# Good PC games from the past 3-4 years **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 12, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805 "2009-04-12T03:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/1 "2009-04-12T03:14:18Z")
I am in search of some PC games with great graphics. A recent upgrade to my computer is allowing me to finally play many of the great games that have come out in the past few years. If it isn’t very graphics intensive, odds are I have played it already on my older machine, but feel free to mention great games anyway in case someone here missed it. I’m open to almost any genre as long as the game isn’t too buggy to be worth playing. Since the upgrade I’ve played through: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty 5: World At War Fallout 3 Psychonauts Crysis Left 4 Dead What other recent games should I check out? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/2 "2009-04-12T03:41:31Z")
It’s slightly outside your range (5 years old), but if you haven’t before, you must play _Half Life 2_ and its expansions. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/3 "2009-04-12T03:46:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s slightly outside your range (5 years old), but if you haven’t before, you must play _Half Life 2_ and its expansions. Good one! I’ve actually played the base game of Half Life 2, but I had to have the graphics fairly low, so low in fact I deemed it not worth playing the expansions. I’ll put this one on the top of the list. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/4 "2009-04-12T04:33:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s slightly outside your range (5 years old), but if you haven’t before, you must play _Half Life 2_ and its expansions. See, I went to Half Life 2 and what not after playing more modern FPS games and it doesn’t hold up. The pacing is too tedious and the controls aren’t as polished. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/5 "2009-04-12T04:38:46Z")
Mass Effect, Crysis Warhead, Empire Total War, TES-IV Oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/6 "2009-04-12T04:45:54Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Mass Effect, Crysis Warhead, Empire Total War, TES-IV Oblivion. Ooh, Oblivion is a good one. Empire: Total War will get there, but if you don’t want something “buggy”, then wait. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/7 "2009-04-12T04:46:40Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > See, I went to Half Life 2 and what not after playing more modern FPS games and it doesn’t hold up. The pacing is too tedious and the controls aren’t as polished. I’m still using an old system so it’s the newest game I’ve played, pretty much. Anyway, the OP hasn’t played those new games yet. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/8 "2009-04-12T06:20:05Z")
For racing, check out [Dirt](http://www.gamespot.com/pc/driving/cmr07/index.html?tag=result;title;0) and the upcoming [Fuel](http://www.gamespot.com/pc/driving/fuel2009/index.html?tag=result;title;0). ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/9 "2009-04-12T06:49:41Z")
> [@Captain\_C](#): > > Good one! I’ve actually played the base game of Half Life 2, but I had to have the graphics fairly low, so low in fact I deemed it not worth playing the expansions. I’ll put this one on the top of the list. **Half Life 2** is fun but I found after I played through it once it I didn’t get anything out of playing through it a second time. Too many parts in that game drag or are annoying to me. I’ve found the stand alone episodes much more enjoyable. Pacing is tighter and things just feel better designed. I’d highly recommend you move on to those instead of re-playing **Half Life 2** **Portal** there’s no reason not to get this. Heck even my wife (who hates FPS’s played through it and loved it. She’s even talking about playing through it a second time lately which is unheard of) Not really graphics intensive but a good game you might have overlooked is **Sins of a Solar Empire** it’s sort of **Civilization** meets **Starcraft** but it is very slow moving so if you want something more fast paced it might not be for you. It also has a expansion pack called **Entrenchment** A real iffy one is **X3: Terran Conflict** space sim where you can go from flying the smallest explorer craft to owning gigantic fleets and factories. The graphics are jaw dropping (nothing like taking a tiny craft and skimming the belly of some huge station to realize the scale of this game). But be prepared to patch as this game is a buggy mess until you do and the difficulty curve is more of a sheer rock face. It’s still one of my favorite series but I understand why others have problems with it. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/10 "2009-04-12T07:37:12Z")
BioShock for sure, and I haven’t played it yet myself but I’ve heard good things about Dead Space. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/11 "2009-04-12T08:22:57Z")
Far Cry 2 is decent. You don’t need to have played the first one, they don’t really follow on from each other story-wise. If you’re into RTS games, there’s Dawn of War 2 and Supreme Commander. ---
**Author:** ![Mann\_Slaughter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/12 "2009-04-13T14:35:23Z")
I was going to suggest “Fallout 3”, but I see it’s already on your list. I’m currently spending time with both “[Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08](http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/tigerwoodspgatour08/index.html)” and “[Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance](http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/supremecommanderforgedalliance/index.html)” with all the bells and whistles turned on at 1920x1200 resolution. They’re both absolutely GORGEOUS, and fun! May I ask what are the specs of your upgraded system? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/13 "2009-04-13T15:40:12Z")
Many great suggestions, thank you. I think I’ll be set for months at this rate. > [@Mann\_Slaughter](#): > > May I ask what are the specs of your upgraded system? 22" widescreen monitor, 1680x1050 resolution. Soooo pretty! 2.5 Ghz 9850 Quadcore processor 4 Gb of duel channel ram Nvidia 9800 GTX graphics card 512mb 600 Gb Sata hard drive Windows XP pro 1x IDE DVD drive (knew I forgot to order something when piecing it together, found this in the closet) Up from my old computer of: 17" CRT monitor 2.4 Ghz AMD Athlon processor 1.5 Gb ram, unknown clock speed ATI 9600pro video card 250 Gb IDE hard drive Windows 2000 server edition It’s been a hell of an upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/14 "2009-04-13T16:55:41Z")
Seconding Portal, its a short game but its a gaming experience that shouldn’t be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-pc-games-from-the-past-3-4-years/492805/15 "2009-04-13T17:02:28Z")
> [@Mann\_Slaughter](#): > > “[Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance](http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/supremecommanderforgedalliance/index.html)” with all the bells and whistles turned on at 1920x1200 resolution. Sweet! I never knew Supreme Commander had an expansion pack! It looks like it’s stand alone too so I don’t have to dig out my copy of the original. I’m downloading this tonight, thanks for mentioning it!