 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Shank 2 is a 2D side-scrolling hack and slash video game developed by Canadian independent studio Klei Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts in 2012. It is a sequel to Shank. It features a new two-player survival mode, updated combat mechanics, and new weapons. Shank 2 does not feature the cooperative story mode which appears in the previous installment, instead offering a two player survival mode.
Dead Trigger 2 is a first person survival horror video game was developed and published by Madfinger Games, later acquired by DECA Games. It was released for Android and iOS devices on October 23, 2013, and for Facebook on February 20, 2014. As with the original Dead Trigger, Dead Trigger 2 is a single-player zombie-themed shooter. Nvidia showcased Dead Trigger 2 as the first tech demo for their upcoming Tegra 4 mobile system-on-a-chip; Slide to Play and Android Police compared the graphical quality to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Halo: Spartan Assault is a twin-stick shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games. Part of the Halo media franchise, the game was released on July 18, 2013, for Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms. The game was subsequently released on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Steam, and iOS. Halo: Spartan Assault is set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4. Players control the human soldiers Sarah Palmer and Edward Davis as they fight a new splinter faction of the alien Covenant. The game launched with 25 single-player missions; an additional campaign was released as downloadable content. The console versions also feature an exclusive cooperative horde mode.
Ready or Not is a 2023 tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Ireland-based VOID Interactive and released for Microsoft Windows. Ready or Not follows the operations of a police SWAT team in the fictional American city of Los Sueños in the midst of a violent crime wave.
