I'm wondering if anyone can recommend me a shooter (preferably FPS, but 3rd person is fine too) for the PC that's no older than 5 or 6 years really.
I'm looking for something that is mainly urban, where there is great interaction between weapons and the environment. Such as shooting through glass and wood at enemies, spraying up sparks and rubble and debris when bullets miss their marks and strike nearby surfaces. Basically a game where the guns feel very satisfying to shoot.
A wide variety of guns is a must, which each having their own flavor. Some shoot in precise bursts, others spray bullets madly, others are semi-automatic, etc.
I've no interest / already own / have played:
In terms of guns, I'd recommend SWAT 4, each weapon has it's own personality, and you can shoot trough doors and windows. In multiplayer it can be tons of fun.
played borderlands? its not very realistic, but it has i think 17 MILLION different guns and still counting! you will find no game that offers that variety. there isn't much interaction with the environment i suppose but the game is super fun to play. it has 4 player co-op if you have some friends to play with and is an excellent multiplayer game. its a kind of FPS RPG hybrid. the shooting mechanics are very good for a pc shooter. the graphics style is awesome and the story has tons of great humor in it.
its also cheap. you can get the game of the year on steam for i think 20 or 30 bucks and it comes with 4 fun expansions.
Not at all urban, but Bad Company 2 and Vietnam have physics driven guns and great audio for them, so they sure feel better than the majority of games out there. I generally stick with just one or two weapons of each type, though. Can't really tell you how much different each SMG is compared to each other.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the guns given in the campaign of the recent Medal of Honor, though I again didn't really try more than that. They're very easy to get used to; 30 seconds into my first mission action I was using them as if I'd played for months. Unlike many other games, MoH is one of the few in which I found my playstyle naturally adapting to the gun I was carrying. I'd use quick-aimed headshots with rifles and just unleash a burst of half a dozen rounds with LMGs. Other games... well, it is interesting to snipe with an LMG...
I second Stmorpheus. Borderlands is simply unique, immersive, fun to play; for me over and over again. There is no heavy environment interaction, mainly shoot explosive barrels. Nor mainly urban. Never mind all that because the weapons truly make this game. Borderlands is all about the weapons.
Gearbox had a retired Army Colonel on staff to guide them in weapons design. They then modified fully realistic weapons for smooth game play so that in the game world on the screen they do feel realistic. There are common weapons and elite weapons and rare weapons. But you can play the game with white grade weapons, and sometimes the white, common grade weapons have wonderful stats. Last play through with a soldier, I was using a white grade level 10 shotgun up to around level 25 or 26. Stats were better than gold grade shotties I was finding up till then.
The linear RPG story is fully integrated into the action so you don't spend excess time talking to brainless NPCs. You get radio messages, listen to recordings, but you can fight at the same time. This game is all about getting a bunch of quests, going out and doing those, collecting your rewards, merching stuff, buying stuff. And then getting right back out there and shoot and shoot and shoot! I really liked the story myself.
NPC opponents are worthy opponents. Yes, of course the game is a shooting gallery. But you the player are the clay pigeon. Keeps you on your toes.
Borderlands has been described as a combination of Diablo II and Hellgate London. Sort of fits, but to me far better than either. GoTY includes original game plus three DLC expansions; all of which are worthwhile. And yes, the graphics and animations are just great!
Now go try Borderlands and be happy!
Borderlands is a fun game, but is incredibly weak on the environment. It annoyed me to no end that unless I had an active quest for that specific item, or it was a barrel, then I couldn't do anything with it. There also isn't any bullet penetration to speak of, and I don't think there are any glass windows to shoot through either. The interface is also a horrid console port as well. Every menu reminded me that this wasn't intended to be a PC game.
If you can get into the very-simplified design and art style, it's probably worth the 20-30 bucks. The weapons are enjoyable and varied, plus the humor is good. Your sniper rifle that can 1 shot a huge enemy isn't capable of moving a glass bottle, and it's much more of an "arcade" game imo, so your mileage may vary. I wouldn't dare say it's better than Diablo II, but it's on the same level as Hellgate London for me. The game is entirely weapon-centric though. The only other loot you can find are some boosts for your toon and his one super ability, and a shield.
I enjoyed the weapons in Left 4 Dead and it's sequel. The sequel has a much wider array of weapons and there's obviously lots of killing to be done in interesting (some urban) environments.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior was a lot of fun for myself, but that's obviously not going to work if you want something other than a rifle on a tropical island.
With some heavy modding, the weapons in the newest Fallout games are enjoyable. Without the mods, they felt pretty lackluster though.
If you want some unique guns, try out Metro 2033. The weapons are entirely unique and a blast to play. Your sniper rifle is pneumatic and requires you to pump it to keep the pressure up.
All of my other suggestions are in your list already, but if all else fails try a Stalker game again with a different mod-set. I seem to go back to that series more often than not when I want to play a shooter.
I've actually played Borderlands before but didn't list it cause I consider it to be more arcadey than what I'm looking for.
@Kodiak, I haven't actually played any of the Stalker games with mods before. What would you recommend? In general, there is two things about the Stalker games that rub me the wrong way: 1) lack of coherent organization of quest and quest related information and 2) a general "roughness" in the GUI and how the game is presented.
Arma2/OA combined ops.
