Top 10 Single Player Games (2008 or earlier, help me get back into PC gaming!)

[tential]

I'm looking for some old games to play that my PC can handle. I'm getting a new PC for games 2008 and later, but to tide me over, I wanted some old games to play.
Requirements:
-Must be easily playable with a controller/gampead
-No RTS (this goes hand in hand with the first)
-Decent Story (I'm playing Dark Souls Prepare to Die and wasn't aware how lacking the story. Game is much easier than advertised which basically means there is nothing to the game for me since I don't play online).
-Prefer games after the Xbox 360 came out or with at least that level of graphics but I'll go further back if the game is good enough.

No particular order either, just your favorite games so I have a starting point of what reviews to look at and learn more about the games. I find IGN/Gamespot/etc. are way too biased. Don't worry about whether I played it before. I haven't. I just started playing video games again and never played any single player ones.

So far I'm at (I consider a series to be one game that I'll play):
BioShock
FarCry
Mass Effect
Crysis

Maybes:
Half Life (just so old never got into it)
Fallout 3 (Again, I never get into these games. Worlds are so huge I forget the main quest and then just am bored).
Deus Ex(Only Skimmed the review but it looks pretty good. Really old though but I guess I'll take a look)

 

[smackababy]

There is plenty of story in Dark Souls, you just aren't spoon fed it. It requires paying attention and actually reading item descriptions / what NPCs say.

 

[AstroManLuca]

It would be extremely helpful if you posted your system specs so we know what level of graphical detail you're going for. For instance, Crysis came out in 2007 but if you're worried about not having enough horsepower, you almost certainly won't be able to run it. And there are a lot of games from 2009 and later that aren't very demanding.

I think we might like a lot of the same games, since I am also more of a single player gamer and I don't like RTS. It sounds like you're intimidated by large open-world RPGs like Fallout 3, though, whereas I really like them. You have a lot of linear shooters on your list, which is okay, but you should consider branching out.

As far as linear shooters go, though, definitely consider Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. Portal and Portal 2 are neat as well.

For other types of games, some of my favorites are racing, 3rd person action, and tower defense. The 2005 version of Need for Speed Most Wanted is pretty good. I got Darksiders on a Steam sale a while back and it's decent and should run on most hardware despite being from 2010. For tower defense, my favorites are Anomaly and Defense Grid. All of these games should handle fine with a controller.

 

[tential]

There is plenty of story in Dark Souls, you just aren't spoon fed it. It requires paying attention and actually reading item descriptions / what NPCs say.

You're entitled to your opinion. I won't argue with it, because I know this game has tons of dedicated fan boys that will defend it at all costs and overlook any flaw or spin it into a a positive as best they can. I've read all of it before long before I posted to try and find what people see in the game and I just don't see it. The numerous comparisons to Skyrim as well, which trust me, I think Skyrim is on another side of the spectrum of dark souls, and is also flawed in numerous ways as well.
My experience with both games is different, but the end result was still the same. I felt nothing for the protagonist, or the antagonist. There are I've played like Dark Souls on consoles, and those games all were met with much less enthusiasm so it's almost like the rules were rewritten for one game.
Either way, it doesn't change the simple fact that I found the game boring, and yes I talked to every NPC, numerous times, explored the shiit out of the game, read every item description, etc. The game just doesn't appeal to me, and I know I'll be labeled as "Someone who couldn't beat the game", or "Not a real gamer" or the numerous other things I read online after progressing halfway through the game and trying to read what the big deal with this game was. I don't care. Game wasn't difficult, the AI was borderline retarded more prone to killing itself than it was you, and the punishment of dying (usually due to the horrific controls and targeting system), meant that you now had twice the amount of souls you did because you go through and kill everything again.

I could go on and on, I won't. There are numerous fixes I'd have made to the game (AI that didn't kill itself, Diminishing returns on Souls, etc.). I've read all the arguments for and against the game, and to me, it was extremely overhyped, and overwhelmingly under delivered. I wouldn't call it a bad game, but not the 9/10+ many people say it was.

It would be extremely helpful if you posted your system specs so we know what level of graphical detail you're going for. For instance, Crysis came out in 2007 but if you're worried about not having enough horsepower, you almost certainly won't be able to run it. And there are a lot of games from 2009 and later that aren't very demanding.

