Good PC Games?

[X_Racer1]

Well the main reason for me starting this is because I'm clueless as to what PC games are worth trying, let alone buying, for the past 5-10 years I've never had a computer that could manage more than the basic games available at the time (thanks to my IBM Aptiva lasting so darn long), now with the laptop I currently own I'm finally in a position to buy some decent PC games but as I said before, no idea what to buy. I mean I was thinking about Left 4 Dead 2 but at $59.99 I find that steep for a PC game, especially with all the other PS3 games coming out. Any suggestions, but no MMORPG games, I just can't stand that kind of stuff.

[Jordan]

Civilization 3 and 4?

[X_Racer1]

Another one I thought about, but I already own Civ 2 (although my new laptop can't run Civ 2 because Civ 2 is incompatible with 64 bit operating systems, but I have 2 other machines that can run that) and Civilization Revolution for the PlayStation 3.

[Dustin S.]

Gears of War, unless your running Windows 7. According to a test i took it wont run on my computer because im running 7, which sucks cus i want to play it so bad.

Also try the sims 3 if you want to waste alot of time lol. Also if you want a Left 4 Dead type game go on Steam and check out Killing Floor. Same concept (to me its a little more fun) and it only costs 15 bucks. Which to me killing non stop AI zombies that get old after a while...its not worth more than 15 bucks.

[X_Racer1]

Technically I already have The Sims, just the original version, with every single expansion pack released, just can't get the stupid game to run on Windows Vista 32 bit, let alone the 64 bit version plus my copy of Windows 7 has shipped out so it will be hitting my computer soon, although I do have a custom 32 bit XP SP2 disc waiting for install on my machine (it's custom because my computer requires certain drivers on setup just to get Windows XP setup to work) and VirtualBox so running games that require XP/Vista won't be a problem. I will have to look into Gears of War and maybe Halo, after all why not, especially since it's dirt cheap for PC. Steam digital games aren't really a possibility due to the rather flaky Internet access I have and the fact I hate buying things online, I want to own the disc, just in case.

[Dustin S.]

Killing Floor is by an indie studio so it has no hard copy form or i would of bought it that way. Its the only game i got from download.

Where can i find Gears cheap? I find the 360 version for like 20 bucks, but i cant find the PC version for under 50. Cant buy it used cus its a PC game and i dont trust that the person deactivated their code, if there is one. and Halo 1 on PC is actually really fun.

[m0tl3sl4y3r]

have u checked online for any cheap copies of Gears?
there might be sites online with good deals

but back to X_racers topic

how recent games are u looking for?

I don't really keep up with PC gaming but I would say anything really by Blizzard

Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth 2 was released 3 years ago but its pretty good

[xEN7xASSASSINx]

when i had my PC before it died, i enjoyed the OBLIVION elder scrolls IV on it, great looking game and being PC has tonnes of awesome mods you can download for it :D

[X_Racer1]

Well as I mentioned before, I'm not an MMORPG fan (although I should have mentioned I just plain don't like RPG games, my mistake) by any means, the only game I have that's an RPG is still sitting sealed back home in plastic (and the only reason why I have it is because it was packaged with the PS2 40GB hard drive, and I got that hard drive package for just $20) because it's online only and requires a subscription. The few RPG's I have tried just don't interest me either so I generally stay away from the genre.

I swear though, I've looked at the websites for Futureshop and Amazon in Canada and Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, GameStop and Amazon in the U.S and only Amazon (U.S and Canada) and GameStop even acknowledge that Gears of War for PC is even available and all of them want $49.99 for a copy.

[Dustin S.]

Yeah Gears of War 2 is hard to find too...

[Shak]

Crysis and Crysis Warhead are pretty good, dunno if they'll work on your system though. I've also got world of goo, FEAR Combat (online gameplay only, FREE from the devs), and Braid.

[X_Racer1]

I can definitely (http://www.ps3center.net/forums/album.php?albumid=17&pictureid=117) run Crysis, maybe not to full specs but I can definitely play it, might look at it but only the original due to Crysis Warhead containing the more dangerous version of SecuROM that installs what is basically a rootkit where the original apparently either contains a simple disc check version or none at all.

[Shak]

Lol, that's better than my PC, you should be able to play Crysis at full settings with that beast. There haven't been too many great games for PC recently, a few years ago there were loads. If you don't already have a 360, you can get Gears of War and Mass Effect, both of them are good games.

