GameBanshee Forums

My usual fare for the PC consists of RPGs (surprise, surprise), mixed up with some RTS. Recently, however, I'm inclined to try some shooters. The ones I've played and liked are, more or less in order: Mass Effect (an action RPG, yes, but it plays mostly as a shooter.), Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Halo 1.
I'd like to try something Present-Day or Futuristic for a setting. I absolutely don't play multiplayer, ever. I don't mind games that aren't very recent. The ones I consider are CoD: Modern Warfare, Battlefield: 2142 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

What's your opinion on those? Any other FPSs to recommend? Thanks in advance!

Half Life 1 and 2 are a must play. Also consider Bioshock. Once you get past the hype, it is actually one of the more atmospheric games out there.

Actually, I got bored out of my mind with Half-Life.
My gripe with Bioshock is, indeed, the hype, but I'll consider it.

I currently play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (until Tuesday at least) and I have to say, it's well done. It's not annoyingly realistic and not overly fake either. There's a whole level up and unlock system (you level up through the ranks and unlock new weapons, perks (which can increase your health, reloading speed, make you invisible while firing shots and so forth) and other equipment, like proximity mines) and have these challenges which unlock attachments for the weapons, such as a better grip, new camouflage or a nicer scope).

It's pretty fun, but as you can guess, most of its' "charm" comes from the multiplayer. The single player campaign is only six hours or so hours long in length.

Aw, Dragon Age releases three days earlier in the US. So unfair!
You made me curious about CoD: Modern Warfare. I think I'll look in to that one too. Thanks!

GawainBS wrote:You made me curious about CoD: Modern Warfare. I think I'll look in to that one too. Thanks!

There is a demo for this game out there so I suggest giving it a go to see if you like it or not. Just be warned that it is single-player only, though. Same goes for STALKER and Battlefield 2142.

Regarding STALKER, I played it some time ago and found it to be a decent game. Good atmosphere and gameplay, albeit having a weak story.

Oh, and don't forget FEAR 1 & 2. Great FPSes, although the second one feels a bit console-ish. Both have demos, though, so it is a good thing to try them out before doing anything else.

CoD4 has a pretty short campaign and isn't really worth it for that alone. 2142's single player is just multiplayer maps with bots.

Get STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl. It's (with mods) one of the best single player FPS experiences to date.

Semi-open world, great ballistics, plenty of weapons and an amazing atmosphere. Relatively 'realistic' but not enough to get on your nerves. The AI is also top notch, enemies consistently break away from the main group and try to flank you. It's one of the few games that makes you carefully ration your ammo and supplies, and gauge the risk to reward factor when choosing to engage.

There's currently a Steam offer until November 2 - 75% off, at $4 it's definitely worth a go. Just make sure you install either the Super Mod Pack, Oblivion Lost or L.U.R.K. - without mods the game nowhere near lives up to its potential.

Tycn wrote:The AI is also top notch, enemies consistently break away from the main group and try to flank you. It's one of the few games that makes you carefully ration your ammo and supplies, and gauge the risk to reward factor when choosing to engage.

It depends. At times, they're smart, but there are times where they behave in a dumb manner such as running right into your line of sight in a narrow corridor or bunching up.

As for rationing ammo, at earlier levels, it is a must, but somewhere near the middle, you won't have to worry too much as you'll encounter a lot of enemies armed with Russian and NATO automatic rifles (more common in the later levels) and sub-machine guns. Sniper rifles, on the other hand, are a rarity and it's more important to conserve as much ammo as you can.

Yeah, at about mid-game the risk factor decreases significantly. It's still far better than most shooters at this point, though.

Early game is the best part. So much more satisfying when just about everything in the game is capable of killing you. And of course the first time you swap that rusty Makarov for an AK74...

I also read that Stalker had some RPGish elements. Is that true?

GawainBS wrote:I also read that Stalker had some RPGish elements. Is that true?

Only up till the inventory management, weapon customisation and dialogue choices. The rest are pretty much standard shooter fare.

I went with the 5€ deal on Steam. Thanks for pointing that out.
Also:

Tycn wrote:CoD4 has a pretty short campaign and isn't really worth it for that alone. 2142's single player is just multiplayer maps with bots.

Get STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl. It's (with mods) one of the best single player FPS experiences to date.

Semi-open world, great ballistics, plenty of weapons and an amazing atmosphere. Relatively 'realistic' but not enough to get on your nerves. The AI is also top notch, enemies consistently break away from the main group and try to flank you. It's one of the few games that makes you carefully ration your ammo and supplies, and gauge the risk to reward factor when choosing to engage.

