Maximum PC

OK, so I usually buy about one computer game every few months or so, based on how long the last one has kept me occupied for. However, the time has come that it is time for me to make another purchase, and the sale of Batman: Arkham Asylum on Steam has sparked this. So, now I am left with an amazing year of games from 2009, but I dont know very many people who have even one of theses games, let alone multiple for comparison. So here I am MaxPC, coming to you guys! In the FPS genre, I love HL2, TF2, and L4D[2]. Strategy wise, I love Supreme Commander, and would find it very hard to go back to any RTS with any less complexity than it. Surprisingly, I have never played a true RPG. I have been looking around the internet for the last few days, and have collected a list of games that I am thinking of getting one of, with questions italicized under them:

-Batman: Arkham Asylum
-How long is this game?
-Is this one of those "extremely overrated" (like Crysis) style games?
-Mass Effect 2
-How long?
-Do I need the original Mass Effect to understand this game?
Supreme Commander 2
-How dumbed down from Supcom1 is it?
-Dragon Age: Orgins
-How complicated is this game for an RPG noob?
-Unreal Tournament 3
-Is this game still any good?
Borderlands
-How much gameplay does this game have?

In the end, which game will give me the most, long lasting fun?
If you own any of the above listed games, or want to suggest me one, just post and tell me about it. I am always wanting to hear more
Thanks in advance!

I've only played Borderlands. It takes like, eh, 35 hours or so to beat. After you beat it, you can play a harder version, if you're into that. There's also 4 characters, so you can play it again 3 times. It's great fun though, and it's pretty atmospheric. The one thing is that a lot of it is co-op, so don't get it if you're going to play by yourself.


Also, I bought UT3 in a pack of like 7 Unreal games for only $13, so I'd suggest you wait around until it gets to that price. Imho, it isn't worth much more than that. I've played much more TF2 than it. Hell, I've played more ZPS and PVKII than it.

I played Dragon's Age. It was fun for me to play because I like RPG games. It has some really different ideas of game play in it, like going into a dream realm from the mortal realm to do a quest. It took quite a while to run through the game and it has replay value. The only thing I didn't like was you had to pay real money to get into another area or to buy uber armor...which I refuse to do.

Nasty

Borderlands has 25-35 hours of gameplay. It is fun, but after the first playthrough, not much replayability. Items all feel the same even if they say there is a huge variety in them.

Dragon Age: Origins has easily 70 hours plus of game play. It took me a long time to play through it in very long intervals. It is a very large game. Very fun, and I suggest you listen to the story and what all the NPC's have to say.

The only weapon that doesn't fit some cliche is the rocket shotgun... which you get 40 minutes before the first play through ends.

Not true, the game is for single-player and co-op. Borderland scales to how many players are in the game. It will harder as more people get into it. I know a few people who've played and beat the game themselves no problems. I have it and played it for a while. I like playing the game with a friend of mine, but my schedule just got too busy so we hadn't played it for awhile.

I just bought Batman:AA and Just Cause off of Steam myself. It was actualy cheaper to get both of them instead of just Batman by itself.

I love mods, so getting Unreal 3 was a good deal for me. Sadly not to many people play it and that eventually spreads around. Not to mention that the Co-op play is broken since I can't host a game at all. (Wait for it or find it elsewhere for cheaper, you can use unregistered retail UT3 keys in steam fyi)

On another note, the Dawn of War 2 package is there. Personally its a good mix of RTS/RPG. Its squad based and I had a real blast playing with it. There also is multi-player support to.

YAY I <3 UT3 !!! I play it single player 99.9% of the time. Its still fun considering u can add as many BOTS as you wish ! and there are tons of maps out there and MODS ( like resident evil-style mod, etc).

related to UT3.. I had hell lot of good times playing UT2004 back in the days !!

I was eyeing BORDERLAND few months ago. I wonder if there will be MODS / Mappacks for single player ? Kinda like Battlefield2 ... I have gigantic collections of MODS / MAPS .. that will last my lifetime to play !

Also, if you love complex games, keep an eye on on X3:Terran Conflict. I snagged it for a cool $10 in December, and it'll definitely drop to that price again sometime, so keep your eyes peeled.

I just beat Arkham Asylum a few weeks ago and it was VERY well made. In total the single player was probably about 7-8 hours to complete and their a ton of extra stuff you can do in the way of collectibles and such. There's also a challenge room that adds a lot of replay value if you into that sort of thing.

Borderlands runs about 8-10 hours total +3 or 4 per expansion.

Of the games you listed though Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age will have by far the longest play times. Dragon Age gets repetitive though I hear.

You don't need to have played the first game to enjoy the second, as far as how much it recaps the first however I cannot say. =S

I have played Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age. I found Batman to be fantastically made, and great fun, but it was also very short (at least for my taste). I am still playing Dragon Age, around 40 hours in. I blew through the first 25 hours like nothing, I don't even play that many RPG's. Dragon Age is fantastic for those 25 hours, then it got boring. I came back to it recently, and it's fun again. As for Mass Effect, i think it is the best game mentioned. My playthrough was around 30 hours on normal difficulty, which felt very easy. I recommend playing it on a harder difficulty. I did not play the first game, and while I still had fun, it might make sense to just go through the first one, playing only the story missions, and none of the side quests. Then, go import your ME1 save file, and play ME2. You'll love it.

-Batman: Arkham Asylum
Great action experience. Decent replay value, you will be playing the same thing again, but at a greater diffculty.

-Mass Effect 2
Great replay value. You should chew on the 1st one to get the full effect. The story is great.

Supreme Commander 2
Haven't played this.

-Dragon Age: Orgins
Haven't played this.

-Unreal Tournament 3
Meh. I am sure there are tons of mods out there to build on and improve the game. But, UT2004 is unmatched IMHO.

Borderlands
Great game. Good replay value. I haven't touched the expansion packs yet. But, people say they are good and lengthen the game's life.

I would recommend the games I've played in the following order:
Mass Effect 2 (but, only after you play the 1st one).
Borderlands
Batman: AA / Unreal Tournament 3

What do you guys think about Assasins Creed 2?

Not worth it with the uber-restrictive DRM. Buy it for a console. If you don't have one (like me) skip it. I thought it was kinda boring anyway

The only driving element in the game really is the plot. It's like GTA, after the first few hours you'll have done and learned most of what there is to do and the rest is just advancing the story. Fun but not worth 60.

Excuse me, co-op? I beat the game by myself, never played co-op!

Check out LoL if you have time.

It's like a little bit from each genre.

I was a big starcraft player and followed blizzard to warcraft 3, played wow (the MMORPG) for a good while and did my fair share of counter strike and other FPS's.

Dota was a mod for Warcraft 3-Frozen Throne that some of the guys who developed LoL worked on originally.

They've made a completely seperate game out of it, part strategy, part action game, all in all just a lot of fun.

The best thing is that it's completely free to try and you can play for free without any penalties. Paying gives you more options but you can get everything you can with real $$ just through playing as well.

Anyway, it's free and it's good, it's worth checking out - it won't cost you anything to take a look.

LoL (League of Legends) & HoN (Heroes of Newerth) are very similiar, and I believe there's another one like the two aforementioned titles, or it's coming out soon, but don't remember the name.

True enough.
Hon looks interesting as well, it's just that LoL is playable now.

HoN is in closed beta though and I don't think there's any way to get keys. And I don't know if they'll use a similar distribution model (free to try).

Actually, CB users get invites to give out for HoN.