Originally posted by: duragezic
I'd make a 'A' tier and a 'B' tier. Even though 6 months is a while, you have missed out on a huge huge amount of games so I'd want to make sure to at least play some of the real hits before spending time and money on games that are good, but don't necessarily offer much over the rest.
Also, you never know, but you might start playing WoW and soon 6 months is over and you haven't touched much else! I'd avoid it altogether! You could probably get a 10 day trial from someone for free, or I know they sell a trial disc for a few bucks.
Personally, I would remove Prey, Lost Planet, and possible Resident Evil 4 from the list. And Halo definitely doesn't offer anything against other PC shooters, so I wouldn't bother with that. They are decent games, but you've missed so many that are much better. Or again, I'd put them on the 'B' list. Well actually RE4 belongs way way up there, but the PC port is pretty bad so I'd try playing that on the PS2 or Gamecube.
I don't know what C&C games you have played, but I really didn't like Generals, but C&C3 is excellent. Same with Hitman. Pretty good series overall, but not a whole lot of difference, so I would just play one or two from the series, presumably the best two are the second one (Silent Assassin) and the fourth one (Blood Money).
Here's my list of ones you should definitely play:
Half-life 2 + episodes
Team Fortress 2
Portal
Crysis
C&C 3
Company of Heroes
Oblivion
STALKER
One WW2 shooter ought to be enough, either COD2, MoH Airborne, or a Medal of Honor game if you don't mind older ones
Civilization 4 (turn-based strat)
You should also suggest what genres you are most interested in or what games you have really enjoyed. Also, whether you intend to play single player campaigns or multiplayer. Because for example, BF2 can be a ton of fun online, but is pointless to buy to play against bots. UT games have generally been excellent, but again it is mainly for multiplayer.
In addition to RE4, some are better on the console IMO. GTA San Andreas, Jade Empire, Fable, racing games in general, etc. Splinter Cell is generally awesome, but I like it on the Xbox more.
Oh, and just wanted to add that Crysis is phenomenal. I don't think I've enjoyed a FPS campaign as much as Crysis in a long time. I really really like HL2 and the episodes, but the freedom and variety offered by Crysis is huge.