Specifically, I’ve just beaten Hitman 2 (Professional,dang it all. It’s hard to consistently rate Silent Assassin,) and I loooooooved it. Much better game than the original. I was wondering what else may be out there that offers the same mix of action, stealth, and open-ended goal-oriented game play.
Anyone?
If your looking for action and stealth, check out Thief I and II. You can find both games bundled together at Best buy’s for 15 dollars. The only other game that comes to mind that you might like is Deus Ex. I’m sure someone else will be able to recommend more. These are just the ones I’m currently playing.
Ah, yes. I’d wondered about Thief. Thanks. As for others, I’ve already played Deus Ex. Loved it. Another related one you may want to check out is Red Faction. Very similar setup as Deus Ex (but not really as good, IMO. Still fun though). I understand there’s already a Red Faction 2 out, but I haven’t played it, and I’m witing on Deus Ex 2.
Go for them! Thief (I and II) are the best first person games I’ve ever played, I just can say it’s the only one that made my hands sweat and paralyzed me in terror!! :eek:
Then, I was wandering hours and hours through the vast and murky levels to discover new things and trying to perform strange actions (killing people in odd ways, experimenting with characters, etc.). Wonderful and innovative concept!
Red Faction is far less complex then Dues Ex and the plots don’t compare. Red Factions is pretty close to being on rails.
I’ve been playing System Shock 2 and it has some similarities with Deus Ex in interface and play style and Theif in atmosphere.
I played the demo for Hitman. You may want to try No One Lives Forever and the sequel. They seem to have a good mix of action and sneaking, with swinging spy humor thrown in for good measure.
And that’s not all. Garrett is coming for more:
Vice City
No One Lives Forever 2 was the game of the year last year for many sites- has stealth elements weel implemented along with alot of humor and pretty good graphics.
Anyone interested in setting up a Doper Video Game swap? We all have games we are not playing anymore or have finished. For example I have an extra unopened copy of Battlefield 1942 that I would swap for Vice City or something. I am sure others are in the same boat. What do you think?
NOLF 2 and/or System Shock 2 (unless you are the Marine, in which case it’s simply find the biggest weapon and go to town).
Note for you Hitman fans:
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=39939
and more news:
Thanks for the recommendations, all! Much appreciated!
I unconsciously developed a habit of standing in shadows while I was outside. No, I wasn’t playing Thief TOO much. 
I’m really looking forward to this game. One thing I didn’t like in Thief was the enemy AI. It actually made things easier if you knocked out everyone you saw and ditched their bodies in a dark corner. I think the guards should notice when half the guard detail suddenly disappears! This way would force you to sneak around and be a little more creative with who you knocked out. Oh well, maybe it’ll be implemented in the third one.
As for other recommendations, maybe the new alien vs predator is good? It seems like it would fit the action and stealth part but I haven’t played it yet.
If anyone knows of any good open ended games please mention them. I’ve been looking around but I haven’t seen anything interesting. I get tired of games on rails (like red faction) although I did have a lot of fun with Serious Sam 2.
Well, the Serious Sam franchise is just good fun all around. Nothing straight-faced in those games at all.
But really, Deus Ex was very much on rails as well. You were led through a very preconceived plot, with just a couple of different ways to get to each sub-goal, then a couple of alternate endings. But it was just doneso well.
Aliens vs. Predator 2 was very good, and the Predator and Alien had to use stealth a lot. Marine really can’t hide from the aliens or the predators. The game had oodles of atmosphere(some parts were very scary) though, particulary in the Marine sections.
That and the unique perspective where you can only learn the entire plot and backstory if you play all 3 species to completion.
Recommendation? Yeah, get Half-Life II when it comes out at the end of September.
I haven’t played it yet, but I’ll go ahead and make a prediction:
Best.Game.Ever.
But you wanted gmaes available now? I can’t believe nobody has mentioned Splinter Cell. Nothing but sneaking around there. That’s why I hated it.
And yeah, Jedi Outcast is absolutely amazing…
That’s pretty open compared to Red Faction. Red Faction is…go here, then here, then here. One ending, I can only think of 3 places where you actually some kind of a choice, and that’s basically a “left path vs. right path” thing.
Deus Ex was quite a bit more then that.
AvP 2 was a perfectly competantly made game, but it wasn’t a patch on AvP 1. It was much more polished than AvP1 but just couldn’t match the atmosphere.
I’m replaying AvP1 again at the moment (must be 5th or 6th time now) and its utterly terrifing. Has any game ever been so scary as this?
Hitman 2 was incredibly underrated. I loved that game. I would say your next best bet is Thief even though it’s a bit old at this point. Thief still has the best implementation of stealth in any video game to date. NOLF2 is fun but the stealth sucks. Splinter Cell is slick as hell but is VERY linear.
If you want stealth elements in a MP game, check out the new Natural Selection, a Half-Life mod that comes out later tonight.
I’ll be starting a new thread on it to gush regardless, but ambush tactics are a big deal in the early part of the game for the alien side, and being able to move to secure various positions without the other team catching on is a key point in gameplay for both teams. The game features cloaking devices, motion tracking, RTS elements and demands lots of team coordination to a far better degree than any of the other MP mods I’ve played (you can still Rambo, but it’s not well advised for your team’s overall strategy)