what to buy next?

[wardhali]

i bought and love civ 4, but i have some leftover christmas money, and i wondered what i should buy, SW battlefront 2, call of duty 2, batlefield 2, empire earth 2, age of empies 3, guild wars, or any other suggestions you might have

ops: forgor to put guild wars in the poll.
BTW monthy fee MMORPGs are out

[duke o' york]

No question whatsoever. Civ II!!!!

But we could all be getting +1s for this in the other games forum.

[Solver]

I know I'll be eaten alive for this, but Civ2 isn't worth it. It even wasn't that much of an improvement comared to Civ1. Yes, it's a great game, definitely. But if you've never played it before, then now, after Civ4, it will just feel very backwards and awkward.

Battlefield 2 - very fun, arcade online shooter. It does have a couple of rather heavy issues, but if you're willing to overlook those, the game can be very fun.

AoE3 - my personal opinion is that it's absolutely not up to the standard set by previous "Age of" games. It looks good, has rather intense online action (more like Age of Mythology than AoE2), but to me, it fell very short of expectations.

EE2 - this is a tough one. EE2 has changed quite a bit since EE1. It's now simpler to play, and is generally more streamlined, but in many ways the same. My personal opinion, again, is that EE2 is not better than RoN. It does, though, have decent campaigns, and you may want this if you liked the first EE. However, if you got bored of the first EE quickly, you'll also get bored of this one.

HL2 - the best singleplayer shooter out there, get this if you played and liked the first Half-Life. Or even if you like Counter-Strike.

[SlowwHand]

Civ II.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'll agree with Solver. After CivIV, CivII is going to seem very backwards to you (not that it wasn't great when released). I'd say pick Half-Life 2 or Call of Duty 2

[Asher]

Call of Duty 2.

Civ2 seems bad after Civ4, and HL2 was just bad.

[Solver]

Well, Asher disliked HL2, that's a well known fact, but there are very few people who would agree that HL2 was just bad .

Call of Duty 2 is more similar to other existing modern shooters (modern as in contemporary) than HL2. HL2 has a distinctly different style. Choosing between HL2 or CoD2, they're fairly different games. CoD2 is several different campaigns, HL2 is a huge story that is in fact a part of an even bigger story. You decide.

[Asher]

HL2 is just downright boring. I couldn't give a rats ass about the story.

The worst part was the boat part...it just would never end...I had to force myself to play through it only to get to other stupid parts that I would have to force myself to play through. Eventually I gave up and played better games that are actually enjoyable.

[Solver]

Your opinion to which you're entirely entitled, but as I said, you won't find too many people agreeing with you . For me, the boat part was one of the most fun ones, and there was no part of the game that I hated, which I can only say about HL2 and Doom3, all other FPS games I've played had levels that I downright hated.

[Asher]

Doom3 was bad, too. Also very boring.

Bad taste in games, you have.

I have yet to finish either of HL2 or Doom3...but I loved the original Half-Life and Doom1&2.

Maybe I just expect more from my games than I did when I was, oh, 10 years old...

Call of Duty 2 is amazing because it is the most immersive and atmospheric game I have ever played.

HL2 and DOOM3 are standard run and gun shooting, but HL2 makes it one worse with stupid, inane levels like the boat level and painful "puzzle"s that tend to rely on the gimmick of the half-assed physics system. Both Doom3 and HL2 are simply shallow games that lacked any real artistic control, and any real game design.

[Solver]

I play relatively few games, but I like my taste . Doom3 was repetitive for sure, but in a way I enjoy. That said, I saw people being really polarised with regards to Doom3, half absolutely hated it, the other half absolutely loved it.

So what do you think are the best FPS games ?

[Asher]

Call of Duty 2 is up there. Just an awesome game. Smart AI, incredibly immersive, authentic weapons and a history storyline. Playing Call of Duty 2 on Hardcore in levels like the D-day landing gives me a huge new appreciation for what the soldiers had to do in WW2.

Wolfenstein was innovative and fun (for its day), Quake was pretty bad but the 3D mouse-control was innovative...DOOM and DOOM2 were simplistic but fun (for its day).

The best shooters I've played recently are Call of Duty 2, and Halo 2. FEAR is also excellent.

The main reason I hated HL2 and Doom3, aside from the lack of any fun gameplay, was the dumb-as-rocks AI.

COD2, Halo 2, and FEAR have AIs that actually are smart...they pose a challenge. There are genuine group/tactical strategies, they will intelligently run for cover, etc.


Quake 4 also sucks, by the way.

[Solver]

FEAR AI is the best I've seen, agree there. But the game overall fell short of my expectations. Great firefights and great graphics (that would be even better if I had the hardware), but the story failed, the level design wasn't too great, and having just two enemy types account for 95% of battles was too repetitive even for me.

Doom3 AI dumb, agreed there too. The zombie marines would sometimes show some intelligence, but it was generally limited to taking cover behind something and staying there no matter what. Other enemies just attacked you in the most direct way available to them.

HL2 AI dumb, disagreed. The soldiers didn't pull off impressive retreat moves, but they would use basic squad tactics and would flank you, especially in a few levels it's very notable.

Halo2, I haven't played that, but am not very impressed based on screenshots and reviews, seems not to be my style.

Quake was a nightmare in the sense that I couldn't get used to 3D controls. Took me quite a long time to get used to playing with mouse and the keyboard as opposed to keyboard only.

Loved Doom2, still do, played that baby a lot. But some of the levels were actually too hard for me in the terms of finding the exit .

Quake4 was great to me, had a couple of rather weak levels, but was actually story-driven, with semi-decent AI, great graphics, and classic id-style action.

Looks like I've found a person whose taste in FPS games is the polar opposite of mine .

[Provost Harrison]

How dare you run contrary to the tastes of Asher, he is infallible and his tastes could not be wrong.

BTW, still listening to Maroon 5 and Matchbox 20?

[Asher]

Another unprovoked personal attack from the overweight, lonely, insecure Provost Harrison. I tremble.