I lean towards horror (Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Clock Tower) and anything where you have to use stealth and crazy camouflage and weapons to get around (Metal Gear and Splinter Cell series). I prefer something with a good plot/storyline. I can’t get into something repetitive like a racing game. I also like some action/shooters (Tomb Raider, GTA).
Why? I personally find horror games way scarier than horror movies b/c you’re in control (I’m actually not much into horror movies at all, but I love games…figure that one out). With stealthy games there’s something about creeping up on your enemy and having to use inventive tactics to catch him that I just love. I’ve also determined from these games that I’d make an excellent sniper (not sure what to think of this). It also helps that Solid Snake and Sam Fisher are hot.
As for the action games, I’ve always found stuff where you have to jump/climb/swim/ solve puzzles fun. And who can’t love GTA? You get to drive like a maniac, make things asplode, beat up hookers and take their money. Works for me.
I strongly prefer games that either have a good story or enough freedom to let the player create a good story. A combination or even emphasis on the latter is maybe the best.
Good adventure games work in the first case – The Last Express, The Longest Journey come to mind. I’d put Planescape:Torment here even though it’s technically an RPG, I just found that bit relatively weak compared to the story.
Combining this with good puzzle-solving or elegant game mechanics makes for a high quality RPG-style : System Shock, Soul Reaver, Rainbow Six, and, of course, the Thief series.
Open-ended adventure & exploration games can be a lot of fun as well. I tend to lean toward the space exploration ones for some reason. Games here I’ve liked are Escape Velocity, Auto Duel, and Space Rangers 2.
Somewhat unrelated, I do like some simulation games. If the attention to detail is good enough it can be worth it. I enjoyed Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat, Tachyon : The Fringe (which almost fits with the previous group) , and Red Storm Rising.
I like wargames to some extent - usually the higher level ones, where you command forces on a large campaign. Again I think it is the addition of freedom. Even in a historical recreation, it is good when you can get an interesting outcome without gaming the system. The Paradox games (EUII, Hearts of Iron) have this (though it’s pretty easy to ‘game the system’ there too). One thing I find in well-done games like this is that I’ll usually assign personalities to the units, thereby creating a bit of story for myself.
Although many of the games I played as a child included it, I loathe repetition (“the Greeks had a fear of repetition…”). One thing I dislike about some console games is that you’re expected to replay them to get the full amount (it’s something that made like Silent Hill a bit less, and drove me to simply use a walkthrough to get the other endings). Repeating a game is something I’ll usually only do if it can be a substantially different experience. The only mission-driven game I’ve repeated more than once is Thief.
I’m with you, Amazon Floozy Goddess, for the most part. I love the GTA games, mostly just for horsing around and getting into a major car chase. The horror games are good, but they tend to lose me when they get too bizarre. If there’s a zombie game, I want to spend the whole game sneaking around the city, wondering if a zombie is near. Silent Hill was good, but then it got too weird.
I like the shooting games, like Halo, and especially the Ghost Recon series. I also enjoy The Movies, which I bought, but then I rarely play. I need to make more time for that game.
Oh, god, yes, at least on the Sam Fisher front. That’s half the reason I’ve been so hooked on the Splinter Cell games. (I’m playing Chaos Theory at the moment.)
I wasn’t a stealth action fan until recently. I simply didn’t have the patience. More of a run-and-gun type.
For me, it’s *always *about the story. Genre is less important than whether it has a strong story. Exceptions are tycoon/sim games. The next must-have for me is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but I also want Tycoon City: New York and the next Sims 2 xpack. (I’m hoping my editor remembers he promised me Tycoon City for review.) I’m sure I would love the just-gold D&D Online, but I’m not quite ready for another MMORPG after nearly a year of near-constant WoW.
I plan to try out the Timeshift demo whenever I get around to it. I play everything except wargames, sports titles, and flight sims. I’ve never been able to get into tactical shooters either (SWAT, Rainbow Six).
They give a lot of people motion sickness. Although I don’t have a problem with most shooters in regular movement mode, I can’t handle any sequence with vehicles, because that part makes me sick. For the record, Dramamine doesn’t help (speaking from experience).
I wonder why that is. Both why the games can cause motion sickness (though I surmise that it’s a throwing-off-your-equilibrium kind of thing), and why Dramamine doesn’t help.
Loves me my FPS! Probably because I don’t suffer from motion sickness though. And I love scary games (and scary movies too).
Recent favorite was Doom 3. Just loved the atmosphere and number of “jump” moments. I could only play it for about an hour at a time though, 'cause I’d get myself all worked up. System Shock II was another favorite, as was the Half-Life mod They Hunger. I’m very much looking forward to playing F.E.A.R.
Sandbox games that immerse you into a fairly believable world while letting you go off and do your own thing (or at the very least gives you a lot of leeway in how to accomplish your goals).
So, Freelancer, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock 2, a huge number of RPG’s. Anything that really encourages you to explore/go off the beaten path.
I’ve been convincing myself lately to ignore X3: Reunion, that it’s not the sort of game I’d like, because I’m pretty sure it’ll devour my life.
Other games, all it really takes is a good storyline and sense of immersion. Nolf 2, Tachyon, Half-Life, for example.
