1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare- Lots of modern shooters existed before, including the Rainbow Six games and Counter Strike, but MW was the first really mainstream acceptance and movement into modern shooters. Since then Battlefield and Medal of Honor followed into the modern day while many games embrace the loadout centric fast paced multiplayer and set piece focused single player of the series.
2. Gears of War- Again, cover systems and shoulder aiming existed before, but Gears popularized and polished them up and made them work so well we wondered how third person shooters did without them before. Now every third person shooter requires some form of cover and shoulder aim it seems.
3. Grand Theft Auto III- Though the earlier GTA games were open world, the limited viewpoint and polish issues kept it from being a smash hit. GTA III pretty much changed the world and had a giant host of clones, from True Crime, to Mafia, and none were able to reach the lofty heights of GTA. Aside from innovating the series also has some great production values, polished gameplay, variety in the world, large breathing environments and writing on par with Scorcese films, it does more then just get by with the open world setting when so many games do that today.
4. Half-Life- Bioshock, Singularity, Homefront, Call of Duty, etc. All these games have Half-Life to thank for so many things, from the pure immersion that moved FPS games into a realism focus (for better or worse), to the set pieces and unbreaking first person view that so many games copy to maintain a sense of immersion. It was also a damned good game.
5. Pong because if we're honest, it kicked everything off and I know this is a lazy addition but eh. I have more but I'll end it with this.
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