[QUOTE="DGFreak"]

[QUOTE="pvtdonut54"]DIABLO BATTLECHEST its a super great buy.Packt

That's not a hack and slash ACTION game.

Diablo II isn't an action game? Are you kidding me? Sure it's got RPG elements, but it remains one of the all time great action hack and slash games.

If Diablo is a hack and Slash game then so is Sacred, Titan Quest, Dungeon Seige 1 and 2, and Silverfall.

I agree Dark Messiah also falls in this genre.. but as for Bloodrayne... it cannot be compared you better off looking at Soul Reaver or the like.

Some old hack and slash games would be Witchaven 1 and 2 and of course Deathtrap Dungeon

There are some nice casual games in the STEAM list.. some are even fun for adults like "Are you smarter than a Fifth grader?" Well I'm proud to say I am. Good game nonetheless. It reminded me of all the old knowledge you hardly access during your daily life. Anyway, its a good game.

Other games that would be fun is the "Mystery PI" series.. more like a Where's Waldo type game where you try to find a pair of glasses, for example. Long game and a bit repetative for my liking but for a small kid.. it would be fun.

Darwinia is also a "kids' game.. good RTS and "no blood!.. Of course you probably have played it yourself. ;)

Virtual Villagers another good kids game. more SIM like.

Typer Shark Deluxe helps you child learn to type and helps YOU improve your own typing skills. Also a good choice.

Bookworm/Adventures Deluxe helps to expand ones own vocabulary yours and your kids.

Tycoon games are also very fun for kids.. and not to mention (most are violence free) Except things like Prison Tycoon 3

Luxor 1-3 also good but are similar to Zuma Deluxe.

Peggle Deluxe also good... but just not the Half-Life version of it.. Peggle Extreme, since it has some carnage with the title screen :P

Gumboy Adventures, Gish, and Eets are all similar in concept but are fun for kids as well as adults.

Dynomite Deluxe is similar to Bubble Bobble

I would not recommend Elf Bowling since the Elves in that game are kind of crass.

Pretty much all the racing games are good except maybe Juiced and Midnight Club 2

Richochet Lost Worlds and Reaxxion are both similar to the old game of Breakout.

Rocket Mania Deluxe is similar to the water tube puzzles in Bioshock (the hacking of safes, turrets, etc)

Ghost Master would be an excellent Sim game for Halloween and is good for kids.

That's all I can recommend at this point.. that and the Bejeweled 1 and 2. Most of the Pop Cap games on Steam are very good and work on older comps. That is if you don't want to risk you child using your personal comp.

Hope this helps.

Looks good, but I'm just holding off on more games until Diablo 3 gets released.

Actually, this is just a comment to say "hiya" to Dnuggs and let him know I'm still kicking.. :P

[QUOTE="Alkpaz"]You Are Empty seems like the new Big Rigs of 07 :)mrbojangles25

Hahah ya, it got a 1.5 didnt it?

But honestly, were you disappointed? I think everyone was expecting that game to bomb.

Actually, at one time I did have it on my wishlist.. lol Was I disappointed? no. Too many good games out this year, heck look at the top PC games 3 of the top 07 games lead by Diablo 1 are at the top. Diablo 1 scoring a 9.6 Either the reviewers are just going nuts and handing out 9.0s or its been a very good year for the PC.. and one that will probably not happen for a while.. considering the trend.

I didn't look at the console ratings though and compare/contrast the good years for the PC vs the bad years.. but it would be interesting to see the comparison.

If anything I would have to say I was disappointed mainly with World in Conflict.. I picked it up, installed it then it ran like garbage.. had to tone the settings down to medium-low. (This was upon release) I have yet to try it again with a patch.. but I will.. just give me time! :)

I was a little late on getting Hellgate though and by the time I got it.. some of the major eyesores were pretty much gone.. now with the .5 patch it seems even better.. another patch is due out soon to fix the "invisible party members" bug.. but I go solo most of the time anyway, and chat a ton when I die in Nightmare.. (which is a lot of the time) being a lvl 36 and facing off a horde of 45s isn't cool. Also, leveling after you hit 36 becomes very hard.. been playing since this morning and still have not reached 37 (only 100K more xp to go though) was 1.2mil xp from the beginning....

BTW, my nick on Hellgate is TheOri go figure.. kinda was amped about Season 10 of SG-1 :)

Is there a mod out to make it uncensored? ala Hot Coffee ?

Also Sacred which was made by Ascaron (a German company) was also censored for blood in the US release.. this was fixed in the US release of Underworld.. but the original game was censored...

Funny no one mentioned Disciples.. great game IMO..

I also voted for BG.. n yes.. like another before me I have played them since the beginning.. BG1, Tales of the Sword Coast, BG2, Throne of Baal, IWD1, Heart of Winter, IWD2, NWN1, Shadows of the Untertide (sp?), Hordes of the Underdark, NWN2, Planescape: Torment, KOTOR1, and Jade Empire

There is also games like Diablo, Hellfire, Diablo 2, Lord of Destruction, Space Hack, Fate, Sacred, Sacred Gold, and Sacred Underworld, Titan Quest, Titan Quest Immortal Throne, Dungeon Seige 1, Legends of Arrana (sp?), Dungeon Seige 2, and Hellgate London. of the clones I would choose Hellgate London and Sacred as the best of them.. no one can kick Diablo off the throne.. it is the "hack and slash" game. :)

TES were mentioned.. played those since Daggerfall but I hated.. HATED Oblivion.. the monsters lvl with you? are they just nuts? That ruins the challenge as well as at endgame feel of being "all powerful". Morrowind was much better by leaps and bounds.

