Obviously, being inspired by the quite depressing "Most-hated games" thread I think we should have the yang to its ying. Mass Effect 1+2: I wasn't expecting to like ME, I normally don't enjoy RPGs that much, but once I got past the first 10 minutes I realised I was going to love this game. I'm not overstating it when I say these are some of the best games I've ever played. The gameplay itself (for the first one at least) was incredibly hard work, sifting through thousands of boring inventory items and scrounging cash for better weapons while navigating the awesome storylines was a little taxing. That's before you mention the boring planetary survey crap. Easily top-5 of all time. Half Life: Some of you may be disgusted by it, but this was one of the first PC games I actually bought and played on my own. Before that I'd only really played on either a) my Dad's games or b) my friend's games. I would say this was my PC gaming genesis, before HL I was a console gamer (admittedly I gamed quite a lot, so it wasn't like I never bothered), but once I'd had a taste of this I was hooked. So many memories of playing this late into the night trying to perfect one chapter or another, it's just wonderful. Half Life 2+eps: If HL was the genesis of my PC gaming, HL2 is probably my favourite bit. I can't talk about HL2 without getting incredibly over-excited. I'm sure everyone knows why this game is loved by many, so I won't go into it. I'll need a stiff drink and a long walk. Counter Strike: Source: I noticed some hate for this in the other thread, and I'm coming out on the side of the game. The original was a legend, but I never truly enjoyed it until someone spanked the graphics up to date. Once you filter through the awful torrents of noob users and find a decent segment of the community it's unbeatable as a multi-player imo, I've tried lots of different games and the one I keep coming back to is CS:S. STALKER: I know lots of people hate this game, and I can see why. I'm not one of those people, I love it. The purest fantasy of it all, wandering through this horrid wasteland with unknown weird things trying to kill you. Somehow it all just knitted together to make something wonderful, I simply can't resist these games. All three of them have absorbed more than 100 hours (each) of my time. Silent Hunter III: To some it will be more boring than watching paint dry, but this one got under my skin. It's one of those games where you've got a massive learning curve, and one that lasts for a long time at that. Having said that there's such a massive feeling of satisfaction when you sink your first enemy ship, or guide a spread of torpedoes into 3 boats and slink away without being detected by the enemy.
Fallout 3 NFS: Most wanted L4D 1 and 2 Battlefield Series (Bad company 2 and 1942: Desert Combat) Call of Duty 1 Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Borderlands
From the 80's :- Sir Lancelot, the Dizzy adventure games, Tir Na Nog, Carrier Command, Dungeon keeper (but only the first one) and Elite. From the 90's :- Elite frontier, Doom, Half life, Leisure suit larry series ( i know some are from the 80s but i only got into them in the 90s) Tekken 3 (the one on playstation with the bowling minigame in it ^^ ) Gran Tourismo A-Spec, Monkey island (yup all of 'em) and pretty much anything from Sid Meier. 2000's :- Star wars: KOTOR, Battlefield 2 (yup, guilty as charged and i frickin loved it ^^), Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind ( If you have NEVER plaed an RPG you simply have to start here...one of, if not, THE best elder scrolls game that has come out to date......until.....) ES4 : Oblivion i have yet to complete this....i just get sidetracked by shiny things, picking flowers, running for my lfe from a crab with no clipping so i can't hit it....i love being able to pick a shop and see if i can break into it...just for the hell of it. I simply can't wait for ES5.....its a calender date and a day off work for me Fallout 3......im well over 100 hours of playtime and i am STILL finding things i didnt know about, new vegas is going to be awesome.... Lord of the Rings Online. Love the Setting, Love the books, Swore at the films, Cast bad JuJu on Mr Jackson. Am a beta, founder and with 2 lifetime accounts i think that qualifies for me loving a game? Cod 1, 2 and 4 Modern warfare....thats modern warfare 1 not the linear, substandard, no dedi server or mod tools shite that they tried to spoon feed us with modern warfare 2.... World of Warcraft......nah Im just messing with you, i frickin hate this P.O.S. Think that covers it...... Nic
Transport Tycoon (Deluxe) / OpenTTD - PC (1994/1995) Had to wait until we'd upgraded the 386 with a P100 to play this. Been installed on every system ever since. Unreal Tournament - PC (1999) I used to work in an Internet cafe. Tournaments were regular. Deus Ex - PC (2000) Fantastic game. Another one that's still installed, modded with the HDTP. Shame they never made a shitty console sequel in 2003. The Operative: No One Lives Forever - PC (2000) Still installed. From a time when Monolith were making great games and not milking FEAR for all it's worth. Also; intro. Mirror's Edge - PC (2009) Love the art style and the free running is fantastic. None of that one-button nonsense from Assassin’s Creed. The ending was satisfying as well and it's really only held back by it's lack of arena multiplayer or coop. Edit: A few more. Star Trek Online - PC (2010) Massive nerdgasm. Other than a short stint with EVE, the only MMO I'll play of my own volition. While it was shipped in a rather incomplete state, many of it's flaws have been patched out over the last eight months including starship fixes, new sectors and more missions, (the recent weekly missions have been great.) Also, Cryptic's honest and open relationship with their player base has been fantastic. Particularly CapnLogan's interactions regarding (cannon) model fixes and updates. Psychonauts - PC (2006) Y'know what, I'll just leave this here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2-Psychonauts .
