Need PC game recommendations

[Goblin]

I've finally picked up my new PC, after much debate I had it built for me. The thing is loaded and now I can finally play all the titles I've missed over the years.

So now I need some recommendations for PC games to run on it. The last game I bought for my old machine was The SIMS, so I know I've got a bit of catching up to do. The only thing I want you to shy away from in the recomendations are First Person Shooters (so don't say DOOM III). Anything else is fair. I've been playing KOTOR and NASCAR 2005 on the X-Box most recently, but I'd like to hear about games would really tax the system.

[Ackman]

NO FPS O_O This is going to be tough,

House of the dead 3 - average 6/10 shooter

Prince of Persia Sands of time 7/10, POP SOT WW is like a 6/10 but it's still fun but not great imo

NFSU2 even though I don't like it, some ppl do 6/10

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (great graphics whore type graphics) - just ******* amazing a really, really cool game 8/10 smacks the panties off MGS imo and great gameplay to boot.

GTA vice city - just get it for the mods there are some crazy mods out there that really push this game to the limit, eg (ultimate vice city) you can also get some mates to lan with GTA MTA (multiplayer patch) 9/10

SWAT 4 more of tactical squad based game , awesome atmoshpere 8/10

[thegreatescape]

Enemy Territory!

sorry. Unfortunately for you most of the really demanding games are FPS- Farcry, Doom3, Half Life 2 (not so much but can be demanding),Pariah/UT2k4, MoH Pacific Assault, Battlefield 2 (soon).

I hear sims 2 is pretty demanding though ;)

edit: Ackman beat me to it, but anyway..

[calthaer]

Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. 3rd Reich
Awesome strategy / RPG based on the "golden" age of comics. Intentionally cheesy and campy (and funny), but very high-quality in the gameplay dept.

Morrowind
If you're enjoying KOTOR, this might do it for you. Not sure, though - it's rather slow-paced and it is first-person (although an RPG)

Thief III (or the rest of the thief series)
It's called a First-Person Sneaker, so not sure if this would fall under your "FPS" category. I think it rules.

Sid Meier's Pirates!
new version is apparently a blast; I haven't gotten around to installing it yet.

Warcraft III is awesome, but maybe you've already tried it.

TRON 2.0 is one of my favorites; too bad you hate FPSes :)

A very rare and yet pretty fun 3rd-person platformer for PC is Hype: The Time Quest. You can probably only get it from the UK.

A little cheap game that is a good hour or two of fun (maybe more) and only $5 or less is Moonbase Commander.

Other stuff that might be good but that I haven't tried:
Divine Divinity, Empire Earth, Guild Wars. There are also some good multiplatform console games that are available on PC that probably look better in high-res than they ever would on a TV (like Beyond Good & Evil or Prince of Persia).

I am personally opposed to any and all MMOGs, so my advice on those is always going to be "steer clear."

It's a tough one - PC games are in the doldrums right now due to the bad state of the industry. Almost all the greatest games were made 3+ years ago.

[Ackman]

Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs.
Thief III (or the rest of the thief series)
It's called a First-Person Sneaker, so not sure if this would fall under your "FPS" category. I think it rules.


I'll second Thief 3 a really great game, should pretty awesome on a high spec PC 7/10

[Griking]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Civilization III (a bit old but addicting as hell)
Diablo II & Expansion Packs (again a bit old but fun as hell)
Dungeon Seige

Also I suggest putting a few bucks down on Guild Wars which should be out in a week or so.

[Nez]

Mafia, the game just kicks ass plus the story rocks.

[Damion]

Don't leave out the RTS Genre

Warhammer: Dawn of War (http://www.dawnofwargame.com/)

C & C: Generals + Zero hour (http://www.eagames.com/official/cc/generals/us/home.jsp)

and the most recent

Act Of War: Direct Action (http://www.atari.com/actofwar/).

and for a little Turn based goodness

Silent Storm (http://www.silentstorm-online.com/main.php?lang=en)

I would also say warcraft the frozen throne but it seems to be mixed bag for me.

Oh and Diablo 2 is still played abit on battle net from what I understand.

[-hellvin-]

Thief III

Best of the series and strangely hilarious. God I had so much fun with mines and the oil slicks in the prison.

Whoops!

Slides down the stairs....BOOOOOOOMMMM!

Aaaaaaaahahahaha.

Morrowind

Once you get into the story and start to immerse yourself in the world, this game will consume you. It's an amazing RPG, really rewarding, highly moddable and you could work on just one character for ages.

[izret101]

People already said the games i would have.
But if you don't have any Command and Conquer games i reccomend them all.
C&C Red Alert is old but good. Red Alert 2 is amazing the Yuris revenge expansion is a bit out there but still great. Generals and the Zero Hour expansion are wicked good too. Generals has a different layout from the older ones but it works well. It will take a bit of getting use to if you have played the older versions.

Need for Speed Underground and NFSU2 are also a great game IMO. It is definately worth giving a try especailly if your not sure about it. I was hooked on it for awhile.

A shooter style game (not FPS though ;) ) that was pretty good too was the Ghost Recon PC games. There were i think 3 expansions for it. These ones i got from other people so i don't know for sure the number. Bu I do remember the Island Thunder expansion because i played that one the most.

Unreal Championship games are all great too if you like that style of gameplay.

