classics in unbalanced source mod design. all you do is scream at your boys and then try to knock people flat on their ass because more difficult kills result in higher notoriety, which is the actual point value placing you at the top of the leaderboard. walk into a shot-up tavern expecting white knuckle duels where each bullet shot is a costly time expenditure and instead some drunk slurring 'pass the whiskey' starts playing the piano and with great poise dodges every one of your fired rounds just to get in your face and crush your windpipe. eat your heart out rdr2, this is the real wild west

the best multiplayer FPS (besides TF2) is a western-themed Source deathmatch game that averages around ~50 players.

people think the problem with multiplayer FPS is hitscan but it's not[ASTERISK]. the problem is hitscan that fires faster than a lever-action rifle, is accurate at range, has ~20-30 round capacity, can kill in 4-5 body shots, and is in game modes/maps/contexts which are decidedly not designed well for it. assault rifles and SMGs and LMGs and many handguns are a plague. good thing a cowboy game doesn't have to have any of them.

you can have loadouts and pickups in the same game/mode; they are not mutually exclusive and combined they can be superior to either individually. just make pickup weapons better than loadout weapons.

i think this is the only FPS where dual wielding (actual dual wielding, not uzis that can only ever be held in pairs) is well implemented. it definitely sucks in the Halo games that have it.

the only criticism I can offer is that handgun style seems to be a largely unnecessary feature.

[ASTERISK]more multiplayer FPS could certainly use projectile weapons that aren't effectively hitscan or instakill explosive launchers, though. of course if they exist alongside assault rifles then assault rifles will beat them in every way.

Even just an hour or so of playing makes it obvious why Fistful of Frags is the greatest multiplayer shooter. It's the most fun parts (headshots, movement, multiple playstyles, satisfying guns) all refined to the perfect package. The revolvers are absurdly satisfying to shoot, and they've all got a ton of unique character). Kicking and wall-jumping and sliding are hard to pass up on, but you've got other perks like an extra tiny pistol, a couple sticks of dynamite, or brass knuckles to disarm your opponents. Matches are perfectly-long bloodbaths on some of the most well-designed maps I've ever encountered in the genre. Death pits, moving trains, windows, enormously tall open staircases - no map is devoid of providing creative arenas to jump and shoot in. Loot chests litter these maps and provide varying degrees of additional weaponry, including an endless dynamite vest and a very slow-reloading revolver powerful enough to oneshot enemies at close range. Core movement options are limited, so every step matters, especially when moving comes at the cost of accuracy. If you want to land a shot, you need to slow down, crouch, or look down your sights. After a scuffle, you're likely to be nearly dead, so you'll have to peruse various shelves and safes to find jugs of glorious whiskey - though even that will get you drunk and mess up your aim momentarily. It's a game where every one of its few pieces is constantly, violently ramming into the other ones; moment-to-moment gameplay in Fistful of Frags is perhaps more tense and deranged than in any other multiplayer shooter I've played. A big part of that is that guys are constantly spawning all around you, and the maps are usually pretty close-quarters. You never know who's right around the corner ready to unload a shotgun right into your head.