Looking for Great Single Player Games

Hey guys,

Just got situated with my new living situation, and I'm looking for some good single player games to keep me busy the rest of the deployment.

I like all types of games, FPS, RPGs (no FPS RPGs though plz, had enough of that with Fallout3), puzzle games, 3rd person action games, mini games/time killers, old school/revamped games (loved smash tv and things like that).

However, some requirements are: it can't require connecting to the internet in anyway, as I don't have a personal internet connection anymore. No DRM, or anything that puts 3rd party programs on my computer.

Currently playing/beat:
HL2
Portal (stuck on level 18...)
Fallout 3
Assassins Creed
Sins of a solar Empire (in the mail)
Demigod
Supreme Command and Forged Alliance

 

You gotta check out "Prototype" this game is awesome

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Also see:
Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition (Great time killer)
Plants vs Zombies, (Short, Simple, & Fun)
The Witcher Enhanced Edition (RPG)

 

Also have a look at:
gears of war alittle buggy but one hell of a game
CoD4 (short but awsome single player campaign...also you can unlock arcade mode which adds to replay value)
NWN2 is a decent rpg....
Company of Heroes gold edition is cheap and great value these days

 

Far Cry 2 doesnt require internet activation anymore, you would need to grab the 1.03 patch to not only have the latest but to get rid of the need for internet. Just picked up Devil May Cry 4 doesnt seem to need anything as well. Dunno about where you are but you can pick up the first three FEAR's for 40 bucks new here, dont believe they have anything.

Crysis Warhead and GTA 4 use SecuROM and need internet the first run/install. Avoiding all forms of drm and 3rd party will be like avoiding half the games that ever come out, aside from the fact that anything not microsoft is third party to windows .

@RipFire, heh bioshock is infamous for being a SecuROM game not to mention requires online activation. Also note Crysis Warhead as i said

 

You are right, I forgot he mentioned no DRM, edited

 

I agree, Far Cry 2 has a great singleplayer with multiple hours of gameplay even after finishing the game, its 50 KM ground extension allows for a lot of exploring.

It has a realistic set of weapons, I have had plenty of fun assaulting unaware enemies in Guard Posts, however, the game has a somewhat reduced number of missions that can be somewhat repetitive, and you will have to drive from Point A to Point B a lot of the time.

The driving is not that fun either, and your car can get stuck or break depending on the terrain, or if enemies are shooting at you, and you will have to get down from your vehicle. to repair it (takes 7-10 seconds, less depending on the car and if you have the repair upgrades for each vehicle).

 

Just ordered The Witcher Enhanced/uncensored Edition and Prototype, both look fun and I've heard great things about the Witcher.

I have no problem avoiding 1/2 the games coming out, I have my reasons to not support DRM and EA. There are plenty of other great game producers that don't use it, Stardock, Blizzard, ect.

Also, did anyone else notice a very close similarity between the cover of Prototype and Assassins Creed? The character looks almost the same, except a few obvious changes.

Oh, and I'm deployed to Iraq right now...so I can't just walk into a store and pickup games. <3 Amazon.

 

play the half life episodes with synergy coop.

 

I liked Red Alert 3 Uprising (single player RTS)

and Last Remnant is good.

 

that was the worst post here

first he already beat them and second he asked for single player

another vote for prototype here

 

Although you didn't say you liked TBS, I'll mention Civ IV + expansions and GalCiv II + expansions.

 

lol portal was so fun. i couldnt stop playing it til i beat it.

 

Another vote for prototype here too. That game is all you need really. Enough said.

 

Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition

FPS
Call of Duty 4
Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena (more for the improved Butcher Bay)
Cryostasis
Ghost Recon
Prey
No One Lives Forever 2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Star Wars: Republic Commando

RPG
Neverwinter Nights 2
Sacred 2 (Action RPG)
Silverfall (Action RPG)

3rd Person Action
Dead Space (DRM? It's EA...)

Mindless/Time-Killers/Old School
Alien Shooter (I think it's like Smash TV, but grittier vs cartoony)
Chessmaster was going to go here, but it's not mindless...
Space Cadet 3D Pinball
Microsoft/Hoyle Board/Card games
mame

I think most of the above can be ordered from Amazon or purchased new/used from eBay with the exception of mame and possibly Alien Shooter...I don't remember any of the above requiring online activation, but then I also use nocd executables to avoid having to cart around my CDs/DVDs and I've slept since I installed them...but if you can use a public computer to browse the forum, I'm sure you could download those .exe's that I shouldn't have mentioned...

And I have no idea which of the above install nefarious DRM schemes on your computer (I think wikipedia can help there...the older the game, the less likely to have it)...I'm sure I have dozens of DRM installations on my laptop, but unlike most, they don't really bother me as long as they don't interfere with my gaming...the only DRM that's ever upset me was Microsoft when I ghosted to a bigger hard drive, and XP said 'uh uh...you tried to install me on another computer'...like an idiot, I had removed the CD-key sticker from the bottom of my laptop shortly after purchase (no stickers on my laptops)...had to edit my MBR after Microsoft and Toshiba refused to help me (which I understand why they wouldn't...guilty until proven innocent in the digital world)...

