KnifeMissile

I think I'm ready to try out a first person shooter but I don't have a lot of time, so I would like to pick one game to play with, over the holidays. I don't even think I will finish that but it might be fun to play it for a while.

From what I've heard, the two best FPSs on the market, for the PC, are Far Cry and Half-Life 2. I have a very powerful computer (P4 3.0GHz HT, 800MHz FSB, 1GB of 533MHz RAM) but my video card sucks (ATI EAX300 SE) so, as you can imagine, I'm looking more for gameplay than graphics.

So, what would you all recommend? If there's a sleeper I'm missing, go ahead and suggest it! Thanks...

Destrox

FarCry is all pretty graphics.

Half-Life 2 is all gameplay.

Which is more important to you? (I know you stated, but this is pretty universal post for any FarCry vs Hl2 thread.)

My personal vote is HL2 (I have played FarCry all the way through.) for I had far more fun with Hl2. Also with my silver package that I bought for Hl2 it gives you Hl2, Hl1:source, Counter-strike, counter-strike: condition zero, counter-strike: source, day of defeat, day of defeat: source, team fortress classic, codename gordon, deathmatch classic, opposing force, ricochet, and the source SDK.

I dont know about you, but I find massive amounts of replay and gameplay value there. I've been playing Hl2 since its release, and still am having fun today nearly 2 weeks later.

Dont get me wrong about FarCry though, I really did love it. It had such amazing visuals even on my old GeForce4. (I too have a graphics card as the bottle neck for my system. ) It had decent ragdoll physics, AI that I feel was HIGHLY overrated but still fun. But it was simply one of those games that was really no different then any other FPS other then its eye candy.

Also if they patch Vampire: The Masqueredes - Bloodlines somtime soon, I would highly recommend it. But at the momment I dont suggest anyone to waste money on it.

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Dilbert1234567

heh already did waiste my money on it, it is entirely unplayible so i got blocked in an aly by this poor chump and he would not move, i feed off him, but he did not move, i had to kill him to get out, down one humanity...

you would be best with half life 2, better story and gameplay, far cry is beautiful and you won't see it with your card.

can you get a better card?

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KnifeMissile

I can but a better question is do I want one? As I said before, I don't really have time for games and it would be a pity to spend exorbitant amounts of money on something that I'm going to use over the holidays. I use the TV out feature far more often than any of the 3D stuff...

As long as the game is scalable enough to play on my computer with a good frame rate and has good gameplay (interesting enough to keep my interest), I'm happy and impressed...

NeverBorn

I've beaten both games and I love them both to death very dearly. Farcry is so amazingly visually stimulating, yet Half Life 2 has everything that made Half Life one of the most amazing games ever made. Still, I'd go Half Life 2 just for survivibility, someones bound to mod it.

Destrox

Also, FarCry is not made what so ever to be kind to "weaker" video cards.

At least with Hl2 you can get away with murder so to say when it comes to your systems hardware.

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FngKestrel

Half-Life 2 runs well on my comp. FarCry took my comp out back and made it whimper.

cujojack

new video card should help if your pc specs are up to date within 2-3 years.

shipofshame

I'm going to go fanboy-ish on your asses and say:

Half-Life 2 is the single greatest game I have ever played. The only argument one can have in Far Cry's favor is that it had better graphics. Sorry, it didn't. Especially if you don't have the right graphics card.

Just make sure you buy Half-Life 2 when your lifestyle isn't too busy, because you won't stop playing.

Eight

Both good games in there own right but as already pointed out, Farcry will make your graphics card cry.

turbodriven

I'd say buy them both.

Farcry was awesome and I played it through twice. I liked that it didn't really seem that linear and the levels were huge. You would beach your raft on one side of an island and there were 15 different ways to get to your objective 2 islands away... all on the same level with no "loading...." sign to distract you. Oh and it has !awesome! visuals!!! At the expense of your smoking gaming computer.

In Half life 2 I'm past the airboat level and progressing. I like it... and it is beautiful in it's own dirty atmosphere kind of way. But the levels between "loading..." seem tiny. I can't believe it's "loading..." so soon again after playing for only 5-10 minutes in a level. Also I feel like I'm on a "path" that I'm not allowed to deviate from. That gets annoying. All this and there is widely reported glitches in video that I myself have experienced. I'm running a gig of ram on an AMD 2500 with an ATI 9800 pro card, which should more than handle the game.

With all that said. I am enjoying both immensely. I just don't think Half Life 2 is all that people hype it up to be.

YaWhateva

i think half-life 2 has better graphics than farcry. farcry looks like a cartoon in my opinion. and farcry is boring as all hell.

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sailor

Half-Life 2. Not only is it a better game, but the graphics are better too, and it runs better on slower hardware. Far-Cry was excellent, as were its graphics--but for you, with your system, go with HL2.

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