History BoringButPractical / FirstPersonShooter

** As ''VideoGame/Doom3'' went for a more horror themed approach, many of the fights you get into are short range ambushes; once again, the humble shotgun is the weapon of choice for wandering through corridors. In firefights against ranged enemies, machinegun is usually your best friend due to high accuracy and moderate damage.
** ''VideoGame/BrutalDoom'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectBrutality'' have the normal slug-chuckers compared to the energy weapons and monster weapons. While you can't roast demons to a crisp or blow them into a goo, regular weapons like the assault rifle, pistol, and the 3 shotguns allow for quicker kills because now you can aim down the sights for an easy headshot and they (and their ammo) are much more common to find than the energy and monster weapons. Grenades and land mines are also pretty boring but give you more breathing room as they can pulverize large groups of clustered foes. The demon tech rifle may also count-ammo is relatively plentiful (the lesser energy spheres that heal you ''also serve as ammo''), it burns foes with hell fire or acid, and its alternate shots allow Doomguy to launch a heavy blast that brainwashes enemies into attacking their allies or shrinks them for a quick stomp.

** As ''VideoGame/Doom3'' went for a more horror themed approach, many of the fights you get into are short range ambushes; once again, the humble shotgun is the weapon of choice for wandering through corridors.

** The laser pistol doesn't do very much damage and doesn't cause huge explosions, frequently requiring you to [[DeathOfAThousandCuts whittle down enemy health]], but carrying two around is a winning strategy as you'll never run into enough enemies to discharge them both before reaching a charging station. Concentrate on using them and you become effectively ammunition-independent.

** The [=AR34=] a solid all-around choice too, with good stopping power, accuracy and fire rate. The secondary mode is comparatively dull - it just keeps the scope zoomed at all times - but that also makes it a solid ambush weapon.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'''s most practical weapons are your Falcon 2 (which fills much the same role as Goldeneye's [=PP7=], though you also get a scope for it in some missions) and the Laptop Gun, which is a fairly ammo-efficient automatic weapon with a scope and good accuracy, plus in a pinch you can set up a trap by converting it to a sentry turret.

** Soldier: 76. His abilities are not all that flashy compared to other Offense heroes, but are familiar to nearly anyone who has played a FPS before, which makes him easy to use. He can sprint, and while that's not as impressive as boost jumps or flying or even Sombra's invisibility (which ''also'' lets you sprint), it has no maximum duration and no cooldown. His primary weapon is essentially a military-grade assault rifle with decent range, decent accuracy in controlled bursts, enough damage to take down several softer targets in one clip, and also features an underslung rocket launcher useful for medium-range burst damage or taking out stationary targets farther off. Next, his Biotic Field allows him to create an area-of-effect heal which, while not as immediately powerful as a dedicated Support character, is unique among Offense characters in that it doesn't require that he damage enemies (like Reaper) or hack an existing health pack (like Sombra), and which he can even share with teammates. Finally, his ultimate ability, the Tactical Visor, does one thing; it makes it so you can't miss with the pulse rifle. That's it. But it's very effective regardless, and while overall Soldier's abilities aren't the most powerful or impressive, they do make him a [[JackOfAllTrades flexible enough character to answer almost any situation]].

** The [=AR34=] a solid all-around choice too, with good stopping power, accuracy and fire rate. It secondary mode is comparatively dull - it just keeps the scope zoomed at all times - but that also makes it a solid ambush weapon.

** The AR34 a solid all-around choice too, with good stopping power, accuracy and fire rate. It secondary mode is comparatively dull - it just keeps the scope zoomed at all times - but that also makes it a solid ambush weapon.

* ''VideoGame/Goldeneye1997'' has an impressively large arsenal of weapons, but the ones that remain the most consistently useful are your basic silenced [=PP7=] and the [=KF7=] Soviet. The [=PP7=] has great accuracy, a high fire rate, virtually no recoil and can quickly (and quietly) take down enemies with well-placed headshots while the [=KF7=] has plentiful ammo, relatively high stopping power, a 3x scope for precision shots and is readily available in all but a few stages.

* ''VideoGame/Goldeneye1997'' has an impressively large arsenal of weapons, but the ones that remain the most consistently useful are:
** Your basic silenced [=PP7=] and the [=KF7=] Soviet. The [=PP7=] has great accuracy, a high fire rate, virtually no recoil and can quickly (and quietly) take down enemies with well-placed headshots while the [=KF7=] has plentiful ammo, relatively high stopping power and is readily available in all but a few stages.
** This also carries over to the game's quasi-sequel, ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''. Decades of technological improvement have done few favors for firearms; while they're definitely cooler in design and have nifty secondary abilities, nearly all the weapons in the game pale in comparison to the classic Goldeneye guns, which use ammo far more efficiently, reload much more quickly and don't require you to crouch to get good accuracy. Sadly, though, classic weapons are only available via cheats.
** Perfect Dark's most practical weapons are your Falcon 2 (which fills much the same role as the aforementioned [=PP7=], though you also get a scope for it in some missions) and the Laptop Gun, which is a fairly ammo-efficient automatic weapon with a scope and good accuracy, plus in a pinch you can set up a trap by converting it to a sentry turret.

** The remake has more of a standard progression, starting you with a melee weapon and a pistol and having you work your way up through the magnum, shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle and finally high-powered energy-based weapons. The Assault Rifle remains a practical choice for much of the game though, as ammo for it is quite plentiful and it uses both flame-generating magnesium ammo (for live targets) and armor-piercing rounds (for heavily armored cyborgs/androids). The Magpulse (which can be found as early as Level 1) is a reliable choice against mechanical critters and likewise has plenty of ammo to find, though it's completely useless against mutants. Energy weapons like the Sparq Pistol and Pulse Rifle make a good fallback too, as long as you have a few spare batteries on hand or know where the nearest charge station is.

