Call of Duty 4 had an amazing single player that was very well crafted for a shooter game. There were so many amazing set pieces for that game that makes you soak right in.
Call of Duty 4 had an amazing single player that was very well crafted for a shooter game. There were so many amazing set pieces for that game that makes you soak right in.
As far as replayability and fundamental combat feel goes, Halo CE is my favorite. The flexibility in how you approach any given combat situation or the variation in how fights can develop are arguably unmatched by any other franchise.
Now when it comes to first-playthrough thrills and impact, CoD4 is an obvious choice. Sure, the Half-life games were doing scripted events ages ago, but Infinity Ward really set the new standard for edge-of-your-seat surprises and thrilling set pieces. One of the reasons I think we have yet to see another Half-life game is that Valve is still working out how to somehow recapture the crown of first-person rollercoaster rides. I might not play through the campaign more than a few times, and I soon start to feel the gameplay and A.I. limitations and can't help but see the smoke and mirrors behind the action, but that first run through a Modern Warfare game has always extremely entertaining. No one does set-pieces like Infinity Ward. Nobody.
Halo: Combat Evolved. Second would include Halo 2 / 3 / Reach, and Half Life 2. Third would be Fallout 3 / New Vegas. A good mention to Modern Warfare 1 and 2, along with Battlefield games. Looking forward to both BF3 and MW3.
Combat Evolved was just great and I still play the PC version quite a bit. I re-visited all of them before Reach came out. They improved, no doubt, but there's just something about the original that I'll always love more.
@Capum15: I think I'm actually one of the few that really enjoyed the library, lol. I liked the tension and difficulty fighting those bastards.
@ervonymous I wasn't joking when I said I was gonna get my hands on it, cause I just got back from Gamestop, lol. Unfortunately, all they had was Time Splitters 1 and 2. They said they had Future Perfect, but it was mislabeled and turned out to be just Time Splitters 1. Well, I picked up the second one, so hopefully it's still enjoyable.
@huntad: I actually loved the Library. It had great atmosphere and really made you feel like you were just trying to survive. The first time, though. It loses it's "trying to survive" a little bit when you get used to it, but the atmosphere is still pretty good.
But the sheer amount of flood that never stopped attacking is a tad on the exhausting side, and subsequent runs made me grow a, maybe not a "hate", but a dislike for it. Which is why I love Custom Edition with that A-## single player modded map thing, because it includes a few Scorpions to brighten up the day. With some high explosives.
I do like 343 Guilty Spark though, that level has a great setup and execution. Small amount of covenant, then dead covenant for no reason, then nothing, and then "oh god zombie things." And then "oh god zombie things with shotguns." Library takes that up to 11 though, with "oh god way more zombie things with fucking rocket launchers."
"Cortana" still holds the "Fuck this level" award for Halo though. Even though I did like, 50 full co-op campaign runs online, that level was still insanely harrowing on Legendary. Mostly due to those ranged flood, I think, in that one tall room.
@huntad: "Cortana" still holds the "Fuck this level" award for Halo though. Even though I did like, 50 full co-op campaign runs online, that level was still insanely harrowing on Legendary. Mostly due to those ranged flood, I think, in that one tall room.
YES. That level is some fucked up shit on so many levels. Horrible!
In the past I didn't play a lot of games with campaigns, but I've recently played a few (BC2, MOH (the 2010 one), MOH: Airborne, Crysis, and started Metro 2033).
Of those, my favorite was probably BC2 because it wasn't too serious and I cared enough to bother finishing it, unlike Crysis and Metro. I haven't gone back and finished Airborne's campaign because I feel like playing newer games more, and don't feel like going back and playing it again that much (I played it on my old computer and got to the last level, but that machine died, and I don't have a save). I really had fun with the recent MOH game's campaign, since I already knew the points that would be kind of dumb (invincible guy lighting the fire and such), so I wasn't totally let down by it. Portal's cool too, if a little short.
Fire up that baby in co-op, hardest difficulty, bring a friend, hours of amazing fun. Still hasn't been anything like it in the 15 years the game has been out. Still has unique enemies and a great weapon selection, and map design that's anything but basic, even with its age. If you told me Id patented the kind of map design they did with Quake 1 I would believe you.
There's many of them. I loved F.E.A.R.2's campaign. Absolutely awesome in every way. A classic I enjoy is Duke Nukem 3D, which still feels great and plays amazingly. Condemned 2: Criminal Origins is fucked up and scary in the way I wanted it to be, (and even took it a bit farther). Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, simply because all of the story beats matched with the pacing led up to a really fantastic story and an even better ending. Bulletstorm, Serious Sam II, Doom 3 and Left 4 Dead are a few other awesome campaigns.
Once I think of a good one another even better one pops into my head.. so I'll name a few. Bioshocks 1 & 2 Borderlands Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 If Portal 2 counts.. then that
All this talk of the Halo CE campaign is making me want to buy the 360 version when it comes out. Bastards.
If you've never played Halo CE keep in mind the people who talk fondly of it were probably around 10 when it came out and it was the first epic FPS they played.
@Doctorchimp: Sure, but it was also just a great game all around. It got pretty wide acclaim and praise by people of all ages, so there's obviously some truth to what people are saying on here as well.
All this talk of the Halo CE campaign is making me want to buy the 360 version when it comes out. Bastards.
If you've never played Halo CE keep in mind the people who talk fondly of it were probably around 10 when it came out and it was the first epic FPS they played.
So take that with a grain of salt.
Yea, I played Halo when it came out and, honestly, thought it was a decent shooter, at best, but I only made it about halfway through the campaign, I think. Age may in fact have a lot to do with it. I grew up on FPS games and, honestly, Quake was the last FPS game I played that truly blew my mind. Since then, it's all been iterations on that same formula to me.
All this talk of the Halo CE campaign is making me want to buy the 360 version when it comes out. Bastards.
If you've never played Halo CE keep in mind the people who talk fondly of it were probably around 10 when it came out and it was the first epic FPS they played.
So take that with a grain of salt.
Yea, I played Halo when it came out and, honestly, thought it was a decent shooter, at best, but I only made it about halfway through the campaign, I think. Age may in fact have a lot to do with it. I grew up on FPS games and, honestly, Quake was the last FPS game I played that truly blew my mind. Since then, it's all been iterations on that same formula to me.
Yeah see?
I was also around 10 when it came out, but my brother had a work computer that could play games so I was into Quake 3, Counter-Strike, and Deus Ex. I played Halo and kind of shrugged my shoulders through it.
Anyone else think Black was pretty fun? While the story was kinda 'by the numbers', the gameplay was really over-the-top crazy. Shit seemed to be poppin' off all over and I really enjoyed that aspect of it.
Star Wars: Dark Forces was pretty great. As for more recent games, I'd have to say Bioshock, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, COD4 (wow, 2007 was a hell of a year), Halo: Reach, and Portal 2.
Other ones I really liked were COD4, Red Faction (though it doesn't hold up at all), Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, The Darkness, Fallout 3 (if that counts?), Metroid Prime (Maybe it qualifies?).
Log in to comment