 

DRM = whatever imo. Have no idea what's DRM'd or not so u can figure it out yourself.

Bioshock
Far Cry 1 (free on Gamershell.com)
Far Cry 2
Crysis
Crysis Warhead
Quake 4
Doom 3
Prey
FEAR
FEAR 2
Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Legend & Underworld
Prince of Persia
World in Conflict
Dawn of War 1
Empire Total War
Dead Space
Mass Effect
Company of Heroes
MOH: Airbourne

That should keep you busy for a while.

 

Yea... I did that for about 2 hours, but after being stuck on level 18 for like 1/2 an hour I've taken a break for a bit. It's the level where at the end you have to teleport a ball to knockdown a bunch of robots on platforms, and then get the ball into one of the ball holders that's concealed behind a wall to make the platform move to go and grab the block. Well I did all that, but even with the platform, it still wont get me close enough to jump to the next platform to grab the block (I know this sounds really confusing, sorry), and there doesn't appear to be any walls that I can teleport to in the block room.

@IwantmyMTV I was really interested in picking up alien shooter while I still had internet access, but steam put me under investigation for no reason so I couldn't pick it up =(.

 

[Prototype] I think everybody that has it likes it.

 

If you don't mind paying a bit more than Steam (eg, $20), you can buy it and download it directly from the developer...

Or you can download the 143MB demo from their site and see if that will give you a fix...(it made me crave more...very mindless...very fun)...

www.sigma-team.net

 

My recommended "must play" single player list from recent years in no particular order (whether on your played list or not):

Half-Life 2 + Ep1 + Ep2
Bioshock
Crysis + Warhead
Call of Duty 4
Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl and/or Clear Sky
Silent Hunter 3
Prototype
Age of Empires 3
Company of Heroes
Riddick Dark Athena (Butcher Bay is better, and included with new graphics)
Freespace 1 & 2 (ok, not recent, but still fun)

 

Unreal Gold and Unreal II: The Awakening.

Also, Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and the episodes. I know Steam requires an internet connection, but there are Steam emulators that allow the games to launch without a connection. Obviously this doesn't work for multiplayer games, but for the Half-Life series it will work just fine. I've been using SteamBuster Revolution for years to get my HL2 fix when I'm away from an internet connection.

 

What's wrong with offline mode? I know the Steam client still launches which irritates some people, but I have no problem playing any of my Steam downloaded games with my wi-fi turned off...no internet connection required...

And shhh, don't tell anybody, but I'm so pathetic about online gaming that I actually enjoy playing Left 4 Dead by myself with my wi-fi turned off...haven't tried Team Fortress 2 so I don't know if it has a solo mode like Unreal Tournament or the Battlefield series...

 

It's a pretty common complaint, actually, but Offline Mode often does not allow games to launch if they haven't been updated, which requires an internet connection. So, it will work if I connect online, update my games, then go offline, but starting offline from scratch will not allow my games to launch.

That's the nice thing about Steam-Buster Revolution. It doesn't care if you have a connection or not, it just launches your Steam games. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

my steam will go to launch and give me the option to start offline and when i click it BAMMMM

"error could not connect to the internet please try again"

im like

 

.....no....i......dont...think.....thats.... what he is.....looking for.....as its sort of a multiplayer only game......

 

Apart from the games others have mentioned here, I like Stranglehold & Mirror's Edge even though the missions are both slightly short when compared to other games.

 

Hmmm...it's never happened to me...and I play most of my Steam games offline...but then Steam, on my laptop, never knows whether there are updates or not...I only connect to Steam when there's a weekend special that interests me...and then there's usually 10 or so games on my list updating along with 3 or 4 updates to Steam itself...

 

Well, when I bought prototype amazon gave me a $10 discount off my next game purchase this month, so I was looking at picking up:

"Star Wars: The Best of PC (Empire at War, Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Battlefront, Republic Commando)"

because I never got a chance to play kotor too much, but will these games run on Vista (on Amazon it only says it supports XP)?

 

Hey dude, youre going to love the witcher enhanced.

I just got it in yesterday and couldnt stop playing it.

Youll have to get used to the fighting style, but other than that, the game is beautiful.

It also came with like 6 cds! 2 soundtrack cds, a video of the making, and some other bonus cds. Also, comes with a game guide and the story.

Alot of stuff for 39.99

 

Don't know if you'll see this...and it won't meet your requirement for 'no-internet' since I think you would be hard pressed to find a physical copy...

You mentioned SmashTV and then Alien Shooter was mentioned...

When you get around to a personal internet connection again, consider Shadowgrounds: Survivor (same folks that did Space Hack and Shadowgrounds)...you can download it from Impulse for cheap...

I downloaded it over the weekend and got mad about Space Siege all over again...Survivor was just as good as Space Siege for a fraction of the price...more mindless, linear fun in a sci-fi setting...

