Recent dearth of good PC games

somebody please tell me I've missed some good PC games in recent times. I'm badly in need of a good game to play. I graduated this past December so I have alot more free time nowadays.

Some games I have played over the past couple years include:

Civ4
R:TW
FEAR
FarCry
HL2
HL2:Ep1
Call of Duty
Call of Duty 2
Hitman: Blood money
GTA:SA
UT2004 (totally burned out on this one)
CS:S (getting tired of this as well)
Doom 3

EDIT: Oblivion (played 100+ hours and now I officially hate it)

I'm looking forward to UT2007, but It's gonna be around 6-9 months till that comes out...same goes for Crysis. Not looking for MMORPG's either as I can't stand the grind and mindless hours involved in playing them. Medievil 2 looks like it has potential, hopefully it will be significantly different from RTW. For the time being, I need something to keep me busy. It doesnt have to be that new either.

Apparently the Theif series is pretty good, I might check that out.

Pick up Stronghold 2, either version (normal or deluxe.) It's fairly cheap now, and the 1.31 patch for the normal version basically turns it into the deluxe version anyway.

It will definitely keep you awake a few nights.

"Company of Heroes"

stronghold 2 looks pretty sweet, thanks for the tip

kinda wary of the WWII games, but I'll do some research on COH as well

noxqzs said:

"Company of Heroes"

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I didnt like CoH much...after playing Warcraft III, it simply didnt match up. Nothing beats Warcraft III interface and gaming style. Nothing.

i think youve played the best games of the last few years

Quake 4? Not on your list, but you have most likely played it looking at the other games.

Starcraft. Go buy it now if you've never played it.

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (easily one of the most underrated games ever!). Condemned: Criminal Origins was alright, too. Though whoever told you the Thief series is good was lying to you. I'd describe it more like "amazing" - or, at least the first two, I haven't played Deadly Shadows, yet, so I can't comment on that. Deus Ex is a must have - but don't bother with the sequel.

If you like RPG and Star Wars - you NEED to play Knights of the Old Republic and the sequel. Sequel isn't as good as the first, but it is still very fun as well.

The Thief Series is superb and definitely in a class by itself. Be aware that it plays considerably different from the types of games you listed. Stealth is a definite must and the story line is top notch. There are some chapters that will absolutely have you jump out of your seat.

There is a way to get this series to work on XP but just how you do it is shown ver at the Through the Looking Glass website forums.

Thief: The Dark Project is what got me into playing PC games.

Yeah, I forgot KOTOR. Definitely get the first one, then if you like it consider getting the second, with the knowledge that it's not as good (but still... kinda strong... in in it's own right.)

To be fair, KOTOR II had a lot of expectations to live up to, maybe some of them unfair. It didn't live up to them, though. =/

Still, you could still run around throwing force lighting like it was going out of style. =p

Both KOTOR games I played through as good the first time, to see the plot unfold, etc. Then I played through as evil to either kill or be mean to all the characters that annoyed me. =p

As for Stronghold 2, google "Stronghold 2 heaven games" or heavengames for a site with a lot of player-made maps. Extends the life of the game a bit.

mage_x said:

Starcraft. Go buy it now if you've never played it.

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Starcraft is often regarded as one of the BEST PC games ever.
Check out this list of 40+ Awards Starcraft has earned:
http://www.blizzard.com/inblizz/awards.shtml (Link has hundreds of awards for most of blizzards PC games)

Just to name a few of the awards Starcraft has earned:
-#7, Top 100 Games of All Time: 2005 Edition, and StarCraft placed #2 among PC games – IGN
-#7, Top 100 Games of All Time: 2003 Edition - IGN.
-#9, Top 100 Games of All Time - Entertainment Weekly/G4.tv
-Greatest Game of All Time - GameSpot
-Walk of Game inductee. StarCraft received a star on the floor of the Metreon in San Francisco in early 2006.


Warcraft III is awesome, its Multiplayer Custom Maps are tons of fun.