I personally think it would fit most of your criteria.. tons of weapons(the original arma 2 had 73.. OA and the DLCs added more so its over 100) with pretty realistic ballistics for each (meaning each gun is different, different bullet drop penetration etc) arma 2/OA is pretty nifty. Most of the maps are huge regional maps(Chernarus is 225 km2 and Takistan is 164 km2) though so its certainly not primarly urban although there are urban centers (Chernarus contains 2 large cities and roughly 50 smaller villages). With the two larger main maps being eastern european (Chernarus based on Czech sat data)and psuedo afghanistan (Takistan based on you guessed it afghanistan). The only primarily urban map is Zargabad which is 67 km2 (based on baghdad). All the maps are based on real world sat. data.
I can't stress this enough.. Its more of a simulator than an arcade game though so if your all for run and gun instead of tactical patience then its def. not going to please you. And if your into modding its pretty easy to make your own scenarios missions etc or just download other peoples missions etc.
Combined Ops includes arma + OA so its a pretty good deal. Plus it can double as a tank/apc/jet/heli(lots of vehicles as well as guns) simulator as well. Fair warning the voice overs are horrendous and the control scheme takes time to learn/adjust to.
Env. interaction is high, Hiding in a building from a tank(or a unit capable of calling in an air or arty strike) can have dire consequences.. bastards wont hesitate to take the building down on top of you
As far as FPS i think arma 2 (more specifically combined ops since you get the original + expansion) has the most bang for your buck for games today with all the things that are included + built in editor/modding capabilities. Its one of those great games that is relatively unknown to alot of people.
To have a look at all the guns/vehicles etc Arma 2 combined ops feature list
As a side note, they release new DLC expansions every once in a while.. but include the same stuff at low res in patches.. so the multiplayer community doesn't get splintered. Meaning if you just have combined ops and someone else has all the DLCs can play together.. he just has all the DLC stuff (maps vehicles weapons etc)in high res prettiness.
EDIT* this post is far longer than I intended but I barely scratched the huge amount of stuff in arma2/OA. It Really depends on if your looking for an arcade style game or more of a simulator.. i still play BF2 alot when i'm in the arcade mood.
In Conclusion.
If your looking for more a run and gun arcade shooter anything in the battlefield series is good (bad company 2 being the only one with envir. destruction), if its a more realistic simulator your after then def go with arma 2 combined ops. Also to note.. multiplayer in arma 2 is primarily Co-op and rather slow so if run and gun PvP is a huge set of criteria then again you prob won't be pleased, and would prob be better off with Bf bc2.
FEAR 1 & 2, and of course Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as suggested above. There's also Red Faction: Guerrilla which is the current champ in enviromental destruction, but let's be honest: the game is all about explosives and your big damn hammer, if you use guns in that game you're already doing it wrong.
I'd say Red Dead Redemption......but you said PC......so........I guess the next best thing would be Call of Juarez Bound in Blood. The SP is as linear as they get........but the MP was a lot of fun.......great visuals, sounds etc...
As far as modern combat is concered.....I'd vote for MOH except of course you said......"many gun varieties" which also kills that suggestion.
SWAT4 was thrown out earlier.....I'd second that as long as you get the addon "the Stetchkov Syndicate" as well.
Arma 2 or Bad Company 2. I'd go with Bad Company 2 though first, the mp is intense.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Gameplay video here. Single player game is good, though incredibly unrealistic and more akin to Call of Duty than it should be. The multiplayer, however, is the best Team Based FPS since Counter-Strike. You will become addicted, and you will love it.
ARMA 2. Game video here. Single player is good, but glitchy. Multiplayer is hardcore. It's sandbox mode, though, is worth the price of admission. Insanely good fun, if you like ultra-hardcore FPSs.
Tremulous (http://tremulous.net/) is Something Different. its a FPS, and its free, its not the preetiest game in the world, but since its free, it is most certainly worth checking out for a bit.
Adding my vote to Bad Company 2. ARMA 2 is a good game, but there's little interaction with the environment, and I think it's much slower than what you're looking for. On the other hand, in Bad Company 2 you can collapse buildings, blow out walls, level trees, all sorts of fun stuff.
But again If fast paced multiplayer pvp is your biggest draw then the battlefield series is far and above any other imho.
Another vote for Bad Company 2. If you want urban, stick to the following maps: Panama Canal, Oasis, White Pass, and Arica Harbor.
How about Dead Space 1/2? I guess it's a bit more survival horror, but it has one of my favorite shooting mechanics with the need to shoot of the limbs of the aliens and different weapons have different damage patterns which strongly effect how easy it is to slice off an important arm or head. Being a survival horror game though there isn't as much emphasis on spraying the environment with hot lead. Differences in weapons are very distinct though.
yeah bad company 2 was excellent. the story was decent and the action good. the guns feel amazing, and the audio is some of the best out there.
Very excited for Counterstrike Source 2! Going to be the first shooter I have cared about since HL2 was anounced.
You say Call of Duty, do you mean even the latest one, the Black Ops? If not, i highly recommend this, especially cause of multiplayer...personally this suits me best, though it is indeed matter of preference...someone might liek more Battlefield series...
Hey thanks for all the suggestions (quite a few good ones), I'll check them out over the coming days.
pick up rainbow six raven shield
never play another shooter game again
TF2 and Battlefield series are my favorite. Arma 2 is good but hard. Play it with the right people and omg its a blast.
I must be alone in thinking that the BC2 campaign, other than the pretty effects, sound and terrain destruction, is pretty shoddy and tacked on to compete with CoD's campaign.
I mean...just by creatively getting through the level, I managed to flank all the "scripted" points when enemies pop out of nowhere. Cue running through a door where there was no one previously, and getting shot in the back by the enemy intended to surprise you coming the other way.
MP is good though.
Star Wars Battlefront III: best fantasy FPS that still seems to be mostly fantasy. In my head it is the best game of all space and time.
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