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Recent games similar to Half-Life/other old shooters?

A

antef

Senior member
Back in the day there were lots of games of the type I loved - first person shooters that weren't too repetitive, completely solitary, and had great atmosphere that made me appreciate graphics and audio. Games like Half-life, the original MoH, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Alice (okay, third person), etc. Somewhere along the way, I grew up, my attention span for games shortened, and PC games got worse as they all became console ports. Over the past few years I've played next to no games and the ones I've tried I've given up on in a few days (Far Cry 2, Batman, etc.). I'd like to know - would any recent games give me the same satisfaction as the ones from years ago? I understand the answer may be no - my interest level and the very nature of console ports may have ruined it for good. But, if there are new titles that can capture me even half as much as those games in the past, I'd like to give them a shot. Only things I can think of I'm interested in right now are Battlefield 3 (graphics look good), Portal 2/HL2 Ep 3 (everything Valve does is good), and Alice: Madness Returns (because it's Alice).

Thanks.
 
I don't know of many, if I did, I'd probably be playing them. If you aren't overly concerned with graphics I'd just say it's best to play all of the great shooters you may have missed over the years.

:Edit: Necrovision might fit the bill, one of the only I can think of atm.
 
F.E.A.R. and it's sequels may fit the bill for what you are looking for. Not exactly new, but recent-ish.
 
Amnesia might fit the bill. It's very emersive, but more on the suspense genre and no weapons.

An older game if you haven't played is System Shock 2. They have mods/texture updates you can get that greatly improve the look of it.
 
I liked Half Life games. I find many other games violate the KISS principle and burden play with too many menus, options, maps, weapons, quests, skin/hair color etc.

I actually liked the Left For Dead games more than I thought I would because Valve is good at KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). I also liked the Stalker games. I've been told Just Cause 2 is a lot like Half Life. I own it but I haven't played it yet because I am trying to slug through Demon Age Origins.

I also found I liked Defense Grid more than I thought I would because its a rubber-meets-road game without all the endless juggling of menus, storylines etc
 
Duke Nukem Forever (allegedly out in May) might deliver the goods.

Painkiller Black from gog.com is a possibility though I only played the demo ages ago, it's on my to-buy list from gog.
 
I loved both SiN and SiN Episodes: Emergence; I think both come together as a bundle and tons of fun.

No One Lives Forever 1 is worth checking out...the game play places more emphasis on stealth, the voice acting is great and the dialogue is hilarious.

EDIT: Just read the "recent" part of the title. In that case, I would suggest the Call of Duty games (Especially 1 and 2) and FEAR. Some don't like CoD cause it's too scripted and linear, but I find it keeps me sucked in.
 
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Borderlands would have to be at the top of my list, while I won't go as far as to say it's the best game I've ever played, it was the most addictive game I have ever played. I don't think I've ever played a single player game that held my attention for as long and as solidly as it did. You may also want to check out the Bioshock games, Singularity, and Metro 2033. All offer fun single player experiences.
 
Oh, I don't know how the game will actually pan out but Homefront comes out on the 15th and it looks awesome.
 
It's not a FPS, but Mass Effect 2 drew me in the same way that Half Life 2 did.

I also have high hopes for Crysis 2's story because Richard K. Morgan is one of my favorite author's. If you haven't read anything by him you need to check out the Takeshi Kovacs novels as soon as you can. Skip the book market forces by him because it's not that good.
 
If your only interest is single player against the AI, aren't there plenty of games for that? Fear. Stalker. Crysis, etc.?

It seems like your real problem would be if you wanted to play Arena-style FPS in online multiplayer. That entire genre was completely murdered by consolization. Id f****d up the Quake series, and then Epic Games murdered Unreal Tournament by releasing the consolized and Gears-of-Warrified abomination that was Unreal Tournament 3.
 
To see someone suggest borderlands as a game that's similar to Half Life? Are you freaking kidding me? If the OP is looking for a game that's going to immerse them in a great story, borderlands is as far away from that as you could possibly get.

I would also like to know of some games that are Half Life quality. One of my favorite things about Half Life is how they manage to tell a great story all while never having a single cut scene.
 
WhipperSnapper said:
If your only interest is single player against the AI, aren't there plenty of games for that? Fear. Stalker. Crysis, etc.?

It seems like your real problem would be if you wanted to play Arena-style FPS in online multiplayer. That entire genre was completely murdered by consolization. Id f****d up the Quake series, and then Epic Games murdered Unreal Tournament by releasing the consolized and Gears-of-Warrified abomination that was Unreal Tournament 3.
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What happened to the quake series? I always hear about UT2004 being meh and UT3 sucking but quake never seems to be mentioned much.
 
DaveSimmons said:
Painkiller Black from gog.com is a possibility though I only played the demo ages ago, it's on my to-buy list from gog.
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I'm currently halfway through this. It plays well and the atmosphere and enemy design is wonderful. It's more repetitive than Half-Life, though, and belongs to the Doom/Serious Sam lineage of games where the point is shooting a lot of dudes in the face with interesting weapons, so it might not be exactly what OP asked for.
 
Maximilian said:
What happened to the quake series? I always hear about UT2004 being meh and UT3 sucking but quake never seems to be mentioned much.
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It pretty much died with Quake 4. Quake 4 was primarily single player, unlike Quake 3 which was all about online multiplayer. Later they released a Quake Enemy Territory game, but it didn't do real well.
 
WhipperSnapper said:
It pretty much died with Quake 4. Quake 4 was primarily single player, unlike Quake 3 which was all about online multiplayer. Later they released a Quake Enemy Territory game, but it didn't do real well.
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Speaking of Quake 4, it had a solid single player worth checking out to satisfy the craving.
 
I did play and like F.E.A.R., actually I think that's one of the last games I've completed all the way through, haven't tried any of the sequels though, are they worth checking out? I was never much of a fan of the Quake and Doom games. Unlike HL, they were way too repetitive, both gameplay and environments. Crysis was okay but I still never completed it (but I loved the original Far Cry, so go figure). I just started Singularity recently, and I've heard lots of good things about Bioshock. Would love to hear more comparisons and opinions of these types of titles from others.
 
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