FPS game for a casual

[Kliwer]

Hello!

I’m looking for some good first-person-shooter for me. I’m not, in general, an admirer of this genre but from time to time I have a need to make a break from cRPGs for 2-3 hours. I’m looking for something what meets the following conditions:


- a game which is not new (I’m going to install it on my ancient laptop which overheats terribly)

- a game which is not very difficult (I’m really not skillful in this type of entertainment)

- clever level design with some distinctive features, maybe with puzzles and secrets

- realistic or semi-realistic guns (I do not like laser guns and other futuristic stuff)

- possibly a game with some little addition elements (a bit more than just shooting)

- in general I like gore and spectacular death effects (but without exaggeration)


Here are my previous experience and preferences:

- I do not like the most obvious titles (classical Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem – all not finished); I do not know why, they are just boring for me.

- I had some good fun with Half Life 1 (not finished), but it is something in atmosphere of this game which rejects me.

- System Shock 2 (not finished) is great but it is also too hard for me; also resources (ammunition) are too limited to enjoy shooting (and I hate fighting with crowbar).

- Deus Ex 1 (finished) was great, but the shooting aspect itself was not so cool (I do not really “feel” weapons in this game).

- Serious Sam 1 (finished) – one of my favorites. However I have not finished Serious Sam 2 (I think I burned out after the first part).

- Shogo (finished) – I HATE manga, anime etc. but this title has something what caught me. I wish this game has more “human levels” and less “mecha levels”.

- Return to the Castle Wolfenstein (finished twice) – oh, I love this title, my all-times favorite. Good level design, not very hard and smooth gameplay, cool weapons (Thompson!). I like those levels where the game pretends to be more than a shooter (mission with tank, mission at the airport). And it is always a pleasure to shoot some fucking Germans.

- Jedi: Outcast (finished 4-5 times?) – well, it is not a typical shooter, but I love its level design and atmosphere of old Star Wars. Katarn should be an official character of this Universe (the story and dialogues in this game are ten times better then all movies after Return of the Jedi). But I do not like Jedi Academy (although I have finished it).

- I have also tried previous titles from the Dark Force series. Dark Force 1 (not finished) is not in my style. Jedi Knight 1 (not finished) was ok, although - after Outcast - a bit primitive. Level design was very cool but some secrets too hard to find.

- I had a great time with Soldier of Fortune 1 (not finished) but later levels were much too hard for me.

- Outlaws (not finished) was very good (the train level!) but later parts was a bit too monotonous.


For now I was thinking about Clive Barker's Undying, coming back to Serious Sam 2 or testing Far Cry 1. Could You recommend me something? Sorry for a long post, but I didn't want to bother You with titles I already know.

 

[Avonaeon]

Kingpin: Life of Crime fits some of those criteria; Realistic (ish) guns, good level design with secrets, old (so it'll run well) and it does have some basic quest/puzzle design. Only thing against it is it's pretty hard on normal, but if you play on easy, it might be ok.

I'll think if some others also fit.

 

[Puukko]

Does "classic titles" here include OG Shadow Warrior?

 

[Avonaeon]

I imagine if he doesn't like Duke3D, he probably won't enjoy the other build engine games, like Shadow Warrior or Blood.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Vietcong.

 

[Wunderbar]

No one lives forever

 

[Kliwer]

Kingpin: Life of Crime fits some of those criteria

This one looks promising.

Does "classic titles" here include OG Shadow Warrior?

I have not heard of this. But from Youtube video I'm guessing similar to Duke Nukem (so... boring). Is it true?

Vietcong.

Isn't it a tactical shooter? Because I'm only looking for something not requiring much of commitment.

No one lives forever

It looks great. But I'm not sure I wish to play a female character.

 

[Van-d-all]

Vietcong.

No way. That game is tough as nails, and in an oldschool pixelhunt way at that.

I'd recommend TimeShift. It's old, pretty good, and has a tiny gimmick of time manipulation.

 

[Sjukob]

I’m looking for some good first-person-shooter for me.

