What other non-flight sim games are you playing?

[FlatSpinMan]

Boomerang's thread, or was it Cybermat's?, about other game screenshots inspired this thread.

I hadn't played anything new for years. Last time I played non-flight sim games was around the time of Call of Duty, the original. Of course I had kept more up-to-date with the Total War series, but had to ban myself from playing them ever again as I have a bad habit of becoming hopelessly, utterly addicted to them.

 

What other games are you playing, or have you played and recommend? For years I've played nothing but Il-2, so a couple of months ago I finally started playing some other types, and have been impressed at what there is out there. It's really nice having a "story". I know that some find things too scripted and linear, but for me, a story is so helpful in making me invest in the action of the game.

 

Currently I'm playing two fairly massive hit games (and with reason, too). I'll explain what I like about them, for those that, like me, have been out of the gaming world for some time. There's some really cool things available now. I'm also stunned at how cheaply you can pick them up, too. When I used to buy games more regularly (in NZ), everything cost me $60 - 100, but now with downloaded titles I can get the mon sale for peanuts. Of course I'm well behind the times, so these games aren't the latest things, but they're still new enough for me.

 

1. Dishonored.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dishonored

I'm having an interesing time playing this. I'm hopeless, take ages to complete a level, and get killed fairly often, but it keeps me coming back.

In short, you're a good guy assassin on a revenge mission. Fantastically detailed, explorable city maps; missions that you can approach in several different ways; no need for particularly fast button combinations (I'm completely inept at that kind of thing); great, pestilence-ridden Victorian/Edwardian steam-punk-esque setting; good range of difficulty settings; a great amount of background information on the "world" that, sometimes tedious, is generally interesting and helps build a sense of being in that place. One final thing I like is the little notes you stumble across sometimes, notes between lovers, diary entries from plague sufferers. I think they work quite well in creating a feeling of despair.

 

2. Batman: Arkham City

Good things.

You're Batman. 

It looks great.

The score is dynamic and really builds atmosphere. Reminds me of the effect that the "X-wing" games had. That was the last time I really remarked on in-game music.

The world is nice and gothic - I really like the grungy, chaotic feeling of Arkham City. I t captures the sense of despair in the early 80's that the criminals were going to overrun the cities ; there's lots of bad guys you can practise taking down before you get on with the main missions; again, there's lots of options for how you take out the baddies.

You're Batman. Really him! (Sort of.)

You can play as Catwoman. 

You can look at Catwoman.

 

 

[Nankeen]

Boomerang's thread, or was it Cybermat's?, about other game screenshots inspired this thread.

I hadn't played anything new for years. Last time I played non-flight sim games was around the time of Call of Duty, the original. Of course I had kept more up-to-date with the Total War series, but had to ban myself from playing them ever again as I have a bad habit of becoming hopelessly, utterly addicted to them.

 

What other games are you playing, or have you played and recommend? For years I've played nothing but Il-2, so a couple of months ago I finally started playing some other types, and have been impressed at what there is out there. It's really nice having a "story". I know that some find things too scripted and linear, but for me, a story is so helpful in making me invest in the action of the game.

 

Currently I'm playing two fairly massive hit games (and with reason, too). I'll explain what I like about them, for those that, like me, have been out of the gaming world for some time. There's some really cool things available now. I'm also stunned at how cheaply you can pick them up, too. When I used to buy games more regularly (in NZ), everything cost me $60 - 100, but now with downloaded titles I can get the mon sale for peanuts. Of course I'm well behind the times, so these games aren't the latest things, but they're still new enough for me.

 

1. Dishonored.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dishonored

I'm having an interesing time playing this. I'm hopeless, take ages to complete a level, and get killed fairly often, but it keeps me coming back.

In short, you're a good guy assassin on a revenge mission. Fantastically detailed, explorable city maps; missions that you can approach in several different ways; no need for particularly fast button combinations (I'm completely inept at that kind of thing); great, pestilence-ridden Victorian/Edwardian steam-punk-esque setting; good range of difficulty settings; a great amount of background information on the "world" that, sometimes tedious, is generally interesting and helps build a sense of being in that place. One final thing I like is the little notes you stumble across sometimes, notes between lovers, diary entries from plague sufferers. I think they work quite well in creating a feeling of despair.

 

2. Batman: Arkham City

Good things.

You're Batman. 

It looks great.

The score is dynamic and really builds atmosphere. Reminds me of the effect that the "X-wing" games had. That was the last time I really remarked on in-game music.

