Recommend me a computer game (Steam)?

[chriskorff]

Hi all!

As per the title, really... Only thing is, I don't think I can be arsed with a high-speed FPS (can't handle the stress these days!), and my computer isn't exactly cutting-edge graphics wise, which limits my options a bit! I'm on an Nvidia 7900, so can play all but the newest games, but I'd rather go for something I can max the settings on and still run smoothly... All the HL2 games work well, for example, but I have to turn some settings on Fallout 3 down to get decent FPS counts, so maybe something 2-3 years old would work? That would also mean I can get it off Steam for cheap, which would be nice!

I tend to like quite immersive games, so an RPG might work - initially I loved Fallout 3, for example, but it got a bit boring eventually, as despite it looking pretty and having a decent 'FPS' aspect to it, it became too easy to read how the game was interpreting your actions and so on, so behind all the fancy graphics the box-ticking/point-scoring nature of it was quite apparent...

I tried the Black & White demo a while ago, and it seemed OKish but I don't think it's available on Steam, and I'd like to play something new tonight if possible (hence me looking for Steam games).

Ideas on a postcard please!

Chris

[dante]

Unreal Tournament 3 Black. $19.99 on Steam under Epic Games.

[petal]

I've been playing "Quake Live" a lot the past few years. It's still a very good game and it's free:

http://www.quakelive.com/


I've also played "Global Agenda" on Steam, which I think is $25. It seems kinda interesting. Like an MMO FPS. There's a demo, so you can check it out before you buy.

And I've always been a fan of the civilization games. Civilization V was just released on Steam last weak. It truely is a great strategy game (turn based). It's $50, but there's also a demo you can try out first. But beware, it's like "crack". It's really hard to let it go once you get into it, and you'll find yourself in a trance not interesting in anything else, than playing Civ

[valis]

UT3 & QuakeLive are both multiplayer FPS's... UT3 is dead to the point that most of my UT buddies have gone back to the previous version (UT2004) so I probably wouldn't invest in that. Quakelive is fun for what it is, a browser based Quake3 with higher rest textures for modern computer resolutions.

Unfortunately I don't do many RPG/Strategy games but if need be I can ask my friends what they'd recommend. If you DID want a multiplayer shooter, personally I would recommend TF2 (Team Fortress 2) as a great 'casual' multiplayer shooter with an active playerbase that isn't full of childish idiots (or perhaps Left4Dead 2 which I play a lot) but you seem more interested in a nice single player experience perhaps? In which case I would probably recommend one of the following:

FPS/Action:

• Portal - Seriously, get this first and play it. Seriously!
• Bioshock 1 (and after that, Bioshock 2 is an ok extension.) Both worth checking out and good primers for the upcoming Bioshock Infinite which looks absolutely superb.
• Mafia2 - no need to play the first as it's too dated and this one stands on its own. Imo this is a much more satisfying play than the 80+ hour GrandTheftAuto 4. The ending is particularly good.
  Mass Effect 1 & 2 simplified the story mechanisms defined in KOTOR (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic) and both combine 'action' with 'rpg'/choice based gameplay. More 'solid' storywise than Fallout3 but not as linear as Mafia2 (and longer, slightly more repetitive.)
• Crysis & Crysis warhead. Ok you'll have to turn these WAY down but they've stood the test of time and it's always fun to replay when you get a new machine and see how demanding the game STILL is on modern hardware. I was able to get acceptable framerates with custom settings on my 2001 era P4 running an AGP 7900GS by turning down the settings, and though my Core2 era quadcore Xeon with a GTX285 looks better still, it's STILL not capable of running crysis to the max (so turning down settings is pretty much ALWAYS required.)

Btw some steam games will have http://www.metacritic.com/ ratings listed, which can be useful if you have the time to dig into the reviews.

For *very* casual gaming you might want to have a look at Osmos, World of Goo or The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

[petal]

I'll have to agree on Portal. It truely is a great idea and a well executed one of those, with an unusual "story line" and impressive level design - especially the later levels. Those who have been there knows what I mean

And Portal 2 is comming out in february 2011, a title I'm looking forward to check out.

[Zer]

what about http://www.worldofgoo.com/ ?
Not a RPG, but interesting.

[valis]

I did mention that and actually own several copies (both my steam accounts, the wife uses one, and I have the 'pay what you want' version that they offered for a while as well.) It's a decent game but I actually think it makes more sense on the wii with the motion plus controller for accuracy. Osmos is my personal fave 'ambient'/casual game for the soundtrack.

Plants vs. Zombies is a popcap game and *everyone* who has played that said it's great for laughs and has fun puzzles. Give the demo a shot on steam (and set it to run windowed, not fullscreen, if you're not running a very low res monitor.)

[chriskorff]

Cheers for the replies all! Some food for thought...