** The remake has more of a standard progression, starting you with a melee weapon and a pistol and having you work your way up through the magnum, shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle and finally high-powered energy-based weapons. The Assault Rifle remains a practical choice for much of the game though, as ammo for it is quite plentiful and it uses both flame-generating magnesium ammo (for live targets) and armor-piercing rounds (for heavily armored cyborgs/androids). The Magpulse (which can be found as early as Level 1) is a reliable choice against mechanical critters, though it's completely useless against mutants. Energy weapons like the Sparq Pistol and Pulse Rifle make a good fallback too, as long as you have a few spare batteries on hand or know where the nearest charge station is.

** The remake has more of a standard progression, starting you with a melee weapon and a pistol and having you work your way up through the magnum, shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle and finally high-powered energy-based weapons. The Assault Rifle remains a practical choice for much of the game though, as ammo for it is quite plentiful and it uses both flame-generating magnesium ammo (for live targets) and armor-piercing rounds (for heavily armored cyborgs/androids). Energy weapons like the Sparq Pistol and Pulse Rifle make a good fallback too, as long as you have a few spare batteries on hand or know where the nearest charge station is.

** The remake has more of a standard progression, starting you with a melee weapon and a pistol and having you work your way up through the magnum, shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle and finally exotic energy-based weapons. The Assault Rifle remains a practical choice for much of the game though, as ammo for it is quite plentiful and it uses both flame-generating magnesium ammo (for live targets) and armor-piercing (for heavily armored cyborgs/androids).

** The remake has more of a standard progression, starting you with a melee weapon and a pistol and having you work your way up through a shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle and finally exotic energy-based weapons. The Assault Rifle remains your most practical choice for much of the game, though, as ammo for it is quite plentiful and it uses both magnesium ammo (for live targets) and armor-piercing (for heavily armored cyborgs/androids).

* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' has lots of fun and creative weapons like a spray can/lighter combo, the voodoo doll and the Life Leech staff, which looks awesome to boot. However, more often than not, the good old shotgun, Tommy gun and bundles of dynamite are much more plentiful in supply and deal far more consistent damage.

** Over the many updates The Heavy has become this: essentially a mobile level 2 sentry with half-a-brain, Heavy provides area denial to other players with his high [=DPS=] and acts as a medium medkit with his sandviches at the expense of being the slowest class and reliant on medics and teleporters to get him from place to place. His strategies are largely stand here and shoot, move from point A to B while keeping your Medic alive, or on occasion use the Tomislov to get the drop onto unsuspecting foes with it' silent spin up. His boring playstyle coupled with his ease of balancing (just give him the occasional nerf or buff) may have been a deciding factor in the close loss of the Heavy vs Pyro popularity contest [=TF 2=] had to see which class would get a new update "sooner" (being a small team working for ''Creator/ValveSoftware'', this will take a long time).

** The Spy's stock loadout is considered to be the most versatile and reliable combination by a lot of players. The Revolver is the 3rd most accurate weapon in the entire game, can be 100% precise if you allow a small delay between shots and doesn't suffer from firing delays or damage reduction, allowing rapid shots to support the firepower of the team or quickly take out pursuers. The stock Sapper destroys buildings quicker than the Red-Tape Recorder and wrecks them outright rather than downgrading them. The stock Knife doesn't have any crippling downsides and allows the Spy to be more ambitious or aggressive. The Invisibility Watch, out of all the watches, allows for the furthest distance traveled, has the quietest decloaking sound and given how many ammo boxes will be scattered across battlefields, the Spy can recharge fairly quickly. Using all of these together lets the Spy quickly kill an enemy or disrupt a nest, then move on to his next target.
** Over the many updates The Heavy has become this: essentially a mobile level 2 sentry with half-a-brain, Heavy provides area denial to other players with his high [=DPS=] and acts as a medium medkit with his sandviches at the expense of being the slowest class and reliant on medics to get him from place to place. His strategies are largely stand here and shoot, move from point A to B while keeping your Medic alive, or on occasion use the Tomislov to get the drop onto unsuspecting foes with it' silent spin up. His boring playstyle coupled with his ease of balancing (just give him the occasional nerf or buff) may have been a deciding factor in the close loss of the Heavy vs Pyro popularity contest [=TF 2=] had to see which class would get a new update "sooner" (being a small team working for ''Creator/ValveSoftware'', this will take a long time).

** In a meta sense, the original Doom engine can qualify due to how it was designed. While not spectacular looking today, the Doom engine persists because of its advantages under the hood: 1) Being easy to develop with, and 2) Being moddable as Hell. Doom modding is usually seen as a great entry point by aspiring developers wanting to break into the business and despite the engine being over twenty years old, the community is still alive and kicking with very popular mods still being made like Real Guns Advanced 2 and the Samsara mod. Maps are very easy to read in editors thanks to being drawn out in a 2D format, and with the advent of formats like Universal Doom Map Format, you can create trickery with effects like "linedef portals" that create fully-featured realtime portals into other sections of the map, making the engine seem like it's rendering a 3D environment in a game engine that is still 2.5D by using some creativity.

** In a meta sense, the original Doom engine can qualify due to how it was designed. While not spectacular looking today, the Doom engine persists because of its advantages under the hood: 1) Being easy to develop with, and 2) Being moddable as Hell. Doom modding is usually seen as a great entry point by aspiring developers wanting to break into the business and despite the engine being over twenty years old, the community is still alive and kicking with very popular mods still being made like Real Guns Advanced 2 and the Samsara mod.