Your Favorite PC Games and Why

[Webshark2000]

I'm pretty much a gamer. That's what draws me to build computers and to learn more about them every day. I enjoy all kinds of PC games, RPGs, FPS, RTS, SIMS, even some MMORPGs (although not too many). There are so many good games out there that I enjoy and a lot of them aren't the newest ones out. I've recently purchased some games that I've known were rated high for a long time, but I just haven't had the time to play them.

A couple of those are Dungeon Siege and Civilization III. They've both been out for a while, but I just never got around to purchasing them until now (and I got them at really cheap prices since they've been out for a while). They're both great, but I've also recenlty purchased some new games that were extremely enjoyable as well, like Call of Duty.

I'd just like to hear a few of your favorites and why. Who knows, perhaps there's some other great ones out there I've missed and I could pick up for a good price. I'll get things started with a couple I've enjoyed for quite some time (they may almost be considered "classics" by now).

Starcraft: It's been out for a while and they now have the deluxe pack where you can get the expansion Brood Wars with it as well. It's a great game. I remember playing it with friends over a network and there are all kinds of mods for it. The single player missions were enjoyable and the cutscenes were worthy of Hollywood. It's a great RTS game even though it's only 2D. If you haven't played it before, it's a great buy.

Medal of Honor: It's a First Person Shooter that isn't near the "classic" category yet, but it has been around for a couple of years now. There are two expansions to it. The first one was Spearhead which paralleled the mini series Band of Brothers in more ways than one. The actual game itself borrows a lot from Saving Private Ryan, but succeeded in making you feel like part of an epic experience. The third expansion Breakthrough didn't offer any huge improvements, but just having more missions to play is always enjoyable with this game.

Alright, now that I've gotten the ball rolling I'd like to hear some of your favorites and why. Don't be afraid to mention some popular ones as well, but I'd really like to hear about some that may have slipped through the mainstream's cracks.

[Report_2]

I have the MS Joystick and the MS GamePad. I no longer have them attached to the PC. I find the controllor to game compatability to be inferior to the TV game machines such as Nintendo 64 (GameCube coming for Chistmas. It has more child friendly games).

So, I only like to play PC games that can be played using the Mouse.

Two games that I can enjoy playing on the PC are BeachHead 2000 and Star Wars Episode One Racer. I have the Star Wars game on Nintendo so I no longer play it on the PC. In this case I like the 31" TV over the 17" monitor.

If I can add to your query...
Any good PC games that can be played using only the mouse?

[Tuttle]

I tend to like games which take a particular genre and add something unique (and do it well). Ones that come to mind:

Thief and Thief 2 for being great first-person sneakers instead of first-person shooters. Running in and drawing attention to yourself is (usually) guaranteed death.

The Total War series for finding a nice balance between strategy and real-time-tactical gaming. I normally hate the Starcraft/Warcraft type gaming because of the resource management, but Total War worked for me because you have time to think about the long-term strategy stuff, and still lots of fiddly little battles.

Undying, for being the only first-person shooter to actually scare me in a long time.

Independence War 2. A space flight sim in capital ships. 'nuff said.

Worms: Armageddon and its predecessors, for being the best 4am LAN party games ever. Completely stupid (concrete donkeys anybody?), but insanely addictive. It's hard to put them in a genre except to say they're Scorched Earth-like.

And finally, Planescape: Torment would have to be the best RPG I've played, ever. If you play RPGs for the story and character development more than the action, play this game. The only letdown is the fixed 640x480 display, which really sucks on a 19" monitor...

[P3-450]

I have loads of games that i have enjoyed over the past.

I like a lot of sim type games. like the 'tycoon' type games. Sim City, rollercoaster tycoon, etc

i like some sport games like football(soccer), wrestling games and all type of racing.

At the mo i am playing on Midnight Club II, i think its awesome very good circuits and races. and once you get the NOS kickin, vrooooooom

the next game i wanna get is Need for Speed: Underground.
ive heard nothing but amazing reviews about it.

