I figured I'd just go copy/paste all the ones I've written so far down here, and I'll even go a step further and lump them into good, mixed bag and just plain bad categories.
Let's start with the good stuff.
These games are good!
Everyday Genius: Squarelogic--
Ever do a KenKen puzzle in a paper? This is basically KenKen on steroids, because there's all sorts of extra modes that aren't available in print formats. If you like logic puzzles, and are capable of basic math, you'll be enetertained til the end of time. I wish I was joking. There are more puzzles than I could ever possibly finish in it, if you REALLY want to finish them all.
Mass Effect 2--
Mass Effect 2 is easily in my top 5 games of all time. It took all the boring, re-hashed, pointless RPG elements out of an already stellar title, streamlined the combat, and still has all the FUN parts of RPG games (that is being the most badass space captain of all time), making it seriously one of the most well-developed, fun, replayable games ever made.
Delve Deeper! --
WE MUST DELVE DERPER.
In all seriousness, it's a pretty fun game. It seems like a board-game concept that simply would have been too hard to set up in person. If the online support worked better, I'd make everyone I know get it. As is, it's a little slow but still quite enjoyable.
Dragon Age: Origins--
Dragon Age: Origins is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, one of the greatest game series ever in my humble opinion. It starts off pretty slow, but once you get out of the starting city, it's hard to set it down. Get the Ultimate Edition that has all the DLC because it's not worth the price to get the DLC seperately. There's a reason I've beat the game at least 6 times start to finish.
Torchlight--
This game really needs multiplayer because it's a streamlined Diablo clone. It does itemization right. It does graphics right. It does endless dungeoning right. Fantastic buy.
Jamestown--
Remember when games were awesome? Yeah this is like those old-school times.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2--
BC2 is great for the same reasons that all the battlefield titles are great: teamwork matters. It's got a lot of balance issues, though. For starters, there is no cover. Everything is destructable, so engineers can spam rockets all day long and you suddenly never have anywhere to hide except behind the massive amounts of dust covering everything. It's a step backwards from BF2142, easily the best title in the franchise in terms of balance and gameplay.
Peggle--
It's amazing a game seemingly so totally random is so amazingly fun. Yet again, proof simple is best. I've spent more time with this Popcap game than any of their other titles.
Killing Floor--
Killing Floor is a pretty simple game: kill zombies, get money, defeat each wave, buy bigger guns, kill more zombies. It's a blast to play with friends, and the difficulty is just right. Not too hard you get frustrated, harder difficulties mean you have to try but you can still ravage if you know what you're doing.
King's Bounty: Armored Princess--
King's Bounty: The Legend is good. Armored Princess is great. It streamlines a few of the minor hickups with The Legend, has better combat, tons of units so there's nearly endless versatility to your army choices, and is more of the Heroes of Might and Magic battle goodness you love.
King's Bounty: Crossworlds--
King's Bounty: Crossworlds contains a reworked King's Bounty: Armored Princess and is worth picking up for that alone. The extra modes are fun and challenging, although not terribly long. The gameplay depth is there (seems like hundreds of different types of units), and I for one love the undless customization. If you remember old-school Might and Magic titles, it's a must get.
Dawn of War II: Retribution--
Do you like Starcraft?
Well you're wrong. This game offers more depth, and an inherent deeper level of coolness. Space Marines are hulking monsters with chainsaw swords rather than some weird future version of the Confederate States of America. Orks are inherently cooler than your typical fantasy orcs, because they spell it with a K. And leave it to the Warhammer universe to make elves cool rather than emo forest faggots. And there's still 3 whole totally different unique races left (Chaos Space Marines, Imperial Guard, and Tyranids for the record.) And it's all fairly balanced!
Plus, Last Stand mode is a whole awesome experience in and of it's own rights. It's like Tower Defense except fuck towers. They are for pussies. Real men fight off endless waves of unkillable ultimate threats to the universe with their own bare hands.
Trackmania Forever--
This game is ridiculously fun. And it's free? Seriously? Awesome. Download it. Now.
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale--
Without a doubt, this game totally captivated me. At first, I was sucked into the Rouge-Like style dungeon crawling, and then I was totally enraptured in the business selling part of it, and then I loved the combination of doing both. Only qualms is the controls on Keyboard are not so great; I recommend getting a controller.
Bloodline Champions--
This is seriously the most fun with a F2P game I've ever had, and I am a sucker for anything I don't necessarily have to spend a dime on. Take your typical MOBA game (think Dota or LoL or HoN) and then remove everything but champion on champion combat. It is like Diablo 2 PVP if there weren't items or levels or other monsters to kill. I'm seriously hooked, hardcore, and the best part is unlike other MOBA games, it's a lot easier to get into due to it's straightforwardness of combat.
Cave Story+ --
Like one of the major publications that reviewed this game, I agree if this was released back on the NES, it'd be considered one of the classics of all time. It's that good. It ranks up there with Metroid and Zelda and Mario, except it's not buggy like all those games were. Fantastic story, fun gameplay, and a memorable experience.