I don't do all that much PC gaming though. So i am pretty much all suggested out of nonFPS games.....
Doom 3 is great though, as is Half Life 2

[SuperNES]

Starcraft: one of the best RTS'es out there, it was basically thge RTS revolution, a classic and a must have for a PC gamer, coz now it's only a few bucks on ebay.

Warhammer 40,000: dawn of war: possibly the best RTS of all time, the cinematic at the beginning is the best i have ever seen in a video game. you don't really need to be a fan of the Tabletop miniatures game to understand it, though it helps :D oh yeah, and instead of micro-managing individual units, they are produced in squads, and you add guys and upgrades to each squad. also, gathering resources is simplified, all you need to do is buil generators and capture strategic points(which can be heavily fortified to defent them from being captured), and the resources just flow in.

Warcraft 3: pretty decent pseudo-3D graphics, well-balanced races, and the resource-gathering is pretty simple. heck, you should own that one too.

Age of mythology: a pretty okay medieval RTS, though WAY too much of your time is spent micro-managing units, defending your stupid base, and gathering resources. every couple minutes i have to tell my villagers to go kill another frekin'; animal, cause my base is getting destroyed, and i need more food to make guys to defend with. also the cinematics are pretty boring.

Settlers IV: awesome RTS, the resource chain is very complex, like you first need to gather iron ore, then refine it, then make iron bars, then make them into weapons for your soldiers or tools for your workers. everything is chained together like that which is pretty fun.

Civilization 2: if you have a ton of time on your hands, you could try and complete a scenario in civ 2. in my opinion the turn-based style of the game is just too slow. it takes like 10 turns just to get one unit over to an enemy city. oh yeah, if you have a couple bored friends, you could always do multiplayer for a little hot-seat style multiplayer "action"

Mechcommander: you command 'mechs. it's really simple, all you have to do is devise strategies, manage your 'mechs, and tell them where to go and shoot. no resource gathering, no building bases, no producing units. the cinematic at the beginning of that one is pretty good too.

can you tell how much i like Real time strategy games? @_@

[Goblin]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm going to run to the mall one day at lunch and see what I can pick up.

[Push Upstairs]

GTA vice city - just get it for the mods there are some crazy mods out there that really push this game to the limit, eg (ultimate vice city)

Whats in this "Ultimate Vice City" Mod?

[Leo_A]

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season by Papyrus Racing Games and published by Sierra. Best NASCAR simulation to date, you should really like it after playing EA's poor effort on the Xbox.

Silent Hunter 3 is a lot of fun as well. Microsoft Train Simulator, Micrsoft Flight Simulator:A Century of Flight, LOMAC, Pacific Fighters, and IL-2 Forgotten Battles Gold Pack are all great simulations. If you like that genre, you should enjoy these.

[Tachikoma]

I highly recommend Deus Ex. I know you didn't want recommendations for first person shooters, but I like to think of Deus Ex as more of a first person RPG. Sure, it's got guns, but it's not your typical shooter in which you shoot first, and think later. The game also has role playing elements where you can customize and raise the stats of your character and equip yourself with new augmentations/skills.

You can play the game how you want. One possibility would be a silent assassin type, in which you focus on raising your skill with ranged weapons, or perhaps the ability to run silently. Other skills may include Lockpicking, or Hacking which will allow you to hack other character's computers, security systems, and public ATMs(free credits ;) ) within the futuristic setting that takes place around the world.

If you wanted to go the more aggressive route, you can carry more devastating weapons such as a GEP gun which is good for taking out heavy security such as bots. You can also raise your strength with Brute Force. Defensive skills such as Ballistic Protection and Regeneration are also important if you choose to be in many firefights.

The game's environments really suck you in if you're a fan of movies like Blade Runner. The world has plenty of people to talk to. While they all may not be friendly, talking to other people in the cities is good in order to participate in side quests. The story is definitely one of the best in a PC game I've played. The music as well.

Deus Ex won't exactly have any problems running on your system since the game is from 2000.

[pacmanhat]

In addition to what everyone else said, I highly recommend (nay, insist) you pick up "The Longest Journey". It's the best point and click adventure ever made, and it'll definitely keep you busy for a long time. Plus there's a sequel on the way, and you'll want to be caught up. ;)

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

Icewind Dale 2! I loved using the 3rd Edition D&D rules with the Infinity Engine. Too bad the challenge rating system prevented users from modding the level cap.

[kainemaxwell]

I'm still trying to find KOTOR for pc myself...

[Ackman]

GTA vice city - just get it for the mods there are some crazy mods out there that really push this game to the limit, eg (ultimate vice city)

Whats in this "Ultimate Vice City" Mod?

It updates VC from the 80's to naughties(graphically and gameplay), it adds a 4x4, speed 300 kmph, apache etc etc

http://mods.moddb.com/2474/
http://mods.moddb.com/gallery/2326/

adds a little life to a great title


I just want to add one more to the list Jedi Knight 2 use the force and lightsabers even the darth maul one :D instead of guns, really cool if you ask me.

[FantasiaWHT]

To the above I'd like to add-

Stronghold 1. Old, but freaking amazing game! RTS with the focus HEAVILY on the simulation of castle life and defense. Lots of different game modes, too: military campaign, economic campagin, sandbox/free build, map/scenario editors, real castles to attack and defend. You can buy #2, but it's really not as good...

Any of the Total War series. Love those games!