jw2299

Ok, after being a console game since the days of the Magnavox Oddessey, I'm finally ready and able to jump into the world of PC gaming. (I finally have a computer that's able to keep up.)

So, for a total newbie, please recommend some good PC games for me to play. I would prefer good games of last couple years, as they are more likely to be found on the bargain shelves, and consoles are still my first gaming choice.

I don't have any other contoller devices other than the keyboard and mouse, but I want to get a flight stick, so if anyone can recommend a good one for a decent price, I'd appreciate that too.

I'm looking forward to see what you recommend!

Groucho

I'll ask two questions before I give recommendations:

1. What are your system specs?

2. What kinds of games do you like to play?

After you tell us that information, we can give better recommendations. But here's a few great games that are a bit older and therefore cheap (and easy to run on most any system):

RPG: Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Planescape: Torment

FPS: Half-Life, Unreal Tournament

Turn-Based Strategy: Civilization 3 (even cheaper: Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri)

Real-Time Strategy: Starcraft

jrutz

I tried to stick with bargain games here, so YMMV with pricing and availability. As a casual PC gamer it is my philosophy to buy only when the game has been marked down - shelf-life for a lot of games isn't very long, and it's usually a matter of weeks before you can save 40% or so. I've also kept my games to graphically impressive titles that render polygons instead of pixels. There are plenty of excellent sprit-based games, like the Baldur's Gate games, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale, but you don't need an updated PC to run any of those. My games are listed to wow you, so to speak, with their visuals as they are with their gameplay. I've also taken in consideration your controller configuration (mouse and keyboard), and all of the games I've listed use that config natively.

So saying that, here are my picks:

Battle Realms and it's expansion can be found for $19.99, and it's a great bargain RTS game that's barely a year old.

Sticking with RTS, you can go for Black and White and it's expansion, getting both for around $20. The single player and multiplayer should keep you busy for a while. More of a God-sim with a twist, in that you command a giant monster to help influence the citizens.

There are very few games that can match the beauty of Homeworld, and it's got stellar gameplay to boot. Another RTS but this one is in space, free-roaming on a 3D plane. A couple years old but still a major looker with all the graphical options turned to max.

And the last RTS I will mention: Freedom Force. Fun for a single player game, lacking for multiplayer. But still the single player is stellar.

No One Lives Forever can be found for around $20, and it's one of the best FPS I've played. Great design, awesome graphics, funny as hell. Once you are done with that, pick up the sequel for $25-$30. Even better, I've heard.

Clive Barker's Undying is a sweet FPS, really gothic and atmospheric. Play with the lights off...or dare to play with the lights off...around $10.

Deus Ex is a great FPS in that you can go in stealth or guns a'blazing, and it actually has an effect on the game's progress. This one can also be found for around $10 and looks sweet, plays sweet, can't lose with this one.

American McGee's Alice is another good game. A third-person perspective, it thinks it's a platformer but plays like a FPS. Tries and just misses what only Metroid Prime has been able to accomplish - combining FPS and platform gameplay. Still, it's a looker and a steal at around $15.

And no self-respecting PC gamer should be without System Shock 2, also for around $15. The graphics aren't the best, but it's a smooth FPS that delivers one of the most intense experiences ever in gaming. Buy it. love it.

I never was that impressed with Half Life but it should definitely be bought for Counter Strike if you are into online gaming. If you can, do what I did - buy the full version of Half Life, and then just download the CS update. It's better than just buying CS because now you have two games instead of one. With buying CS outright, you can't play Half Life. Get it? Good...

On the subject of online gaming, check out Unreal Tournament or Quake 3 Arena. Both are good online FPS experiences, and some prefer one over the other but either one is good. Not the online community that you'll find with Counter Strike, because that's the biggest online game of all time, but these will do if you need a fix.

And to round out the uber-cheap, find Serious Sam. Graphics are impressive in the amount of enemies it constantly throws at you. And you can find it for about $5 in the bargain bins. Even being a couple years old it should still give your system a workout.