Batman: Arkham City--
I am re-writing my recommendation for this game. It is seriously awesome. I still love it despite having lost maybe 10 hours of my life re-doing stuff I'd done previously on a save file that just up and vanishes. So I will give you this warning first: MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP YOUR SAVE GAME FILE EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU EXIT THE GAME WITH YOUR SAVE INTACT.
Despite that one major glaring technical flaw, the game itself is already in my top 5 of all time list (Baldur's Gate 2, Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy Tactics, BF2142 and now this.) It is every single possible thing you could ever want in an action adventure game. There's mental puzzle solving, twitch reflex combat, a great plot, fun challenge modes, and a significant amount of gameplay time. And you get to be Batman, in a very visceral way. You honestly /feel/ like you're Batman, because you do the sleuthing and the kicking of ass and the sexual tension toward all the women in your life.
Dungeons of Dredmor--
This is a delightful Roguelike. It's just the right amount of challenging. Remember, the goal isn't to win. The goal is just to do better than you did the time before. In terms of the aesthetics, it's very reminiscent of old Monkey Island games (and references them a ton). I laugh constantly at all the little nerdy references in it, like random creatures taunting me with "you n'wah" or how starting with Archaeologist gives you a Fedora and every skill in the tree is an Indiana Jones reference.
Sonic Generations--
Probably the best Sonic game to come out in the post-Genesis era. They realized what the strong point of the franchise was. It's not the super fast thing which keeps people coming back, but replayability through good stage design. My only beef is the game isn't optimized terribly well. I can run the classic stages just fine but the "new" style Sonic maps eat my processor.
Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Flame--
Fun and cute little side scrolling RPG. It's got some flaws (the controls aren't as tight as they should be, the pacing is kind of bad) but the combat is fun and some of the gameplay concepts explored are well done.
Pineapple Smash Crew--
This game has the best music ever. It's also quite fun. I am amazed at the high quality of games designed by a single guy, while games with huge ginormous dev teams end up being crap so often. It's mind-boggling.
These games are okay!
Team Fortress 2--
I really hope you like MMO mechanics at work in your first person shooter. I miss when TF2 was about playing as a team to overcome objectives and beat the other guys. Now it's about logging in the longest and getting a bigger hat than the other guys, all while playing horrible unbalanced maps that favor cheesy tactics.
Atom Zombie Smasher--
The game is fun, but it's rather confusing. It took me more or less completely failing 6 times to get the hang of how to play, but I still got smoked all the time. I was playing on a simple difficulty too so it's either I don't get it, or it's inherently too difficult to play.
Alpha Protocol--
Fantastic game with one major flaw: the gameplay. If I could do all the espionage stuff without having to deal with the horribly buggy AI, unfair enemies, really poorly concieved bossfights, I'd be enjoying this immensely. Obsidian pisses me off. Some of the best dialogue and roleplaying in their games, but just trashy programming. It's a damn shame.
These games are bad!
Magic: The Gathering - Tactics--
Yet another one of my non-recommendations: This game is fatally flawed. I have encountered two bugs in three matches which forced me to quit the game because the match locked up. Considering this has actually been out a year, these kinds of fatal flaws are inexcusable.
Defense Grid: The Awakening--
Why did I pay money for something I can do for free on nearly every imaginable flash games website known to man? There is nothing new, unique, or exciting enough about this title to differentiate it from every other tower defense game.
Terraria--
To be honest, I don't get the appeal. I thought I'd like it at first, but after a half hour of having no aim and drive to accomplish anything, I haven't booted it back up since. Not to mention the fact it relies on the archaic direct IP address connection method, meaning good luck doing the multiplayer if you're as network illeterate as I am.
I am fairly certain it's an autism simulator, appealing to people who want to see how many colorful shaped blocks they can line up in a row.
I am fairly certain it's an autism simulator, appealing to people who want to see how many colorful shaped blocks they can line up in a row.
DC Universe Online--
I don't really care how it plays, or what the end-game content is: This game was ruined for me by the time I finished the starter quest. Why? I spent an awful lot of time and thought into creating my character, just to find out each piece of gear alters the look of your guy. So my dweeby-looking guy without a shirt, wearing just a cape and skinny pants? Already didn't match how I wanted him to look maybe 30 minutes into the game.
Counter-Strike: Source--
There is nothing redeeming about Counter-Strike. What a horrible franchise. You can't tell when your bullets connect with the enemies. There's a nonsensical buy menu for guns, meaning the better team stays on top the entire match because the other guys will be stuck with Glocks as the others charge around with M-16s and AK-47s. But you all know this because it's been around since 1998.
Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition--
This game makes no sense. The tutorial doesn't even explain the basics to you, and ever after reading how you're "supposed" to play it on tutorials online, I lose every single round by 5 points or more. It fails the basic test of being understandable to those without a PH D or an entire rulebook in front of them. I want to like it but I cannot.
Gotham City Imposters--
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. The matchmaking is player to player only, which means with a total player base of less than a thousand people (the peak is 895 over Steam, for christ sake), you will never actually get to play it. Worst $15 bucks I ever spent.
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