Mass Effect 1+2 Fallout 3 - I love the blood and gore Everything in the orange box Assault Cube Halo CE, Halo 2 online multiplayer - Halo has provided simple entertainment at friends house. I'd bring over a xbox, a bag of ethernet cables, and a switch. Everybody would bring snacks and drinks. Lan parties on Friday nights always trumped going to the high school football games and prom.
Left 4 Dead 1+2 These got mentioned in the other thread a lot, but I have got a lot of playtime out of them. I like the simplistic nature of the game. With only survival as your goal, I find that I play a lot more focused than in other games. Plus hilarity always happens with friends. Unreal Tournament and UT2k4 God I loved these games. Frantic deathmatches where you either die a lot, or go on a 20 man killing spree. And super low gravity + quad jump mods in a LAN. Heeeeee. Neverwinter Nights This was probably the first PC RPG I played and really really liked. I never got into the single player, except to learn the basics. I spent most of my time on PW servers that let me play any character I chose. Excellent freeform RP. Silent Hill Going old school here. The first two Silent Hill games scared the living excrement out of me as a kid, but I kept coming back for more. Strangely addictive. Metal Gear Solid 3 I love this game so so so so so much. When I get everything sorted out I am going to sit down with a PS2 and play it again and again and again. Turn the difficulty up and let yourself sink into it, and it'll absorb you into the story, and have you physically tense as you hope that the guards don't spot you or the two corpses hidden just feet away, wishing you had time to change your camo. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory This was my introduction into online shooters, and it hooked me instantly. Playing the allied side on Goldrush with a bad team is a half hour lesson in frustration and perseverance, playing the same map and side with a good team is a ten minute lesson in how to win at life forever. I learned a lot about FPS games from playing this. Mostly how to spot whiners who complain when anyone uses the Panzerfaust. That's it for now.
in order of epicness: Metal Gear series BROOOOTHHHHHERRRRRRRR!!!!! Nothing to me game wise compares to this series. every title out does the last, its the original "sneak em up" and still the best. The story line is deep, complex and keeps you in the edge of your seat the hole way though, and when a sudden plot twist comes up, it hits you like a family crisis. The most epic moment any of the metal gears, the end of MGS4, CQC with Snake and Liquid ocelot on top of outer haven.... it was just beyond words, the perfect finish. Half Life series I think alot of people know why this game is so great, and dont really need an exploation from me. But i want my ep3 Valve!! Mass Effect series Nothing much to say here that's not already been said, wikid game, looking farword to what the story has coming in the finale that is ME3 Stalker series Iv not played any other game that sucks you in so much as this, it really emersers (spelling sorry) you into the game and the story line, its a fantastic game, even with all the bugs the first game had. I can remember when i fist played the game after the closed beta testing that i did for it. i started at 11am, then looked at the clock and it was 2am the next day.... no joke Battlefield series They helped make what PC multiplayer is now, and seems to be the only online game i stick at untill the next one comes out (BF3 next year). other online games come and go, but battlefield has always stuck with me online wise. Amnesia: The Dark Descent Never sh!t my self so much in my life! Hitman series Just really like them lol, hitman 5 is on its way for 2011 Command and conquer series Westwood!!! not crappy EA LA Just an RTS i really find fun playing online and offline, where a lot of other try to over complicate thing imo, which just make it to much like hard work.