- I do not like the most obvious titles (classical Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem – all not finished); I do not know why, they are just boring for me.

Anyway:

1. F.E.A.R
2. Sin 1998
3. Vivisector
4. Call of Juarez
5. Chronicles of Riddick: escape from butcher bay
6. Call of Duty (the first one is pretty good)
7. Postal 2
8. XIII

I'm not sure about the difficulty, 99% of shooters are easy as shit unless you dig into user made content.

Far Cry 1

Definitely not a game for a casual playthrough. On the other hand you've already completed Serious Sam and that game is pretty brutal on higher difficulties, so might as well give Far Cry a go.

 

[Zenith]

FEAR is one of the very best FPSes, and it has slowmo that can act as training wheels. Same dev as Shogo.
NOLF 1/2 are also by Monolith, can be fairly deadly, but not really demanding on reflexes and such. Comedic, relatively story-heavy. Combat stealth.
Painkiller is easy, and while the layouts are basic, at least the levels are pretty to look at. Only the non-HD original is worthwhile.
EYE Divine Cybermancy has a "Morrowind balance" kind of thing going on: hard to get your head around, but easy to break once you do. RPG-lite, Source engine.
Doom 3 is less Doom and more a mix of HL1 and SShock2. Horror-ish, needs a bit of resource management. "BFG Edition" made the game easier.
Half-Life 2 tries its hardest to be accesible. Mixes things up every half an hour, isn't very deep or replayable as a result, but fun for one ride.
Unreal 1 is fine, I guess? It does have lasers though. Had amazing atmosphere for the time, not sure it holds up.

On the basis of difficulty, I'd recommend against Kingpin, SiN, Blood, AvP1, Hard Reset.
Undying is a good choice.

 

[Puukko]

I find it difficult to believe OP hasn't heard of Shadow Warrior. Still, even if you didn't like Douk, it's definitely worth giving a go, Redux is the most accessible version.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Bulletstorm.

 

[Alphons]

Boiling Point is a Ukrainian mix between the movie Taken, Far Cry and Deus Ex.

 

[schru]

Serious Sam 2 is a fun little game, but it's very simple and easy compared to the other instalments due to being designed for consoles.

Far Cry is excellent, one of the best shooters from the 2000s. CrySis (same developer) and new Far Cries (all made by a different studio) don't compare.

 

[Jvegi]

Far Cry is excellent, one of the best shooters from the 2000s

It's cool the first time through, until the halfway point.

I honestly think you can't go wrong with the first CoD. It's very tight and involving.

 

[schru]

It's cool the first time through, until the halfway point.

I honestly think you can't go wrong with the first CoD. It's very tight and involving.

The first time I had played it I didn't like the mutants and the increase in difficulty, but on replay, when I was more familiar with the mechanics and played more daringly, the increased challenge was pretty fun. The later outside levels did probably have less polish, but the one where you had to break through from one end of an island to another as the mercenaries were battling the mutants was particularly memorable.

The first Call of Duty is indeed fun and immersive, at least if one is unfamiliar with that kind of framework. Only the levels where you're on your own or which are more of a corridor with a few AI teammates and without much scripting are rather dull. The United Offensive expansion was also nice.

Call of Duty 2 was rather stupid in that the fights were more chaotic, like some death match with bots and the ‘frontline’ moving in response to where the player would choose to go was even more evident. The shooting still felt somewhat decent and there were nice sights.

Fear is also really good. The first expansion was decent.

 

[Cerulean]

Another vote for No One Lives Forever. I'm still holding out hope that Night Dive Studios (the same group that found a way to resurrect System Shock 2) manages to untangle the licensing clusterfuck so that the NOLF series can get on GOG where it belongs.

In the meantime, you can get it here for free, patched to run on modern versions of Windows, and wide-screen: http://nolfrevival.tk

It's also worth playing because the game has some genuinely funny moments.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

+1 vote for NOLF 1&2 and FEAR.
Also would add Tron 2.0 to round out the Monolith goodness. For something a little more out there you could try Betrayer.

