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10/13/2009 10:41:31 AM
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Madison Bridgen
Posts 338
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I'm not much of a gamer, but I recently started playing Half Life and it's pretty interesting. If you don't know, it's about a physicist who has to fight his way out of a research facility after a dimensional rift opens up and monsters from another dimension come through. You can tell it's inspired by Stepehn King's The Myst, and the Alien movies. It's really cool.
I don't normally get into games, though, because I have no time and (most of them) eat up to much money, but I figured I'd ask if anyone else has played any good games.
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We are currently living in the Dinosaurs' post-apocalyptic world.
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10/13/2009 4:11:20 PM
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Lukas Jackson
Posts 1149
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That's pretty old school, Half Life first came out in the 90s. I've only played the first few levels of Half-Life 2, which must be one of the creepiest dystopias in an FPS. If you're into the graphics quality you should check out Halo 3 for the 360 and Killzone 2 for the PS3. If you're more into an SFnal story Bioshock's kind of interesting. The only FPS puzzle game I'm aware of is Portal, which is pretty cool, though at first I confused it with the ancient computer game.
I've been playing FPSs since Wolfenstein 3-D and it seems to me that they've become insanely more difficult over the past 20 years. In my day, the hardest one was probably Descent where you manipulate a spacecraft in 3 dimensions, anyone remember that one?
The best world-building strategy game I've played is Civ IV. Best online game WoW.
edited by Lukas Jackson on 10/13/2009
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http://darkerblogistan.livejournal.com
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10/13/2009 5:56:16 PM
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Madison Bridgen
Posts 338
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I grew up on video games-basically just the Nintendo 64- but fell out of them for quite a while, so I've got some catching up to do. 
I've thought about getting the PC Halo games because I don't have a 360. I do have a PS3 though, so I've been looking into that a bit.
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We are currently living in the Dinosaurs' post-apocalyptic world.
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10/13/2009 6:19:23 PM
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Captain Mitty
Posts 396
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Halo is a good FPS for PC. Its surprising how many games are based on Id software's Quake engine. I'm not sure if Halo is one, but I know Call of Duty is.
Quake 3 is still around and its very SFtional. You can play it for free at http://www.quakelive.com/. The Quake 4 story line picks up where Quake 2 left off. (Quake 3 didn't involve Stroggs).
There's a pretty cool spin-off from Half Life called Portal, which I enjoyed a lot. It takes place at a company called Aperture Laboratories, which is a competitor of Black Mesa. Its worth it to play all the way to the end just to hear the ironic closing credits song and see the TTY style ASCII art.
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Nil significat, nisi oscillat.
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10/14/2009 4:21:01 AM
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GhostDogg
Posts 66
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Madison Bridgen wrote:
I grew up on video games-basically just the Nintendo 64- but fell out of them for quite a while, so I've got some catching up to do. I've thought about getting the PC Halo games because I don't have a 360. I do have a PS3 though, so I've been looking into that a bit.
If you have PS3, you should check the Resistance series. It's about alternate history, where WWII never happened and in the 50s we are still living in peace, but all of a sudden mysterious aliens comes down on Earth and starts invasion...Good graphics, quite ok storyline, system-seller for PS3 You might also try out on your PC Deus Ex, post-cyberpunk game, with the plot about secret agents and agendas, as good as if it was written by William Gibson. What else? Hmm...STALKER - FPS for PC based on "Roadside Picnic". Short, but entertaining adventure of stalker trying to solve what is the cause of the second explosion, which occured in the near future...
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Poles defeated communism, because they were supported by Cthulhu. We chose the lesser evil.
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10/14/2009 9:57:42 AM
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T. Kosmo
Posts 94
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Madison Bridgen wrote:
I'm not much of a gamer, but I recently started playing Half Life and it's pretty interesting. If you don't know, it's about a physicist who has to fight his way out of a research facility after a dimensional rift opens up and monsters from another dimension come through.
It's interesting to see you mention Half-Life. I've been playing Half-Life 2 (episode 2) every night for the last week. I love the writing in that game. It really is an interactive science fiction novel. A great story.
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"I reject your grammar and substitute my own."
http://www.tedkosmatka.com/
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10/14/2009 10:12:01 AM
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Madison Bridgen
Posts 338
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Yeah, it's good when other media can capture the things we like about science fiction stories. You don't really see alternate dimensions in novels, though, or at least I don't in the ones I read. I had an idea to write a novel length story about one, but I don't think I'm ready for that type of undertaking.
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We are currently living in the Dinosaurs' post-apocalyptic world.
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10/14/2009 12:15:05 PM
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Lukas Jackson
Posts 1149
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Word on the web is that F/SF short story writer Marc Laidlaw was a writer for Half-Life. His "Uneasy Street" was THE story that resonated with me the most when I had an F&SF subscription as a kid.
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http://darkerblogistan.livejournal.com
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10/14/2009 12:48:40 PM
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T. Kosmo
Posts 94
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Yeah, Marc is a genius. His story "Flight Risk" was podcast on Starship Sofa a while ago, and it was just brilliant.