I find first-person shooters almost uniformly dull - ditto racing and horror games. (Sorry, AFG!)
I like strategy - realtime or turnbased; adventure/RPG; action/platform; puzzles. I enjoy fighting games, too.
There are a few FPS’s that I enjowed for whatever reason - Forsaken was neat; Goldeneye for the N64 was solid; Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior make me chuckle.
I think the last racing game I enjoyed was RC Pro-Am for the Nintendo.
Horror games, I just don’t get. I was persuaded to play one of the Resident Evils once… I opened the door behind me and was attacked by waves of dogs, and kept hacking them apart with the combat knife. Controls kinda sucked.
My Games folder contains: Battlefield 2, Counter-strike (+Source), Day of Defeat, Half Life 2 DM/CTF, Team Fortress Classic, and Unreal Tournament 2K4.
It shouldn’t be too hard to see the pattern: multiplayer and twitch. Playing against (and beating) other people is the most enjoyable aspect of a game and I’m good at twitch.
I’m a fragger, first and foremost. Quake remains one of my all-time favorites (though I hated Quake II and felt meh about Quake III… haven’t played IV yet on account of crappy desktop), and the Return to Castle Wolfenstein is my deathmatch of choice (If you see [UCB]Mr.Lemming, Eddie, or [WTF]NoobTube running around, stay away from them - they often blow up spectacularly when threatened).
Failing that, I play games I can just pick up and run with, drop, and come back to as it suits me. Puzzle games. CrimsonLand (the most entertaining $20 I’ve spent in years, and my high score is 5.5 million if anyone wants to challenge me). SimCity when I have time to burn. Madness Interactive. Stuff like that.
I love shooters, esp Call of Duty/Brothers in Arms/Medal of Honor series’, but those are the only FPS I like. I’m more of a third-person shooter fan myself.
Only sports games i like are EA Sports College Football and Tiger Woods 05. I love the Syphon Filter games (im a ps/ps2 guy, btw) but the latest one (Omega Strain?) did nothing for me, probably b/c I don’t play online.
I’m like most folks - the GTA games are awesome. I’m also a HUGE fan of Mercenaries. A lot of those types of games don’t have much re-play appeal for me but that one is great to pop in and just start blowing stuff all to hell.
World of Warcraft is the crack cocaine of games. I am completely strung out on it. This is the first video game (I have the PC version) in 10 years that I played more than a few minutes. I play this game every day for at least an hour. I hate to love it and I curse the friend that forced me to use his 15 day free trial. The damn game took me a hour just to install.
So, if you want your free time consumed and even time that shouldn’t be free consumed, buy and play this game. If you are married or have a love partner, prepare for the break-up now. All you will hear is “you give that damn game more attention than you do me” My reasoning is that it gives me joy to play it and something to look forward to at the end of my work day. After saying that to my self and others about one thousand times I actually believe it.
I guess I lean towards action/adventure and survival/horror more than anything. I love the Silent Hill and Fatal Frame series. Resident Evil 4 is flat out brilliant and something you may want to try Candid Gamera. I like a few RPG games: Final Fantasy and Morrowind are the biggies.
I seem to have become a huge sports gamer over the past few years, since all my recent game purchases have been sports games (except for finding the GTA 2-pack on sale.) I just picked up MVP 06: NCAA Baseball.
I think I’m into sports games a lot because my favorite genre has basically disappeared: the 2D platformer. I grew up playing Super Mario Bros. and Sonic 2. I haven’t found a good puzzle game in a while, either.
I’m weird in that I don’t like the dark gritty games that are more popular today. For the most part, I hate games that are based in the real world, and prefer fantasy worlds.
I like games with a good story, but not big convoluted incomprehensible stories. More like games that could have a very simplistic story, but have a satisfying “feel” to their conclusion. It’s hard to explain, since the feeling may not necessarily be evoked by a plot twist, but by the way the game engine is utilized (puzzle or racing games without any sort of plot can have this “feel” too).
I’m always way behind on current gaming, but I’m playing the hell out of Morrowind right now. Best 20 smackers I ever spent, and I might actually buy Oblivion when it comes out, and not like 3 years later :p.
I like FPS games as well, but Doom III just didn’t catch me. It was 1. too fuggin dark and 2. too predictable. Wish I had Quake III again, though. Good times on the LAN with that one (and better times with QII). Someone mentioned GoldenEye for the N64, man, what a great game that was.
I played the first Thief and loved it but didn’t purchase the later games. Again, this is just 'cause I’m way behind on things. I don’t keep current and get all excited about new games (well, except Oblivion, I’m pretty excited about that).
I’ve played a little GTA, but mostly my playing has consisted of The Highwayman and I knocking back beers and seeing who can get the most cops on their ass (he wins)
I’m a racing game specialist. I have steering wheels for the PC and every console I’ve owned back to the first Playstation. I’m also a big fan of what I call “resource management games”, such as SimCity or just about anything with “Tycoon” in the title. I also enjoy open-ended adventure or exploration type of games, such as GTA, Tomb Raider, or some of the more open-ended PC-based RPG’s. Not a fan of console RPG’s though - they tend to have a very fixed, linearized style of gameplay that I’m not a fan of.