I think we might like a lot of the same games, since I am also more of a single player gamer and I don't like RTS. It sounds like you're intimidated by large open-world RPGs like Fallout 3, though, whereas I really like them. You have a lot of linear shooters on your list, which is okay, but you should consider branching out.

As far as linear shooters go, though, definitely consider Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. Portal and Portal 2 are neat as well.

For other types of games, some of my favorites are racing, 3rd person action, and tower defense. The 2005 version of Need for Speed Most Wanted is pretty good. I got Darksiders on a Steam sale a while back and it's decent and should run on most hardware despite being from 2010. For tower defense, my favorites are Anomaly and Defense Grid. All of these games should handle fine with a controller.

I really like huge open worlds that allow you to do anything. I just feel that with Skyrim and Fallout 3, I literally did so many sidequests, I forgot what the mainquest was. In fact, I don't think I even did the main quest in Skyrim yet. I like RTS a LOT but I'm not trying to play that right now. My brother and I are playing together on my 70 inch TV switching off. It'd be extremely boring if we played an RTS for the one not playing. It also just feels really weird to play RTS on it (I played LoL/Dota with my friends on it a couple of times when they wanted to play and it just feels awkward). I don't know a lot of games, so it's hard or me to list games I like to play when I in fact haven't played many at all recently. I've been in college the last 5 years, there was no time for games. Even if I wanted to, there was always someone trying to party, hang out whatever. Hell, Was in bed early once at 11:30 and 15 people busted in my room ended up being a party. Now that I'm home, in the suburbs in the middle of no where I got some time again before I gotta start working.

It's not that I'm worried about having enough power to play games, but I'm building a brand new PC, so why play the game on medium graphics, when I can play it on Ultra. I'm just waiting for Haswell, and to see how the GTX 770 affects pricing on the HD7970. Because I don't believe 2GB of VRAM is enough moving forward, I can't buy the GTX 770 so AMD HD7970 it is.

My current PC specs though:
Gateway P-7801U
Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn 2.26 Ghz
8GB DDR3 Ram
9800M GTS 1GB
300 GB HD ( No SSD, thought about it but I'm converting this thing into a HTPC soon)

 

[Grey!matter]

deus ex 1-3
Alan wake
trine 1-2
darksiders 1-2

 

[DaveJ]

If you want something a bit different from the list you posted above, check out Mark of the Ninja. IMO it's the gold standard for stealth games, and it's ridiculously fun. It's a 2D platformer so the graphics requirements aren't huge.

 

[xeledon20005]

cod2 multiplayer, beautiful game

 

[AstroManLuca]

To add to what I posted before:

Batman Arkham Asylum/City
Mirror's Edge
Alpha Protocol
STALKER series, but especially Call of Pripyat (my favorite)
Borderlands 1 and 2, more fun if you play co-op multiplayer with friends though
Just Cause 2 (like GTA on steroids)

Not all of these are from 2008 or older, but many are from around that time. STALKER may be hard to play with a controller.

To respond to what you were saying about Fallout, I'll say that I often lost sight of the main quest in Fallout 3. Even after multiple playthroughs, I found it to be a pretty lame main quest. I guess that's just how the game is laid out. I could say the same for Fallout: New Vegas. I preferred New Vegas because it felt a lot more like the old Fallout games than Fallout 3 did. I think it had a better storyline that made more sense, but either way you're going to be doing a lot of side quests.

 

[Craig234]

I don't use a controller, so hard to recommend, not sure which games use it.

 

[tential]

To add to what I posted before:

Batman Arkham Asylum/City
Mirror's Edge
Alpha Protocol
STALKER series, but especially Call of Pripyat (my favorite)
Borderlands 1 and 2, more fun if you play co-op multiplayer with friends though
Just Cause 2 (like GTA on steroids)

Not all of these are from 2008 or older, but many are from around that time. STALKER may be hard to play with a controller.

To respond to what you were saying about Fallout, I'll say that I often lost sight of the main quest in Fallout 3. Even after multiple playthroughs, I found it to be a pretty lame main quest. I guess that's just how the game is laid out. I could say the same for Fallout: New Vegas. I preferred New Vegas because it felt a lot more like the old Fallout games than Fallout 3 did. I think it had a better storyline that made more sense, but either way you're going to be doing a lot of side quests.