The world is nice and gothic - I really like the grungy, chaotic feeling of Arkham City. I t captures the sense of despair in the early 80's that the criminals were going to overrun the cities ; there's lots of bad guys you can practise taking down before you get on with the main missions; again, there's lots of options for how you take out the baddies.

You're Batman. Really him! (Sort of.)

You can play as Catwoman. 

You can look at Catwoman.

Hey FlatSpinMan,

 

Those Xwing game's where great werent they

I

Every now and then, I go back to Arma 3, its great, been a fan of all the Arma series. There are many, different levels of combat and you can fly air craft also, (FM is not like BOS tho). Has good, camera's, editer and a large community that are constantly adding mod's. Some become Standalones, like: DayZ and Iron Front Liberation 1944.

 

Diaspora Shattered Armistice was a blast to play. Great with buddies on line also. Its Free: http://diaspora.hard-light.net/

 

 

Keeping an eye on the up comming "Star Wars Battlefront". Frostbite 3 Engine.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOsVSkmXD1tc6uiJ2hc0wYQ

Edited July 20, 2014 by Boomerang

[Rjel]

I played Sniper Elite v2 a lot. It's a little linear I suppose but there are some very well done scenarios and it is a good looking game. I enjoyed it quite a lot, playing it for a couple of hundred hours, which really surprised me. I enjoyed it enough I pre-ordered Sniper Elite v3. To this point, that game has been an utter disappointment. I can understand making a new version of a popular game and trying to make it better, but in this case all that was familiar and working well in SEv2 did not transition to v3. Hoping for some patches. Sounds somewhat familiar to flight sim fans I imagine.

 

I agree about Diaspora Shattered Armistice. I had just finished watching the series on DVD when this was released. Very well done. I wish there were more.

[Nankeen]

They look good Extreme_one. Have you tried: Matrix Reloaded?

[Feathered_IV]

I'm revisiting Doom.  Using the Doomsday launcher program I'm able use the third party-map files that are available.  The Icarus and Hell Revealed compilations are especially good.  Very clever, intricate levels with some real architectural flourishes.

 

I picked up a copy of Battlfield3 from Origin while they were giving it away for free and have been trying out the single player experience.  It's rubbish.  It's just amazing how much gameplay know-how has been lost in favour of a lot of dumb show.

[sturmkraehe]

I am at my third of forth playthrough of Mass Effect 1 to 3. 

 

It has a great storyline, despite some logic holes in it (which game doesn't?). The ME universe is just awesome (although most aliens look and are too much human for my taste but that's a flaw of most science fiction stories).

[FlatSpinMan]

This has already been a good thread. Star Wars Battlefront. Oh my. I have no idea what kind of game that is, but trailers certainly grabbed my attention.

Aargh! And a Battlestar Galactica game!

[FlatSpinMan]

Watch Dogs - the type of game and the speed don't look like my thing, but the detail and scale of the map look incredible in that demo. Such a variety of terrain, everything looked deformable, and all done on the move.

 

 

Mass Effect 2 - I stopped about halfway through. I liked the universe, the score - especially when standing near the wreck of the mothership, looking up at all the shooting stars. That was amazing. I also loved the ability to customise the character - that was one of my favourite parts of the game, seriously. I just don't particularly like running round shooting things, because I'm quite crap at it. Really interesting universe, too. Actually, I also enjoyed the planetary surveying and mining bits of it. I sort of liked everything but the main parts of the missions, I think. I will play it again though.

 

 

Doom. Doom?! Really? Doom? Which one - the original? What's the appeal? Sorry for the third degree, but this surprises me.

 

 

Sniper Elite. I'd never heard of it, but wow, that looks really cool. I base that purely on about 4 screenshots I just saw, but detailed WW2 maps. Sniping. What's not to like?

 

Seriously, this has been such a great thread for me.  Thanks for the info, guys.

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

 1. Watch Dogs. Finished the main game already, now doing the Gang hideouts and such. Been invaded by other players a couple of times. Killed a few, some got away. Quite OK game, but there could have been more to it. AI is strange at times, but OK for a game.

 

 2. Prison Architect. Ever wanted to run a prison? Just try it Not so easy to make a working one or are you the one who does not give a darn about prisoners?

 

 3. Gunpoint. A game that has nice puzzles in it and more levels coming by community. Graphics are not everything.

 

 4. Tomb Raider (PS4). First Lara Croft game ever played by me. Was entertaining and shows the power of these new consoles, graphics weren't bad at all.

 

 5. More to be added..

[FlatSpinMan]

On a tangential note, have you guys ever seen these Christopher Walken parody game videos? I found them hilarious, but that may just be me.