There's currently a Steam offer until November 2 - 75% off, at $4 it's definitely worth a go. Just make sure you install either the Super Mod Pack, Oblivion Lost or L.U.R.K. - without mods the game nowhere near lives up to its potential.

Which specific mod out of those three (or all three) do you recommend and why? Thanks again.

I'd recommend the Super Mod Pack which adds a massive amount of content and is built on top of Oblivion Lost which makes it a much better sandbox experience.
Super Mod Pack mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - Mod DB

If you don't want to deviate from the original game as much, Complete 2009 and LURK are worth taking a look at.
STALKER Complete 2009 mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - Mod DB
L.U.R.K. mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - Mod DB

You might also need to make a few changes before mods will work for the Steam version.
Need help with STALKER mods on Steam. - Guru3D.com Forums

I'm downloading LURK as we speak. Thanks for the link to Steam-issues with mods, that was going to be my next question.

GawainBS wrote:Actually, I got bored out of my mind with Half-Life.

Nice to know I was not the only one. I found Half-Life interesting for about 5 hours and then could barely finish it.

I have not played many shooters, but so far the only ones I really enjoyed were the ones in the Tom Clancy setting. I have not played Rainbow Six: Vegas yet, so I cannot compare it with the earlier titles, but it seems that many people prefer the earlier titles to the lastest ones. I have played Rainbow Six 1 and 2 + Ghost Recon (with all their expansions), and really enjoyed them. Since you liked R6: Vegas I believe you should consider them.

I have also played the first Splinter Cell, but it's different, it requires more manual dexterity as you need to jump and climb. I was disappointed at first, but once I got used to the controls I enjoyed it, though not as much as Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon. I believe the biggest disappointment for me was that it's harder to hit your ennemies. You need to hold your breath when you shoot, which is realistic, but the effect of breathing on aiming is way too much exaggerated! In the game, not holding your breath will make you miss by meters and not by centimeters. Here I was, playing Sam Fisher, a stealth expert, but I could not shoot people that my real self would have been able to shoot easily in real life - even though I am only a casual hunter (or in fact were, because I now prefer to hunt animals with a Canon instead of a Winchester) and not an expert spy!

I'll be interested to know what you think of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. by the way, as it might interest me also.

STALKER is actually quite enjoyable, but like mentioned earlier, use mods. I use Complete 2009, since it's easy to install if you have the Steam version.
I requires manual dexterity too, since you have to aim like in every shooter, but stats of the weapon play a role too.

It's not a shooter, but you can't really leave out Portal. You do shoot.. things. It's really short, but then it's also pretty cheap. Count on it to fill one or two afternoons, very much worth your dollar. It's the last FP(S?), probably since Rise of the Triads even, that actually managed to surprise me with a (semi) new gameplay mechanic.

Couple of suggestion from me.

First of, I really suggest trying F.E.A.R. (and the expansions), if you don't mind FPS with really creepy and scary elements. The scary parts can be best described as The Grudge or similar movie in form of FPS. Scary, bu very addictive.

F.E.A.R. 2 is also worth of shot if your computer is able to run it. Haven't played it on PC, but in XBox 360 instead, so can't say how consolish the PC version is. Though it doesn't beat the first F.E.A.R.

Dead Space is also great game. Similar to Doom in atmosphere, it's very well made and there are some interesting gameplay things added to surprise you time to time.

Also, the latest Wolfenstein was interesting game. Unlike the old versions, it's not as linear. That's because the game consist of world, where you accept missions to do, and you can select if you want to do main quest related mission when you want, side quests or just run around the world freely killing Nazis.

The next one I'm not sure if it's on PC, though I remember seeing PC version somewhere. Clive Barker's Jericho is nice game, with a tad creepy atmosphere combined team controlling. What makes this game special is the fact that you don't run one single character, but instead you can jump to different character in your team, taking control of him or her. This is especially required to overcome certain obstacles, as each character has very different style of weapons and special abilities.

Mass Effect is of course something I recommend, and it seems I wasn't the only one, and have nothing special to add about it. Worth of try.

Tricky wrote:It's not a shooter, but you can't really leave out Portal. You do shoot.. things. It's really short, but then it's also pretty cheap. Count on it to fill one or two afternoons, very much worth your dollar. It's the last FP(S?), probably since Rise of the Triads even, that actually managed to surprise me with a (semi) new gameplay mechanic.

How could I have forgotten Portal? Damn, GLaDOS will be mad. Funny little song at the end too.