Some are. I'll hold the ones off based on how my laptop performs. The longer I wait though the better options I get as so many hardware releases are coming out right now. GTX 700 series and Haswell allows me to pick up Ivybridge and HD 7970 much cheaper. So disappointed at Nvidia releasing the GTX 770 with 2 GB of VRAM though. I thought it was almost a given that with consoles going to 8GB of unified ram, Card makers would give us 3GB+ cards standard. I guess Nvidia is banking on selling the GTX 770 now with 2 GB of ram, then offering people GTX 870 with standard of 3/4GB of ram next year and having a wave of people upgrade when newgeneration games come out.

I like the game selection though and a lot are games I have seen/heard of but forgot about due to not ever playing any games on consoles. Only games I ever even heard of over the last 5 years were games my friend played while we were both hung over. I'd eat, he'd play haha. Was like a movie for me.

I don't use a controller, so hard to recommend, not sure which games use it.

I feel like a lot of games work well with a controller. It's a first for me too. I'm tempted to set up a table but it's hard to sit comfortable on a couch and use a PC. I tried, feels too weird. I'll play some other games that require keyboard/mouse later.

 

[Via]

FEAR is a must play. That's older than 2008, isn't it?

 

[tential]

Yes it certainly is and I actually have it already. I haven't even played through the first 30 minutes I think so I can add that in too. I just need 10 or so games so that we aren't both playing the same game and we can switch off with different games.

Almost forgot about FEAR, that will be interesting. There were a couple other horror games I wanted to play too.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

grand theft auto: vice city
max payne 1 & 2

 

[darkewaffle]

Half Life 2 is a must play imo, and Half Life is also quite good. I'd recommend playing the Black Mesa remake of HL though, much easier on the eyes and a lot of 'quality of life' updates.

 

[Via]

Yes it certainly is and I actually have it already. I haven't even played through the first 30 minutes I think so I can add that in too. I just need 10 or so games so that we aren't both playing the same game and we can switch off with different games.

Almost forgot about FEAR, that will be interesting. There were a couple other horror games I wanted to play too.

What's cool about FEAR is using the slo-mo the first time or two through, and then trying to beat it without (and without backup saves). It makes some of those firefights pretty intense.

I've almost made it, but I usually get to a point near the end of the game where I run out of health packs and can't get further. It's still one of my "must finish" PC gaming quests.

 

[Grey!matter]

What's cool about FEAR is using the slo-mo the first time or two through, and then trying to beat it without (and without backup saves). It makes some of those firefights pretty intense.

I've almost made it, but I usually get to a point near the end of the game where I run out of health packs and can't get further. It's still one of my "must finish" PC gaming quests.

was such a great game and awesome multiplayer as well. When I found out you could slide and jump kick shit, was amazing.

 

[Fallen Kell]

So disappointed at Nvidia releasing the GTX 770 with 2 GB of VRAM though. I thought it was almost a given that with consoles going to 8GB of unified ram, Card makers would give us 3GB+ cards standard. I guess Nvidia is banking on selling the GTX 770 now with 2 GB of ram, then offering people GTX 870 with standard of 3/4GB of ram next year and having a wave of people upgrade when newgeneration games come out.

Not really. They left it up to their partners to decide if they want to release a 4GB version or not for an added cost. They know that cost is an issue even at the $400 range, given that performance wise, they are a tie with the AMD GE. And since they are essentially tied with just using 2GB of RAM, going to 4GB of RAM does not equate to a performance increase in most current games, only future proofs the card against new games (or for those modding games like Skyrim, etc. with high quality texture packs). As a result of this tie, they opted for cost savings so they could fight a price war with AMD with this card. The partners are perfectly able to release 4GB versions with the added price of using more RAM (probably will see them around ~$450 for these). Nvidia just didn't want to be in the situation of not having much room price wise to fight a price war with AMD if they only released the 4GB card as standard when the added RAM is not needed in current games.