[Revvin]

I'm playing a lot of Assetto Corsa at the moment, also a lot of time in Battlefield 4 but want to make more time for DCS and to give GRID Autosport a try. Also playing a bit of DayZ Epoch on my mates server and some ARMA 3 wasteland

Edited July 20, 2014 by Revvin

[Cybermat47]

That addiction to Total War you mentioned?

 

I've got it

[=LD=Hethwill]

Xenonauts

 

XCom Long War

 

Ultimate General Gettysburg

 

and some others for the weekly events ( Arma3, mount&blade, ... )

[Cybermat47]

Ultimate General Gettysburg

 

The guy who made that is a modding legend in the Total War community

[FlatSpinMan]

I was looking at Xenonauts last week. It struck me as being more like the old XCom than the newest XCom. How do you find it?

Is long war an add-on?

 

Total War games are just too good. I will just waste days in front the PC if I play one, so I don't allow myself to.

[Felix58]

If you are a WW2 tragic and you want a break from "twitch" games give Battlefront's Combat Mission Red Thunder a try.  Especially good if you use the WEGO system.

 

Also enjoying Assetto Corsa.  

[Creepermoss]

This has already been a good thread. Star Wars Battlefront. Oh my. I have no idea what kind of game that is, but trailers certainly grabbed my attention.

Aargh! And a Battlestar Galactica game!

Play Battlefront #2 if you can find a copy cheap, which I bet you can. The new one MIGHT be badly done, we'll have to wait and see, but #2 was great fun.

 

I tried out Robocraft today, and it was more fun than I imagined. It's free, if you want to try it, and it feels like playing with legos, only you can use what you build to fight other players. My inner 10 year old almost had a joygasm.

Edited July 21, 2014 by [JG2]Creepermoss

[Finkeren]

Since the birth of my daughter, I haven't had much time for computer games other than quick sessions with various flight simulators, mostly BoS presently.

 

I used to be something of a fan of the Assassins Creed series, anything related to Half Life and have had good fun with some of the tactical MP FPS's (was stuck on Red Orchestra 2 for a while) as well as various RPG games (Skyrim was fun, as was the first 2 Gothic titles)

 

My biggest passion apart from flight sims has always been strategy. I can't seem to find the enthusiam for the really hard core ones, though I have played a bit of Hearts of Iron and Crusaders II, but I'm a huge fan of the Total War series. I got hooked on the first Rome title and haven't let go since. I still think that the best, and also most heavily modded, installment was Medieval 2 - that's the one I keep coming back to. I recently picked up the Third Age total conversion again, which has grown into an absolutely fantastic game in its own right, even if the difficulty is draconian.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTcNL7dU_vA

Edited July 21, 2014 by Finkeren

[6S.Manu]

Assetto Corsa

Divinity: Original Sin

Dark Souls 2

 

But something like 30 minutes every day... 

 

PS: waiting for Elite: Dangerous next update.

Edited July 21, 2014 by 6S.Manu

[Feathered_IV]

 

 

Doom. Doom?! Really? Doom? Which one - the original? What's the appeal? Sorry for the third degree, but this surprises me.

 

Doom II.  Sort of surprised me too.  The Icarus and Hell Revealed compilations are especially well crafted.  Some fiendishly clever level design.   

Gameplay is still very good, elementary as it is.  No other game delivers that same paradoxical feeling of being alone, overarmed, hugely powerful and highly vulnerable at the same time.  Many of the levels show real world architectural talent.  Traps and secrets abound.  It's still a great game and platform for creativity.

Oh, and Legend of Grimrock.  Great little dungeon crawler and a bargain at 9.99 from gog.com

 

[6S.Manu]

Doom. Doom?! Really? Doom? Which one - the original? What's the appeal? Sorry for the third degree, but this surprises me.

 

You have to try Doom2 using ZDoom and the "Brutal Doom" mod.

 

It's still so fun!

 

Edited July 21, 2014 by 6S.Manu

[Sternjaeger]

Getting (belatedly) lost in the absolute beauty of Far Cry 3, the mind boggles at the potential of that game!

 

I was playing Portal 2 as well, but it kinda lost me.. the variation in scenery in the middle of the game was cool, but it's now back to chambers and.. well it's an extremely structured game, it's not about your imagination, but about you guessing what they thought.. 

Edited July 21, 2014 by Sternjaeger

[=LD=Hethwill]

I was looking at Xenonauts last week. It struck me as being more like the old XCom than the newest XCom. How do you find it?

