pc Games

[MrCow]

So I've been out of the loop for a while and was wondering what decent pc games have come out recently that are worth a look.
NO TO WoW KTHX.

[biggiy05]

I don't really think there is much out there right now. Maybe F.E.A.R. if you haven't played it or the expansion. I've heard that STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl is a good game too.

What do genre do you like to play?

[MrCow]

I'm open to a variety right now, I just want something to do for a while. I played some of F.E.A.R. but I didn't complete it.

[Glenn the Great]

I played some of F.E.A.R. but I didn't complete it.

Did you stop playing partway through the campaign because it was too scary? I won't laugh if you say yes. I quit playing the game about halfway through because I couldn't work up the nerve to push forward.

Half-Life 2 Episode One is wonderful. You might be disappointed in how short the game is though.

You could play the original Half-Life 2 if you haven't already. I know that 2-3 years might not be considered recent, but there really hasn't been anything else as good to come out since then.

[DarkDragoonX]

STALKER is one of the best recent PC games out there. Also, Bioshock is due for release later this month, which is something that any sane person is looking forward to.

[MrCow]

Nah, I stopped playing F.E.A.R. because I just did, things came up and I didn't have time and when I went to go play it again I forgot where I was, what I was doing, and how to play with the different commands so I just gave up. Stalker I have heard is good. I've played hl2 all too much.

[Beldaran]

I quit playing the game about halfway through because I couldn't work up the nerve to push forward.

I played through the entire game, but it was so nerve wracking. I had to start using cheat codes because running out of ammo was going to make me start pissing my pants.

There is this one part where the scary little girl darts out at you from behind a cubicle... it's completely unexpected and it scared me horrible. I actually yelled really loud when it happened and my body was flooded with adrenaline. It actually sort of hurt. I hate scary games. I shouldn't have played F.E.A.R.

Also the end, where the hordes of ghosts are chasing you, is extremely stressful.

[MrCow]

F.e.a.r was the first game in a very long time to actually make me jump. I was pleasantly surprised by that. I may try and play though it all but I'm still looking for something different.

[DarkDragoonX]

I find it rather amusing that so many people found F.E.A.R so scary... years and years of horror gaming have left me immune to simple scares like a ghost running out from behind an object or peering at me from an elevator shaft. Likewise, the liberal use of slo-mo the game allows makes you pretty much an invincible god, so I never felt threatened by the standard enemies. Now, the hotel chase scene from Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was pretty damn scary, and the psychological terror that Silent Hill 2 uses left me with a slightly unsettled feeling on my first playthrough, but F.E.A.R.? The only moment that couldeven remotely qualify as scary is the final escape scene, with the spawning ghosts... but even that's more tense than it is scary.

Also...


running out of ammo...

HOW?

[Glenn the Great]

What I find amusing is that so many people think Doom 3 is scary.

I was scared to the point to quitting in FEAR. In Doom 3, I jumped when the first enemy popped out of the stairs, and was then at ease for the rest of the game when I realized how silly and cartoonish the game was.

On the other hand, I have an IRL friend who is terrified with Doom 3, but finds nothing wrong with FEAR.

I guess it all has to do with our unique way of finding things scary.

[Grasshopper]

I've heard that STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl is a good game too.
STALKER is one of the best recent PC games out there. I would agree. I own it, and its rather good in my opinion. The underground cooridor shooting parts of the game can be a little scary...if thats your idea of scary. I know the first time an invisible creature jumped out of the dark at me, made me jump. Lab X18 was an exceptional area that comes to mind. Not really sure why we got of on scary games though.

Lots of games can have stuff pop out at me to startle me, but I don't think any game has made me scared. Movies generally don't scare me. But I agree that the chase scenes in CoC: DCotE are well crafted. I thought they were very suspenseful. It got me clenching my mouse hoping I could get away and not find another Deep One around the corner. And these aren't chase sequences that are over in a minute...this is like a 10-15 minute long chase, where you have to work to get away. The Shoggoth was pretty cool as well as the whole ship level. :)

[rock_nog]

Hey, I was terrified playing Doom 3... But then again, I was terrified playing the original Doom. *sigh* I miss having a computer that can handle modern games.

[MrCow]

doom3 was a joke, I actually quit it because of how repetitive it got. Only one part got my nerves up a little, the part where the screen goes red and the baby cry starts. otherwise it was a complete joke, I did play through quake 4 though. Any decent Rpgs action rpgs stuff like that. I played a lot of gothic 3 but it was way too repetitive after a while.

