The 12 Best Games on PC
PC
gamers have reason to crow, since they get often the best of both
worlds. Quirky and cheap smaller titles? Yup. The shiniest, most
impressive versions of AAA multiplatform games? Yeah, they get those,
too. Mostly.
And now you've joined their ranks. What should you install? Start out with the dynamic dozen below.
Update 07-24-13: It’s a long overdue update for the PC platform, with four games leaving and four coming onto the list. Skyrim—which
was out when this list debuted—jumps onto the Bests because of the
post-release addition of Steam Workshop, which lets you seamlessly
access and install hundreds of the awesome mods available for the game.
It’s joined by XCOM: Enemy Unknown, FTL and Far Cry 3. Wave good-bye to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dirt 2, Mass Effect 2 and Bejeweled 3.
Battlefield 3
An
incredible accomplishment of scale, EA's premiere first-person shooter
opens up a massive toybox of guns, vehicles and gadgets for players to
deploy on huge swaths of real estate. In the span of 15 minutes, you can
go from sniping at enemies hundreds of yards away to a firefight next
to a crumbling building to dogfighting enemy fighter jets. And it all
looks amazingly shiny and dynamic.
A Good Match for: Team players. Moreso than in rival Modern Warfare 3,
DICE's game rewards gamers who choose to play support roles to the
gung-ho alpha males on the frontlines. So, just because you're playing
an engineer or a medic doesn't mean, you won't be getting experience and
to spend and achievements to brag about.
Not for Those Who Want: Robust single-player. Nothing about the feeble twists and turns of BF3's solo portion disguise the fact that it's basically a training ground for the multiplayer ecosystem.
Here's how it looks in action.
Also available on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Civilization V
The legendary turn-based strategy series changed things up significantly with Civilization V
to make would-be world domination tons more streamlined. Maps are
easier to navigate, crucial information flows easier and it's the
best-looking entry in the family tree.
A Good Match for: Event planners. Like a wedding or a milestone birthday party, Civilization V's
all about knowing your guests and what they need to have a good time.
Of course, those "guests" are rival nations and "a good time" is
submitting to the power of your empire.
Not for Those Who Want: Older Civ games. Civilization V is no incremental sequel, and the difference could alienate die-hard fans of the historical franchise.
Here's how it looks in action.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
An expansive world, hundreds of hours of content, the limitless potential of mods and nobody telling you how to enjoy it. Skyrim
is almost the perfect example of a perfect PC game. It's testament to a
game's pull that, years after its release, people are still talking
about it and exploring it like it was brand new.
A Good Match for: Anyone who loves adventure. And freedom. Skyrim
drops you in a world and lets you get on with it. You can walk around
picking flowers, or you can fight giant dragons. Up to you.
Not for Those Who Want:
A tight, linear experience. This isn't something that'll hold your hand
and that you can be done with in a weekend. You don't buy Skyrim. You invest in the days/weeks/months you'll lose playing it.
Here's how it looks in action.
Also available on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Far Cry 3
One minute
you'll be hang-gliding off of a beautiful mountain overlook, the next
you'll be nose-deep in the jungle, sneaking up on an enemy patrol. Our
running for your life to escape a collapsing ancient underground ruin,
or hunting sharks off the coast, or ramping a jeep off a cliff, or going
on a drug-addled vision-quest, or, or, or...
Far Cry 3 is
a game of intimidating scope and variety, a first-person shooter that
combines stealth, exploration, driving, swimming, all-out combat, and
wild-animal hunting... and somehow manages to make it all work together.
It's gorgeous to behold and even better in action, and it shines
brightest on PC, where you can see it in all its high-resolution glory.
(And some easy-to-use mods let you further tailor the experience.) Far Cry 3 is a wild ride, and one well worth taking.
A Good Match for: People who love open-world games, completionists, tiger-haters, virtual tourists.
Not for Those Who Want: A serious story, great multiplayer or interesting co-op, a game about how fun-loving and friendly tigers are.
FTL
FTL is a
roguelike about space exploration and where the biggest draw is that you
don't know what will happen next. That's a good thing: levels and
situations created on the fly mean that nearly every playthrough is
memorable. You’ll command a crew and do your best to go into deep space:
Chances are, you won't survive. But hey, maybe next time you'll do a
little better.
A Good Match for:
Those who revel in the idea of flying off into the deep recesses of
space just to see what they find, and those that love the idea of
commandeering a space ship. Also, for those who don't mind chaos.
There's a lot of randomness in FTL.
Not for Those Who Want:
Those who don't like a challenge, as FTL is a particularly difficult
game. Also probably not a good match for people who, for some reason,
hate space and space travel.
Half-Life 2
Gordon Freeman's second FPS foray often gets name-checked as one of the best games of all time and with good reason. Half-Life 2's
2004 release marks the moment that first-person games took their first
steps towards subtlety, with character development getting as much of an
upgrade as the graphics and gameplay.
A Good Match for:
Method actors. The crowbar-wielding theoretical physicist you play as
never talks but the characters and environment surrounding him do such a
good job of telling you about the world and Gordon that you lose
yourself in the character.