As for all time faves. Street Fighter is my all timer just excellent. i remember when it first came on to the arcade i was addicted, you wouldnt get me off it

Another are the Grand Theft Auto series. Although GTA2 sucked IMO GTA3 and Vice City kicked butt. I still think that the first GTA was the classic just fantastic.


Thats a rapp

[Luke92881]

I like all sorts of Games! My favorites include the following.

Starcraft - RTS
Jedi Knight series - FPS
Half-Life - FPS
Lost Mercenaries - MMORPG (www.lostmercenaries.com)
Gunbound - MMO game... This game is like a modern Online version of Scorched Earth!!!! I think it is gunbound.net for the website.

I am still waiting to play Knights of the old Republic

[Webshark2000]

Originally posted by Report_2:

I have the MS Joystick and the MS GamePad. I no longer have them attached to the PC. I find the controllor to game compatability to be inferior to the TV game machines such as Nintendo 64 (GameCube coming for Chistmas. It has more child friendly games).

I feel the same way about a few PC games. Certain games are just easier to play on a console, but others are much easier on a PC. First Person Shooters are much easier (I think) to play on the PC because you can use the keyboard to move and the mouse to look around.

One prime example is Medal of Honor: Allied Assult. When they came out with the Playstation 2 version, Frontline, it was horrible to play on Playstation 2. The controls were just way too hard to aim quickly. One First Person Shooter that does have good controls on a console machine is Halo on the XBox. If any companies out there want to make a First Person Shooter for a console they should take some lessons from Halo on controls.

But another downside to console games is they can never look as good as the PC version. For instance, Half-life and again Medal of Honor. Neither of them looked anywhere near as good as they looked on the PC. The reason being is that consoles just aren't at nearly the level most computers are at. Medal of Honor's biggest scene when storming the beaches of Normandy had about half the excitement when played on Playstation 2 because it could only handle about half of the events going on around you as the PC version could.

When the Playstation 2 is only a 300Mhz CPU with 32Mb of RAM, and a 4Mb video card, it doesn't even come close to the newest computers out right now that are topping 3Ghz. The PS2 has a few things set up to make it handle graphics better than a computer with the same specs, but even though the Playstation 2 is only used to play games and doesn't have to support any other GUI interface, it still doesn't make up for the huge difference in specs.

Some games that are easier to play as console games instead of PC games are fighting games (like Mortal Kombat). It's pretty difficult to play them with a keyboard, but if you do have a good gamepad (which about all the PC fighting games, including Enter the Matrix, support) it makes it much easier. Keep in mind that I did say a good gamepad.

I think a lot of racing games are also easier to play on a console, but have you ever tried playing a games like Sim City on a Playstation or Playstation 2? It gets really boring really fast. Anytime you have to move something around with a gamepad the way you move a mouse around on a screen gets extremely annoying.

So there are pros and cons to both worlds. I personally enjoy both PC and console games. But most of the time when a game comes out for both the PC and a console, I go for the PC version.

[Fuelm@n]

I like the simple games, those that require no joystick, only a keyboard...

The Games I Like Are...
1. Snood
2. Chicken Invaders 2
3. Qbeez

My favorite game of all times has to be Chess, but I hate playing that one on the Computer. I'd rather play live beings!


My 10 year old nephew was wanting to play some games on my PC, he saw a list of them in the "Start Menu" and asked if he could play Spyware Blaster.

[usil]

Spyware Blaster... LOL

My favorite of all time is Americas Army (FPS). Firstly, its a free download. Its made by, you guessed it, the American Army. Its the most realistic game you will ever play. No power packs, no lasers. M16's and AK's are what you will use. Its only a multiplayer game though, but that makes it all the better. Good thing about it is that the army make updates every few months, not only improving game play, but also adding new missions and features. This is not a game to miss.

[oldhermit]

I played Freecell until I guess I just got tired of winning..!

I like games as much as anyone, but I simply don't have the time. But I thought that this article posted by Tom's Hardware Guide would be of interest. Seems to be appropriate in a thread about gamers. My apologies if you don't happen to think so...

Yes I like excercise because it is good for you, and many companies now require the employees to actively take part in some excercise every day.

