Video gamers, help me.

[theweaselking]

I'm jonesing for video games again, and I don't know what I'm looking for.

What I want is a FPS game, where:
o - single-player mode is how the game is meant to be played
o - squad-combat is kept to a minimum. No friendly AIs, dammit. I hate dealing with friendlies who suck.
o - the opponents are semi-realistic. No Doom-style "hit him 300 times with a rocket launcher" to win, please - give me Call Of Duty or Max Payne or the first half of Far Cry.
o - addendum to previous: I'd like it if hit locations mattered. None of this Half-life or Unreal shit where hitting a guy in the foot kills him just as fast as hitting him in the head.
o - it should run on a PC.

I don't care about setting. I'm willing to consider first-person *sneakers* like Thief or Splinter Cell, but nothing from UbiSoft unless you're also going to provide me with a crack to make the game run normally without their "Starforce" shit. I'm happy to buy the game, but I'm not running crippleware on my PC to play it.

Who's got ideas?

Before they're suggested: I have the complete Medal Of Honour and Call Of Duty serieses, as well as the first three Splinter Cell and Thief games. I've got Half-life 1 and 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, both Max Paynes (despite their not really being *first* person), Far Cry, System Shock 1 (third-greatest game EVER) and 2. I've got Brothers In Arms and both Soldier Of Fortunes. EDIT: Also I have Undying and FEAR. I have played Return To Wolfenstein and it got totally boring after the big monsters showed up, so I never finished it.

Anyone got any further suggestions that meet my requirements? Doom 3 doesn't, for the record.

Comments

[flemco.livejournal.com]

Have you played Clive Barker's Undying? If not, forgive the graphics and hit that shit.

Also: Deus Ex, the original. They make high-res texture and skin files for it now.

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

I was going to say you'd covered everything I've played that fits those, but then I saw this. I have to second Deus Ex.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I actually own *two* copies of Undying. It's just that awesome.

(I got a second copy for free in a pack with a bunch of other games, and now I lend it out.)

[neobitch.livejournal.com]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. might fit the bill. I have not played it myself, only watched the Fabulous Boymeat play it, and while there are times when you have to accompany an NPC to [some location], the vast majority of it seemed to be sneaking around solo and working altitude/angles in order to get good shots.

[flemco.livejournal.com]

Now, if you're looking for NEW games:

GUN is kind of fun, but I'm not sure you'd enjoy the gameplay. A big chunk is also 3rd-person shooter, so yeah.

Oblivion is also first person, but not a shooter. Much. Ehn.

You know, I just realized that the only FPS I play anymore are either Half-Life mods or old.

[opaqueplanet.livejournal.com]

Oblivion is hell of awesome, but no, not what I'd call a shooter. All though you can equip a bow. *snerk* Not exactly a BFG...

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I'm looking for new-to-me, not necessarily new. And I've got Oblivion, and Bloodlines, but while both are first-person, neither are the kind of twitchgame I'm looking for.

[vagabond27.livejournal.com]

Stalker is pretty odd. I cant decide if I like it.

F.E.A.R. seems to be a game made to fit your list bullet point by bullet point.
There are a few enemies who require you to throw heavy ordinance at them to knock down, but they're encased in metal sxo it makes sense, and they're few and far between.

[vagabond27.livejournal.com]

*so it makes sense

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

FEAR was good, but not very long and with very little replay value. I've already got it, I just forgot it when I made the list.

[caerlas.livejournal.com]

unrelated, but very cool

[the-colombian.livejournal.com]

RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS will rule you...

[pyroofone.livejournal.com]

I have s.t.a.l.k.e.r. and I can led you it when I get you C&C3.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I picked up C&C3, actually. It was on sale cheap.

Verdict: It's no Supreme Commander. At all. But it's not bad.

[divinevirus.livejournal.com]

It has been a while since I played a FPS, but I really, really must third Deus Ex. It sounds EXACTLY what you are looking for. Other then that, I have also heard good things about STALKER, but I have never played it.

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

Battlefield 1942 is pretty good, so long as you download the patch first.

