Today’s TiPb Top 5 will be directed towards our iPhone and iPod touch wielding readers who love First-Person Shooting (FPS) games. Just like our other TiPb’s top 5 must-have posts, all of these applications are available in the App Store. For the full overview, follow us after the break!

Wolfenstein 3D Platinum

Wanna kick it old, old school? Wolfenstein 3D (Wolf3D) started it all. What is great about this version of the game is that you get A LOT of levels. You get episodes 1-6 plus the Spear of Destiny add-on pack for a total of more than 60 levels. Wolf3D has customizable controls and a super-fast framerate. This is a great version of the original and a bargain price. [$1.99 - iTunes Link]

• Old school fun
• Customizable controls
• So many levels!
• Fast and smooth gameplay

DOOM Classic

Ah, DOOM -- one of my all time favorites. The iPhone version is top-notch. Fast and fun. The controls have been tweaked a little more than with Wolf3D, but are similar. If you can play one, you will be instantly at home with the other. DOOM takes the Wolf3D premise and adds a grand 3D element to it. Mars is invaded by devils from hell and it is up to you to eradicate them over 36 levels. Future updates in include Doom 2 with in-app purchasing! Doom as multiplayer support over local Wi-Fi, but sadly, no online deathmatches are planned at this time. [$6.99 - iTunes Link]

• Just the way I remember it
• Customizable controls
• Fast gameplay
• Totally fun!

Eliminate Pro

One of the most anticipated apps for the App Store, Eliminate has arrived! This illustrates what mobile online multiplayer can be about. This game revolves around playing matches and winning; that simple. The catch is having "energy" when you play. If you win a match (or actually play a match) with energy you earn credits. Credits are used to buy weapons, armor and stats. After your energy is depleted, you can buy more with in-app purchasing, or wait 90 minutes (the time keeps changing as ngmoco:) finds the right balance) for a partial energy recharge. You can play over the Internet with Wi-Fi or 3G. A new map is on its way, but no word on voice chat. [$Free - iTunes Link]

• Internet multiplayer
• Upgradable weapons and armor
• Friend lists
• Private matches with friends

Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies

This game was a surprise that came out of nowhere! Like shooting zombies WWII Nazi-style? Well, look no further than Call of Duty: Zombies. You are in a room with boarded entrances. Zombies are closing in on every side. What do you do? destroy them of course! You can buy different weapons and choose from a few different control styles. This game gets tough fast, but in the end is hampered by a less-than-accurate control scheme. I have faith this will be fixed in a future update. You can play single player or multiplayer locally. Sadly there is only one map right now, but more are coming soon! [$9.99 - iTunes Link]

• Top-notch graphics
• Erie atmosphere make playing it stressful!
• Continuous onslaught of zombies to kill
• Local multiplayer

Modern Combat: Sandstorm

Looking for a FPS with a good challenge? Sandstorm will give it to ya! This is not a run n' gun game, you have to use strategy defeat the relentless AI. This game has great controls and graphics. You can crouch, zoom, carry two different weapons plus grenades; all intuitively with fun. You are placed in the Middle East set to take down the bad guys. What is the big news about this game? There is an online update coming out before Christmas 2009 that will add  Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes! This looks to be an amazing addition onto an already solid single player title! [$4.99 - iTunes Link]

• Great control scheme with lots of functionality
• 10 different missions
• Great visuals  and story
• Very challenging compared to other FPSs on the App Store

Conclusion

Winner: Eliminate Pro

Id Software has released the Godfather of all first person shooters, Doom Classic. [$6.99 - iTunes Link] The game has been ported nicely while including a completely new episode not found in the original along with a few other extras sprinkled in for your gaming pleasure.

• Play the legendary first person shooter, DOOM, with an iPhone or iPod Touch. Fight through 36 missions in four action-packed episodes: Knee-Deep in the Dead, Shores of Hell, Inferno, and Thy Flesh Consumed.
• Experience DOOM multiplayer on your mobile device, including Deathmatch and Cooperative play for up to four players via wireless internet.
• Choose from three different control types and customize the interface to suit your style.
• Explore the depths of Mars while utilizing the topdown map to help you explore and save your game on the fly.
• Listen to the original soundtrack or disable it and use your own iPod music.

