4. Battlefield 1943

Less is more in the case of this game, which stripped an online shooter down to the essentials. There are only four real maps, three classes, and no weapons upgrades.  How could that possibly make a game better? Taking out all of the extras make the game more accessible to newcomers. There are less play styles and maps to master.  There no frustration over someone already better at the game than you also having better weapons.  The maps are big and more open than online battlefields  and the spawn points are well spread out. This not only cuts down on campers it also almost eliminates the die, respawn, die cycle many online shooter newcomers get caught. Battlefield also benefits from a decent control scheme copied almost entirely from Modern Warfare and a good matchup engine. This was the perfect game to hold FPS-fans over until Modern Warfare 2 came out and it is still a great way for newbies to get their feet wet in online shooters.