Not for Those Who Want: A done-in-one experience. All the Half-Life
games weave together to tell a larger story and they're all so good
that there's no way you'll be able to walk away from City 17 and the
world surrounding it. Luckily, you can get them the titles on Valve's
Steam service, in either the Orange Box—which also contains the excellent Portal—or in the Half-Life Complete bundle.
Here's how it looks in action.
Also available on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Minecraft
The best way to explain Minecraft's
success is to see it as tapping into humanity's need to build huge
outlandish structures. Indie designer Markus Persson's hit title has let
people recreate everything from the Death Star to retro video game
levels, while also providing a survival adventure mechanic to keep
things interesting.
A Good Match for:
Frustrated urban planners. Aside from the dodging the game's monstrous
green Creepers, all you need to build your Tower of Babel is patience
and time.
Not for Those Who Want: Hi-res graphics. Part of Minecraft's
charm is in its blown-out pixellated aesthetics so, if you prefer a
steady diet of Unreal Engine-powered content, pass up Mojang's sandbox
phenomenon.
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: Mojang
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
It's one of
very few video games that can be called a national obsession. Elite
players of Blizzard's real-time strategy sequel can out-earn corporate
middlemen in China or Korea, but the sci-fi conflict simulator's most
significant currency is the devotion from millions all over the world.
A Good Match for: Jugglers. Succeeding in StarCraft II
means waging war on multiple fronts as you keep an eye on resources,
deployment, defense and offense in skirmishes where you can be overrun
in an instant.
Not for Those Who Want: Gentle introductions. New participants to the Starcraft multiplayer experience will get chewed up as they learn the strengths and weaknesses of the Zerg, Protoss and Terran factions.
Here's how it looks in action.
Team Fortress 2
Valve's cartoony multiplayer shooter was one of the surprises in their 2007 Orange Box
compilation, debuting as a sort of user-powered story engine where the
players' actions—as one of nine classes—determine the drama. Since then,
it's been one of the most robustly supported releases on PC, growing
organically like few other games.
A Good Match for: Management consultants. Success happens best in Team Fortress 2
when everyone on a squad focuses on their role and not on individual
glories. So, when the Medic sticks to healing, the Engineer to turret
placement and the Spy to subterfuge, everybody wins.
Not for Those Who Want: ...to avoid the lure of micro-transactions, really. There's no real have/have-not divide in TF2, but you're a nobody if your Demoman's not kitted out in cool duds. Grabbing gear is the main driver for much of the TF2 hardcore and you'll be hard-pressed to resist its seductive pull.
Here's how it looks in action.
Also available on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Total War: Shogun 2
You can
almost hear the battle cries and smell the gunpowder in Creative
Assembly's newest strategy game, which gives players the goal of
ascending to supreme military domination against rival feudal lords.
Improvements in AI behavior and the introduction of skills allocation
let you be a more flexible commander than in previous Total War games.
A Good Match for: Akira Kurosawa fans. Some of the Japanese director's best dramas took place in Japan's feudal period and this Total War game gives a big-picture view as the kinds of conflicts that daimyo and samurai soldiers fought in. Everything about Shogun 2—from the artwork to soundtrack to overarching gameplay goals—puts you inside a living history lesson.
Not for Those Who Want: To Rule the World. You only get one country to dominate in TW:S2 game, unlike Empire where the entire globe was your battlefield.
Here's how it looks in action.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
The PC
faithful made CD Projekt's first Witcher game into an unheralded hit,
glomming onto the game's differentiated fighting styles, fluid
animations and intrigue-filled plot. Built on a shiny new engine, the
sequel exponentially deepened the skills customization, crafting and
world size. Oh, and sex. Lots more of that.
A Good Match for: Would-be writers. Few games can compare to the amount of dynamically changeable narrative offered by The Witcher 2,
where the entire second half of the game's plot morphs according to
player choice. Once the spell-casting and sword-swinging's all done,
you'll want to start all over and see how different you can make Geralt
of Rivia's adventure.
Not for Those Who Want:
To learn as they go. Figuring out the best strategies for combat will
mean getting your mystical bounty-hunting behind handed to you quite
often.
Here's how it looks in action.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Our game of the year for 2012, XCOM: Enemy Unknown may be well known thanks to the rare success of a turn-based strategy game on consoles. But XCOM's true home is the PC, and Enemy Unknown
honors its heritage with dramatic tension and decision-making that
truly feels consequential. Tasked with repelling an alien invasion of
earth, some of your most precipitous choices take place away from the
battlefield, in choosing what weapons systems to fund, which country to
rescue from an alien incursion, and which ally you simply cannot help.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is also a rarity in that it features both a
compelling story and near endless replayability.
A Good Match for:
Gamers who love a good challenge and have a good imagination, to
support the overall context with their own emergent narrative. The
investment in individual soldiers becomes nearly emotional, and losing
them in battle can be agonizing. A good does of patience and perspective
is needed, too. You will not win every match. Everyone will not stay in
the alliance. Sometimes, you'll feel set up to fail. You can still
prevail in the end.
Not for Those Who Want:
Fast-paced action, or who expect to grind their way to overwhelming
victory on the battlefield. The game often throws more at you than you
can handle with headlong force. Thinking about your next move is where
the gameplay is, more than making it, and XCOM really connects your
battlefield choices back to ones you made at HQ. "Why didn't I research
plasma weapons?!"
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