After spending some time with Doom Classic it's safe to say that FPS fans should enjoy this classic action.

DOOOOOOOOOM! [$9.99 - iTunes link] That's right, the mother of all Martian first person shooters (FPS) is in the App Store now:

-Advanced graphics engine designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the power found in Apple’s mobile devices -Wield an arsenal of heavy-hitting weapons to defeat a variety of hideous monsters and bosses -Innovative controls for fast-paced and accessible first-person action -An all-new chapter of the DOOM saga that new players and long-time DOOM fans can enjoy

How does a golden oldie translate to the newest, greatest mobile platform? If you try it out, and live to tell the tale, let us know what you think!

John Carmack has written an update on his Doom port for the iPhone, and he's continuing the same candor he began with his Wolfenstein 3D post. What are we getting? A classic in almost every sense of the word:

Before I actually started coding on the project, I had visions of adding a lot of modern tuned effects to the core gameplay experience. It would certainly stay a sprite-and-sector based game, but there are many things that would be done differently with the benefit of a GPU and the wisdom of hindsight. Once I began actually working on it, it started to look like a bad idea for a number of reasons. I am trying to not be very disruptive in the main codebase, because I want it to stay a part of prBoom instead of being another codebase fork. While I can certainly add a bunch of new features fairly quickly, iterating through a lot of user testing and checking for problems across the >100 commercial Doom levels would take a lot longer. There really is value in " classic" in this case, and there would be some degree of negative backlash to almost any "improvements" I made. There will still be a couple tiny tweaks, but nothing radical is changing in the basic play. It would be fun to take a small team, permanently fork it, and make a "Doom++" just for the iPhone, but that wouldn't be the best first move. Maybe later.

Check out the full post for more on his experiences with iPhone game development.

[Thanks to Icebike for the tip!]

Waaaaaay back in the early days of the iPhone, word spread that legendary creator of 3D first person shooters like Wolfenstein and Doom, John Carmack was eager to develop games for the iPhone. Well, hopefully good things come to those who wait, because Carmack has just posted news that Wolfenstein is on its way, and there's more to come.

In a monstrous blog post, Carmack explains what took so long, the pros (graphics more capable than Nintendo DS) and cons (driver overhead is far, far worse), design notes, and programming.

Must read for anyone interested in iPhone development and id games. For those who just want to play, Wolfenstein is coming, Doom is coming, and undisclosed but hopefully uber-cool new id-goodness is coming.

So, who's loading their chain guns?

You know, you know: the iPhone ranks up there with the PSP for sheer gaming power, heck John Carmack has said it could even be in the same category as the PS2 or the Xbox. Carmack speaks out on the iPhone often enough that TiPb seems to have a full-on crush on the guy. One tidbit that we missed during his last talk comes to us via Apple Insider and it puts our pie-in-the-sky gaming hopes in the proper context:

The verdict is also out on whether Apple has a concrete grasp of gaming, the id co-founder said. The company's reception to criticism has also been counterintuitive, which has led to its relationship with id being something akin to a roller-coaster ride.
Apple essentially kisses his ass when they need him to show up for one of Steve Jobs' keynotes, but then throws him the cold shoulder the second he passes judgement, Carmack said.

Ouch. Here's one way to get Apple to sit up and take notice, Carmack: deliver that 'graphical tour-de-force' for the iPhone you've been chatting up post haste. It's a lot easier to get a company to kiss your ass when they can wipe it with $100 bills you've helped them earn. Just saying.

Meanwhile, the gaming potential of the iPhone is hitting the mainstream media, as Time Magazine profiles the various happenings on the gaming front. Coming soon: a genuine multiplayer-over-WiFi game (Asphalt 4) and, Spore Origins (SQUEEE!), featuring "18 levels of game play and an 'Arena' mode for competing with others around the globe." We've all been waiting for Spore for so long now that we're pretty sure that when it's finally playable on the iPhone, we'll be so enmeshed in the game for so long that actual evolution will likely occur on a massive scale without us noticing it.