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You there! Yes, you. We can see it: you're glowing. Are you about to give birth to a brand new bouncing baby rig? That sounds terrifying. We usually build ours. Regardless, you can't just put that thing on your desk and let it gather dust. You need to show it off to everyone within a two-mile radius with an audiovisual assault that sends small woodland animals fleeing for higher ground. But where to start? There are so many games and so little time before your machine becomes completely obsolete.
Fortunately, we're here to help. So, without further ado, here are 12 games that'll have your friends going green with envy at your bleeding-edge PC's bulging Technology Biceps. Jump past the break to see them all.
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POMF2K
May 14, 2011 at 9:31am
I think it's funny how Metro 2033 is talked down. Way better game than Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm. However, he's right. It's those details that make it so immersive. Love to see more of that in games. I'd love it if bulletstorms were never made.
RaptorJohnson
April 25, 2011 at 7:11am
The best part of playing on the PC is that we don't have to use child's toy controllers, but instead get to used mice and flight sticks.
flyup
April 23, 2011 at 6:50pm
Thanks for the recommendation. I'm really enjoying Metro 2033. Supports the 360 controller perfectly.
Kogawolfe
April 21, 2011 at 7:46pm
Shouldn't this read, the 11 Best games for Flexing you PC's Muscle?
Counting Crysis 2 twice, doesn't make it a second game. I demand my 12th game (Civ 5)!
Jon R
April 21, 2011 at 4:21pm
I'm susprised that Civilization 5 did not make this pixel crunching list, it was the first game to use most all of DX11's features including multithreaded rendering and compute shaders as well as the more well known tesselation and contact hardening shadows. Believe me Civ5 can bring many video cards to their kness if you attempt to max out the settings with anything less than the top end GPU. But the visuals are amazing if you have one of these cards.
Jon
MattyMattMatt
April 21, 2011 at 2:32pm
I will agree that overall, C2 looks better. They cut corners though and it's really clear when you stop and take a close look at things. Like how the explosion effect is actually just applied blur. However if this is about flexing your PC muscles, Crysis should win. It tends to run worse than C2 on the same hardware and it has a shit ton of visual mods that make it straight up sex on your screen.
Never mind some of the other titles in here that aren't exactly difficult to run (see Braid).
TommM
April 22, 2011 at 8:48am
It's b.s. that we have to wait for a DX11 patch - should have been included with the game release.
Ridnarhtim
April 21, 2011 at 2:07pm
Dead Space 2 for scary sound? What? Have you guys heard of Amnesia: The Dark Descent?
Danthrax66
April 21, 2011 at 4:44pm
Dead Space 2 probably had better sound engineers working on it they are talking about testing how good your speakers are. Yes Amnesia is a scarier game but Dead SPace has very atmospheric sound on par/better than movies.
Ridnarhtim
April 22, 2011 at 4:19am
Fair nuff. I found the thing that made Amnesia the most scary was specifically the sound. I haven't actually played Dead Space 2 except the demo on PS3, though, so I guess on PC, with headphones, in the dark it could be pretty darn intense, too.
szore
April 21, 2011 at 5:26pm
Anyone know if they ever patched that controller bug in Dead Space 2?
whathuhitwasntme
April 21, 2011 at 2:06pm
none of these games even make my pc work up a good sweat
with the new line up of modern GPU's, most of these games would be a system killer a year ago are now
fodder for my EVGA 570's in SLI
funny how those of us who run folding@home can crush any game but never really play them!
Ridnarhtim
April 21, 2011 at 2:09pm
Yeah, unfortunately, most games you would expect to make your PC cry out in pain are generally released for consoles as well. Maybe Battlefield 3 will fix that, but for now, I don't really feel like I've taken advantage of my new rig... (And I just have a single GTX 570, there's room for a second if I should need it)
TommM
April 21, 2011 at 1:27pm
Hmmm...I think Bioshock is one of the best show-off games. The first scene when you're in Rapture and some of the tubes you walk through break with water pouring in and you have to make a run for it is pretty impressisve both graphics and drama wise. And then all it takes is one appearance by a Big Daddy with his little girl buddy and it's guaranteed nightmares that night for whoever sees that.
Also think L4D/L4D2 should get honorable mention for sound (both music, voices and undead sounds) as well as "best game to get people hooked on gaming." I don't know how many people who have told me, "I think electronic gaming is stupid," then I set them down for a session of L4D/L4D2 and an hour later I can't peel them away.
But a pretty decent list all-in-all. :)
Ghok
April 21, 2011 at 2:35pm
Yeah, I'm in the "Bioshock was a fun game, but I liked it better when it was called System Shock 2" camp, but it is still one of the best show off games out there, just for that opening scene.
kixofmyg0t
April 21, 2011 at 1:20pm
OMFG they didnt put Crysis 1 at the top of the list!!!!!???!!?!??!?!!? NOOOOOOOEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!! BOYCOTT!!!! THIS is an OUTRAGE!!!!!! BOYCOTT MAXIMUMPC cuz theyre going after geohot! for removing OtherOS! Yeah!
/rant
Whats sad is NONE of my comps can play ANY of those titles....not like it matters anyway cuz the only game i have to use a PC for is StarCraft 2.
lunchbox73
April 21, 2011 at 12:54pm
Good list. BC2 sound is amazing and I love all the creepy stuff in Dead Space. There is a part where a woman is singing twinkle twinkle little star off in the distance and it literally made my hair stand up.
Love the environment in Just Cause 2 and starting shit on fire in Far Cry 2 was always quite satisfying.
smashingpumpin
April 21, 2011 at 12:52pm
Yep, Best GFX... on a console. Please, I'm not here to troll but STOP promoting Crysis 2 already Mr. Grayson!
Heck even Gamespot notices the downgraded GFX coming from a console port.
cookiedough
April 21, 2011 at 12:12pm
happy to see braid made the list! watercolor graphics and an immersive soundtrack....
TommM
April 22, 2011 at 8:47am
You can get it for $5 at GamgersGate this weekend: http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-M2033/metro-2033
zepontiff
April 22, 2011 at 8:39am
Doh! It's $5 through gamersgate now.
Also in before the naysayers: Most of my games are on steam but I've bought through gamersgate and ultimately i'm a bigger fan of my money than either platform.
Panick
April 21, 2011 at 10:48am
It's kind of pathetic that the two most realistic looking games on the PC are both ports from consoles that are many times less powerful than a cutting edge gaming rig. How the mighty have fallen.
quicks0rt
April 21, 2011 at 11:45am
Yes, it's tragic that PC must suffer the shortcomings of console ports.