I already own Portal, and think it's fookin' incredible - so innovative, and such a good atmosphere, especially considering you're the only 'living' thing in it (though that Glados computer seems pretty sentient at times... and evil!) I'm looking forward to Portal 2 a lot, though not as much as HL2 E3. Or Black Mesa Source, for that matter... In fact, the whole HL2 franchise has engaged me more than any other computer game series ever, I think. The original Half Life passed me by a bit to be honest (somewhere after Duke Nukem 3D I must have stopped gaming for a while), and I've tried to play it since but can't see past the dated graphics So I'm really looking forward to the BMS guys finishing that mod.

I also own Civ 4, and I agree... it is a bit crack-esque! Unfortunately though, I do have a life to think about, otherwise I'd just fire that up again; it's so involving! I dread to think what would happen if I got Civilization 5. Actually, I know what would happen if I did, so I kind of want to avoid it I toyed with the idea of getting Sid Meier's Pirates (the 2004 version, not the old one, which I used to play when I was a little'un!), but apparently it's not too widescreen-friendly, so I was put off that a bit.

The beginning bit of Far Cry I thought was really enjoyable... but I lost interest when it got a bit 'cave-y' and dark - for an FPS I thought the gameplay was awesome though (more sneaky than panic-and-rinse-your-ammo-against-one-guy kind of thing). But after I had to run around in a cave for a bit, I lost interest (I played it round a mate's a while ago though - maybe the cave thing doesn't last too long?) Probably one of the reasons I liked the beginning was because of the open, outdoor environment: when I'm playing a PC game I tend to already be in a small, dimly lit place, so why would I want to play a game that's based in a small, dimly lit place?!

Maybe I'm just fussy, but I can't seem to find anything that offers both gameplay and storyline that's as slick and involving as my favourite games: MGS2, 3 and 4 (on PS2/3), HL2 etc, that kind of thing? As far as I can tell, they raised gaming standards, so maybe my expectations are too high... I'll check out/demo some of your suggestions though - thanks for those!

Cheers,

Chris

[valis]

I wouldn't be so sure that you're actually human in Portal... that remains to be seen

on Black Mesa - most of the 'senior' level people working on it are either busy working on commercial projects, have left the project (I know 2 mappers and a coder who left) or are busy fiddling with minutae. Ie, noone is in a hurry to push it out and 'by winter 2008' turned into 'by winter 2009' which turned into 'soon' and now it's almost 2011. I agree HL1 is dated to play, even the HL1 source version only gets rid of the ugly water, but I only hope that Black Mesa beats HL2 ep3 out so I can replay everything in series (most of the other HL2 releases have user mods for improved graphics btw, which are exceptional.) Also cool is 'synergy', which allows full 2 player coop play of all Half Life 2 & episodic content: http://synergymod.net/

Far Cry 1 was set mostly outdoors, though it's been so long since I played I can't recall a cave...(just the cave in fallout3)? In any case it's probably too dated as well unless you're on a very slow gpu/pc and can't handle modern games. Far cry 2 is completely worthless & skippable. Crysis is the true successor to Far Cry and Crysis 2 should be really impressive (check youtube for global illumination/radiosity demos done in realtime with the current crytek engine.) Crysis 1 & warhead are still worth a play imo. though since they came along right at the border of 'easy to play gameplay with good story' games that came out after, and the 'technical realism' games that came before, the pacing and 'realism' of the game might be lost on some. I personally use a realism mod or CCC (crysis custom config) with TOD & AI mods, and play the game on delta (full realism/no crosshair) and enjoy myself, but after 2-3 plays it doesn't hold may surprises.

As for 'story driven' games, the vast majority of games with a budget now are 'cross platform' which usually means any PC port is still 3rd person and pointless next to the console release. And for obvious reasons very few ps3 titles make it to PC unless they're already working on xbox360/directx. I personally prefer FPS games exclusively (something about it being closer to an actual 'virtual' experience or something) so can only comment on what I've played. But there aren't many new PC games that are not also on console, the only one this month I can think of is from the people who made Penumbra (should be findable by using that game, going to the game dev, and then to their latest release) which is more of a Puzzle/Horror game than anything.

[bassdude]

The Gothic series for RPG. A fantastic series of games. I prefer 1st person but the Gothic series are 3rd person with a 1st person option. However for some reason 3rd person just didn't bother me in that series at all.

[sharc]

Call of Duty: World at War - Love this game. The graphics and gameplay in campaign mode are outstanding.

Dead Space - Violent sci-fi horror FPS really sucks you in. Purely story driven (no multiplayer) and looks very impressive even on lower spec systems.

UT3 - Recently downloaded the latest version of the UDK and have to admit that I was blown away by the included demo. Also lots of nice freebies to be had from the UDK dev community.

Grand Theft Auto IV - If ever there was a series of games that I actually wish they WOULD make some movies of it would be GTA.

GRID - Really slick racer ...If that's your thing.


If you're not in a hurry then all of the above can be bought new for less than half of what they're going for on Steam