If you're talking about gameplay, the most realistic game I've ever played is definitely SWAT 4 & it's expansion - Stetchkov Syndicate. NO saves throughout a mission, one bullet from you, other three team members & the suspects can end the game, NO medkit - player's physics will suffer with the injury (it also shows where the injury is done, like a bullet in leg will slow down player's movement), all the weapons & tools are used by real SWAT & many other realistic things, all in one it's a really REAL game.

Not sure what game it was but only time ever felt something like that in a game.

Had to climb this ladder and was this huge tenticled monster that reacted to the slighest noise and made you really nervous and had to go up only in little shots and stopped when monster would get aggited.

Might of Been Half life.

Sleepyz

Well, there is a similar scene in Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of Earth, although that game is rather frustrating than scary.

And I think Condemned is definitely one of the top class scary games, if not the scariest. F.E.A.R is occasionally scary but it just can't be the scariest game. Doom 3 is much scarier than F.E.A.R IMO.

Looks like this pay to play & Windows Live stuff has led to a huge confusion. As I said earlier Halo 2 will be FREE to play online, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to host games. Comeon people, Microsoft is not that fool to suddenly prevent so many PC gamers from playing online. I don't know why GamingTrend wrote something such confusing. Anyway, here's what Microsoft has to say, taken from the official Games for Windows website:

"As the Games for Windows guy, the most exciting part of this for me is what it means for Windows gamers.  People who play on the PC expect a certain common level of multiplayer for free out of the box with their Windows games. We've said before our plan was not to make people pay for an experience they've been getting for free, and we're living up to that. On the PC, Windows gamers can join multiplayer games (by browsing a list of available servers) without having to pay to upgrade to a gold subscription.  "So what", you say - that's what I get with PC games today.   But we take it a step further - even as a free Silver member on LIVE, you get access to your friends list, single-player achievements, private voice chat, and your connected presence online while you play. We took the best of Xbox LIVE, brought it over to Windows, and we're getting folks in the door for free.

Of course, Gold is where the real promise pays off.  With gold you get cross-platform gameplay in supported games (Shadowrun will be the first, followed by UNO later this year), personal game invites (with your friends, vs. hopping on a server and hoping you find someone you like), and the enhanced matchmaking that LIVE is known for, which takes into account your skill, your preferred gamer zone, and your friends list."

Click here to view the full article.

Click About Live to know about Windows Live in details.

It doesn't seem unfair to me, after all you STILL have the ability to play multiplayer FOR FREE, as you always had. Gold membership is only required for stuff like cross platform gaming & some other thing which were NOT available before in PC platform. Gold is not extremely costly, only &49.95 a year, less than the cost of a single game. Microsoft is not taking anything from multiplayer & instead trying to enhancing it with the cost of some bucks. If you don't want that, simply don't upgrade to Gold, you still will be able to play multiplayer for free. So, what's the problem?

This game easily could've been released on XP since it's DX 9 based but again all games are going to be Vista only sooner or later, since DX 10 can't be installed on XP. I have a feeling this game might be hacked to run on XP. And pay to play is lame, it's just lame. if one consider not to buy the game, it should be because of pay to play.

I was surfing Gamerankings when I saw Halo 2 is already reviewed! 'GamingTrend' has reviewed the game & given it a satisfying 86%. Here's the summary:

Graphics - 80/100
Sound/Music - 96/100
Controls - 90/100
Gameplay - 170/200
Value / Replay Value - 80/100

Pros:

Fantastic integration of Games for Windows - LIVE system
Easiest multiplayer system of any PC title to date
Tray and Play is revolutionary and simple
Powerful editor included for free
VOIP system is as simple as it is on the 360
Achievements!
Dedicated servers already in place, as well as the ability to host your own
Keyboard/Mouse and 360 controller support
Low system requirements

Cons:

Mixed bag of high resolution and low resolution textures with no DX10 support
Is activation as finicky as Windows Activation?  Will I need to re-do it after changing hardware?
Vista only means lower adoption rate
Pay-to-Play multiplayer only - no LAN, no Local, No Internet
Full price for a 2.5 year old title

System Requirements:

OS: Windows Vista
Processor: 2 Ghz Pentium 4 or equivalent Processor (or x64)
RAM: 1 GB
Hard Drive: 7 GB
Video Card: DX9 graphics card: WDDM driver, PS 2.0/32BPP, At least nVidia 6000 or ATI x700 or above.
Multiplayer: Internet connection for Games for Windows - LIVE
Drive: DVD-ROM drive

To get the full cake click GamingTrend Halo 2 Review

So, What's your take?

So you want to play Dreamfall? Then:

1. You really should play The Longest Journey first because that game is better than Dreamfall & you'll not understand half of dreamfall without playing that. Having said that, even if you've played TLS, you'll still not understand Dreamfall completely. I think THAT is Dreamfall's biggest problem, it creates so many questions but answers so little.

2. Of course there is lack of challenge(that's the correct word, not gameplay), but I don't think you'll realise that much during the game. The game has a combination of adventure, action, exploring, humor etc & that makes it a great game.

3. The game locations are absolutely beautiful although the graphics is OK. But I'm not a graphics whore so no problem for me.

4. Another best thing 'bout the game is its characters. You'll remember Zoe, April, Kian & all others long time after playing the game. The characters are vibrant & versatile. BTW my favorite character is Crow:P

Overall, I think if you expect something different from regular head bursting with guns & killing monsters I think you'll like the game.

And about Indigo Prophecy, that game is really better than Dreamfall; in fact it's one of the best I've ever played. That game deserves to be played.