First thing that came in to my mind was Gears of War with its specific third person view and hiding behind covers. I don't think it was the first game with that mechanic but the most influential one
The term I refer to is “hiding behind cover” singular - so when I hear “hiding behind covers” I think of the COG seeing locusts, getting scared, and wrapping themselves up in blankets. Lol
I think you need to be more specific than just "third person". Third person view was in Pong, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Centipede, etc. It's the default for most games.
First person was probably introduced with Battle Zone.
Which, I don't mean to sound pedantic, I just literally don't really know what you mean here.
Then you will need to extend that to the OP of this comment chain as they didn't specify either what Gears of War is. I am going to edit my comment to clarify but I do feel you are too pendantic for asking this.
Thank you. Sorry. Never played that game and didn't know that was specific to FPS. I know some arcade shooter games had that mechanic, but not in the context of free-roaming FPS. I think you're right about Tomb Raider.
If you are attempting to ask which game popularized 3d, third person shooters, then yes, the original Tomb Raider is probably the most early, widely popular game that popularized this.