Summary
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault set the standard for WWII shooters, offering survival-focused gameplay.
- Squad emphasizes teamwork and tactics in large-scale battles with weighty shooting mechanics.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) revamped the series with revamped mechanics, customization, and a compelling campaign.
There’s something uniquely satisfying about a military shooter that gets everything right—the sound of bullets whizzing past, the thunder of artillery in the distance, and that perfect balance between chaos and control. The genre has come a long way since its humble beginnings, and while some titles faded into obscurity like spent casings on a battlefield, others left a permanent mark. These are the military shooters that didn’t just entertain, but redefined what the genre could be.
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From large-scale simulations to high-octane corridor battles, this list rounds up seven of the very best to ever put players behind the sights. Whether they leaned into realism or spectacle, each one earned its place through smart design, unforgettable moments, and communities that kept the fight going long after launch.
7 Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
A Classic That Still Feels Like D-Day On Demand
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
- Released
- January 22, 2002
- ESRB
- t // violence
- Developer(s)
- 2015, Inc.
Before Call of Duty was even a twinkle in Infinity Ward’s eye, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was already teaching players how terrifying Normandy could be. Developed by 2015, Inc., with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Games behind it, this was the WW2 shooter that set the tone for everything that followed.
The D-Day landing mission, inspired heavily by Saving Private Ryan, dropped players into a storm of machine gun fire, exploding mortar shells and screaming allies. It wasn’t about power fantasy—it was about surviving, inch by inch, and it felt revolutionary in 2002.
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But it wasn’t just about the beach. From infiltrating Nazi fortresses to sneaking through U-boat pens, Allied Assault balanced large-scale battles with surprisingly stealthy setpieces. Its AI wasn’t perfect, but at the time, it was leagues ahead of most of its peers.
And when key developers left to form Infinity Ward afterward, they took that experience and turned it into Call of Duty—making Allied Assault the spiritual grandfather of the entire modern military shooter genre.
6 Squad
A Tactical FPS That Actually Requires Tactics
Squad
- Released
- December 15, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
What if Arma was more accessible, but still serious enough to make lone-wolfing a death sentence? That’s where Squad fits in—a game where voice chat isn’t just useful, it’s the entire backbone of the experience.
Built as a spiritual successor to Project Reality, Squad drops players into 50v50 battles where coordination isn’t optional, it’s survival. Every squad has a designated leader who talks to other squads through command channels, while individual players handle logistics, building forward operating bases, or calling in mortar strikes. It’s a game where someone driving a supply truck three kilometers down a dirt road is genuinely contributing to the war effort.
The shooting is weighty and lethal, the maps are huge and full of elevation and sightlines, and the feeling of pulling off a synchronized push across an open field under smoke cover is unmatched. It’s not flashy, but Squad earns its respect through depth and community discipline.
5 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
Modern Warfare Rebooted, Then Perfected
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Released
- October 25, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Infinity Ward
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
There was a lot riding on Modern Warfare’s 2019 reboot, but Infinity Ward didn’t just dust off old ideas—they reengineered them. The result was a shooter that felt familiar yet fresh, brutal yet beautiful.
The campaign dove into gray areas most blockbusters avoid, featuring night raids that mirrored real-world tactics and missions where moral lines got disturbingly blurry. “Clean House” remains one of the most tense sequences in any Call of Duty, turning a suburban home into a maze of suspicion and split-second decisions.
On the multiplayer side, Modern Warfare redefined gun customization with its Gunsmith system, letting players tweak everything from barrel length to grip style. The maps encouraged a slower, more methodical pace than previous entries, and modes like Ground War and Realism gave the formula much-needed variety.
It also marked the first step toward Warzone, with mechanics and tech that directly fed into the battle royale juggernaut. But even on its own, this reboot delivered some of the best shooting mechanics Call of Duty ever offered.