c&c generals, warcraft 3, quake 2, wolf et, doom, wolf3d, duke nukem more recently I actually liked dead space.. game just kept going and going =] witcher is awesome, there's a lot of good games out there like it really, first mass effect was good.. the original gta was fun to play online- remember nuking people off the game as their ip was displayed in the gta chatroom xD counterstrike was of course a classic spent way too much time on.. geez too many really to name- that's why the most hated lists are easier to make.. least noone listed halo also liked a lot of the cheesy video games from the 80's.. me and my friend could beat this game on a quarter each
UT '99: Wasted many hours of my youth playing this. Stacraft: Brood War: Wasted even more hours of my youth playing this. Deus Ex: No need to explain this one, had a major impact on my idea of what games could be. Far Cry: I loved crawling through the jungle, sniping people out of nowhere, meeting a guard 3 feet away in the middle of heavy foliage. Beautiful scenery and fun gameplay, till the aliens at least. Mass Effect 1/2: So-so combat but the characters made it a damn good game imo. And, to counter all the haters in the games I hate thread Stacraft 2: Been playing a few hours every night. Just what I wanted out of Broodwar's successor, a game with less mechanical requirements but the same level of intensity and focus on both macro/micro. 1 v 1 is immensely satisfying when I can scout correctly, expand, get massive or do a timing push and win. Team games are fun just for the lolsyness of it. And the best thing is when I'm exhausted from laddering I can go play some custom games like nexus word wars (similar to QWERTY warriors) or Doodad hunt or something. Heroes of Newerth: I can understand the hate. If you're a noob your teammates will bash the ever living hell out of you for being bad, and its not a game which you can pick up in a few hours. To me though, HoN is the necessary and worthy successor to DotA. The menus is much better than what was in battle.net or ggc or other various dota clients and the in game ui is also much better. The game retains the intensity of the original dota and manages to add new spells that weren't available due to limitations in the wc3 client. 5 decent players facing 5 similarly skilled players usually results in a really good game where come backs are possible and 70-80 minute long matches are a treat.
Every single Halo game: Started with Halo: Combat Evolve in 2004. Game included a trailer for upcoming Halo 2. Was completely mesmerized by the game, hell even setup XBConnect so I could enjoy my first online multiplayer experience. Halo 2 came out, made some online friends I still talk to and play with today. Even had an online relationship with a girl because of Halo 2, for a few years. We met and everything, but she wasn't ready for such a commitment I suppose. Just bad timing I guess. Halo 3 came out, a lot of good college memories playing this. Halo Wars & ODST came out, good times there too. Was hooked on Firefight for a long time. Now Reach is out. Love playing it with my friends and even by myself. Though my favorite times are spent in Firefight with my best friend. Girl gamers Cheesecake. Halo:CE story got me hooked, I bought the books and read them, Halo 2 got me addicted to multiplayer and held me over for Halo 3. Halo 3 story was very satisfying. ODST caught me by surprised and was an interesting look in the Halo universe. I really felt like just a normal soldier fighting a powerful alien force. Halo Wars was a bit gimmicky, but I enjoyed the online games and cut scenes. Halo: Reach, the true next generation Halo game. The only downside is the multiplayer maps aren't the greatest. And the majority of the community is just awful. Along with any other popular game though. Fallout 3: I spent 200+ hours playing this damn game. That's all I'm going to say. Yes I'm buying New Vegas day one. lol
In no particular order: 1) Mass Effect series: Just mind boggingly brilliant, even with the annoying planetary scan rubbish. 2) Half-Life 1: The first FPS I genuinely enjoyed. HL2 was fun to play but never matched up to the original. I wish the bloody Black Mesa mod would get finished! 3) Homeworld 1+2: Still beautiful in an arty way; the only games to have done space strategy 'right'. If the rumours of Homeworld 3 are true, I'll explode with excitement. 4) Total Annihilation: Although I don't play it anymore, I must've rattled up a few hundred hours on this. I used to build the 'ultimate' base over and over again. 5) UT3: Perfect for when I have ten minutes to kill and just want to shoot something. 6) Dead Space: Genuinely scary for the first four chapters, then a welcome change in tact when you're upgraded enough to turn the tables on those b*stard necromorphs! I look forward to the sequel. 7) X2 and X3: Another series of games that I've spent hundreds of hours on. Xtended mod Cheesecake! 8) Stalker SoC and CS: Incredibly atmospheric - I'm waiting for the Complete Mod before playing CoP.
My top 5 (in no particular order). Mass Effect Series: Played through both so many times. Planescape Torment: One of the best RPG's if only for the narrative. TESIV: Oblivion Without the mods it wouldn't be on my list, but once you've added some of them the gameplay just gets better. Elite: No other space game comes close, still play the C64 version in WinVICE. Ultima Series (not IX): Ultima III on C64 and Ultima VII on PC, great RPGs.
