You should pick up the first two Thief games. I think they’re better than the third. The maps are bigger and there’s no intermediate city level-between-levels, which I thought detracted from the game more than they added.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with it or now, but Cave Story isn’t just random anything, it’s by far the best freeware game ever made. I say this having played fewer than 0.1% of all freeware games ever made, because Cave Story is so good that I’m confident that it makes all challengers, however fun they may be, seem like Black and White.
Seriously, you should get it.
Sorry I wasn’t insulting that particular game. I DO want recommendations and I’m fine with freeware. I was replying to the ‘fill it out’ part of his/her comment.
I’ll look into it.
If you’re into RTS games, the Command and Conquer series will round out most of your list. There’s:
C&C (plus expansion pack)
Red Alert (two expansion packs)
Tiberian Sun (and expansion pack)
C&C Renegade (FPS, critically panned but still fun)
Red Alert 2 (and Yuri’s Revenge, expansion pack that could count as another game)
Generals and Zero Hour
C&C3
Kane’s Wrath
Red Alert 3 (and an expansion pack)
Edit: forgot to mention you can get most of these in the C&C: The First Decade pack, which you might find in a bargain bin near you. C&C3 and Kane’s Wrath come in a two-pack and should be reasonably priced by now.
Need for Speed Underground 1 and 2 are fun. The rest of the NFS series is hit-and-miss. Pro Street is hard if you’re looking for an NFS game that actually tries to be realistic.
I’ll second or third the vote for GTA: Vice City. No real character maintenance to speak of (unlike CJ in GTA: SA who has to be fed, exercised and groomed!) and a good if somewhat derivative storyline. But you get to fly a plane around dropping porn posters all over town and you get to save a rock band from a crazy transvestite stalker! You can also go onto the golf course and start busting heads with a nine iron. All kinds of fun for the whole family!
You can get a bunch of stuff off Steam; For role-playing, I nominate Divine Divinity for it’s Diablo 2 hack and slash and lots of story-telling (not necessary the best), the Witcher.
You’ve lost Freelancer? Try settling off a lesser alternative: Darkstar One
If you like Disciples II, you may want try locating Elderlord I, Elderlord II and the Spellforce trilogy. There’s also King’s Bounty, the remake of the original inspiration for HoMM. And oh yeah, Age of Wonders, Age of Wonders II and Age of Wonders II: Shadow Magic are good addition. (I don’t mean Age of Empires - it’s Age of Wonders!)
Then for casual ‘inide’ zombie-shooting, try Crimsonland
Try to find Undying from the bargain bin if you like scary FPS.
And you have Max Payne 2, but not 1? Same for Homeworld 1.
Try the Quest for Glory series (they may still have a full anthology somewhere in some bargain game shops). They run well off DOS-Box.
Go to Gametap and check out the free games. The old games there fit thematically with what you’ve already installed.
You’ve already got Psychonauts, which is likely the best free game I’ve seen in a while. Everyone I know loves Sam & Max, and you can get the fourth episode for free. (I haven’t decided if I should just wait and get the earlier games first, though.)
You know what–I haven’t had a chance to try most of these games myself, now that I look what’s actually free. But here’s a link so that others can tell you what is good on there.
Alternatively, you can pay $10 a month and get access to all the GameTap games. It’s totally worth it- there’s plenty of dross in there but definitely $120/year’s worth of good stuff.
Undying is listed.
Max Payne 1, Homeworld 1 and Homeworld Cataclysm are all MIA.
90. Cave Story Installed it and applied an English patch.
I’ve got quite a list to look for this weekend. We’ll see how I do.
Ditch HoMM V, and try and track down HoMM III. Far superior.
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Freelancer
- Rise of Nations Gold
- Darkstar One
-
Warcraft II
96 Kings Quest Collection
Almost there but my budget is getting a little thin.
You just need 4 more?
Sword of the Stars
Dawn of War II
Monkey Island, the re-release
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11
HawkX - the reviews panned it, but it looks kind of fun
Puzzle Kingdoms - strangely addictive, but repetitive.
What, no classic Doom? You must have the great original, probably the most playable and influential game ever written. It costs just a few bucks from Steam and plays beautifully on a modern system if you use one of the many free sourceports to run it. (I use GZDoom).
This is one game no serious gamer should be without.
Call Of Duty 2! You can get it at Walmart for $20 or less. Six discs of WWII FPS glory!
Emporer: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is good if all you’ve got in the way of sims are the classics.
Also: I enjoyed I Wanna Be The Guy. I thought it had some really good level design, and that it was fun. But be warned–it’s a ‘love it or hate it’, and a lot of people hate it. Also, it’s really really hard.