Droog, that A-10 sim really was a blast. As was the F-117 Nighthawk. And there was an old WWII game that had the top secret german jet and rocket planes. <br><br>Hmmm...I think I need another flight sim.<br><br><br><br>Eric<br><br>I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. - Mark Twain<br>

I keep rotating between new FPS games and RTS games, and old FPS games.

I've been playing the ever loving hell out of Unreal Tournament lately, I've got hundreds upon hundreds of maps for it. Quake 3 as well.

As for FPS games, if your machine is up to the task give Crysis a try. Should be down in price. Also Crysis Warhead, it's only $19 I believe. Both are great games, and if you have a machine that can dial up the graphics it's all the better.

I'd also second Portal.

Also while it's not an FPS game, World in Conflict is fantastic.

I don't have UT2004, but I've got UT2003. I love the game where you grab the ball and go shoot it in the other teams goal. There's one map that spans across the top of 3 skyscrapers that's fun as all hell.

Bombing Run is fun, but it's no Descent 3 Monsterball!

There's a Deus Ex sequel "Invisible War" you might be able to pick up somewhere.

You might enjoy "XIII..." It's a stealth-type shooter with a pretty compelling "Amnesiac Killing Machine Takes on Vast Conspiracy" storyline-- like a combination of the "Bourne Identity" and "100 Bullets" comics. My only issue with this game is the infuriating save-point system which makes for some frustrating do-overs. As far as I know it's available for mac, PC, and a couple of consoles as well.

My favorite shooter has got to be "The Operative: No One Lives Forever." It's a spy-spoof shooter set in the swingin' '60's, featuring a smokin' hot Emma Peel-type superspy. It's got a great story, really funny dialogue (and by that I mean, it's actually funny, not "Video-game funny"), and great stealth/straight up shooting gameplay. It's been out for a while and you might need to find a patch to get it to run on a newer computer, but it's totally worth it. The sequel is quite good, too, but there is more of an emphasis on stealth than on shooting, if that's not your cup of tea.

"Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast" is a really fun game. You play a no-nonsense guy who happens to be a Jedi Knight, but without all the hokey George Lucas dialogue. Basically, it seems like you're Han Solo with a lightsaber. Man, that lightsaber is fun, especially once you learn the sweet expert moves.

"Jedi Academy," its successor, is also pretty good but at times seems like a watered-down version of "Jedi Outcast." If you can get them both cheaply, I recommend you do so.

"TRON 2.0" for some reason was not very successful when it came out but I think it was sadly underrated. The glorious graphics, the flying discs, a compelling combination of shooting and puzzles, and last but not least, the upgraded lightcycles make this game a great pick, especially when you can get it on eBay for like $5. You can buy the game and you don't even have to play the story, you can just race lightcycles!

Going WAY back, I think "American McGee's 'Alice'" is a bona-fide classic. At this point, I think you have to find the Brad Oliver-crafted updater online to get it to run on OS X/Intel, but if you've never played this game before you really should. essentially, you're Alice in Wonderland but all grown up and fresh out of the looney bin, armed with razor-sharp throwing cards and an anti-Jabberwocky-rocket launcher taking on demented versions of the characters from the classic book. There's quite a bit of "Tomb Raider"-style platform jumping in addition to all the killing. It's just fantastic.

Anyway, most of these games are pretty long in the tooth at this point, but I am the kind of guy who tends to buy games long after they've vanished off the bestsellers' list. Every single one of these games I bought used on eBay, and none of 'em for more than $20. If you've played all of these already, I apologize for wasting your time, but I am willing to bet there are some other folks out there who scour the bargain bins for entertainment just like me.

[edit:] Droogie--I've read some of your replies to earlier posts on this thread, and it seems like you are looking for emphatically single-player games with actual stories. All of these games more than meet those criteria.

I was in Wal-Mart last night and picked up the triple pack of Painkiller for $19. I love these old multi packs of games.

Painkiller harkens back to the old Quake games, where you mainly run around and blast the ever loving hell out of stuff. Haven't gotten to install it yet, I'll be doing that tonight

Never heard of PainKiller.


I used to play Quake3 and UT. I need to reinstall those games and check them out again. Does anyone play those anymore?

I think UT has SOME community left, but it takes some fiddling to run on OS X, and I prefer UT2004.

Quake 3 is becoming free under the name Quake Live:
http://quakelive.com

I'm partial to Quake Wars myself

I must say, Painkiller is freaking fun. Runs on one of the modified unreal engines (2 I think). It's a total throwback to the days of Doom and Quake, where there's zero puzzles and straight carnage. Some of the levels are pretty spooky too.