PS. Look at www.meridian4.com

They'll actually mail you a hard copy of Survivor for $5 (+$4 for shipping...don't know if they'll ship to an FPO though) which is less than what I paid for it to download it...there are some other 'old school' (mindless) games on their site along with their various channels of digital distribution...I think Survivor was the best of what they have to offer...

 

im sure it will run, my freind has most of these on his vista pc. BTW, you will love KotOR, it is my second fav game minus Mass Effect

BTW, other great games you should try are:
Half life 2 and episodes
Bioshock
and although you said no RPG / FPS hybrids, im still gonna suggest mass effect, i hated fallout 3 but i loved this game, plays more like a FPS than anything but has a great storyline, like all bioware games.

 

and KOTOR 2

 

yo man, has the witcher came in the mail yet? its a sweet singleplayer game. i would say if you have any questions ask me, but the game comes with a game guide! lol I look at it occasionally just to see what will happen if I make a huge decision.

 

Nope...nothing's come in the mail yet =(

This is what I have on order, so I should be set for the rest of my deploment + post deployment:

Sins of a Solar Empire
Prototype
The Witcher Enhanced/uncensored
Mount and Blade
Shadowgrounds: Survivor
Aion Collector's Edition (pre-order)

I figure I hit pretty much most action genres there (except FPS, but I've already got enough FPS games to tide me over).

 

haha yeahh. You should definitely be good for awhile.

prototype is so sweet.

 

I've been doing this lately it's really fun.

 

Just received Prototype and Sins of a Solar Empire yesterday. Got to play each over a period of a few hours, initial thoughts:

Prototype:

Wow, just wow. This is probably the most fun I've had playing a 3rd person game since the original Devil may Cry. It's like GTA + DMC with a war constantly going on in the world, with crazy upgrades and skills... This game is a Godsend for someone with ADD...there's just so much to do and so many things to kill. Played on max settings (2xAA) and my fps range from 30-60, only dropping during huge fights. My GPU temps never went about 60C. If this game stays interesting throughout the whole story I'll probably be losing a lot of sleep.

Sins of a Solar Empire:

I hope some of the issues are fixed with the updates I can't D/L right now... Missing some major customization options, mainly what irritated me was the inability to adjust screen resolution and mouse scroll speed (I usually play games with mouse speed around 8, and this game feels like a 2). Story... I feel this game would have been better with no story. They gave it just enough information to make me actually interested in what was going on, but with no Campaign mode there's no story to play out.

Other than these cosmetic issues the game seems to be what I was looking for. A Giant game of Diplomacy in space. The graphics are pretty good when you max everything out, and it's complicated enough to keep me doing something the entire time, instead of just waiting for units to build and then go kill things, like most RTS's.

 

i definitely reccomned the half life 2 episodes as they are in the few games which i actually bothered to complete and as long as you have them up to date when you disconnect from the internet and you stay in offline mode they will not know they are out of date and will always work in offline mode

 

Uh, Oblivion?

 

I'm glad people keep recommending these, even though I already stated in my opening post that I have the Orange Box, which contains all of the HL2 games...

...and Oblivion's a little old for me. I'm more interesting in things 2008+.

 

ok im gonna suggest it just cause no one else has. try mirrors edge. i was reluctant at first but decided to bite the bullet because it was only 20 bucks. this game is awesome, very intense, fast paced, and just plain fun. might wanna try it.

 

Assasins creed
Prototype
Cod 4
Crysis
Warhead
GTA IV
Mirrors edge
Doom 3
Penumbra
Titan Quest
Spore
Empire Total war
Medieval Total War
Fallout 3
Fear
Fear 2
Farcry 2
Witcher
Warhammer 40k games
Orange Box
Oblivion (morrowind)
Fable 2

 

I did, but no one cared.

 

lol im sorry i didnt see that

 

what the hell is wrong with you? those are fricken shoes. not a "single player game"

 

Try Curse of Monkey's Island, awesome game, and at E3 they announced they will be making new installments =)

 

Ahhh such a funny game... played that one on the ps2

Assasins creed
Prototype
Cod 4
Crysis
Warhead
GTA IV
Mirrors edge
Doom 3
Penumbra
Titan Quest
Spore
Empire Total war
Medieval Total War
Fallout 3
Fear
Fear 2
Farcry 2
Witcher
Warhammer 40k games
Orange Box
Oblivion (morrowind)
Fable 2

 

I havent played any shooter games so far. I loved Hitman-Silent Assasin due to the feel of "stealth kills" rather than plain shooting. I was also addicted to FIFA 2005 and NFS U2 in my college days. Customizing cars in NFS is fun, and the races are full of adrenalin.

 

Don't forget the FPS single player classics using GL Doomsday or GL gzdoom interface. I find this stuff far more stable than the buggy DRM stuff we play today.

Doom-Hexen-Heretic in several flavors and a real sleeper; d2x-xl Descent 2.

All priced next to nothing for several hundred hours of game play on about 80% of the current laptops.

I find myself playing these while waiting on bug fixes for my new stuff!

 

um... starcraft? hello.

 

Mass Effect FTMFW....'Nuff said!

after you spend forever beating it just switch up character types and play again... it never plays the same way twice