While I do play some PC games from time to time, most of my gaming time goes to consoles. But I think it is time I start playing some more PC games, especially since some of them can offer me some gameplay that console games can't (or haven't). Yeah, this is kind of selfish thread...but we could always use it to talk about great PC games too. Of course, I have games like Fallout 3, Crysis, The Witcher, Galactic Civilization 2, Braid, Fear, Stalker, etc., on my list to play eventually (although I might wait until I upgrade my PC for some/most of them), but I'm looking for lesser known games. For example, I was reading a few things about games like Penumbra and Cryostasis which intrigued me (reviews seem mixed, but seems like they have some good "high" points). Release date isn't really much of an issue either (in other words, suggest early 2000s games too). I never played The Longest Journey (or its sequel), which seems like a shame looking at some reviews. I always wanted to play Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines as well, which might actually be playable now with the patches released over the years. Also, if the price is right, the game doesn't necessarily have to be fantastic in every way. Titan Quest and The Movies seem pretty attractive given some prices I've seen for them. Even better, I'm pretty sure HoMM 5 isn't as good as its predecessors, but for $13, I don't think I could complain too much. I can't really think of any excluding factors, other than maybe games that rely too heavily on online play (L4D, TF2, MMOs, etc.). (Yes, Steam and Amazon are great).
Have you played paradox games ? http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=302 If you want realism and depth they are the best. Simple as that.
Team Fortress 2. think it's like 20 bucks right now. play on texasteamplayers great teamwork going on... lotta fun. or wait for l4d2. sorry don't really play 'unknown' games. i heard Killing Floor was good but never played it. if ya want free game theres always quake live (just a plugin for your browser)
Try the game wikis probably better reading materials. For example, Hearts of Iron 2 wiki. It has links to the other games' wiki. http://www.paradoxian.org/hoi2wiki/index.php/Main_Page
If you want an "under the radar" RPG, try something like Drakensang. It's not overly complex and if the Baldur's Gate or Ultima Series is a 10 to you, this will probably be a 4-5 tops, but eh, it's something. I tried playing Witcher in the past, but couldn't get into it. The only other PC game I play now is OOTP 10 and I just do it for kicks - nothing serious. I'm waiting for Diablo III, Starcraft 2, and Dragon Age.... a long.... long wait... ... or until something else interesting shows up.
Starcraft: Brood War. I can't even play other games because they aren't as manly as Starcraft is. Gomtv.net A really great English cast of a Starcraft league in Korea.
In terms of older games that no one has ever heard of, and despite being critical successes basically bankrupted their developers... Freedom Force, and its sequel (Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich) were the pinnacle of clever homage writing and gameplay design; the game oozes character and polish. The voice work is nothing short of amazing, the flavor of the game perfectly captures the '60s comic book heroes down to the corny dialogue, overdramatic narrator and bright, cheerful tones. It's a reminder that games don't have to be hyper-realistic and dark to be fun. Plus, it also showcases two of the things the PC platform is best at: modding, where even 7 years after the game's release, there's abundant amounts of created levels, superheroes and attacks still online, and mouse control. Depending on what pause settings you use, the game could range from turn based strategy to Diablo/Dungeon Siege hack and slash. Definitely in my top 5 of all time games, and no one knows about it at all. Graphically, it's also aged quite well, I believe, because of it's cartoony, polygon based graphics. Always wanted to play Evil Genius as well; stylistically and thematically, it seemed similar to Freedom Force in its lighthearted pastiche/homage to spy thrillers, with very solid underlying mechanics (essentially Dungeon Keeper). Finally, Ghost Master was a really neat puzzle strategy game where you were given control over a group of ghosts, and had to scare the occupants of a house. The catch was each ghost was tethered to certain objects (related to how they died), so you had to set up chains to get people to run from one ghost to another; as they got more scared, you were able to summon more powerful ghosts and use more powerful abilities. In terms of games that actually did well in the marketplace, I love the Baldur's Gate series; here's an example of a developer being so comfortable with their engine that they can afford to spend the bulk of their time on bug fixing, writing and polishing; as opposed to today's games where the graphical demands are so great, story must take a backseat if the games are going to come out on time. These older games might make your eyes bleed as you play them in stunning 800x600 resolution, but the story, mechanics and fun you get out of them is worth a hundred Far Cry 2s. Damn, you've made me want to go dig some of these golden oldies out of storage and play through them again!
Its a shame you ruled out the best two games of the last two years (TF2 and L4D) in your OP. Might as well turn off your comp.
The best PC games I've played were Starcraft Sims 2 Counter-Strike Warcraft 3 Diablo 2 WoW FF8 Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 And I just started playing MGS1 on my PC recently, hope it'd be good.
Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines is a great game. Theres also Titans quest if you were a diablo fan, and Knights of the Old Republic if you like western RPGs.
hm like most of the people here said, play starcraft. You must prepare for sc2. I actually like playing Age of empire series. WoW..diablo 2.. warcraft3.. counterstrike
I play on that server periodically. I stopped playing TF2 for about a month or 2 then recently started up again. Love the spy update. I pretty much play on 24/7 2fortParty server. ************************ As for the OP, Have you ever played any of the Monkey Island series? It's a lucasarts adventure game series.....comedy. I absolutely loved them, Guybrush Threepwood kicks ass. Sims 3 seems like a good time waster too.
