How do you choose what games to play?

HangTime

HangTime

HangTime

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I was sat around earlier today wondering what game to play having just completed DE:HR this week, and I found myself in a familiar predicament - randomly scrolling through my Steam and Origin lists, looking for something that piques my interest. I own a lot of games that I've yet to play, including some very highly regarded ones, but often I dismiss the idea if they might be in depth games with a steep learning curve that could take a lot of time to get into (Civ4, Total War games, RPGs etc). In some ways I am spoilt for choice and this puts me into something of a quagmire, I can't make a decision.

In the end I fired up Sniper Elite. I wasn't impressed, it didn't support 16:10 aspect ratio and looked fairly mediocre with low resolution textures. The gameplay seemed rather dull and lifeless. I stopped playing after completing the first mission. This is a familar tale, I've got quite a few budget games on Steam that look like they might be easy to pickup and play but then unsurprisingly I find them lacking.

Often I'll play through games in sequence, for instance I recently went through all the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. That kinda makes things easier because if I like a game I will play the sequels/expansions straight after completing it.

In terms of buying games, I tend to focus on games from developers that I have enjoyed previous titles from, and 'bargains'. How do you choose what games to buy? Price? Recommendation from friends? Reviews?
And then what about choosing what actual game to play at any given point, do you have any method for selecting your next target?

edit: I should clarify this thread isn't intended as a swipe at PC gaming or to suggest I'm disinterested in gaming, far from it.
 
I do pretty much the same as you. I like to buy an entire series then play thorough back to back but I tend to get bored which is why I have yet to finish AC:B and ME2 (please don't hurt me).

I quite enjoyed sniper elite but I did get it back when it was first released and didn't have too many games back then.

I also pick up bargains or classics but then never get round to playing them. I have started trying to playthrough alphabetically through my Steam library but I found myself forcing myself to play things. I just play what I want and jump around all over the place rarely completing a single player game unless it really sucks me in otherwise they sit unfinished.
 
Would be nice if Steam introduced a 'launch random game' function that randomly choosing one of your installed games (perhaps with the option to filter on categories you have defined) and loads it up. By actually loading the game it might give an incentive for me to actually play it rather than finding the quit button :)
 
I have a few games in my list that i know ill get one day, but not yet. Rage, Fallout New Vegas, Dead Island, Crysis 2 and MW2. Dead Island is the only one that i get really excited about playing. The others ill play just because they might be quite good, but i know wont take long to complete... so i wont get them till the price is right i.e. very cheap.

Like you ive been a bit pulled away from games that take ages to learn how to play i.e. shogan, but since mastering the Shogan 2 demo and winning every battle i know it will be my next buy as soon as i have complete a couple of other games. I really liked it and the tutorial was perfect.

I also have a back list of games i play every now and again, like BG2, icewind dale and Arcanum. Also just going through HL2 again (lost count of the play throughs).

Got a current games list, which normally has a shoot em up, rpg and some indi game. When i complete one of that gener ill try to find another to fill the slot.
The current games i play can take years for me to complete because i dont have tons of time to play. It took 2 years to complete Icewind dale, a year to finish the witcher 1 and ive had BG2 for 5 years or more now and i still havnt completed it - but i still love playing it! Im still slogging it through DX HR. I raced through the Witcher 2, but i got the witcher 1 again because it was only £4 on gog and i know i could race through that but itll be a hell of a long race.

Games are very like books if you have too many you cant decided what to do, but have one of each gener you like and you are well away!
 
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depends for me. If I have a couple of hours spare then it's online game time but if only say 45 mins then it's a quick blast of a single player game
 
I realise this suggestion might be a little "old skool" for some:D but leaving your PC (yes you read that right) going to the local games retailer of which there are many and browsing the actual games inside can actualy be quite a good idea, especially as you can then go and relax with a lovely coffee at the local coffee shop after and look forward to playing on your purchase whilst having coffee and being able to look at fit women who hang out in coffee shops :D (obviously ignore any fugly munters who happen to walk in, or alternatively a swift "Oh my god is that really your face?" comment usually scares them off) :D
 
Friends and reviews decide it, but generally i only buy games that I find on decent sales. I don't generally buy that many titles on release. So christmas steam sales tend to destroy me :p

Means I have a bit of a backlog of very well recommended games that I get on the cheap and slowly work through over time :)

On the flipside there are games like Starcraft 2 which I bought because I was in the beta. I knew what the finished product would be like and was happy playing full price for it. Certainly got my money's worth on that. Similarly i was confident in buying portal 2 on release along with most of my friends so we all played through at roughly the same time.
 
^^I don't have a local games retailer, nor a local coffee shop for that matter :)

I took the decision to start playing The Witcher which I've had for quite a while now but had been slightly put off by horror stories about bugs and a quirky combat system. Seems OK so far although it is clearly not very optimised for multicore, I'm frequently seeing 100% utilisation on one core while the other 3 are all below 40%.
 
I usually end up choosing while I'm sat at work bored. Something will just click in my head and I'll think "Yeh, I might play _____ today and do ______ on there for a change".

Like yesterday I was sat at work I decided I wanted to find out what vehicles I could tow with other vehicles on Just Cause 2 using the grappling hook, or if I could lift a boat out of the water with a helicopter, or if I could fly a plane around while I had a helicopter on tow behind it. Turns out the last two aren't that easy :p

Usually if that doesn't happen I'll end up on CS:S which is my go-to game if I can't decide what else to go on.
 
Usually if I've just bought a new game, I'll play it. But sometimes I buy a game and it doesn't "click" with me so then I'll play something like COD 4, something I know I enjoy.

I just bought witcher 2 and heroes 6 and I like both, so I'm playing those quite evenly.
 
Just play the games you currently own and see for your self if there good or not, if the game is bad game move onto the next one that's what i do. My game library is small compared to other people on my steam friends list but I try to enjoy every game I purchase if it sucks i simply uninstall it I have seen people with tones of games on steam and 0 hours played on them?
 
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