Good PC game recommendation?

I have no problems with Steam ( I signed up the first day it was available back in 2003 ), and find it's a good compromise between DRM and playability.

As for games...

The VALVe Orange Box ( Half-Life 2, HL2 EP1, HL2 EP2, Portal 1 ) and Portal 2

Serious Sam Complete Pack for $15 on sale right now ( so much fun taking on 200+ crazy enemies all at once : SS HD and SS3 are what you want to play )

Max Payne 1 and 2 ( yes they are dated, but they were pretty ground breaking when they first came out, great use of bullet-time )

BioShock Infinite


*** NOTE: Steam has big sales several times a year, with up to 90 percent off the regular price, so you can get amazing deals if you are patient
 
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firehawk said:
Wow. Thanks for all the feedback. I feared that games had mostly become FPS and I'd heard about STEAM but knew nothing about it. So it sounds like the diverse types of games there used to be has pretty much gone away
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I suspect my Steam experience is a worst case scenario. Half my friends love it, some hate it too (but noone as much as me). I really resent the very principle of it and the fact it breaks so often just drives a morbid sense of justification in that. Running processes on my computer that I didn't initiate, installing updates I don't want and collecting my information. Other software does that too these days but you can choose to let it to get some other functionality. Steam doesn't even serve a purpose in that regard, it is unnecessary. A couple of times it even installed games on my hard drive I never bought or requested. Maybe I should build a bridge and get over it but there was a time when the computer did what you wanted, now you have to do what the computer wants.

There is a thriving independent game scene, they often feature prominently in annual awards. One of the biggest games in the world is a sandbox block building game called Minecraft. There are some real imaginative and unique games but your videocard will not break a sweat with any of them. I had hoped for a space game (like freelancer or homeworld) when I went looking primarily because they always take advantage of every texture, particle and shader engine directx has to offer.
 
Bioshock (original) + BioShock Infinite are amazing, for story as well as gameplay.

Broken Age from Tim Schafer is a new kickstarted classic point'n'click adventure that turned out very well

The Witcher 2 (you don't need to play Witcher 1 to get it) and Mass Effect 2 would both be very good story driven games (not many adventure games out but these story RPGs are great).

If you're looking for more modern old school experiences also check out Psychonauts & The Cave & Brutal Legend

DIRT 3 is a good car game

Beyond Good & Evil is a little old at this point but basically a cult classic and pretty adventure game-esque

The Walking Dead series got game of the year from many and is a modern adventure game, choose your own adventure style

Keep your eyes open for Watch Dogs & GTA V PC version this year

You could find a good deal on Alan Wake which you may enjoy

X-Com Enemy Within & StarCraft II w/Heart of the Swarm are great for strategy.
 
Both Bioshock games are good
Fallout 3 is fantastic.
Skyrim is decent if you want to test your specs, but it's not the best game. If you want a really great adventure RPG, Morrowind is far superior to Skyrim (and Oblivion), but it has sort of dated graphics.
 
Wow! I didn't expect this much great feedback! You guys have given me a lot of great options. I had a feeling that a goup of people that used computers for a profession might also play some games. Thank you much.

If I play for a bit can STEAM later be completely removed or is it one of those things that magically always stays around?
 
Pretty sure you can remove Steam (one of the common troubleshooting techniques is to delete all local Steam files to force a reinstall). It will only reinstall if you go to the Steam site or try to open a Steam game. I was discussing my issues with Steam today at work with a geek friend and he is pretty adamant that all my problems would be solved if I went online at least once a week so as to not skip any updates. He knows other people like me who refuse to use their good computers online and they experience the same issues. Maybe I should cave into the new paradigm of continual updates for all software but I like to keep software the way it is once it is stable and set up the way I like it. How did I become a dinosaur? I'm not even 40 yet! :Drogar-Shock(DBG):

Another option is Microsoft Live which I know you can get Bioshock on because I did. I was already forced to open an account when I bought a Surface tablet and I have not (and I can't believe I'm saying this about a Microsoft product) had a single issue with it yet. Another game that might appeal that is available on Live even though it is an FPS is Far Cry: Blood Dragon, purely for it's 80s/90s cyberpunk throwback aesthetic. I've only played the first half hour so far but have really enjoyed the artwork which is filled with artistic reference to the history of games and game promotion and envisions the present/near-future as was promised back in the day.

Based on my experiences it may be better to buy the games online rather than from a store because they seem to download amounts similar to what is on the disk anyway. And it probably installs quicker without any clashes between whatever is on the disk and what Steam expects.
 
Yes, Steam is easy to completely remove from your system, though you may have to manually delete saved games and any other custom configs you've made. ( no funky weird code installed by Steam )

The simplest method of removing apps, is to install a great and free hard-drive cleaning app called CCleaner, which is available for both Win and Mac. Ccleaner is very handy at getting rid of junk files from your computer ( I've been using it on a daily basis for almost 10 years now ) and it has a very handy Tools tab that collects and organizes all of the uninstallers for your installed software. To uninstall Steam, simply start CCleaner, click on the Tools button, then scroll down to find the Steam UnInstaller and then click to run the uninstaller.