[X_Racer1]

No 360 for me, the only chance I would have had went down the drain, my sister actually had one in the house because Wal-Mart was running a deal where you got the arcade for $149.99, after some time though on the phone with her, I reminded her she still needed a hard drive ($109.99 for 60GB), a Live subscription and a warranty (since we all know about the problems the 360 has). So it's going back and she's getting a PlayStation 3 after some Christmas money comes in.

But on a more related note, I was in Futureshop recently, ended up not buying a single PC game (instead I purchased a $20 PSN card), since Crysis wasn't available, just Crysis: Warhead. Also Mass Effect, Gears of War and pretty much everything else mentioned here wasn't available. Just Civ 4 and they wanted $45 for the version I would buy if I was going to get the game and Civ III was sold out. If anyone has ideas I welcome them but it might be awhile before I get anything (since it costs $3-7 just to go somewhere to buy games).

[Dustin S.]

I think the hardcore PC gaming is dying....

Some other games off the top of my head (favorites)

-Doom 3. Got alot of hate for certain things, but its one of my favorite games still.
-Quake 4, its quake...love it
-Battlefield 2 and 2142 are awesome on PC, especially online.
-Try some RTS games like command and conquer, they are meant for PC not console.
-Check out Americas Army. Its completely free, but its actually really cool. I used to play it all the time. I know you said you have some connection issues, but hey its free lol

I think the problem is most of the companies that were good for PC are heading into console and enjoying the money it makes. ID and Valve (cringe) for example are now console heavy companies. Another issues is Blizzard ruined the business completely with WoW. Everyone saw how easy it was to rip off people with MMO's and went in that direction. While gamers like me were thinking "wtf?!" and left.

[Nick]

I'm kinda in the same boat, just now got a computer that can actually play games relatively well. I'm picking up the PC versions of all the multiplatform games I missed(Mass Effect, Fallout, Dragon Age).

And though I haven't played it yet(downloading now), if you like odd, off beat games, The Void sounds absolutely amazing, one of those games that pushes the boundaries of 'games as art'. It sounds sorta like Okami meets FPS(though every preview I've read makes this comparison sound really basic at best), and it's only $10 on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/37000/). I'll let you know what I think when I get it downloaded, but I'm really, really excited to play it.

[Shak]

Oh yeah, Doom 3 was very good.

Also on a related note, anyone upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista? I'm wanting to upgrade, but I'm scared that I might lose my data :(, also can't be bothered installing everything separately again.

[X_Racer1]

As far as I know the upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 doesn't even move files around or at most moves them to a folder called Windows.old and before setup will complete it checks whether your computer has anything that might prevent Windows 7 from functioning properly, such as drivers, programs, etc. That being said I haven't done the upgrade myself since I was rebuilding my machine with a dual boot of Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 Home Premium but I have read plenty about it.

[Shak]

I just upgraded and Windows 7 is really good, it's what Vista should have been, didn't lose any programs although there was a few compatibility issues with some.

[Nick]

I've had a few games that didn't work with Windows 7 so far :(

[X_Racer1]

Well in a stroke of good luck I have the original Sims game running beautifully on my laptop now running Windows 7 x64 with 4 out of 6 expansion packs installed, I do own the others I just don't feel like installing them since they contain content I don't really care about. I'm also waiting for a Sim City 4 Collector's Edition to become available since it's $24.99 and I've heard good things about it.

Halo and Gears of War I actually now have access to, despite my best efforts my sister didn't cave, kept the 360 as her Christmas present and has since bought or received 3 Halo games, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and 5 other games (3 of which I already own for the PlayStation 3, the two I don't own being Battlefield: Bad Company and the Bourne Conspiracy) so I don't think I'll buy PC versions of Gears or Halo until I at least try the XBOX versions and even then due to my limited gaming budget and the amount of PS3 games I'm wanting to buy that are coming in the next few months I think PC games are once again going to the bottom of my priority list of games to buy.

[m0tl3sl4y3r]

at least u have some games working on your PC now
man when u get to try Gears of War, would u mind telling me if I should get it

[X_Racer1]

Well as an update, despite constant looking I have yet to be able to find a SimCity collection I can get my hands on, Amazon.ca doesn't sell it, Best Buy claims it's in stock online at stores near me but after walking 40 minutes to the nearest store I find out their website is completely wrong and no store has a copy and Futureshop only sells SimCity 4 without the expansion pack for $9.99 which is a rip-off as the SimCity Box which includes SimCity Societies, an expansion for Societies, Sim City 4 and Rush Hour and a few other things only costs $19.99.

Crysis and Gears of War are similar stories, I haven't seen a copy yet I could buy and Halo is far too expensive plus as I mentioned before I can play the games, just not when I'm at college since they are back at home.