Game Recommendations

edited November 2012 in General Chat
This is a thread wherein someone who is in the market for a certain game or type of game can ask fellow forumites what they think. This is different from "The Game Review Thread", "Rate the Last game you Finished", and "Which Games Are You Currently Playing?" threads in that, in those threads you are critiquing games after you played/beat them, seemingly at random from a conversational standpoint.

In this thread, someone might be looking for opinions about a specific game or group of games in a certain genre, in an effort to know whether they should buy it or not.


The reason why I'm making this post is so that I can (1) purchase a game while knowing I'm not falling victim to overblown media hype, and (2) ask questions of the community about potential purchases without spending hours fiddling with the search function.

Comments

  • edited November 2012
    I am currently looking into getting a racing game for my PS3. Preferably not a simulator dedicated to realism, and preferably not confined to professional tracks. Also, not a kart racer.

    After some decisions and research, the games I've been looking at are Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Burnout: Paradise. I'm also considering maybe Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit though it's not open-world, and Need for Speed:Most Wanted (2005) although it's a (downloadable) PS2 game.

    Any thoughts? I'm leaning toward Midnight Club, but I don't want to just jump into the decision like I did when buying the God of War Saga.
  • edited November 2012
    Have you ever played Need for Speed: Underground?
    Thats an old PS2 series (I think it had 2 PS2 titles, and a PSP game but I can't remember), but I thought it was pretty good back in the day.

    Here's a vid of Underground 2:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9JrzuBdQ1I&feature=related

    (I think it might have been multiplatform so there might be a PC version as well...)
    (Infact from this video it looks like the PC version looks nicer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgKu5-od2KQ)

    As for recent titles, there is nothing I can really recommend. To be honest racing is my weak area, (I hate Sport titles the most though... -_-).

    This generation has been oddly dry on good racers as well, either going the kart route or the Sim route, with little inbetween.
  • edited November 2012
    This generation has been oddly dry on good racers as well, either going the kart route or the Sim route, with little inbetween.
    This.

    You could give the the new Need for Speed a try, it seems similar to what you're after. Look into it.
  • edited November 2012
    You could give the the new Need for Speed a try, it seems similar to what you're after. Look into it.
    See, that's where I'm not sure. I'm concerned about the fact that you can get any and every car available in the game from the very start so long as you can find them, and you can't customize cars more than change to a random paint color.

    When I consider that it has police in it, which are reportedly fun to evade, I then start thinking about Midnight Club LA and how it doesn't cost 60 bucks.

    What seems to be the consensus between Burnout Paradise and Midnight Club LA is that Midnight Club has better single player, while Burnout has a more active online community. Many people say that Need for Speed:Most Wanted (2012) is just Burnout Paradise with licensed cars and cops, and while I like the way Burnout Paradise looks, I'm not sure I'd want to pay an extra $40+ to have those two things added to it.
  • edited November 2012
    I still don't think there is a better racing game than Burnout 3. (Though like say Destruction Derby 2 its more of a "smash-em-up" simulator tbh! XD)

    I should really set the 'ol PS2 up and play that again. (Paradise was a bit disappointing in comparison)
  • edited November 2012
    Longbow 2 Simulator, by Janes. If you can get it to run on a modern O.S., I recommend it. I haven't seen a better flight simulator produced in the last decade or more.
  • edited November 2012
    I should really set the 'ol PS2 up and play that again. (Paradise was a bit disappointing in comparison)
    Because of what they did to crash mode, or because the path you should take during races isn't made clearly enough in advance?
  • edited November 2012
    Chyron8472 wrote: »
    Because of what they did to crash mode, or because the path you should take during races isn't made clearly enough in advance?

    Both of those, and I just love how 3 did the takedowns/boost system! :D
    (It had a good flow to it, but it required skill to get it working. Paradise felt off to me when I last played it (it was a long time ago so take that with a grain of salt))

    Also, I think the courses in Burnout 3 were all pretty well designed too. Every course felt quite unique, whereas in Paradise, its mostly city, (and a bit fiddly for my tastes having to try to find everything. Then again, I think Burnout was always meant to be a "jump in and play" kind of game).
  • edited November 2012
    Well i found Jak X for PS2 to be a fun racing game, it's racing but with guns and stuff mixed into it and it works well in my opinion.
  • edited November 2012
    Another suggestion (possibly) is DiRT Showdown. I've heard positive things about it.
  • edited November 2012
    I bought the Burnout:Paradise bundle via PSN, which included the game and all DLC, of which there was a lot. I'm curious about the multiplayer because I've heard it's the best part.

    When I look into buying Red Dead Redemption later, I will perhaps get the Rockstar Collection.
  • edited November 2012
    OK, here's a challenge. I'm after a Mario 64 sort of game. With the challenges and the 3D platforming and the whatnot. Preferably without guns, 'cause that distracts from the runny jumpy fun.

    Any recent games out there like that?
  • edited November 2012
    For any gaming platform in particular?
  • edited November 2012
    Nope. No preferences. Try me.
  • edited November 2012
    Well, it would be an obvious mention to recommend the other 3D Mario games. I have both Mario Galaxy games and they're both very good. Although Mario Galaxy 2 is harder, and it has stars in more locations per World rather than recycling the same stars between Mario and Luigi like Mario Galaxy 1 does.