4 Insurgency: Sandstorm
Where A Single Bullet Can Change Everything
Insurgency: Sandstorm
- Released
- December 12, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- New World Interactive
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Tactical
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
There’s a specific sound in Insurgency: Sandstorm that never quite leaves the ears: the hollow, echoing report of a rifle in a tight corridor, followed by silence. That’s usually the moment someone realizes they’re already dead.
This is not the place for run-and-gun antics or killstreak spam. Sandstorm rewards careful movement, coordinated teamplay and sharp reflexes. The time-to-kill is brutally short, and there’s no on-screen kill confirmation—players either watched their target drop, or they didn’t. It’s one of the few games where people genuinely hesitate before pushing a corner.
Its asymmetric PvP modes, where Security forces clash with Insurgents, feel grounded and messy in a way that echoes real-life conflicts. Every match is a tug-of-war over choke points, with suppressing fire, smoke grenades and tactical comms making all the difference. And with its realistic weapon handling and aggressive AI in co-op, it blurs the line between arcade shooter and sim-lite in the best way possible.
3 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
War Never Changes, But It Can Be Hilarious
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Released
- March 2, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
The Battlefield series has always been about scale and destruction, but Bad Company 2 nailed the sweet spot between chaos and personality. While other military shooters went grim and gritty, this one had actual charm—and characters who weren’t just there to die in a cutscene.
Haggard, Sweetwater, Redford and Marlowe were a bunch of misfits cracking jokes in the middle of warzones, but that didn’t mean Bad Company 2 played it safe. Its campaign was surprisingly tight, offering snowy mountain assaults, jungle ambushes and even a chase involving a Cold War superweapon.
And then there was the multiplayer, which basically felt like someone set off fireworks inside a tactical manual. The destruction system meant that no cover was permanent, and buildings could be leveled mid-fight. Rush mode, in particular, became a fan favorite, pushing defenders to hold M-COM stations while attackers bulldozed their way in, literally.
Even today, there are players begging DICE to make Bad Company 3—because no one else quite captured that blend of smart design and utter bedlam.
2 Arma 3
When "Tactical" Isn’t Just A Buzzword
Arma 3
- Released
- September 12, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Bohemia Interactive
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Tactical
- Platform(s)
- PC
Trying to jump into Arma 3 without preparation is like being tossed out of a helicopter with no map, no compass and a vague sense of where the war is. And that’s exactly what makes it brilliant.
Bohemia Interactive’s military sandbox doesn’t pull punches or hold hands. It’s not about twitch reflexes—it’s about coordination, navigation and sheer patience. Players who thrive on authenticity can spend hours just planning an assault, synchronizing movements, calling in air support and praying the AI doesn’t glitch out at the worst moment.
The game’s massive Altis map spans over 270 square kilometers, which means every decision—from picking an insertion point to deciding which hill to use for recon—actually matters. And thanks to Arma 3’s modding tools, entire communities built custom missions, co-op scenarios and even full-on military campaigns that rivaled actual development studios.
1 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Boom, Headshot" Took A Whole New Meaning Here
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
- Released
- November 5, 2007
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Infinity Ward
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS
Before 2007, modern military shooters were mostly stuck in the mud—usually World War II mud, to be exact. Then Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare arrived, and suddenly the entire FPS genre shifted gears. No more rusty M1 Garands or black-and-white moral lines—this was a new battlefield, and it wasn’t clean.
From its shocking nuclear detonation mid-campaign to that haunting AC-130 gunship level, Modern Warfare threw cinematic punches like no shooter had before. Captain Price’s iconic mustache might’ve stolen hearts, but it was the tight gunplay, perfectly paced missions, and then-groundbreaking multiplayer progression that kept people glued to their screens. Custom classes, killstreaks, prestige ranks—it all started here.
Multiplayer maps like Crash, Backlot and Shipment are still burned into the memories of veteran players, many of whom still call CoD 4 the high point of the franchise. And considering how many sequels tried (and often failed) to recapture that magic, it’s hard to argue.
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