2021’s slate of gaming shooters has offered blasts from the past and bold new takes on first-person gunplay. Not only did we finally get the return of Master Chief in Halo Infinite following a year-long delay, but we also got the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead in Back 4 Blood, the next entry in the beloved Far Cry series in Far Cry 6 – starring Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito nonetheless – and Arkane Studios’ Deathloop.To celebrate the genre’s variety this year, we chose the ones that made gunplay a focus and provided players with a ton of fun tools to take on the impossible odds presented to them. To further explain why we choose these four outstanding games, read on below to hear why we think these are the best shooters of 2021.The Best Shooter of 2021Back 4 BloodBack 4 Blood may have the same nomenclature as Left 4 Dead, but Turtle Rock’s own four-player co-op zombie shooter is much more than just a retreading of old ground. Back 4 Blood’s unique deck-building progression provides that much-needed incentive to keep coming back to its campaign in order to earn more supply points, buy new cards, craft better decks, and tackle the aptly named harder difficulties, which are no joke. Back 4 Blood demands cooperation between your party, which leads to not only some of the most intense gunfights we’ve experienced throughout all of video games in 2021, but also some of the most rewarding. Especially once you’re able to assemble a group of like-minded friends that are able to synergize and work together as a cohesive unit. – Mitchell SaltzmanFor more, check out IGN’s Back 4 Blood review.DeathloopIt’s easy to assume that Deathloop’s strengths don’t lie in its gunplay, since so many of its ideas are about investigation, navigation, and discovery. But the shooting stitches all those components together, and holy smokes it’s fun to shoot things in Deathloop. You’re armed with a small but purposeful array of guns that are incredibly loud and potent; rifle headshots send bodies pinwheeling, while shotguns tear through ranks with ease. The ’60s vintage nature of them gives Deathloop’s shooting a distinct feel, it’s chunky and full of recoil, aided on PS5 by great use of the adaptive triggers. Partnered with an array of powers and trinkets that allow you to tailor exactly how your weapons work (healing grenades, anyone?), you can engineer a personalised loadout that makes you feel like a supernatural John Wick. – Matt PurslowFor more, check out IGN’s Deathloop review.Far Cry 6The colorful explodathon that is Far Cry 6 proves yet again that, when it comes to combining open-ended mission design and chaotic action, few games stack up against Ubisoft’s open-world shooter franchise. The engaging process of planning a stealth infiltration, or the chaos of its fast-paced gunplay when that plan inevitably goes to hell, is continuously satisfying from your first beachside shootout to the huge battles of full-blown revolution. Sure, it may stumble over some of its new inventory mechanics and menus, but the massive roster of weapons, armor, gear, perks, and the near-super-powerful Supremos provide an arsenal that’s nearly as varied as your options for taking down the next checkpoint or outpost. Add in the new roster of enemy abilities that add additional layers of strategy – Medics will revive their friends, or Captains can call in air strikes on your sniper’s perch – as well as the option to wreak double the havoc across the entire game with a co-op partner, and Far Cry 6 handily earns its spot among the year’s best shooters. – Jon RyanFor more, check out IGN’s Far Cry 6 review.Halo InfiniteHalo’s best-in-class shooter credentials come from its ability to meaningly combine environment design with enemy behaviour and weapon options. 343 Industries take that to the next level with Halo Infinite’s open world. Groups of Grunts, Elites, Jackals, and Brutes return with their classic hierarchical responsibilities, but the extra space and tiered heights of the world provide Master Chief so many more possibilities to divide and conquer their ranks. That could be a rocky outcrop that becomes a sniper’s perch, a fusion coil hurled into the face of a charging foe, or using your Grappleshot to grab new weapons as your ammunition runs out. It’s the most energetic and free-form Halo’s combat has ever felt. This continues over to the multiplayer, where great map design is coupled with excellent weapon balance to create a fair-but-frantic combat arena that always begs for one more match. – Matt PurslowFor more, check out IGN’s Halo Infinite Multiplayer review.All IGN Best Of 2021 Gaming CategoriesIGN’s Best of 2021 Awards were designed by:Lead Design + Art Direction: Julia RagoMotion Graphics: Will Batchelor
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