EDIT: I forgot probably the coolest PC game of all time, Max Payne! You can find it for $15-$20, and it's worth every penny. Nice graphics will give your system a challenge and provide some gorgeous eye candy as a result. A third-person shooter in which the likes have never been done before.

That's it for me. Happy gaming!

Jeremy

jw2299

Dell P4 2.4Ghz
384 Mb PC2700 RAM
60 Gb HD
64 Mb GeForce 4 Video card
Sound Blaster live sound card

Pretty much anything. I haven't played any FPS's in a while. I've tried warcraft and starcraft, and liked them, but I wasn't gung-ho on them like many people. I like flight combat, adventure, and light rpg's. Black and White intrigued me as did Grim Fandango. I also want to play Star Wars Galaxies.

PixyJunket

Just be careful of becoming addicted to playing online.. I hear that's a dangerous downward spiral.

Feneant

If you only want 1 game , just get Everquest and get hooked on it.

If you want an FPS, don't bother buying one now, just get America's Army : Operations (www.americasarmy.com I think), it's free and slower paced than other shooters since it's tactical. Don't let the fact that it's free fool you, it has good sound, graphics, gameplay and the official servers are supported by admins nearly 24/7 (it is 24/7 but not always someone in the channel)

gcribbs

Warcraft 3
Diablo 2
Baldur's Gate 1 or 2
Icewind Dale 1 or 2
Freedom Force

PixyJunket

Star Con 2

Xanager

You should be able to get Command and Conquer: Red Alert or Red Alert 2 for a pretty cheap price.

~~ PAL ~~

Here's a few more that has not been mentioned:

Fallout 1&2
Heros of Might & Magic series (III is dirt cheap now, IV should hit the bargain bin in 3-4 months.)
Neverwinter Nights
Crusader: No Remorse & Crusader: No Regret (Old games, but was really cool back in the day...)
Thief 1&2
Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight & Jedi Knight 2: Outcast

PAL

stingo

Some other good games:

Dungeon Siege
Age of Empires II + The Conquerors Expansion
Diablo
Empire Earth + Expansion
Europa Universalis (both eds + upcoming modern day setting)
Kohan + Expansion

Ginsu

IL-2 Sturmovik is the best ww2 combat prop sim ever made. Great flight model, graphics, sound and missions. A complete classic.

shizawn

I'm a big CRPG guy, so most of my suggestions will be of that variety.

Planescape: Torment (bargain title now. cheap!)
Fallout 1/2 (which you can buy together for cheap)
Baldur's Gate 1/2
Icewind Dale 1/2
Lionheart (won't be out until April I think)

RPG Lite:

Divine Divinity
Diablo 2
Dungeon Siege

Since you mentioned liking Grim Fandango, you might want to look into older LucasArts adventure games, such as:

Day of the Tentacle
Sam and Max Hit the Road
Full Throttle
Monkey Island series
Indiana Jones series (the older ones, before they changed into Tomb Raider clones)

I don't know how well the above will work with WinXP though. LucasArts is working on a sequel to both Full Throttle and Sam and Max Hit the Road, but I don't know when they are going to be released.

Also out is The Longest Journey which is supposed to be good. Syberia is a pretty new adventure game, but I don't know how good it is.

Strategy:

Civilization 3
Heroes of Might and Magic III (word on the street is that part IV sucks)

Flight sims are not my thing, so I can't help you with those, although I hear the MS Combat Flight Simulator is pretty good. The 3rd version just came out.

Jackskeleton

HALF LIFE - the game itself is one of the best FPS story alone. Not to mention the millions of mod's out there all free after you buy HALF-LIFE. Listing some off the top of my head: Counter Strike, Team fortress Classic, Deathmatch Classic, Gang wars, Day of Defeat(I like DoD better then Medal of Honor).

