I haven’t played computer games for something like 10 years so i’m well out of date. I’m not interested in running around shooting things but quite like the puzzles. As I seem to be spending a fair amount of time sitting around the house at the moment, what’s out there?

I’ll also get post number one out of the way:

“MTFU princess and go ride your bike”

How about Riven which is apparently the squeal to Myst, can’t comment as I’ve never played it.

Download and install Steam and take a look around. Valve is the ‘iTunes’ of on-line game sales.

I’d recommend Portal as I didn’t really get Myst.

Edit: Installed spell checker

Thanks, useful stuff.

I played myst, riven and myst 3 but the graphics look dated now although still beautiful.

Portal looks like it is going to be fun, i’ll give that a go!

Portal is brilliant, one of my favourite games 🙂 It gets harder once you unlock the “advanced mode”!

Along the same lines as Riven (it’s actually included in the pack) is this:

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/4870/

Probably keep you going for a while!

Portal is also ace, Portal 1 has a lot more lifespan to it than Portal 2 too!

Not played it yet but LA Noire looks good. There is some action but the focus is detective work.

Charlie Brooker on LA Noire
“And then there’s LA Noire, the James Ellroy-inspired crime drama, which has caused a stir, and rightly so, with its firm focus on narrative and staggering new facial animation technology. I’m a massive dweeb who keeps up with the latest gaming developments, and even I was astounded at what they’ve pulled off here. You’re watching actors give genuine performances – within something that is still defiantly and unapologetically a video game. The lead character is played by Aaron Staton, AKA Ken Cosgrove from Mad Men – and is instantly recognisable, not just from his likeness, but also his facial mannerisms. Amusingly, plenty of his fellow Mad Men cast members also show up throughout the game (as well as faces familiar from shows such as Heroes and Fringe), reinforcing the overall feel of the game – which is like working your way through a hard-nosed HBO police procedural miniseries set in Los Angeles in the 1940s. If you’ve never played a game, or you think you hate them – but my description sounds vaguely appealing, give it a spin. Just watch someone else play it for a while if you like. I guarantee you’ll be surprised.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/23/gaming-makes-hollywood-look-embarrassing?INTCMP=SRCH

Have a look at Sam & Max.

http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax

It’s an episodic series of puzzly adventure games, and there’s a playable demo to see if it floats your boat.

http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/cultureshock

There’s also other series (Back to the Future, Wallace and Gromitt etc) but Sam & Max are ace.

There was a much earlier, and superior, Sam & Max game done by Lucasarts; however, getting hold of it and getting it to run on modern machines might be a bit more work.

I was going to say Portal (and Portal 2) and LA Noire as well. Completely different styles of game, but they’re both about problem solving, and have fantastic atmosphere about them, which Myst had in spades.

Also, the portal games genuinely have me laughing out loud on several occasions – not many games can do that.

For the nerdy roleplayer types, how about Oblivion?

I can reccomend LA Noire to rent, rather than buy. You don’t say what format your using but I’m guessing PC from your post but many new games are hardware intensive

. I have just completed the ‘storyline’ aspect of the game. The action sequences can be skipped if you fail them the second time, if your not into action you can still enjoy the game as a point and clicker. The actions fun though, casual enough for the casual action fan to have some casual action between the plot driven storyline. The driving can be skipped too, but I would have a try as the architecture and detail is impressive as you swoop the police cruisers and gorgeous old American motorcars round streets, shortcuts and shops. The puzzle aspect is often drawn out over various crime scences and locations, it’s when you drive between them you get some fantastic dialogue between the occupants of the vehicles. Your never really lost as the notebook you carry holds gems of information, in one respect it’s very linear. The way the puzzles and clues are combined to the outcome can be iffy, there’s only one solution and often lateral thinking takes second place over trial and error.

However it’s the characters that drive this game. There is nothing else as in depth and well acted. It’s a rare thing to actually care about pixels. It’s like a good novel about old detective work combined with an interactive CSI with a touch of humour inbetween.

I say rent rather than buy, as I can see little replay in it. Achievements are mostly action based and your a puzzle fan. You can lick the storyline in a few days, making me think this will trade in very well and be reduced in the mid summer sales. Certainly one to play though.

It’s not exactly a cerebral RPG but Dragon Age Origins is a fantastic game if, like me, you like sword and sorcery type games. The Ultimate Edition is particularly good value.

Surprised nobody’s mentioned Fallout 3 (RPG, but more modern setting, and can be played from a FPS point of view) or Dragon Age 2 (apparently great RPG style game, not my cuppa tea really)

Thanks guys, some great stuff here although probably enough to keep me going another ten years!

Catflees, yep, it’s a PC. Not very new but the gfx card is modern at least. Wouldn’t cope with intensive gfx i suspect but will be fine for what i want to do (hopefully).
P4 3.4 Ghz, HT
3 Gb ram
Ati Radeon 5450 (directx 11)

I installed an old copy of Myst 3 this afternoon and it still has the power to absorb me. I suspect I will end up downloading some of the updated versions and follow ups just so they make use of the HD telly. 640×480 isn’t great on a 42″ LCD!

So fallout 3 doesn’t *have* to be played from a fps point of view?

have you tried http://www.notpron.com? Free online browser based puzzler that gets stupidly hard, and is a bit techie too (at one point you need graphics editing software for example).

Just be careful googling for solutions to the puzzles as most of the puzzles have been done and answers are all over the place

MAME

or

WinSTon and play Dungeon Master.

or as you have already said …

“MTFU princess and go ride your bike”

WinSTon and play Dungeon Master.

That just put the biggest smile on my face, thank you.