Need sugesstions, PC gaming

[Linkus]

Well, I want to catch up on the all the PC gaming action I missed out in the past...well, 6 or 7 years. I can't decide on what I want next, so I'm asking what games I should get, or a second opinion on those who played it.
Just to reduce the list, I don't mind if the games are either downloadable through payment or still shelved at stores.

Games I already have:

Half-Life series and Orange Box
Sims 2 (rarely play it anymore. I "broke" the habit after it would run horribly on the older PCs I had access on.)
Quake I (yes, that far back. I'm serious)
Various shareware demos of other gamesGames I might buy:

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Sounds like there are a lot of add-ons to download just to have a good time, though...
Fallout 3. I may just have to buy this because of the free roaming you can do, and, well, just that
Bioshock. Because the demo was awesome, and I want a challenge. And, its $20 to buy right now.
Bionic Commando Rearmed. A revamped classic, and it sounds that it's still challenging after the new weapons and moves. (But is registration to Direct2Drive really necessary when you want one game? I mean, why did Capcom not go with both Steam and D2D???)
UT 2K4. I'll try to keep out of online play until I'm certain I'm ready; I'm not going to be some easy n00b target, that's for sure.Oh, and BTW, I'm not worried on how much it costs. But cheap, good games are welcome.

[Modus Ponens]

I'll speak up for the indie camp. First I recommend Nifflas (http://nifflas.ni2.se/)' games. They're small and simple, but wonderfully fun and intriguing, and they have great music. Plus they're free. Then, there's also Aquaria (http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/), which is an indie game by this pair of developers called Bit Blot. The game is a rich and beautiful underwater adventure, and it's pretty cheap. Finally, there's the indie game poster child, the beloved Cave Story (http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/). If you haven't played Cave Story, pull your gamepad out of your drawer and get ready for some excellent, challenging platform action.

[Saffith]

Not interested in Spore?
Well, I'll recommend Civilization IV, and, of course, you can't overlook Portal. And if we're really going back that far, I'll add Diablo II.

[Beldaran]

If you like Quake, then I recommend Serious Sam II.

[Nicholas Steel]

From the limited access I had to the first game, Serious Sam I > Serious Sam II. Dungeon Keeper 1 (if you have WinXP or something, use VMware Workstation with Win9x for stability) most apogee games are awesome (incuding there demo's), use DOSBox for them unless you have a native install of Win9x.

Duke Nukem 3D is awesome :P use the xDuke source port for playing (or eDuke if your computer likes OpenGL).

Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3, Starcraft and expansion are all awesome games, kinda hard waiting for Starcraft 2, but it is worth the wait since it is being made by a company that knows how to make awesome single player games :P

Red Alert 2 and its expansion are good too. bleh, you can probably guess that I prefer old games and games made by blizzard over new games >.> most new games i buy are either awesome but really short or long but really drab... an example of a new game in a awesome series going retarded, would be Empire Earth III which was initaially solf for 99$ here... the gameplay is worse then Warcraft 1 ...

[Linkus]

I already had some of the games already mentioned, although I did check out some. I'm not interested in Spore right now, as A) I've heard that it's a bit too easy and B) with the recent outcry about EA's terms with user-created content, I'll think about it later on.

..Not to mention that I found and played the Diablo II demo. Fun indeed, but item drops are ridiculous (more gold than items, please), especially when it's meant for other classes. But it was a good two hours of mainly wandering and fighting; in fact, I might just have to buy this.

Right now I'm not into RTS gameplay, since I have a hard time keeping units and buildings efficient and creating tactics that work the way I'd like them to.

Also, no second opinions so far? C'mon now, I know some of you played these games on my list...

[Mr. 207]

I highly highly recommend Bionic Commando Rearmed. Its probably the best remake of a game that I can remember playing. Top notch graphics, excellent music, added replay value thanks to difficulty settings make this game a solid piece of business.

Unreal Tournament 2k4 is another great game, lots of fun online. Even when you suck at it, its fun.

[DarkFlameWolf]

Good Old Games (.com) is hosting old classic games and I highly recommend Descent 2. For an upgrade experience once bought: www.descent2.de brings graphical enhancements and other gameplay options to an already great game.