But what about at home..?

This report simply says that gaming is fine, but don't overdo it, because some repititous movements from gaming go beyond exercise, and are increasing on the doctor's charts, as injuries.

http://www.globetechnology.com/servl...ry/Technology/

[Luke92881]

I am going to have to try American Army, sounds cool.

[usil]

Good choice Luke. Here is the link to their site:
Americas Army

You cannot download the game directly from their site, but they have links in the downloads section which will take you to quite a few sites where you can download the game. Just make sure to download the most recent version 2.0.

You might be asking yourselves, how can a free game be so good? Well, the American Army is actually using this game as a recruiting tool. They hope it will whet the appetites of young adults, and that they will join the army. They apparently spent up to $7 Million to make this game.

Happy gaming!

Usil

[Webshark2000]

Originally posted by oldhermit:

I like games as much as anyone, but I simply don't have the time. But I thought that this article posted by Tom's Hardware Guide would be of interest. Seems to be appropriate in a thread about gamers. My apologies if you don't happen to think so...

Yes I like excercise because it is good for you, and many companies now require the employees to actively take part in some excercise every day.

But what about at home..?

This report simply says that gaming is fine, but don't overdo it, because some repititous movements from gaming go beyond exercise, and are increasing on the doctor's charts, as injuries.

Yes, excerise is very good for you. I find time for gaming and excerise, and don't fit the stereotypical "computer nerd". But it takes all kinds. Make sure you take breaks when gaming (I think they recommend you get up and move around at least every two hours, but that applies for just being in front of a computer as well). I think you can enjoy computers and also keep up your excersise as well, you just have to budget your time.

I haven't played America's Army yet, but I've read some very good things about it in PC Gamer magazine. I'd like to play it, but I'm stuck with a 56k connection right now (no cable or DSL way out here in no-man's land).

[Nix]

Zork Nemesis
Simon The Sorcerer I & II
Age Of Empires I & II
Worms (Any incarnation)
Baldur's Gate
Alice
Myst
Riven

Commodore 64 Emulator - use only a keyboard if you want

[Mike in Orange]

I used to enjoy Duke Nukem and Doom on my old 486 box even though my lousy graphics card could barely keep up. I moved onto racing games, more like sims really, as my computing power increased. SportsCar GT is still my favorite as the circuits are very realistic, as is the driving experience. Using a Logitech ForceFeedback GP steering wheel/pedal interface it's pretty cool to actually be able to drift a car through a corner with a bit of opposite lock on!

Also a fan of Formula 1 racing games, regardless that they are a real bugger to master.

In a throwback to my first person shooter days I've recently completed Call of Duty. If you haven't tried this yet, it's a blast! Took a while to get used to using the keyboard and mouse for gameplay again, but once I did it was non stop fun. I like the realism here too; no funky weapons, just a time warp back to the 1940's. Gave you a pretty good for the hell of battle, considering it's a game of course.

That ol' 486? Long gone; upgraded and replaced a few times over the years, currently running a 2.66ghz P4 with 1.25GB DDR RAM and an ATI Radeon 9000 128MB graphics card. Yeah, this box has more than twice as much RAM as the ol' 486 had hard drive space!! Amazing how tech marches on.

[Abhoth]

Gaming drives the industry... I've been building systems for many moons. But...
Really didn't get into gaming seriously until my son brought Quake II around. Oh no! Hooked.
Polished it and the two expansion packs off and was well on my way.

Quake III soon followed...
then UT and UT2k3...
Unreal and Unreal 2...
Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell, Crimson Skies, Janes WWII Fighters, Oddworld: Abe's Exodus, Adventure Pinball, Myst, Syberia, Darkfall, Freespace, Wing Commander: Prophecy, NFS2: Hot Pursuit, GTA3, RTCW, Think Tanks, Serious Sam SE, MDK2, Mechwarrior 3 & 4, Drakkan, Links 2003, NOLF 2, Max Payne & the list goes on.
Not necessarily in that order and let's not start on the demos....
Know I missed a few, but those are the favs I'd guess.