Getting caught up. Contains talk of OLD games.

[Professor Bear]

It was more street level and gritty

The jetpack was a bit outre, but the tone of GTA has always been immensely juvenile and that worked because it's a version of reality and not a recreation of it.  With GTA4 it's taking itself too seriously, however if that kind of thing is your bag, you want to be checking out True Crime New York, Scarface: The World Is Yours and The Getaway: Black Monday, all of which GTA4 borrows heavily from, all of which are good games, but all of which I got bored playing because of the almost adolescent atmosphere of 'grittiness' - though obviously if you don't actually mind that sort of thing (and plenty don't) you're in for a treat.

Red Dead Redemption is worth a punt.  The setting and the various things you get up to differentiate it enough from GTA to avoid just being 'GTA in the wild west'.
Dead Rising is an Xbox 360 exclusive and well worth playing, but resign yourself to leveling up your character for a bit before it really opens up as a game.  Also make sure you find the car and take a drive in the underground tunnels for maximum carnage.

[I, Cosh]

I thought GTA4 was a big improvement over the previous games - I liked that it was less OTT and manic, less 'gamey' slightly more mature in tone. It was more street level and gritty - no silly jetpacks or apache gunships. Gay Tony seemed like a step backwards.

Exactly the reasons I couldn't get into 4*. The decision to make the lead a dour, gritty type and play the main storyline less for laughs was a bad one for me. Then again, my favourite entry in the series is Vice City.

Cheers, The Cosh (currently playing Killer7 on PS2, Assassin's Creed 2 on 360, Abe's Exxodus via Steam on PC and Freecell whenever I can)

* Also, I found the driving immeasurably harder than in previous games. Which was a big problem.

[Roger Godpleton]

All of us should buy Dead Rising 2 'cos Capcom are hurting.

[Peter Wolf]

All of us should buy Dead Rising 2 'cos Capcom are hurting.

We are all hurting financially unless you happen to be in the 2 percent or less of the population.

I am hurting so everyone give me 5 quid each.

[Keef Monkey]

All of us should buy Dead Rising 2 'cos Capcom are hurting.

By that reckoning we should all be subscribing to APB.

http://kotaku.com/5612289/apb-developer-realtime-worlds-hit-with-major-layoffs

Didn't realise Capcom were in any trouble mind you.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Well I tried loading up Blade Runner the old Windows 95 RPG game.

No dice I'm afraid. I looked on several websites for installation advice but basically you'd have to build a new Dos box installer and even though I downloaded one I kept getting the SET EXEC not compatible with Vista type of thing.

Oh well I've got Crysis Warhead to cheer me up instead. Still I did feel a little dissapointed. No more running down neon lit alleyways only to discover I'd been there fifty times before.    

[Keef Monkey]

Well I tried loading up Blade Runner the old Windows 95 RPG game.

No dice I'm afraid. I looked on several websites for installation advice but basically you'd have to build a new Dos box installer and even though I downloaded one I kept getting the SET EXEC not compatible with Vista type of thing.

Oh well I've got Crysis Warhead to cheer me up instead. Still I did feel a little dissapointed. No more running down neon lit alleyways only to discover I'd been there fifty times before.    

Installed this on my last PC actually and it worked fine on Windows '98. Was loving it up to a point, the point where I had utterly no clue how to proceed at all, and then it was lost in the move onto the new PC. Seemed like an interesting game, but I only got a couple of hours in.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

It was a great futuristic RPG game that carried along the same time line as the movie. Excellent graphics for the time if a little difficult to make out what was happening with the small figures. Good but an RPG of the old school. 

Well Blade runner>sniff< is no more and I doubt even STEAM will pick it up as a download. Medal of Honour: The 10th anniversary edition however is only £10 on Amazon and I'm tempted to part with some cash to be come reacquainted with being massacred on the beaches of Normandy. 

[Satanist]

All of us should buy Dead Rising 2 'cos Capcom are hurting.

Ive got this on pre order and after the amount of times the dates changed for its release it better be great.

and by great I mean they better have fixed the stupid survivors AI as thats all I had an issue with.

[I, Cosh]

Well I tried loading up Blade Runner the old Windows 95 RPG game.

In the same vein, why can't I buy X-Wing/Tie Fighter through Steam? They have updates of all the X-Com games which must be of a similar vintage. Is this part of Lucas' strategy to deny that the past ever happened and everything will always have been the way it is now?

[Hoagy]

Mass Effect 1 and especially 2 are stunning. Like others have said, 1 isnt as good but you will get so much more out of the 2nd if you play it first

Spent about 2 hours this afternoon getting the original Knights of the Old Republic working on Vista. Seems to be working ok now tho so looking forward to playing through this again in total "Evil Bastard" mode

This is being done at my flat. Not blown away by the supposed character led space operatics especially after the recent piss-take on GTA4 tv, of this genre [all American space policing]. I've only touched on the early encounters and maybe underestimating the ultimate goal.

[Noisybast]

Well, this thread has served one good purpose: it reminded me to get off my arse and buy Bioshock 2. Picked it up over the weekend and I'm enjoying being back in Rapture.

Of course, the discovery that Games For Windows Live gives you achievements on your XBox Live account means I'm going to have to go back and re-do the first one! Didn't have an XBox when I played the first Bioshock, so I wasn't arsed about the achievements. I wonder if just reinstalling and loading up an old save game will do the trick..?

[uncle fester]

Three pages in and no-one's mentioned Dead Space?It should be at the top of anyone's catching-up list. Didn't sleep too well whilst running screaming for my life playing the game, but that's a good thing in this case.

[Noisybast]

Good call. Must pick that up after I'm done with Bioshock 2.

[Keef Monkey]

Three pages in and no-one's mentioned Dead Space?It should be at the top of anyone's catching-up list. Didn't sleep too well whilst running screaming for my life playing the game, but that's a good thing in this case.

Aye, good shout, best survival of this generation (so far)!