[ZTC]

For RPGs, I would recommend the following--
From Spiderweb software
Exile II - Crystal Souls: it's really dated, but it plays kinda like a SRPG, might not run on XP though.
Avernum 2: remake of aformentioned game, plays about the same, but looks very nice
Geneforge Series: action/stragety rpg that's in the same vein
---
Final Fantasy VII: nuff said

FPS--
Duke Nukem 3D (via 3d port)
Doom Trillogy collection
Quake II
Unreal Tournament 2k4
Bioshock (I've heard that this game is pure awesome)

Fighting--
Melty Blood Act Cadenza: very fun to play, but you'll have to import this one
Samurai Showdown 2: if you can get it to run, that is

Sports--
Tony Hawk Pro Skater series

Action--
Metal Gear Solid series
Castlevania & Contra collection: contains Castlevania 1-3, Contra, and Super C; with savestate capability
Sega Smash Pack I and II
Sonic & Knuckles collection

Most of those I have and the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Good luck in getting new PC games

[Darth Marsden]

I'll go the same route as ZTC and go by genre:

Adventure
The Broken Sword series (Might be a little hard to track down in the USofA, but if you can, do so)
Grim Fandango (If you can get it to run)
The Monkey Island series (Use DosBox for the first two, the later two should work fine on WinXP)
Sam & Max (The original Lucasarts one and the newer Telltale ones - all rock)
The Longest Journey and Dreamfall (Awesome and underrated series)

FPS
Bioshock (which you're already interested in, so consider this confirmation)
Deus Ex (Hard to place in any one genre, but it's a cracker of a game)
Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil (well, you did mention Quake...)
Painkiller (see here (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/57-Painkiller) for why)
Unreal Tournament series (I prefer the simplicity of the first one, but the sequels are also great fun, and actually come with challenging bots)

Platformer
Beyond Good and Evil (it's finally getting a sequel! Yay!)
Grand Theft Auto series (So much better on the PC it's 'criminal'. ...sorry.)
Max Payne 1 and 2 (Bullet Time for teh win)
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy (Again, Yahtzee (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/183-Prince-of-Persia-Retrospective) explains it far better then I could)
Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary (Both are surprisingly good fun)

RPG
Anachronox (Hard to track down, but well worth the effort. Ion Storm's best game, and I will hear no arguments to the otherwise)
Baldur's Gate series (I really don't need to justify this, do I?)
Neverwinter Nights (For all you D&D loving fools who can't do without all 3 of the D's)
The Elder Scrolls series (Morrowind and Oblivion, which are both so big it's possible to actually get lost)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series (Two of the best Star Wars games ever)

RTS
Command & Conquer series (Because Westwood is the Daddy. Or the Governor. Or something. Meh, they rock. Except for Renegade. Stay well away from that misfire.)
Freedom Force series (For Freedom! A superhero RTS series that's funny and fun? For excelsior!)
Starcraft series (With the new one due out sometime next year - and it will be next year - there's never been a better time to get into this)
Warcraft series (Because. Just... because.)

There's a few games I haven't mentioned, since you already mention having them. The Half-Life series, for example. I would, however, try the first Fallout, since the new one is essentially going to be that but in 3D (and without the turn-based combat).

Since most of my list are relatively old you can download some of the adventures as cough*abandonware*cough, but the majority of them are quite cheap these days. As you can tell, I'm a bit of a retro gamer myself - modern games are all too bright. And brown. Because realism is apparently bloomin' brown. Meh.

[Nicholas Steel]

Yes, the Tony Hawk's series is pretty good, the first Matt Hoffman game is pretty good too, just stay away from the 2nd one :) the 2nd one is terrible.

[Mr. 207]

Command & Conquer series (Because Westwood is the Daddy. Or the Governor. Or something. Meh, they rock. Except for Renegade. Stay well away from that misfire.)

Hey now, Renegade was actually quite a bit of fun to play online. I can't speak for the single player game (never played it), but the multiplayer was great before the hackers all got on and ruined it.

[Pryme8]

Darth Marsden broke it down fairly well...

What was that one where you make the Giant monster and make it good or evil, as you help out people living on a island?

[Darth Marsden]

franpa - Tony Hawk and Matt Hoffman games never really made it big on the PC. They're more at home on consoles.

Mr. 207 - Renegade sucked the big-one in single player. Since that's what I am, that's all it ever was to me.

Pryme8 - Thanks. I like to break it down whenever I can. And the game you're thinking of is Black and White. I never really got into that game, or its sequel.

[Pryme8]

thats the one... it was fun for like 20 min... but it was a interesting idea!

[Darth Marsden]

Yeah, that's what I thought as well.