I have a confession - I haven't had a gaming-class PC in about three years. My desktop systems have been stripped-down machines for things like web surfing and serving. And my regular machine (an Inspiron notebook) has been cripped by a lousy video card since the day I bought it.

Well, last week my new HP Pavilion zd7000 arrived - 3.2GHz, over a gigabyte of RAM, 80gb 5400rpm HD, 17" display, 128mb GeForce FX 5700. Needless to say, this is a gaming-class machine. So I spent the evening booting up some of the games I've collected over the last three years, but haven't had the hardware to play.

And that's why I'm posting this at 6:30am.

Holy crap, gaming has really taken a step forward. I got to play six top-rated games tonight, for the first time:

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein has a surprisingly cinematic quality to it - very fun so far.
  
• Call of Duty is pretty good... maybe I need to play it more. It's like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Part II - they may as well have called it that...
  
• Halo is OK, but frustrating.
  
• Unreal Tournament 2003 is kind of blech (though I'm looking forward to trying UT2004.)
  
• Grand Theft Auto III is great mayhem. Ripping open a car door, pulling out the driver, and driving away - that will never get old...

But what really caught me is Knights of the Old Republic. Crap, now I know why everyone raved about it last year. I'm about two hours into it (just started exploring the Lower City of Taris), but this game is amazing. It's what the Star Wars prequel trilogy should have been.

So other than these, I'm looking forward to picking up Far Cry and UT2k4 - and then Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, in a month or two. Any others I should try?

- David Stein

Morrowind if you like RPGs. You can get the 'Game of the Year" set that has all the expansions for pretty cheap.

Battlefield 1942/Vietnam

If you like tactical shooters, Rambow 6 Raven Shield and it's expansion Athena Sword.

Also the Max Pain games are very good. You can get the first one for $10 bucks these days.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is one of the best FPS ever and Farcry has been taking all of my gaming time this past week.

Welcome to the present, David. That sounds like a great rig.

It sounds like you've played MOH: AA already, so I won't recommend that one (but I would've if you hadn't). If you like GTA III, you'll probably like GTA: Vice City just as much, if not more. One of my favorite relatively recent games is Hitman 2... a game that is truly nonlinear. Its sequel, Hitman: Contracts is coming out this month (I think), and hopefully it builds on what they did right in Hitman 2. And it sounds like you like FPSes, so you should grab Tron 2.0... gorgeous graphics, great gameplay, and fairly innovative with its approach to using equipment. Throwing the disc is very fun.

Max Payne 2, both Splinter Cell games.

I liked Max Payne, but Max Payne 2 didn't grab me as much as the original.

How much of an improvement is the Splinter Cell sequel? I was pretty underwhelmed by the first one after how much it had been hyped... yay, a stealth game, but way too linear. I also felt disconnected from the plot... felt like I was just doing a lot of unrelated spy stuff, instead of really influencing the world I was in. And I felt like I got spotted way too easily in some situations.

(Sorry to totally bag on the games you mentioned. )

Battlefield Vietnam
Unreal Tournament 2004
Far Cry
Painkiller

All of those seem to be the hot games at the moment. All of the have demos available as well, except for BF Vietnam.

Are you also interested in turn based strategy games? I always recommend Silent Storm. There's a demo available for that as well.

I loved both Max Paynes. I just got Pandora Tomorrow but i havent had time to really play it. Far Cry runs kind of shotty on my computer, so i havent spent much time playing that either.

Anyway, glad to see you rediscovered PC gaming. It's definitely not dying.

As I alway suggest in threads like this - Mafia is a must-have.

A shame they put a slower/smaller hard drive in there... was this a fat wallet find or something? Also - given most of the titles you're playing, you could've gotten an xbox (graphics wouldn't be as good though). Anyway - I don't mean to sound negative, pc gaming is my favorite and you picked a good time to get into it.

I loved Max Payne 2 way more than the original.

You must play Tron 2.0 on the PC. Game is kick ass single player.

DL Wolfenstein Enemy Territory for free fun multiplayer.

Command and Conquer Generals and Zero Hour.

Need For Speed: Underground

Mafia is cheap and way better than the consoles version.

Battlefield anything.

IL2: Sturmovik
IL2:Forgotten Battles



You have missed a lot of the older AAA titles so pick them up cheap then start buying things like Far Cry, UT2k4, SC:PT.

Congrats on your return to the PC gaming scene! I love my consoles, but I love my PC games more.

Splinter Cell 2 is much better than the first in all aspects but still very linear. I love it but I actually prefer linear games to non-linear in most genres. GTA being the obvious exception.

To be honest, I've become so annoyed at gaming in the past couple years because every company seems to want to cater to consoles or a larger audiance (which goes hand in hand really...) and so there's been a lot of stuff I've hated.

Mafia is excellent. Hitman is probably my favourite series of games. Star with the first one though, seriously... it's old now, and it's not as polished, but work with it. It's so important to the Hitman story, and it is a good game.

Both Max Payne games are excellent. Play those in order too.

I didn't like UT2K3, but UT2K4 is awesome.

Mafia is a very well made game, and I enjoyed it as much as the last two GTA's. Deus Ex is another must play, and I hear the sequel is pretty damn good too.

Battlefield 1942 is a must for the simple reason of Desert Combat. more addicting then crack

SC2 is much easier compared to the first game. However, since Cling was complaining about the difficulty, then that news should make him happier.

I actually haven't played the 2nd SC game (wont run on my older video card), but I loved the first and heard SC2 was better

Oh, and a definite 2nd on Mafia. I can't believe I forgot to mention that. It's a couple of years old, but definitely a winner. Great gameplay, great storyline.

Brian

if you want a good strategy game, check out the total war series. i haven't had time for it since my video card fried a few months ago and i'm on a cheapo. In a few months i'll be upgrading to an athlon 64 and an ATI Radeon 9800XT.

I was actually complaining about the situations in which I would be the only person visible on the screen, but some apparently invisible fairy would be able to see me and sound an instantaneous alarm (I haven't played it in a long while, but that's the sort of scenario I remember happening).

You have to carefully hide anyone you kill or KO. The game simulates your victims being found if you do not hide them in shadows or a closet. You can be 10 minutes into a level with no guards near you at the time and if they find a earlier victim you are "noticed".

Not sure if this applies to your situations but it sounds like it.

Just a warning...if you install Farcry on your machine, you won't be able to leave the house.....

It'll look beautiful on your machine

What about the tried and true Half-Life engine? There's still life in that old horse - anyone tried out Natural Selection: Combat? check out the game on www.natural-selection.org - learning curve may vary, but wholly worth the initial investment - me and my coworkers play every lunchbreak during the weekday - check out Monk's House some time...

Hey, have you picked up UT2k4 yet. I've been hooked for a bit now and from the games your looking forward to, I'd imagine you won't be let down.