I have it and the Secret Weapons expansion, if you like.

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

Wait, sorry. I forgot "no squad combat".

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I've played B1942. It seemed to be, uh, only even *playable* in multiplayer online. Pretty pointless, singleplayer.

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

Painkiller is all kinds of awesome.

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

There's a new PC FPS called Bioshock coming out in just a bit that focuses on single-player mode. So far, hype about it has been huge, but hype is hype after all.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Bioshock is, last time I checked, XBox 360 only. Having it be on the PC would make me insanely happy, since I don't own a 360.

And it's not just hype. It's hype about the team that made System Shock 1 and 2, who are not making a 3 only because EA wouldn't sell them the license. That's going to be awesome, outright.

[ismarc.livejournal.com]

No way! Bioshock is definitely going to be available for the PC (there'd be a riot from SS2 fans if it wasn't). Release date is scheduled for August 21st, if I recall correctly but fixed dates rarely stick in the software industry.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I was planning on being one of the people to riot.

Even though SS2 wasn't a great game, only a good one. System Shock *1* was a great game.

[ismarc.livejournal.com]

I suppose it's arguable. I'm particularly fond of SS2 due to its emphasis on atmosphere and the careful attention to sound stage to achieve that end (I'm a sound design geek). But both are great games and set standards for the genre in my opinion. In any case, I count myself amongst the waiting-for-Bioshock-with-baited-breath geeks.

I'd sell my soul to see a (properly done) SS1 remake but that will never happen as Irrational doesn't own the rights to the franchise.

As for recommendations, it looks as if you've played all the same games I have (the good ones). I've been replaying older games due to a lack of good, new material. You might try the older Star Wars: Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games (though the last one, Jedi Academy isn't even worth considering, IMO). Aside from that I can't think of anything terribly compelling.

[paradoxicmotion.livejournal.com]

It is not 360-only. PC system requirements were announced a day or two ago. I can't remember what they are off the top of my head. In fact, the first thing I thought of when I saw what you wrote was Bioshock.

As the spiritual successor to a couple of my favorite games ever, I am, needless to say, excited.

[xengar.livejournal.com]

well, I was beaten to the two I was going to mention, but I figure I might as well chime in anyway.

The first Deus Ex fits your requirements very well, although there are a few places where you have to be careful of hitting friendlies, and some enemies can absorb a ton of damage (but there's usually another way around them). I never played mucr of the second one, Invisible War. They changed the interface unessicarly in ways I didn't like, but more importantly the engine they used HATES my video card. For no aparent reason it was like trying to run Unreal Tournament on a Pentium 75.

BioShock is what the System Shock people went off to work on after their troubles with Electronic Arts. It's supposed to be comming out this next month, and if it lives up to any portion of its hype,its going to be eating up a lot of many peoples time.

[chizzer.livejournal.com]

Deus Ex
Deus Ex 2
Freedom Fighters (lesser known, but great fun.)

Actually, check out Call of Juarez. It's a first-person shooter/adventure game with a spaghetti-western theme. You alternately play as two characters parallel in a storyline. The "good" character is more about finding weapons, conserving ammo (somewhat), using his whip as a weapon and a tool, and eventually getting a bow with a very cool bow and arrow system.

The other character is a hardass pistol-wielding gunfighter, straight up. You can dual-wield pistols, or even hold a pistol in one hand and a bible in the other (while reading off bible passages regarding death and punishment!!!)

Realistic hit boxes, too.

Troll here

[raie.livejournal.com]

Try Freelancer.

Re: Troll here

[publius1.livejournal.com]

Seconded -- not a particularly deep game, but very fun.

[psyco-path.livejournal.com]

I got nothing for you.

Though I did pick up Doom the original on xbox live arcade.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

It you don't mind archeo- games, I can recommend Marathon.

http://trilogyrelease.bungie.org

The above link is to a freeware port for both Windows and Mac. (Mayhe Linux too... it's been a while, and I'm too lazy to learn Linux.)

-- Steve enjoys the heck out of the first two, but keep in mind they're ports from games contemporary with System Shock.