[biggiy05]

Here's some suggestions from another forum when I asked for some games to play after surgery.


Dark Messiah is a really good FPS/RPG. It uses the Half Life 2 engine and is kinda like Diablo with a first person view and amazing graphics.

Company of Heroes is a phenomonal RTS game.

Fileplanet has lots of demos you can try out. The speeds are nice too.

[DsS Game]

Unreal Tournament 2k4

[MrCow]

played, have no desire to. Lets get away from tons and tons of FPS, I've played far too many that they all blend together.

[AlexMax]

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t987515_Civilization4ss.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i987515_Civilization4ss.jpg)

Civilization 4 + Beyond the Sword can be had on Steam for 50 bucks, and is a great strategy game to boot. Think board game, except one where you get to rule the world.

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t987512_trackmanianations1small.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i987512_trackmanianations1small.jpg)

Trackmania United is a good buy off steam for 30 bucks. Have you ever played Stunts? Stunt Driver? Hard Driven? Crashday? This game is the spiritual king of all of them. It's stunt car racing, plus the ability to create your own tracks. Fun as hell. If you're unsure of this game, Trackmania Nations (http://www.trackmanianations.com/) is a free, fully playable demo of the most popular of the seven track types.

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t987510_g208.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i987510_g208.jpg)

X3: Reunion is the spiritual sucessor to Elite, so if you like space trading/combat games, this is the game for you. Build an empire, be a space trader, be a fleet commander, a space pirate, and everything in between. The initial reviews and demo for this game make it seem like it sucks, but its gotten TONS of patches and a major overhual since then. It's also very moddable, with the most popular mod XTended bringing even more awesomeness to the game. If there's one failing point with this game, it's that you'll be very lost if you jump straight in without reading the manual. Make that two, there are some storyline missions that are pretty laughable. And arguably a third, since the 'sinister alien race' is known as the Ka'ahk, which the laughably bad voice acting makes it sound like "Cock". 20 bucks off of steam (do you see a pattern here? Steam rocks now.)

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t987511_psychonauts1.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i987511_psychonauts1.jpg)

Psychonauts is 20 bucks off of steam and is quite simply one of the best platformers you'll ever play, right up there with Mario 64. The game is fun as hell and has a really good sense of humor. It's the defenition of "labor of love". It's also pretty playable with a keyboard and mouse, and doesn't suffer from 'bad port syndrome' that most other games have.

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t987516_deusex1a.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i987516_deusex1a.jpg)

I don't know if you've played Deus Ex, but it's on Steam for 10 bucks, and is a must play if you haven't played it already. It's probably one of the more open-ended FPS games ever made, with an awesome storyline, a bunch of stuff to find and do (and you won't see it all on your first time through, guarenteed), three different endings.

http://xs318.xs.to/xs318/07314/18.jpg.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs318&d=07314&f=18.jpg)

You said you have HL2, so I'll just pimp Garrys Mod as a fun as hell buy for 9 bucks. The community is massive, and some of the stuff that the community has done with the game since it came out is amazing, with mountians of models, maps and scripted tools and gamemodes. Spacebuild is my current vice right now, which involves building spaceships that can withstand the harsh conditions of space and other planets, but there's also Zombie Survival which is good if you just want to shoot zombies shit.

And also remember there are tons of free games for PC as well, though we already have a thread for those. :)

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

My computer is a custom build job, and not out of top-of-the-line parts, so while it's more than acceptable, it's not up to par for running most recent games. Let us say that it runs... Warcraft III and Star Wars: Republic Commando smoothly, with the settings dialed most of the way up.

Anyway, combine that with a lacking budget, and I usually end up playing freeware/abandonware games. You're looking for recent releases, so I won't bother rehashing ancient games that I think are good. I will, however, heartily recommend a game called Echoes. It's a very impressive take on the classic Asteroids formula, with crazy graphics, three difficulty levels, instant replays, trophies (called Zoots), and crazy graphics. I mention that twice, because really, dialing everything up all the way will blow your mind.

www.binaryzoo.com


There are also other games on that site, some of which are similar in formula, but none of which are even close to being as beautifully intense.

[DarkDragoonX]

Scratches is an excellent horror adventure game, and I highly recommend Penumbra as well.