Is long war an add-on?

 

Total War games are just too good. I will just waste days in front the PC if I play one, so I don't allow myself to.

 

Xenos is what you remember from the original.

The flair of all anguish and glorious moments are there when your favourite squaddies fight their way through the invasion.

The complexity is more in-depth in my opinion and a tad less random as in the original.

All the management is concurrent to what we knew with a more "to the point" interface.

 

Maybe what is not how we remember ... well... maybe the overall feeling is outdated to some players as the graphics are not extremely compeling. Albeit they do perfect for a digitalized "tabletop" squad battle type. Also the air combat is more demanding from what I remember. More demanding means more complex. You can have multiple interceptors, with a vast array of systems, etc. Still the green screen top down view aka. 1942 arcade, but with more controls.

 

I definitely recommend it, for its price, for its longevity, for its subject and above all the game design. They didn't reinvent the wheel, they just smoothed it.

 

Also it has mod support, so always a plus.

 

But mind you, I do go through Firaxis XCOM a lot as well and the Long War mod ( done with help from Firaxis ! +1 ) is absolutely heart wrenching and a totally new dimension to XCOM.

 

Hope it helps.

[FlatSpinMan]

Keep 'em coming.

I'd actually looked into Battlefront WW2 games but then forgotten all about them. They sound right up my alley. I may just find an old Panzer General hex game though and lose myself in that.

 

Playing Dishonoured has got me thinking about Assassin's Creed now.I'd never tried the stealth type of game. Dishonoured is good as you can go stealthily or just murder everybody. I tend to sneak about the place painstakingly for an hour, only to fall over or fart at an inopportune moment, pulling all the guards down on me and leaving me no choice but to kill every last one of them.

 

FarCry 3 - now that I've broken my fast, this does look interesting.

[csThor]

ARMA 3, but online online as part of a tactical gaming clan and only with the Bundeswehr Mod. Currently co-developing the Training Concept for tanks and waiting for my Helicopter Training (to be "licensed" to fly them in our coop missions) to continue. Oh, and waiting for the next release of the BWMod ... because of the UH Tiger.

Edited July 21, 2014 by csThor

[Sternjaeger]

FarCry 3 - now that I've broken my fast, this does look interesting.

 

thoroughly recommended mate, a greatly polished product that is varied and that gives you a lot of freedom to follow parallel game lines, which helps keeping things varied. 

[sturmkraehe]

Mass Effect 2 - I stopped about halfway through. I liked the universe, the score - especially when standing near the wreck of the mothership, looking up at all the shooting stars. That was amazing. I also loved the ability to customise the character - that was one of my favourite parts of the game, seriously. I just don't particularly like running round shooting things, because I'm quite crap at it. Really interesting universe, too. Actually, I also enjoyed the planetary surveying and mining bits of it. I sort of liked everything but the main parts of the missions, I think. I will play it again though.

 

I suggest to buy ME1 and play through it. The graphics is definitely outdated as is the game mechanic and control. But you will appreciate ME2 so much more. ME2 is not just a successor, it's a sequel. The story that you started in ME1 continues in ME2 and ends in ME3. You can play one Shepard impersonification throughout all three parts and certain important decisions taken in the previous part may have certain consequences in the other parts.

 

When you reach ME3 I highly recommend the DLC Leviathan: This is imho the most awesome side storyline of the whole series and provides wonderful background information.

 

I also recommend the ME3 DLC Citadel that is just entertaining. There are so funny dialogues and hints and sidekicks that it's worthwhile the bucks. The story is also quite interesting and the missions are really a challenge (at least at veteran level)

 

If you have difficulty with shooting; What really is key to success in ME (all parts): Use the cover function and the biotic/techno skills of you and your team mates. Then most fights are no big problems. You may also adapt the difficulty level to your needs. No necessity to run through ME in nightmare difficulty level.

[sop]

When not flying atm..

 

Sins of a Solar Empire, - very easy to lose hours/whole evenings.

 

Arma 2/3 - in between my main focus at the moment but never wiped from the drive, always something to test or jump into a coop/server when bored.

 

Purchased Batman orgins in steam sales but have yet to touch it.

(edit)almost forgot wolfenstein The new order on drive too )) its nice brainless shooter with b movie story... think Fatherland+guns

Edited July 23, 2014 by sop

[Cybermat47]

I played a Halo game for the first time in months yesterday. Simple gameplay, but tons of fun

[snowsnipersnow_sniper]

I only play flight sim nowadays.