I'm always better with negative, most hated type threads! Erm, okay. My most loved games in no particular order (and probably forgetting loads): Final Fantasy 10 - On PS2; sorry all Not sure why, but I loved it. I've always been a fan of RPGs, and FFX just summed up the type of RPG I love I guess - good storyline, good combat, good extras, challenging in parts (and impossible to complete if you rushed through the game etc). TES III: Morrowind - Preferred this to Oblivion. IMO, Oblivion seemed to take Morrowind, make it less challenging, and put some shiny new textures over it. Hence whilst I enjoyed Oblivion, I'll always prefer Morrowind. Crysis - First time I built my own PC (4 months ago), one of the first things I installed (apart from drivers and AV software!) was Crysis and it didn't disappoint. Loved the gameplay and graphics. Thought storyline was poor but I seldom enjoy the storyline in games anyway. Age of Empires - A bit dated now, but an amazingly great game when it came out and still good today. C&C Series - Some bad games in the series, but overall more great games are in the series. Assassin's Creed 1 - Loved the combat and game overall. I know some seen it as repetitive, although I enjoyed it overall
My most played title is FSX. I have always wanted to become a pilot, but this is probably as close as I will ever get. Like Silent Hunter III, some will find it boring, especially on the long haul flights, but I really enjoy my time when I am on FSX. Add in some random in-flight emergencies, and it keeps the interest levels up. I would love to build a virtual cockpit here at home, with mulitple screens and all the flight control panels etc. The bank of missus and landlady missus say no though, unfortunately. I have played Silent Hunter III too, and I agree it's a great buzz making the kill, especially with the long build up to getting in a position to make a kill, and to be able to escape after.
In no particular order: Half Life saga: completely awesome playing experience, from the first epic one (I remember the thrill of getting to the surface the first time, the sense of accomplishment, then the wtf moment when you get shoved back even deeper ), to HL2 and episodes (I really do see them as one game) which look amazing even today. I really can't think of any other game that's aged so well, both in the graphical and storyline sense Team Fortress 2: Seriously the only online shooter I've played for over a year. Got into it a couple months after getting the orange box, and haven't stopped playing since. The gameplay is fun and varied, the graphics and style are completely unique (and as far as I'm concerned, still the best out there). Of course, having a great clan/community is what kept me interested even when I wasn't in a gaming mood Anyone interested is invited to try our community servers http://dogsclan.org/ (mods, feel free to remove the link if it is against the rules of the forum - in which case I apologise) Warcraft 2: Yes, TWO. One of the first games I remember spending whole nights to, back on my crashy crappy Pentium 133. I'm not sure if it's mostly nostalgia, but I still find it the most entertaining RTS (yes, starcraft can s**k it ). Worms: Any and all 2D versions of the game are huge fun in multiplayer. Worms Reloaded has definitely been the most satisfying game purchase this year Portal: So original and so wonderful, the short but sweet game is one of my most favourite gaming experiences. I really hope Portal 2 manages to deliver on the uniqueness and quirkiness of the original
Monkey Island 1 and 2 Full Throttle UT '99 Kameo - elements of Power (simply because the world was made with such love) Beyond Good & Evil (again - the world was so cool, and so lovingly detailed)
Favourites? Ultrarogue - Played whilst I was (honestly, I was... *cough*) learning COBOL. It was so addictive I'm still trying to find a working copy. Nethack - Good enough until I get Ultrarogue. Unreal Tournament - The first one was the most enjoyable. Epic got the balance of graphics, physics and gameplay just right. Battlefield 2 - "Bad company" just didn't work for me, neither did "1942"... the modern-day settings and environments seem to be just right. Fallout 3 - Yeah, I've seen reviews of the game being on a huge area... but I wasn't ready for just how huge that area was. Also, you're not told where things are... so discovering an area feels all the more special. Warhammer 40,000 DoW II - Love the gore. Fritz 12 - When 'Chess titans' isn't sufficient, I'll let this tan my a*se... in 5 moves. Open TTD - The original Transport Tycoon Deluxe was fun, especially networked. Ottd is pretty much a reincarnation, but with other bits available.
Metal Gear Solid 3: I... I... I am not worthy of describing such glory! Battlefield 2142: I enjoyed it as a successor to BF2, implementing some much needed changes such as class refinement and vehicle consolidation. And I just like the setting more. Played it more than I would like to admit. Counter Strike: Source: The first game to get me away from just PC gaming into online gaming, and shooters. Will always have a soft spot in my heart, and I will always be down for some surfing! Killing Floor: The only way to kill zombies. An absolute blast, I just love the music, the setting, the balance and feel, etc. My friends often get bored of it long before I do, and most public matches are far below my skill level, but with a good game going... one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. Dungeons and Dragons: You said game, not video game. This will forever be the be-all and end-all for gaming, particularly RPGs.
