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[PC Games] Show me ya moves.
starmanbrand
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My new computer is pretty badass. Because my last computer couldn't handle newer stuff very well, I stopped paying attention to the PC's ebb and flow. My only other console is a wii, which is not in my current geographic location, so I have not experienced many of the xbox or ps3 cross platform stuff. I am looking for the best PC games to come out in, oh say, the last two years. Minimum requirements aren't a big concern.
I will play anything, but I sucksucksuck at RTS. This may not stop me from trying Dawn of War II. All I have been playing is TF2.
Oh, and just to save people from posting "omg you have to play this" and writing essays on it, I have heard of bioshock and will attempt it.
I will play anything, but I sucksucksuck at RTS. This may not stop me from trying Dawn of War II. All I have been playing is TF2.
Oh, and just to save people from posting "omg you have to play this" and writing essays on it, I have heard of bioshock and will attempt it.
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Also, Fallout 3 which is a spectacular RPG set in a post apocalyptic world, Left 4 Dead is a pretty fun online shooter if you have friends to play it with. Not so much with strangers. And, while it doesn't require much at all by way of resources, Braid is a neat platformer.
And pretty much all of this I got through Steam which I'd highly recommend if you don't mind not having a physical copy.
The Witcher is a pretty fun linear PC RPG that can be had for as cheap as $15 off Newegg. From there, there are official patches that make the game really awesome. It has a level of moral ambiguity and consequence to every action that most RPGs fail completely to capture. Choices you make in the game will affect how things happen later on. The combat is a bit... well, it's not great, but the rest of the game is pretty great.
Mass Effect is a pretty fun slightly-less-linear-than-The-Witcher-but-pretty-much-linear PC RPG that can be had for as cheap as $20. The sequel is coming soon, so you probably want to give this a try. It has a wonderful dialog system, and looks pretty great. The combat is a mix of an action game, with extremely light squad based elements and some good ol' fashioned shooting.
To balance out the rather heavy RPG-like suggestions I've made... you should also give World of Goo a try. It's not going to tax your system, but it's got a really interesting gameplay mechanic that simply must be seen. There is a demo available. The game comes on sale often (it's usually $20, I think I paid $7.50 for it), so if you don't feel full pricey for it, you might feel half pricey for it.
Call of Duty 4 came out around the same time. If you're looking for an online competitive shooter, it's a pretty solid pick. I prefer TF2 personally, but I also know people who like CoD's realism more than TF2's cartoonish style.
Dead Space is another fairly highly rated game available for PC, came out last year, it's kind of a 3rd person shooter / survival horror hybrid.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is getting released on PC as well, this Tuesday actually. Early reviews seem to indicate that the PC release is every bit as good as the PS3 & 360 versions.
And finally, to switch gears I'll also recommend Braid, which came out for PC in April of this year. It won't stretch your hardware, but the art is exceptional and the puzzles can be extremely challenging.
I'll also second the Orange Box, FO3, Mass Effect and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
And if you're wanting to give this one a whirl, it happens to be Steam's current weekend sale for $5.
Bioshock is also on the cheap side at this point, you shouldn't be spending more than $20 for it (in terms of what price is common).
A recent game that I had a surprising amount of fun with was the new Prince of Persia, but I think people's opinions of this game is markedly divided. I thought it was visually beautiful and narratively engaging (not deep or complex, just interesting). Others complain that it was too linear and too easy (there is no actual "dying", but there are failures just the same that require you re-attempt sections of play). If you can tolerate quick-time events, you might want to give this title a try. I liked it when I thought I wouldn't.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2
Planescape: Torment
On GoG.com:
Beyond Good and Evil
Descent 3
Fallout and Fallout 2
Freespace and Freespace 2
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
Jagged Alliance 2
Tex Murphy
On Steam:
Assassin's Creed
Audiosurf
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Beyond Good & Evil
Braid
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Earned in Blood, and Hell's Highway
Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4
Civilization IV
Crysis and Crysis: Warhead
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Dead Space
Deus Ex
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Empire: Total War
Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
GRID
Hitman: Something or other
IL2 Sturmovik: 1946
Jagged Alliance 2
Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2
Left 4 Dead
Lego Star Wars and Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Mass Effect
Mirror's Edge
Monkey Island
Mount and Blade
Oblivion
Orange Box
Psychonauts
Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
Splinter Cell and all its sequels
Tomb Raider: Whatever the good ones are, by Crystal Dynamics or whatever
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
The Witcher
World of Goo
Zeno Clash
Don't. For the love of god just don't. Go to G&T and read the DoW II thread if you need convincing. Even the people who "like" that game hate it.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=97723
The single player isn't without it's charm I got a fair few hours of entertainment out of it but nothing like as much as I got out of the first game. If you're only interested in the campaign and you're willing to shell out the money for just that then fine, but the multiplayer and skirmish is so horribly broken I wouldn't subject yourself to it.
-The Orange Box
-Fallout 3/Oblivion
-Crysis
-Bio Shock
-Mass Effect
-Mount and Blade
If you haven't played HL2, then the first thing you should do is buy the Orange Box. Even if you have, $30 for both EP1 & 2, as well as Portal and goddamn Team Fortress two makes the Orange Box the best deal out there. Buy it.
Edit: Whoops, just saw that you have been playing TF2. Guess that means you probably already have the OB.
But thanks for all the suggestions so far, guys.
Seriously, you can't go wrong with that deal.
You need to get on Crysis ASAP.
There'll always be detractors saying it's just a graphical showcase. Ignore them, those guys never really understood what it was about.
I'll second the opinion that it's one of the best FPS's to come out in recent years. To a large extent, the gameplay is focussed around dumping you on a series of different island locations and telling you to get on with your objectives. How you do them is pretty much up to you. It's incredibly freeform in how it allows you to approach each situation, stealth or gunplay, distract and evade or head-on assault, it's almost always viable. As soon as I played the demo I knew I wanted the game, and in the short space of time between that and actually getting the game, I played through the demo about a half dozen times, each time choosing an almost completely different approach.
There is a caveat though, it's really not like a traditional linear FPS, and if you treat it like one it's going to be just as dull as one. Crysis really is a game where you get out of it the kind of creativity you put into it. At their best, Crysis and Warhead are like summer action blockbuster where you direct the action and what happens is according to your script. More than most FPS's it's really more of a sandbox, where they give you the toys to play with and it's up to you how you apply them.
There's a good video that helps spell out some of the stuff I'm talking about (comparison between CoD4 and Crysis):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyQTCeobZlg
Warhead changes the formula somewhat, but it's really sort a flipside to the same coin. It exchanges some of the non-linearity and stealthiness for a more direct and action heavy focus, and that's sort of reflected in the two protagonists of the games as well. I'd easily recommend them both.
Fallout 3 has a version coming out next month I believe that has all the DLC included with the game itself, if you haven't played that definitely worth checking out. The PC version due to all the mods is the superior version.
Civillization 4 came out with a version with all it's expansions and is damn fun I find.
Sins of a Solar Empire is a cool space RTS game.
The Witcher is definitely one of the best games to come out in the last few years.