 

but i used to be a fanplayer of HALF LIFE  series all episodes ( I did it one more time with the free source engine remade black mesa episode 0 ! )

 

 

 

http://www.blackmesasource.com/

http://www.blackmesasource.com/pages/download_manager.html

 

 

F.E.A.R is a good one too.

Warcraft II in lan with my sons

assassin creed first was good. now it's boring for me. but i like the graphisms.

[Matt]

I think i only really played L.A. Noire, Far Cry 3, Splinter Cell Blacklist and X-Com this year apart from flightsims.

 

All great games and as for Far Cry and Splinter Cell i'm very happy that the quality of the series improved a lot for me with these recent releases. I'm a bit worried about Far Cry 4, because it looks too much like a Far Cry 3 in a different setting, but i think i'll still get it. I think Black List did not sell too well, but i still hope for a sequel.

 

I mostly played X-Com again because of the Enemy Within DLC, which totally surprised me, because it has some really nice additions and i wouldn't recommend X-Com without that DLC anymore.

 

L.A. Noire just has a great story and i usually finish it once every year since the release.

 

I also bought Batman Origins, but only played it for a few minutes. Seems too much like a Arkham City remake, which is not really what i needed. I think Arkham Asylum was still the best by far and i hope Arkham Knight can turn the series back to that level.

 

As for Mass Effect, i originally bought Mass Effect 2 first and it did not feel to me that the first part is really necessary and after i finished ME2, i was a bit bored by ME1 (especially those missions where you have to drive around in some sort tank) and stopped playing it. Then actually finished ME3 first (apart from the ending, it's still quite good) and then finished ME1 some time afterwards. I've no real urge to touch either ME1 or ME3, but i'll probably finish ME2 some time in the future again. For me, it's by far the most interesting part of the series.

[Finkeren]

One game I forgot, but which I have enjoyed immensely recently: Double Fines "Psychonauts". I picked it up practically for free via Steam and feel enormous guilt that I didn't pay full price for it back in the day.

 

I don't care that the graphics are 10 years old and look the part. I don't care that it's really just a fairly linear platformer. I don't care that it's aimed at children and young adults.

 

It's Tim Schafer at his best and It's one of the most creative, hilarious and lovably weird things I've ever experienced on a computer. It's kinda like "Inception" if it had been directed by Henry Selick.

[6S.Manu]

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

One game I forgot, but which I have enjoyed immensely recently: Double Fines "Psychonauts". I picked it up practically for free via Steam and feel enormous guilt that I didn't pay full price for it back in the day.

 

I don't care that the graphics are 10 years old and look the part. I don't care that it's really just a fairly linear platformer. I don't care that it's aimed at children and young adults.

 

It's Tim Schafer at his best and It's one of the most creative, hilarious and lovably weird things I've ever experienced on a computer. It's kinda like "Inception" if it had been directed by Henry Selick.

You shouldn't care about the fact that it's aimed at youth; computer and video games are toys, fullstop. No matter what we try and dress them up as.

 

And it's all good. No harm in that. Psychonauts was friggin' great.

[Finkeren]

Sure. Computer games are toys. No argument there.

 

However, not all toys are meant for children, if you know what I mean

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

Sure. Computer games are toys. No argument there.

 

However, not all toys are meant for children, if you know what I mean

Hell yeah. I'd classify an L-39 as a toy. Not much commercial value to it, but you play with it. It's a toy for big boys and girls!

[Finkeren]

Well, my thoughts were going in another, not quite as appropriate direction

 

With "toys" I was thinking... well,you know: the kind of oblong, phallic objects, often made of black plastic, with lots of intriguing fuctions that vibrates in a most satisfying and realistic manner:

 

[Nankeen]

Far Cry 3 was great. Has depth, like: Racing, hunting, shooting style galleries, where a player with the highest score has their name displayed on a rock, heck you could even sit a hand of cards if you chose to. From what I can recall, these where some of the side mission discoveries while playing within the main story. Crafting is the key for the amount of weapons and ammo you could carry.

 

Far Cry 4 is due for release on the 18th of November this year.

[Nankeen]

Has anyone played: "Vietcong" or the "Brothers in arms" series? 

Iron Front Liberation 1944, (Based on Arma 2) is good value.

BeamNG is fun, if you like trashing vehicles.

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

Well, my thoughts were going in another, not quite as appropriate direction

 

With "toys" I was thinking... well,you know: the kind of oblong, phallic objects, often made of black plastic, with lots of intriguing fuctions that vibrates in a most satisfying and realistic manner: