So, I'm going through my holiday break and I've been looking for games to play. The Steam sale certainly helped, but after playing through Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit), I've been looking for something a little different. Yes, I'll agree that the last part of the game wasn't as good as the first 3/4, but despite its pitfalls, I'm still blown away with what Quantic Dream did with the gaming medium. It certainly stopped becoming a toy and more of an engageable activity like reading a novel or watching a good movie. With that in mind, any PC game recommendations (or even console games) that you think move past mindless and fun-for-a-moment games that seem to make up most of the industry and get into more mature themes? There are lots of great games like Half-Life (I'm perhaps one of its biggest fans) and Bioshock, but even those I feel don't quite live up to the level they can and should be. While Half-Life is perhaps the old school shooter FPS at its pinnacle of refinement, its story is interesting but character development lackluster. With Bioshock, I was really hoping for a morally gut-wrenching experience imbued with Objectivist philosophies but it just came off as another shooter. I keep hearing things about Deus-Ex. I tried playing it once but remembered the graphics and controls were too dated to be enjoyable. Of course, being $7 on Steam, I could give it a shot again. It's just that the whole Cyberpunk theme is almost insufferable by now.
Sounds like you may have similar gaming taste to me. Those are the exact same issues I had with Deus Ex and despite telling myself I should persevere with it I just couldn't. I'm only very new to PC gaming (started playing HL2 only within the last week) so can't give you much advice on that front, but on the consoles I'd wholeheartedly recommend both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus on PS2. Both very moving and unique games with a gorgeous art style and profound narratives. Although I may get a bit of stick for suggesting them, the MGS series is outstanding in the way it has consistently redefined gaming as a medium. In particular MGS1 and 3 remain two of my favourite ever and have the level of character developmet you seem to be after. Be warned though they can at times be pretentious and are very cut-scene heavy. I hope I haven't misinterpreted what you are after!
You could try Dragon Age? Though it can be a bit wearisome at times. It certainly has character development, and distinct personalities and relationships between them.
My friend's been on me about playing the MGS series forever. I forged through the PC port of MGS1 with a controller, and started MGS2, but never finished it. I could see how it may be a game I would enjoy. I keep hearing things about Shadow of the Colossus. I might just end up getting my hands on a PS3 around Heavy Rain time to play through the PS exclusive titles.
Played that a while back. Pretty damn good for a run-of-the-mill shooter. Probably because I just liked sneaking around, which may have rubbed off from the time I played NOLF and NOLF2.
Crysis is great if you played on the hardest difficulty, and actually avoided death, makes stealth fun. I'd recommend Tropico 3 if you want to flex your management skills(I'm currently in love with this game). For shooters, Condemned: Criminal Origins and it's sequel Bloodshot is an amazingly creepy and fun game. A great game, and the story is pretty damned gripping, not a shooter though, more of a FPS melee.
Criminal Origins was alright. It had a cool premise, but it got really weird and nothing made sense. I keep hearing about Deadspace. My flatmate has it installed on our semi-shared PC (we both use laptops usually), so maybe I'll just play it on that.
I'd definatly recommend Dragon Age and Dead Space. Dragon Age was one of the best games I've played on my PC recently. Max Payne is cheap at the moment incase you haven't already played those two games, I played through them about 5 times when they game out.
Sounds like you might want to take a look at Penumbra Overture and Black Plague. Max Payne is a bit on the more active side but definitely worth a try. The first Condemned and Fear games had somewhat of a story to them aswell. OH OH and The Darkness is excellent if you have an xbox 360 lying around.
Dragon Age is definitely good for the whole moral dilemma debate but all i keep thinking while playing it is "It's just not Oblivion!".
