First-person shooters are very popular. Most of the first-person shooter games out there are very high quality games with great graphics and excellent 3d modeling.  First-person shooters are continuously gaining more and more players, and these players from around the world are brought closer and closer to one another through online game-play. This allows a person to sit in their living room and snipe out a player on the other side of the planet.

These servers are the killing grounds of very serious competitors. Players can become very skilled in these games, and prove their skill to others that decide to get into the mix. Anyone can be just as good as the next guy, but this could take some real playing time. These games are some of the funnest to try your hand in, because you can interact with your surroundings, blend into bushes, lurk in the shadows and take blood as your vengeance for your earlier deaths. Here are a few free multi player online first-person shooters.

One of the more popular, and often proffered over others, is CrossFire. The player must create a user account in order to begin game-play. It is completely free to create an account on CrossFire, and the download process is fairly simple. This is a free FPS that can be downloaded at  CrossFire.z8games.com   This site offers a range of downloads, covering most operating systems.  This includes downloads for Mac and Ubuntu.

Once your in, you'll find yourself in an extensive playing field, with many players from across the nation, and several different regions of the world.  The player will have quite a few maps to choose from, and a significant number of game modes that range from Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, to S&D and Ghost Mode.   As you play the game, you gain experience and move through ranks, that are only acquired after more experience is earned, the amount of exp. needed to raise your rank, increases with every new level of skill.  

Some of the items in the game can only be bought after a player has reached a rank that is required.  When you first log in, you'll have a large amount of gp to spend on a wide variety of rifles, handguns, sub-machine guns , grenades, armor, etc..  Try to avoid purchasing any items right away.  Some times you can regret it.  You should make sure you're familiar with the game-play before jumping into a decision.  Maybe even save some of that lump sum they handed you, it is the only one you get for a while.

If a player decides he/she is really into the game, they have the option to purchase zp, either with a paypal account, or a credit card.  Zp is not required, it's just for those that want to gain special items, or characters.  Zp is probably the main source of revenue keeping the game up and running.

All Items though, can also be won.  CrossFire features a Black Market, that allows a person to gamble with their earnings.  These items usually expire after a month or so though, this keeps the game-play fair.  All of these are good things, insuring everyone plays for free, without sacrificing full experience of the game.  

Assault Cube is one of my favorite first-person shooters. Not only because of the incredible speed in which you can launch the game and immediately jump into combat, but also, this game is entirely open-source. This means that the game can be modded to whatever the  player wants it to be.  You're given access to the entire programming of the game.  

If one wanted to, that person could  learn about writing your own engine, using the cube engine as a reference, and a tool to practice your skills.  You can get better by creating your own mods and learning how to start your own servers for multi player games.  The games creators are open to suggestion and are likely to accept adding your good work to the games download package, if it is good enough.

Assault Cube is a freeware game and is available at  assault.cubers.net/   You don't need an account with these guys, but if you're looking for a rank, or statistics on your skill, you'll find it on their web-page. You'll also find tutorials and advice on how to write, or code, your own mods.   It is fairly simple actually, after a little digging around for some information about what your trying to do.

If your not the programming type, but you'd like to build very well thought out, complex maps, then you should still check this game. Quality maps are added to their assault cube download pack and can be considered official Assault Cube maps. Out of all the maps that I've played personally, I don't remember any of them sucking, and not once did I find myself bored in any way. This is impressive compared to the maps you'll find on CrossFire. But then again, Crossfire has their graphics beat hands down.

Both of these first-person shooters are great games that may capture or spark interest in any one that play them. CrossFire is a game that I recommend, if you've been looking for an online first-person shooter, this game is an answer.  It doesn't lag on older pc's either. and also has a greater amount of players.  

Assault Cube has less players, and a smaller amount of weapons to choose from.  But Assault Cube allows you to use all their weapons at any skill level. So if your going to beat any one, your gonna need to practice before you get to the point that you find yourself keeping up with others.

Also, If your interested in programming, Assault Cube can be a great learning tool. The fact that it is open-source is what really got my attention in the first place. This game isn't slow either, it is the fastest paced game I have come accross on the internet.

I will be writing about several other games in later work, depending on how this article does. This was pretty much practice anyways, but I think it helped a lot. If their is something I'm missing or should have covered, please comment. Your feedback would be appreciated. Please let me know what steps I should be taking to writing better, fuller and ultimately more proffessional articles. Thank you for reading.