Go for some classics:
QUAKE 1 - the music was classic. Done by trent reznor and not to mention the game itself is wicked

Quake 2 - the story was great for single player action

Doom - The whole series takes you back to a classic time in FPS

Wolfenstien - Also classic fun killing hitler

Return to Castle Wolfenstien - Enjoyed it a great deal

Battlefield 1942- this years game of the year. The multiplayer online game is great and very large scale. Not to mention the DESERT COMBAT mod which allows you to fly Mig's, A10's, Choppers and much more.

Get as many classic Lucasarts games around. listed in the post above. they are all great.

CCPrescott

I'd suggest any of the Command & Conquer games. I've always enjoyed them the most of all the RTS I've seen. The new game in the series Generals is pretty fun so far.

First Person Shooters, I'd have to say Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and it's add on Spearhead, Jedi Knight 2, Return to Wolfenstein is fairly cheap now and that was excellent, Soldier of Fortune 1 and 2 were good but very bloody.



Chris

aeron

Definitely Unreal Tournament 2003, Warcraft III, Jedi Knight II, No One Lives Forever 2...Unreal II is supposed to be not very good, but absolutely gorgeous graphically. In other words, it's the kind of game you use to show off your system...but nothing special gameplay-wise...

It's not new anymore, but Max Payne is pretty cool, too...

tanman

another alert oops...another vote for red alert. the Command and Conquer series is a great series. there are a couple good Star Trek games if you like those but you have to be more careful with those. Star Trek Armada and Voyager Elite Force are some good ones.

Sim City is good if you like those games. I personally really like Zoo Tycoon and if you like zoos its awesome.

SpacemanSpiff

dude
get fallout 1 & 2 and deus ex and you will have played the best 3 games in the last 10 years, guaranteed!

rob1805

some of my favs are

Blade Runner you can run this on colico vision harware JK

and Age Of Empires 2 it made me and addic


and my altime favorite Populous the Beginning



happy gaming


Oh i got a Extra copy of Fallout 2 for Trade if your interested
no instruction just in a jewel case but in brand new shape...


later

Rob

Keyser Soze

[inside joke]
Go K.C. Munchkin go!
[/inside joke]



-keyser "old school gamer" soze
###

funkyryno

My recommendations:

Baldur's Gate 1&2 for fantasy role-playing
Max Payne -- the bullet-time effect is pretty cool. It's a short game though
Return to Castle Wolfenstein -- shooting nazis never gets old.
Freedom Force -- This is a fun game if you like old comic books. A very campy game.
Half-life and Counterstrike -- Half-life single-player was a great experience for me. Counterstrike can be frustrating for beginners.
The Close Combat series -- Great squad-level WW2 battlefield tactics game. Not for everybody. There is an impressive amount of mods on the Net. It's an RTS for the thinking man. The third game is the best.
Medal of Honer: Allied Assault -- storm the beaches of Normandy
Shogo -- you can probably find this for about $5-10. Not the best FPS in the world, but it's great if you like giant robots and anime
Mechwarrior 3 -- while we're on the subject of giant robots. You can put your flight stick to use in this game. But I prefer using the mouse and keyboard.
Myth II -- This is a great tactical fantasy battle game. Nice and blood. The story is pretty cool, too.
Aliens vs. Predator 2 -- Can be found for about $20 now. "Let's rock and roll!!!"

I also recommend getting a good pair of headphones. For me, they draw me into the game a lot better than a pair of tinny computer speakers.

jrutz

I forgot about this one. You can find it for $10-$20 now, and it has awesome graphics!

Definitely not the best FPS game to choose from, the graphics are five years old and it looks it. Gameplay is straight forward. Having recently played it, I can say it's boring. Maybe worth the $5 but not worth the 10 hours or so to finish it.
I saw Myth Worlds, which has Myth II and a lot of the mods, available at GameStop for $4.99. Definitely worth it, the Myth series is an awesome RTS.

I forgot about AvP, but that's worth it as well.

Jeremy

jw2299

I loved that game. They had a mario bros. clone that was cool also.

SpacemanSpiff

fallout!