This gives more choice to the customer to decide if they feel the extra RAM is worth the extra money, or if cost savings are really important, they can opt for the 2GB card. It is all about hitting the market segment. Both versions exist, and in the PC world, games aren't simply designed to a specific hardware like you see in the console realm. So it isn't like game developers will say, "Wow, since Nvidia's 770 GTX only has 2GB of video RAM, we won't even bother making textures in our game at this high a resolution because those guys who have the 770 GTX will run out of memory.", the developers say "Use this setting if you have 2GB of video RAM, or this setting is you have more than 2GB video RAM".

 

[AstroManLuca]

Half Life 2 is a must play imo, and Half Life is also quite good. I'd recommend playing the Black Mesa remake of HL though, much easier on the eyes and a lot of 'quality of life' updates.

Holy crap until just now I was not aware that it had come out. Shows you how much I've been keeping up with gaming news.

I just figured it was vaporware or something. I think I'll have to get it now; I never played the original Half Life.

 

[Stringjam]

...

 

[tential]

You can play local co-op on Borderlands 2, so you and your bro can play at the same time with a split-screen.

Shouldn't be too bad with a TV that big.

I would LOVE that. How does that work? Would this work with 2 TVs hooked up to one PC as well? Obviously would require a more powerful GPU and probably turning down the settings, but I could opt for a 7970 and lower graphics if we could play together. I just saw a plasma (slightly heavier than my current TV) for 400 dollars 1080p.

Half Life 2 is a must play imo, and Half Life is also quite good. I'd recommend playing the Black Mesa remake of HL though, much easier on the eyes and a lot of 'quality of life' updates.

Wow... this is why you PC game. Thanks for that find!

Not really. They left it up to their partners to decide if they want to release a 4GB version or not for an added cost. They know that cost is an issue even at the $400 range, given that performance wise, they are a tie with the AMD GE. And since they are essentially tied with just using 2GB of RAM, going to 4GB of RAM does not equate to a performance increase in most current games, only future proofs the card against new games (or for those modding games like Skyrim, etc. with high quality texture packs). As a result of this tie, they opted for cost savings so they could fight a price war with AMD with this card. The partners are perfectly able to release 4GB versions with the added price of using more RAM (probably will see them around ~$450 for these). Nvidia just didn't want to be in the situation of not having much room price wise to fight a price war with AMD if they only released the 4GB card as standard when the added RAM is not needed in current games.

This gives more choice to the customer to decide if they feel the extra RAM is worth the extra money, or if cost savings are really important, they can opt for the 2GB card. It is all about hitting the market segment. Both versions exist, and in the PC world, games aren't simply designed to a specific hardware like you see in the console realm. So it isn't like game developers will say, "Wow, since Nvidia's 770 GTX only has 2GB of video RAM, we won't even bother making textures in our game at this high a resolution because those guys who have the 770 GTX will run out of memory.", the developers say "Use this setting if you have 2GB of video RAM, or this setting is you have more than 2GB video RAM".

Without insider information we really cant be sure why Nvidia chose 2 GB instead of more. It could be for what you said, it could be profit margins, etc. $450 for their card with 4 GB was out of my price range. I'm still waiting though two weeks+ to see how things play out while I play all of these games.

 

[Stringjam]

I would LOVE that. How does that work? Would this work with 2 TVs hooked up to one PC as well? Obviously would require a more powerful GPU and probably turning down the settings, but I could opt for a 7970 and lower graphics if we could play together. I just saw a plasma (slightly heavier than my current TV) for 400 dollars 1080p.

Edit: Looks like you can only split-screen the console version of the game (argh). I do believe there is a mod somewhere to get it to work on PC.


To play it on two TV's you would have to have 2 PC's and 2 games, played over the network.

 

[tential]

Edit: Looks like you can only split-screen the console version of the game (argh). I do believe there is a mod somewhere to get it to work on PC.


To play it on two TV's you would have to have 2 PC's and 2 games, played over the network.

You are right actually. It is a mod, and it works with one pc and multiple TVs. I have to look more into it though.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Kotor 1 was outstanding. Kotor 2 was also very good but marred by a poorly done ending and IMO a muddled plot.

 

[Zorander]

Prince of Persia: Sand of Time and Two Thrones are very good games, with truly immersive world. Not sure if they support controllers however.

There is also the 2008 version, which while not as epic, looks noticably prettier.

Assassin's Creed 1 & 2 and GTA 4 are great games. I'm not sure how well your old system can cope with these though.