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"I reject your grammar and substitute my own."
http://www.tedkosmatka.com/
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11/3/2009 9:06:59 AM
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Lukas Jackson
Posts 1149
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I've been checking out MMORPGs lately because my 6 year old has gotten interested in them. He started with McWorld, which is lame and commercialized but kid-friendly, and has moved on up to Wizard 101, kind of like a Harry Potter game with Pokemon cards. It's fun and free, which is nice.
I didn't particulary want to pay the $15/month for the endless grinding in WoW, but this list shows there's a lot of other MMORPGs out there, including Star Wars and Star Trek games in the works:
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/show/all/sCol/rankHype/sOrder/desc
It also talks about Guild Wars, which is free to play. Anyone familiar with that one?
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http://darkerblogistan.livejournal.com
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11/3/2009 10:32:32 PM
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EThomas
Posts 908
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A fun science fiction computer game that I played a few years ago--not sure if it has a compatible version for XP...was called Homeworld. It's nice in that it recognizes space is EVERY direction...seems complicated at first, but after awhile you get it. You have a mother ship, can build various kinds of scouting vessels...along the way to find a new home for the ship, you run into other earlier settlers, aliens, various resources...it was an interesting game, as I recall.
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~THE REPORTS OF MY DEATH
ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED!
LOVE, SCIENCE FICTION~
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11/4/2009 2:06:26 AM
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Soon Lee
Posts 704
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Going back a few years, SYSTEM SHOCK was a game I lost hours playing. It's still in my top 10 list.
The premise:
You're a hacker who gets arrested but in exchange for hacking & removing the ethical restraints of Shodan, the AI that controls an orbital station, you get to go free, plus they'll throw in a military-grade neural interface. After doing the deed, they insert the neural interface & put you into a healing coma. When you wake, you're on the orbital station & things have gone awry; you appear to be the only person left & the station appears to be suffering from an infestation of bio-zombies and other fun mutants.
The game plays out as a 1st person RPG, where you slowly work out what the problem is by finding and reading the diaries & voice logs of various departed or dead station staff. There is also a bunch of running around, finding weapons, killing mutants & robots run amok, but there are also a number of devious puzzles, and forays into cyberspace to unlock levels etc.
It also comes with its own unique elevator music. Actually the soundtrack & dim lighting is a good part of its appeal. Nothing like a bit of in-game paranoia to spice things up.
[Edit to fix egregious typos.]
edited by Soon Lee on 11/4/2009
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11/4/2009 11:01:34 AM
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T. Kosmo
Posts 94
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Hey Soon, I haven't played that game, but the premise you describe sounds pretty darn interesting. I'll have to get my hands on that one.
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"I reject your grammar and substitute my own."
http://www.tedkosmatka.com/
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11/4/2009 11:32:51 AM
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Lukas Jackson
Posts 1149
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Seems to be abandonware:
http://www.tareldyne.net/folder.php?id=10
Getting it to work on your system may be something else entirely.
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http://darkerblogistan.livejournal.com
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11/4/2009 1:52:03 PM
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Soon Lee
Posts 704
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T. Kosmo wrote:
Hey Soon, I haven't played that game, but the premise you describe sounds pretty darn interesting. I'll have to get my hands on that one.
At the time, it was a major advance in gaming, and was compared to Doom 2 for 3D graphics, but gameplay-wise it was very different. One of the things I liked was that there was that different tactics can be successful, you could go in all guns blazing (as if playing Doom, though running out of ammo becomes a real problem) or you could be more circumspect.
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11/4/2009 1:55:18 PM
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Soon Lee
Posts 704
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Lukas Jackson wrote:
I have the original install floppies somewhere! I've had good success getting older games to work using Dosbox. Might be time for a nostalgia trip.
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11/4/2009 2:40:40 PM
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Lukas Jackson
Posts 1149
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I wish my computer still had a floppy disk drive. I'd like to take a go at CIRCUIT'S EDGE, the game based on George Alec Effinger's Budayeen series.
All this talk of gaming has made me re-up my WoW subscription. Thanks a lot, guys!
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http://darkerblogistan.livejournal.com
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11/4/2009 5:48:34 PM
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Soon Lee
Posts 704
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I actually played the floppy version of SYSTEM SHOCK first, then got the far superior enhanced CD version & played it again.
Speaking of SFnal games, FALLOUT & FALLOUT 2 were lots of fun too. I don't play as much as I used to, so it takes me longer & longer to finish games. So far, I've managed to avoid the MMORPGs like EVEOnline which from all accounts, is excellent.
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11/4/2009 6:03:08 PM
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Lukas Jackson
Posts 1149
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How about Star Control 2, remember that one? It was fun.
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http://darkerblogistan.livejournal.com
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11/5/2009 1:27:48 AM
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Soon Lee
Posts 704
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Starcon2 was bucketloads of fun.
Elements of David Brin's Uplift, Star Trek, Area 51/X-files combined into a fun irreverent immensely playable package. Most of the soundtrack tunes are earworms. The alien races have each their own unique & quirky character, my favourite being the cowardly Spathi - their most powerful ship weapon is the rear-facing missile launcher.
edited by Soon Lee on 11/5/2009
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