Looks like you play lots of FPS. Have you tried No One Lives Forever? (or its sequal?) (Here is a Review: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/noonelivesforever2asihw/review.html


And any of these games would probably be tons of fun:
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/index.html
(Its alist of GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time)


Guild Wars is an awesome MMORPG, minus the grind and mindless hours involved in playing many MMORPGs(though I suppose you could grind in Guild Wars if you wanted, though the game is not focused on that). You could even skip the entire RPG part alltogether if you wanted. Every couple weekends you can play Guild Wars for free(as a demo kind of thing).
Here is a review of Guild Wars:http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/review.html

I guess this is a pretty good list of PC games that should be worth a try:
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?...core&dlx_type=all&date_filter=all&sortdir=asc



Now, if you would like to try out some freeware games, I would HIGHLY Recommend:
DUO, DUOTris, and MONO. They are awesome, and challening. They tons of fun.

You may enjoy GunBound if that is your type of thing(think Wormz, but online, hundreds of player, and millions of avatar combinations).

Gunz might be worth a try. It is fun, but neither GunBound, nor Gunz kept my intrest for too long.


Freedom Force is lots of fun. As is Dungeon Seige, and FinalFantasyVII(good luck buying that for less than $50 now).

Some people really enjoy the RPG Ice Wind Dale II, and Fallout.

Roller Coaster Tycoon I think is a great sim type game.

Never Winter Nights is a very good RPG.
I have heard that The Longest Journey is a very good Adventure game.
And I think Beyond Good and Evil is pretty good too.

Try Call of Juarez. Its a very good looking FPS adventure. Very long, great plot, great graphics, great gameplay. It got very little media coverage for some reason though..heres a screenie.
http://www.inpactvirtuel.com/images/bdd/screens/20245.jpg
As you go through the plot, you interchange characters, and use different weapons, etc. Its an awesome game.

Oblivion

yeah unless games like Oblivion just aren't your thing, I HIGHLY reccomend it. There are hundreds of mods for the game that really improve upon the leveling system and enemy AI/leveling. I've put about a jillion hours into the game.

I also really liked Quake 4. It's like a really really good version of Doom3. Flashlight use is minimal and actually very well implemented. It was a nice change from Doom 3 becuase in Q4, you actually get to enjoy the rich graphics and surroundings (which I beleive were a hair better than Doom 3 as well).

they did a great job on the game. Very similar in feel and atmosphere to Quake2. It feels like you pickup right where it left off.

Here's a few older games you might want to check out:

-Painkiller (DX9) (a lot of people haven't even heard of this game, it's a little repetative, but still fun)
-Starship Troopers (DX9) (a lot of people didn't like this game, the gameplay isn't all the great compared to the more successful FPS's out there, but the graphics are "nice" and if you liked the movie, the game is very entertaining)
-Medal of Honor series (DX8 - 9 for Pacific Assault)
-Swat 3 (DX8) and 4 (DX9)
-Rainbow Six 3 : Raven Sheild and expansion pack - Athena Sword (DX9)
-Ghost Recon (DX8) and Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter (DX9c)
-Delta Force : Black Hawk Down is entertaining for a $5 game (DX8.1)
-Serious Sam and Serious Sam : The Second Encounter (old DX8 game, but a classic)
-Return to Castle Wolfenstein (same as serious sam's note)

Starcraft + Fallout 2 FTW.
fallout 2 has by far the best gameplay and the best combination. The interaction is much richer in Oblivion where you can pay or jail.

Here's my list of upcoming games that I'm looking forward to.

Neverwinter Nights 2 : Late October
Battlefield 2142 : Oct 17
Medieval 2 Total War: Nov?

I've been playing Battlefield 2 and Company of Heroes lately until these come out.

Oblivion I played into the ground...it was interesting, but I feel like I wasted alot of time playing it. I'm looking to get NWN:2 as well, but still have to wait a bit longer. I should probably play the first one before that anyway.

Return to Castlewolfenstien if you've ever played Wolfenstein3D back in the day.

What about BF2? That's a fun game IMO.