Far Cry 1 is one half brilliant game and 1 half complete dogshit. It’s worth a play through, but I’ve never managed to get very far in a replay.

Painkiller is good fun, and since you liked Serious Sam you would probably enjoy it. Just make sure to get the original version and don’t bother with any expansions.

Also obligatory mention for Thief which, while certainly not an FPS, is first-person and has arguably the greatest level design of all time.

Edit: Oh, I also really love Quake 2, but I’m in an extreme minority. Most people think it’s mediocre at best. You might enjoy it though. Good non-arena mazelike level design, extremely gory, and tons of secrets and a few secret levels to find. Both expansions are pretty good too.

 

[DalekFlay]

NOLF is a good suggestion if you like some stealth. It's free on this site and has been forever because no company is sure they own it.

Original Far Cry is a good suggestion too, or Crysis/Far Cry 3 if your computer can run them. Far Cry 3 has "RPG" style upgrades.

FEAR is good but sort of difficult for a noob maybe, though if you abuse slo-mo it'll be easy. First couple Medal of Honor or CoD games are good, especially Allied Assault.

Fallout New Vegas doesn't have the best FPS combat obviously, but if you like RPGs and haven't played it yet then it's a great combo.

 

[Biscotti]

It looks great. But I'm not sure I wish to play a female character.

Come on now, what kind of petty reasoning is this? Especially when it's Cate Archer we're talking about.

 

[Citizen]

Turok 1, get pc port + mod that restores original n64 levels. Best of both worlds.

No one lives forever

Or what he said.

 

[DraQ]

Most old-ish FPS games have some sort of energy or otherwise futuristic weapons, though most also rely on conventional firearms for most part.

Oh, I also really love Quake 2, but I’m in an extreme minority. Most people think it’s mediocre at best. You might enjoy it though. Good non-arena mazelike level design, extremely gory, and tons of secrets and a few secret levels to find. Both expansions are pretty good too.

Actually Q2 seems to fit the bill quite nicely. I don't like it, it's kind of bland, terminally easy and definitely mediocre - not a game I would normally recommend, but:

• Has decent gore and pretty good death anims (event though they telegraph any "surprise" death sprays and such with depressing transparency)
• Is terminally easy - I actually planned to just reply with "casul FPS? oh that's easy - Quake 2 " (although seriously, do you really need game to be easy if you beat and liked Shogo where the main threat on foot are hitscanners with pretty much no reaction delay?)
  
• Thematically it's bland, but level design is actually fairly clever in terms of layout.
• Has 4 energy/futuristic weapons and 3 explosive weapons, but also 4 firearms which are going to be your mainstay.
  
• Is old.

Ok, it does have you shoot retarded space cyborgs from space 99% of the time (and mutated nasty fauna for the remaining 1%).
Odd that Half-Life didn't fit the bill (at the time it's mostly semi-realistic arsenal was kind of a thing), but HL2 still might (somewhat crap gunplay, though).

What else?
Unreal probably won't work (which is damn shame as it is one of my all time faves) given that it's not the most down-to-earth FPS.
Sin is pretty damn good despite shitty graphics and a lot of targetting horny teens - mostly firearms, mostly against people, good locational damage, surprising amounts of interactivity and minor C&C.

From more modern games Stalker (SoC and CoP) seems to fit the bill, though it's not exactly EZ-mode shooter.
DX:HR is DX with better gunplay and art design, worse plot and level design plus some cheesy gimmicks (although original DX gunplay wasn't half bad if you put points in it).

I imagine if he doesn't like Duke3D, he probably won't enjoy the other build engine games, like Shadow Warrior or Blood.

That's not really a given due to them being so different from one another thematically. I would at least try Blood, though EZ it is not.

 

[Ninjerk]

Early Call of Duty and MoH titles shouldn't be too hard, right? Been forever since I've played them.

 

[Silverfish]

Battlefield 3. Realistic guns, good level design, some segments that mix things up, not terribly difficult (on normal, I can't vouch for the other settings) and a bad, Law & Order caliber story t'boot.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Unreal.