    I did get Mario Sunshine at one point in the past, and returned it after a couple of days because the FLUDD water cannon made the gameplay different enough from Mario 64 that I was disappointed at the time. However, I have since watched NintendoCapriSun's Let's Play of Mario Sunshine, and it seems like it would be really very fun.

    Umm... I'm not really sure about other recently developed 3D platformers. I own the first Jak & Daxter, and Sly Cooper games for PS2 and they're pretty fun. I say so because there are Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper HD Collections out for PS3.

    I don't bring up Ratchet & Clank because you said you're not looking for games with the gun aspect (though R&C is still very cartoony-platformy besides this). Also, the R&C Collection for PS3 is reportedly very buggy, unlike the other mentioned collections.


    If you'd consider older games such as from the N64/PS1 era, Rayman 2 is reportedly very good and has seen a number of ports to newer consoles, including various handhelds. Also Banjo-Kazooie is currently available on XBLA.


    Also, though it's not really what you're asking about since it's not 3D, when I was looking into 3D platformers, I ran across Rayman Origins. It is 2D, but it's available on a bunch of systems, including PC. I watched the IGN review of it, and when they say it gives Mario games a run for their money, I can see why they'd say so just from the footage.
  • edited November 2012
    Excellent recommendations, thanks. Unfortunately, I already own all of them. Oh well.

    I knew it was a pretty tough question. Thanks for trying.
  • edited November 2012
    Yes, but have you beatencompleted them all?

    I sense a backlog.
  • SydSyd
    edited November 2012
    The 3D platforming genre has been quite neglected lately. One of the only ones I can think of that's modern and hasn't already been named is the upcoming indie game Pirates of New Horizons. A demo can be played in a browser, and a level is unlocked if you preorder it. I have no idea when it'll be released in full, but it looks decent so far.
  • edited November 2012
    Okay.

    I've been looking for a PC game where:

    1) I have a ridiculously high level cap;
    2) Almost everything is customizable;
    3) I can manage an entire city, or at least a farm.

    Also, it should be an RPG.

    Now, one of the three items can be left out (that is, any of the three), as long as the other two are still in. It's likely you would just throw out the third option, since there are nearly no Harvest Moons or Rune Factories on PC.

    I do prefer all three though.

    Actually, if everything else fails, number 2 is the most important to me. I love in-game customization.
  • edited November 2012
    Chyron8472 wrote: »
    Yes, but have you beatencompleted them all?

    I sense a backlog.

    ....Don't get him started on R&C 2 please.
  • N7.N7.
    edited November 2012
    I'm just here to say please try to playing Mass Effect 1 if you haven't played that game yet
  • edited November 2012
    GaryCXJk wrote: »
    Okay.

    I've been looking for a PC game where:

    1) I have a ridiculously high level cap;
    2) Almost everything is customizable;
    3) I can manage an entire city, or at least a farm.

    Also, it should be an RPG.
    Fable 3 sounds like it might satisfy those requirements. Or it would, if it didn't SUCK.

    Let's see. Focusing on the whole 'managing a town' aspect, there's Hinterland, which is a party-based RPG based around town building that lets you develop your farmers into warriors. Here's a good review. By which I mean the review is well written, not that it's a glowing review of the game.

    There's possibly Majesty and its sequel, though they're less RPG and more RTS. Also in the same genre-blurring category is Towns, which was recently released and is currently on offer on Steam. Again, not so much an RPG though. Another similar game for the iPhone (and iPad, though it's not optimized for it) is Dungeon Village, which looks adorable.

    Those any good to you? The problem is when you start to include city-building or management, you tend to lose out on the whole RPG aspect, which makes finding things like what you describe slightly tricky.
  • edited November 2012
    Dungeon Village is awesome, I've played it on Android.

    I've noticed that Hinterland is from Tilted Mill, which is AWESOME, I love Sim City Societies. I also need to play Majesty 2, since that's coincidentally in my Steam library. Would you recommend a Majesty 1 purchase if I already have the sequel?

    Also waiting for my Steam key for Towns, as I already have it through an Indie Royale bundle. Can't wait to mod the GLOB out of that game.

    Finally, I'm not going to begin with Mass Effect, as this laptop is pretty shite.

    Oh, and also, with city building or management, it could even be as simple as the Georama system of the Dark Cloud series.
  • edited November 2012
    I only really know the games in passing, but since you've already got the sequel, I find it hard to recommend the first game at full price.. If it happens to go on sale though, then go for it, buddy.

    I had a quick Google search and turned up another result. Whether it's any good to you or not, I dunno, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

    So, Tynon, a free online browser based game that tasks you with controlling a warrior rescuing her king AND building your own kingdom. Here's the blurb, which isn't actually on the site for some reason.
  • edited November 2012
    People should play Pong if they haven't already. It adopts a simplistic art style and leaves the backstory for the players imagination to create a truly immersive experience.
  • edited November 2012
    Ha, that reminds me of all the crazy backstories people have come up with for variations of Breakout.

    And in Sam & Max episode 106, the C.O.P.S. have an exciting backstory for their original game that looks kind of like Tic-Tac-Toe.
  • edited November 2012
    Have any of you played H.A.W.X.? (not HAWX 2)

    How is it on the story?
  • N7.N7.
    edited November 2012
    NFS MW2012 is really awful
  • edited November 2012
    because...?
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