[Beldaran]

HOW?

I never actually ran out of ammo. I just got scared that I would so I put in the code.

[Nicholas Steel]

any game @ binaryzoo is good, gazillionaire is another good game but does NOT run under windows XP 100% perfectly, dont listen to lavamind when they say it does because ive proven it doesnt by running a windows98 install in virtualpc and proven it works there but not under native winXP.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

Scratches is an excellent horror adventure game, and I highly recommend Penumbra as well.

Any links to be had? I really hate it when people talk about things, as if we should all know exactly what they're referring to.

[Darth Marsden]

Scratches (http://www.scratchesmystery.com/) and Penumbra Overture (http://www.penumbra-overture.com/).

There was a thread a few weeks back about freeware games, which was located here (http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showthread.php?t=97524). Some good stuff in there, check it out.

For general good games, as opposed to ones released in the last 12 months, I'd recommend Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Quake 4 and Psychonauts, the best game you guys have never played. Seriously, give it a go. It's glorious.

[ShadowTiger]

Back to Half Life 2 and Episode 1, ... I'm certainly with Bel on this one. I was actually more used to melee (Why does Firefox think "melee" doesn't exist? :confused: ) attacks and the gravity gun in combat, but not against Antlions. Remember those scenes where you had to move cars onto the spots the Antlions spawned on? THAT'S When you need cheat codes. Oh dear lord... Just ridiculous. >.<


Serious Sam 1 & 2 are very fun. I thought 1 was a bit more fun than 2, but 2 is just plain detailed. The least difficult mode in 2 near the end is about as difficult as the second most difficult mode in 1 though.

I STRONGLY recommend Deus Ex. (1 more than 2, but 2 blew my mind as well.) I simply can not and will not stop talking about it. It will never be bested.

System Shock 2 was also absolutely phenomenal. Very, very, very similar to Deus Ex.

[Darth Marsden]

Serious Sam I, Second Encounter & II are pretty good, but you get tired of them quickly. Or at least I did. Fan-made maps located here (http://files.seriouszone.com/). Painkiller and it's expansion, Battle out of Hell, are apparently similar, but just a tad more fun 'cause you get a stake-gun. With proper physics. Check 'em out if mindless action is your thing.

If you're gonna play System Shock II (slightly tricky on Win XP, apparently much more difficult on Vista), it might be interesting to play the original first. Grab it here (http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php?topic=211.0). I remember playing it when I was a kid and loving it. Now... now I wish someone would hurry up and finish remaking it! Doom-style graphics are very difficult to enjoy nowadays. Anyway, SS2 updates and stuff are at the same site. Go lookie.

ST - Perhaps because it's actually spelt M&#234;l&#233;e (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee)?

[Glenn the Great]

I managed to get System Shock II to work perfectly on my Dual Core Vista Laptop with the exception of the half a dozen cutscene videos being skipped over (which isn't so bad since you can view them outside the game.)

If there is any demand for it, I'm willing to share what I know about getting the game to work.

[Darth Marsden]

Yeah, I had the same problem with my SS2 XP experiences (skipped videos). Nothing game-ending, but still irritating. Did you use any of the updated models or graphics? They really make the game a lot more... well, immersing, I guess is the word. Better, basically. If not, give 'em a try.

[Glenn the Great]

Yeah, I also installed those high res textures and models. They look great.

[DsS Game]

played, have no desire to. Lets get away from tons and tons of FPS, I've played far too many that they all blend together.

I'm guessing u played it w/o xfire cause I only see UT99 in your history.. :p

[MrCow]

Xfire doesn't always work correctly. I found a game to play, although its still in beta it's rather fun. It's extremely similar to Diablo2. www.mythos.com

[Darth Marsden]

For general good games, as opposed to ones released in the last 12 months, I'd recommend Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Quake 4 and Psychonauts, the best game you guys have never played. Seriously, give it a go. It's glorious.
Having finished Dreamfall this afternoon, I have to rescind my recommendation for it. I do this for three reasons.

1 - If you haven't played the first game, you'll be lost. So many concepts are carried over, it's a bit mind-boggling.
2 - The lead character has an irritating Elizabeth Hurley 'Oh I'm so very, very British' voice that means they don't have any emotion and say every word ex-act-ly.
3 - Half the plot is missing, so you don't have a freakin' clue what's going on even if you did play the prequel.