Would you like to play a game? (recommendations for new gamers)
If anyone is bored and is looking for a game to play (a.k.a. people who aren't playing Reach or Black Ops), here are some good ones, organized by platform. They are mostly old games.
PC:
Civilization, any of them (try II if you haven't)
Dawn Of War: Dark Crusade (Great RTS, especially for fans of 40k)
WarGames (doesn't have a whole lot to do with the movie, it's a pretty old game, but a good RTS)
Xbox:
Republic Commando (A solid Star Wars Squad based shooter with good in-game dialogue)
Knights of the Old Republic (If you've played it, play it again)
Crimson Skies (Probably a bit dated now, but it's got great airplane combat with upgrades)
Ultimate Alliance 1 (better than 2) is a little cheesy, a little buggy, but somehow captures the fun of putting all your favorite superheroes in a team and upgrading their many abilities far better than the second one. The in-game graphics are aging, but the cutscenes are pretty amazing for original Xbox. And you get more powers in this one, as well as items you can pick up and equip.
Gamecube:
Metriod Prime (I actually haven't played these, but I will when I get a system that can)
Jedi Knight II
360:
I can't really recommend any games here that haven't already been lathered in press. That said, Reach does live up to the hype. Haven't tried Black Ops yet. However, if you missed it, Mass Effect 1 is a must play. The graphics still hold up after 3 years. The gameplay is occasionally buggy, and the menus can get annoying, but it still earns a 9.5/10 in my book despite all that. The game is so good, you will completely forget its minor flaws. It's that great.
If you like Wolverine, and haven't played the "Origins" game yet, let me just say this: There are about 100 different ways to kill dudes, the combat is true-to-character, and it's about 12 hrs. long. It may not be for everyone, but I played through twice, once on medium, and once on hard after unlocking it for beating the game. Plus, the QTEs, for the most part (save a couple mini-bosses) are pretty cool, not too common to be annoying, and occasionally jaw-dropping.
Flaws: Story is meh, but I actually liked it better than the movie's story (both are still wrong). The occasional graphical glitch (largely forgivable, especially considering it's a movie game), as well as the rare glitch where you get stuck outside of a level. That only happened once, but it did cost me an achievement.
I think I already reviewed that game when it came out. Oh well, there it is again.
PS3:
Haven't played anything on this yet.
Wii:
Umm... anything first party, almost nothing third party. You should know that by now if you have one.
So, this is essentially a list of games you may have missed over the last 10-20 years that I didn't (mostly), and you should play.
Also, if you're new to gaming, here's a list of recommended titles to start with, depending on the genre that interests you.
Shooter: Halo 1 (combat evolved). Why: because it's not too complex, it has an easy setting, but it has controls and gameplay that will prep you for any modern shooter.
RTS: Age Of Empires (1 or 2). Why: It's got all the key components of an RTS, but not overwhelming on easy. Plus, it's great.
RPG: Um... I don't recommend jumping right into an RPG if you're new to gaming. Start with Halo, then move to Mass Effect, because the RPG element there is pretty light, but enough to prep someone for a deeper RPG after that. Or if you're eager, you could just skip straight into Mass Effect 2, but you'd miss some story from 1, and the RPG element is so light there, that you might not even get a taste of it. (traditional RPGs, of course. The story element is heavy like rain).
Alternative: play a text-based RPG, if you like reading.
That's about it for now.