Steam does update itself fairly often ( every 1-2 weeks ), but the updates for Steam are pretty small downloads. ( game updates can be quite large, but I am pretty sure you can turn off automatic game updates )
 
"How did I become a dinosaur? I'm not even 40 yet!
Drogar-Shock%28DBG%29.gif
"

it.jpg
 
I'm sure it's old hat but I just discovered a website that might interest you.

www.gog.com (good old games)

It has games from a few years ago and all the way back to pre-286, PC/XT/AT days (and even pre-PC, I bought Lords of Midnight which I originally played on the Amstrad CPC464 which had the built in tape deck). They are cheap, DRM free, use almost no memory and all the ones I have bought so far work perfectly on Windows 7. I still have disks of most the games I ever bought (including some on 5.25" floppies - I'm beginning to realise I'm a hoarder) but most don't work on Win7 on any legacy/compatibility modes, not even many XP compatible games.

These won't strain your new graphics card in the slightest, the graphics aren't too fancy and some of the old UI is unwieldy by todays standards. I genuinely hate to be the a-hole saying that things were better in 'the good old days' but this is gameplay as I remember it. As sophisticated as current graphics and as slick as modern interfaces are, imagination overcomes all if the gameplay has been nailed. I'm going to be losing some time in the near future!

Haven't seen anything that costs more than $9.99 so far and there are more treasured memories in there than I will ever find the time to play. I'm thinking Carmageddon is going to be next up (look out grandma, you're extra points!) and Wing Commander may need a revisit too!
 
Egg Born Son said:
I'm sure it's old hat but I just discovered a website that might interest you.

www.gog.com (good old games)

It has games from a few years ago and all the way back to pre-286, PC/XT/AT days (and even pre-PC, I bought Lords of Midnight which I originally played on the Amstrad CPC464 which had the built in tape deck). They are cheap, DRM free, use almost no memory and all the ones I have bought so far work perfectly on Windows 7...... I genuinely hate to be the a-hole saying that things were better in 'the good old days' but this is gameplay as I remember it. As sophisticated as current graphics and as slick as modern interfaces are, imagination overcomes all if the gameplay has been nailed. ....
Haven't seen anything that costs more than $9.99 so far and there are more treasured memories in there than I will ever find the time to play. I'm thinking Carmageddon is going to be next up (look out grandma, you're extra points!) and Wing Commander may need a revisit too!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I like old games. My best gaming memories were back in the late eighties and early 90s. I remember when 256 color VGA came out and how awesome games looked back then. But the gameplay and encompassing stories as well as music really stuck with me.
 
Yeah, VGA 640x480 8-bit colour on a 15" screen, cut scenes and intros looked almost photo realistic back then. Every new game I'd cradle on the bus on the way home, anticipation, imagination going wild. Break the shrink wrap with a whiff of plastic. Open the box. Lot of effort put into the packing. Pull out the 3.5" and/or 5.25" floppies and put them to one side. Grab the manual, smell of glossy print. Reach into the box and pull out printed full colour maps, tech tree posters. Fancy certificates for the warranty card, thankyou for purchasing card, product registration and fan club notices printed on heavy card. All the bits and pieces would cover half the desk. Insert disk 1. B: dir/p autoexec.bat. Installation begins. Pick up the weighty printed manual and crack the cover, smell of print. Leaf through the manual. Insert disk 2. Finish browsing the manual, admire the artwork. Bing! Installation complete. Any key to continue. Turn off the lights, close the door, turn up the volume. run.bat cut scene whoa!
 
Egg Born Son said:
I'm sure it's old hat but I just discovered a website that might interest you.

www.gog.com (good old games)

It has games from a few years ago and all the way back to pre-286, PC/XT/AT days (and even pre-PC, I bought Lords of Midnight which I originally played on the Amstrad CPC464 which had the built in tape deck). They are cheap, DRM free, use almost no memory and all the ones I have bought so far work perfectly on Windows 7. I still have disks of most the games I ever bought (including some on 5.25" floppies - I'm beginning to realise I'm a hoarder) but most don't work on Win7 on any legacy/compatibility modes, not even many XP compatible games.

These won't strain your new graphics card in the slightest, the graphics aren't too fancy and some of the old UI is unwieldy by todays standards. I genuinely hate to be the a-hole saying that things were better in 'the good old days' but this is gameplay as I remember it. As sophisticated as current graphics and as slick as modern interfaces are, imagination overcomes all if the gameplay has been nailed. I'm going to be losing some time in the near future!

Haven't seen anything that costs more than $9.99 so far and there are more treasured memories in there than I will ever find the time to play. I'm thinking Carmageddon is going to be next up (look out grandma, you're extra points!) and Wing Commander may need a revisit too!
Click to expand...

Yeah I came across gog.com a little while ago. That is a great find.

To the OP, they have "Magic Carpet 2" over there. If you've never played it, I would highly recommend it. Like Egg Born Son, I still have the box and disks in a bin somewhere, along with the Space Quest series...
 
Space Quest, that brings back some memories. They also have the greatest of all point and click adventures, Beneath a Steel Sky. Wonder if they have Sam and Max...

Looks like my videocard is only going to be used for rendering :)
 
Haha. I bought Sam and Max hit the road. I gave it to my friend years ago, though. It was fun
I actually bought Silent Hunter 4 for $5
 
It occurred to me that those of us of a certain age - the first video game generation - have been around for ALL of the computer games.

I suppose there are also members here who have been around for all of the TV shows.
 
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