Gothic series.. I loved Gothic 3.. a lot of fans didn't.. but since I never played the previous 2.. I wouldn't know.

No one mentioned Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines.. also a truly excellent game.

Played Fallout the original.. never bought Fallout 2, wasn't ready for the whole turn based gameplay ala Jagged Alliance. Although Disciples II kinda changed my mentality towards the genre.. which speaks volumes for me :)

Arx Fatalis also good.. but not "great" .. if on the X-box yes.. I would rank it up there with the best of RPGs.. but on the comp.. no.. Dark Messiah.. loved it.. probably due to playing so much of Arx, that I noticed loads of similarities.

I would mention some console RPGs that I enjoyed.. but this is mainly PC so, I'll leave that alone.. otherwise the list would be umm long? Long Live Star Ocean! :P

Forgot one.. The Witcher.. played a little of it.. liked what I played.. but got overly involved with HGL.. will get to it though! :)

[QUOTE="Sam_Fisher_932"]

[QUOTE="oscar530"]holy **** MadExponent you are CAL-I and CEVO-P? thats cool
MadExponent

What is CAL-I and CEVO-P?

Well CAL is an amatuer online gaming league. There are different tiers that you can play in depending on your skill level. CAL-O is where everyone starts out. There is IM (Intermediate), M (Main), and then I (Invite). Once you are in Main you are generally pretty darn good. Invite is there for a select few that are moved up in order to keep Main balanced. Invite is pretty much the top tier players in any game. CEVO is pretty much the same as CAL except there is money involved and a cash pot to win. CEVO-P is Professional. Some of them are involved with The CGS and they play CS: Source on DirectTV. They earn salaries that are in the high 5 figure low 6 figures. When I played CEVO-P I did it simply for the extra competition. The CGS guys do it for a living. Honestly though I don't think anything I have ever done with TRU, EZ5, or ZEX is anything phenominal really. It was just good fun.

Do you know a Brian by chance? Known the guy for years.. he was CAL for MOHAA I'm a former member of )[eVo]( (Team Evolution) lead by Wildcard (Scott Tran). This was back in 2002.. and Team Evolution eventually closed its doors.. (I bailed a month or so before) My nick was )[eVo]( Capt. Paz Dunno if you remember me, or if you played back then.. :)

If you were on TWL or some other league.. I used to hang out on the TIC servers as well as TsL..

Bioware DOES make good storylines.. but I've been playing Bioware games for a while since BG1.. and much oif the storylines are VERY similar.. Jade Empire resonates NWN2 .. Sand and the trial is much like the Englishman "trial" in Jade Empire.. The main character being evil (not you).. hmm where have I seen that.. oh right .. Icewind Dale. The thief that betrays you.. hmm for a while there .. it seemed like that in Jade Empire.. but, well... I won't spoil the fun.. but it does a very similar twist like in BG2.. Settings may change.. but the general premise of the games of Bioware stay the same.. Need I mention the similarities of NWN1?

IF ME is much like these other storylines.. I wouldn't call it very "original".. but I have not had time to play The Witcher, even though I bought it upon release.. But Hopefully the story is not the same as in Bioware's library...

I think personally we put too much stock in storyline and voice acting that what we REALLY should worry about is the gameplay.. if the game is FUN.. what does it REALLY matter what the storyline is.. or "if" the accents are "true to form". I'm a graphic's whore.. so a RPG done in 1992 graphics wouldn't slide with me either... lol Unless I have had some vague familiarity with the game... then graphics really don't matter.

Maybe I'm old and see games like Pac-man as being fun.. since they were mindless games that didn't have storylines at all.. Even the early RPGs like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy 1 had pretty weak storylines.. they essentially boiled down to gear/lvl/spells/etc.. I'm not saying we should all resort to "Hack and Slash" type games.. but, I play RPGs not for the story alone .. but for the gameplay more than anything.

Even Morrowind.. had a pretty thin main storyline.. most of it was learning about the culture and traditions of the world you were in.. Dunno how Oblivion was.. since I disliked the gameplay.. but for a game to be on my A+ list it has to have gameplay above all else, as well as REPLAY value.

[QUOTE="mfsa"]

Since many - most - of us haven't even played Mass Effect, let alone finish it, it's a little hard to really judge it evenly.

But I will take The Witcher anyway for two reasons.

Firstly, I don't like the way BioWare handles combat... maybe ME is different, but I'm just assuming it isn't.

Secondly, Mass Effect seems to take place in a universe called America. I appreciate that it's an American company and its primary audience is probably American, but I just plain don't like hearing American accents in every game, every film, every TV show I experience. Especially when it's set in a parallel or alternate timeframe or reality.

They may be trifles, but for these two reasons, I'm sure I would prefer The Witcher over Mass Effect. Plus, I personally think GameSpot underrated The Witcher and based on the vague references and even errors inhis review, I suspect Brett Todd didn't give the game anywhere near the playtime it deserved.

mrbojangles25

listen here, you anti-yankee limey fool...

Nah, just kidding. But seriously, tired of American accents? Its a little hard to control that when, like you said, the company is American (North American, btw, not US like someone said).

I suppose we Americans could include some British or European accents, but then you end up with offensive stuff like the NPCs in Hellgate, or Gunther from Deus Ex.

Plus, it works the other way...you think we like Ewan McGregor with a American accent in The Island :D

In whole I agree though...The Witcher was underrated and its too early for most of us to judge ME.

Oh come on! Gunther Herman was very much a riff at Arnold.. lol

Hellgate London.. yes the voice acting is pretty terrible.. but hell at least the merchant in Oxford Station makes it all worth while.. :P