Imagine Metal Slug, but very physics-based, even in the animations. This game has been a candidate in one of the GDC Awards, and for good reason. It's a very, very impressive thing to play, and I'm not even finished with it. The physics are once in a while wonky, but actually in a fun way. The boss fights are all at that perfect level of difficulty that makes them so challenging, and there are even fun toys like mechs with grappling hooks (grapple onto a ledge, or grab a box to hurl it at an enemy)

Just finished the final episode. I'll just say, if I were a Let's Play-er...I would have felt embarassed to be on a webcam during the game's final moments. Just hearing the soundtrack for the game's ending is enough to put me over the edge.

I was pretty shocked at some of the game's content - having known Telltale Games for the Sam and Max and Back to the Future series. They definitely knew what they were getting into.

It especially took them some guts to stick to a gameplay format that had largely failed in Heavy Rain and Jurassic Park. Once again, they knew what they were doing, and just like Spec Ops - no matter what's stayed the same, it's all about the broad context behind your actions.

Awesomely fun game. Even after beating it, I was lured into doing 100% completion for each of the missions. It's very concrete and specific about its stealth mechanics, such that while one level felt extraordinarily difficult, I never quite felt cheated, or like the game had done something without making me aware of it. You'd also be surprised how well a 2D level design fits around stealth gameplay.

PS. Learn how to Terrify the guards in various ways. For instance, drop a body from an upper ledge, straight into their flashlight's vision, then disappear somewhere. Watch as they scream and fire randomly, hitting their own teammates.

Spec Ops: The Line is a decent cover-to-cover war shooter that, gameplay-wise, does nothing too new. Some people are fine with that, myself included.

But that's not what you're here for.
SO:TL easily has one of the most emotion-driven storylines of ANY war-shooter, or maybe even any AAA game to come out recently. It successfully tells its story through gameplay, taking risks you usually only see in indie games. An excellent two-part critique video can be found on the Extra Credits website. Yup, a video series about game design and moving forward the medium devoted TWO episodes entirely to this game.

Be warned it's also not a very "positive" game. You won't reach the credits smiling, but I've often felt many experiences like that are worth it even so. At any rate, hats off to Yager not only for making a game that breaks the norm in so many ways, but disguises it all behind what the marketing and trailers would indicate is "just another shooter".

Aside from a bizarre ending, this game has a lot of the charm of Portal, and certainly a lot of inventiveness from some simple concepts in its puzzles. One or two of the puzzles get a little bit of skill-frustration; in which you know the solution, but it's just a matter of pulling it off with precision timing. Otherwise, a very satisfying game.

This game is horrible. It has the most ungodly complex interface, gives you no goals, and doesn't tell you what you're supposed to be doing. There are even video tutorials online about the most basic things like moving your character around - and he won't even animate when moving, and clips through walls. Still don't know why Valve is uploading hundreds of CGI trailers for this game under hundreds of false YouTube accounts.

A very interesting indie puzzle game that, like Braid or Limbo, seems to keep coming up with new ideas for its levels that always build off the old ideas. It all seemed very complex at first, but it's very good at having you learn through doing and observing. The soundtrack and engine are all very cool.

Just as fun as the game that preceded it. Lots of fun additions to combat, and if the single-player isn't long enough for you, the challenge maps will definitely keep you occupied.

To me, this was a MUCH better game than Yahtzee's criticism of "Well, they tried something new, and it didn't work." I know this will sound cliche, but the game just -flows- well when it works. It feels much like the "Agent" chases from the Matrix, except with a much more interesting, colorful city. If you're worried about length, start playing the game's speedruns; you can find MANY shortcuts you wouldn't have noticed playing normally, and they're a really fun challenge. At times I was doing them just for fun without any attempt to improve my time. Towards the end, the game occasionally forgets its place of what makes it interesting, but even the gun-fighting (as horribly unbalanced as it is) feels like it has a really great idea for combat hidden somewhere in there.

Limbo is a really interesting puzzle game that has new ideas throughout its gameplay. A recent article in the paper highlighted how the game really symbolizes a lot about growing up; early on, you only learn from challenges by experiencing failure (dying), and you're often encountering unfamiliar and scary things. I also especially liked how the game has no loading segments; it moves smoothly from start to finish.

Surprisingly fun adventure game with good wall-jumping mechanics. It's made by the creator of Night Sky, which is also pretty interesting.

Well, it's more fun than Left 4 Dead.
Killing Floor is the game I play when I want to just shoot something. It has a lot of excessive gore, and a very appropriate level of challenge. Each of the perks is really fun, while not entirely restricting which weapons you can use. Plus, whereas L4D simply punishes you for NOT sticking with your team, KF leans more towards rewarding you for volunteering to stick with them. Healing costs much less when it's on a teammate, and because there's no friendly fire, it's much easier to shoot zombies off a teammate than it is for him/her to personally take care of them.

I wish there was a demo for the game, but there are sometimes free weekends. Check it out if you get the chance!

Besides Half-Life 2, this might very well be my number 1 favorite PC game. Aquaria is a freedom-based adventure through the titular world, with a very complex and mystical storyline. The visuals and worlds are a real treasure to explore, and every nook and cranny seems to have some worthwhile reward. The game starts up a little slowly as Naija leaves her home waters, but it's partially because the game is just RIDICULOUSLY long. This was a callback to the days when for me, a game like Final Fantasy 7 would take over a month to complete, rather than a weekend. The game's progress is always spiced up with new and interesting enemies (well over 100, plus almost 20 unique boss fights), side areas to explore, and optional abilities to unlock.

My recommendation: Get the demo off bit-blot's site, then buy it.

Story pack FAIL

This game doesn't have a single WORD of storyline.
It's still kinda fun, but doesn't have much replayability.

BGE contains the well-written characters of Half-Life, a unique and interesting world, strong gameplay even including intense boss fights (often my favorite part of an adventure game!), good music, etc. etc. It's a massively under-played game; go for it.
Plus, if I'm right, they've been working on a sequel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6RbEOlqRo

Braid is sort of a noteworthy title for game developers, because it shows all the basic concepts; keep your mechanics simple and consistent, introduce them one at a time, and above all, make them fun and interesting.
Braid largely revolves around time manipulation in very unique and interesting puzzles. In all worlds you can reverse time prince-of-persia style to try something again. In later worlds, this is expanded with things such as creating a shadow-copy of yourself, or even setting up a series of platforms to guide an enemy into the right place. The ending, as much as the rest of the game is devoid of story, really surprised most players.

Some people would convince you that this game has something to do with the atomic bomb. It doesn't.

Lead and Gold seems to take part of its inspiration from the class-based gameplay of Team Fortress 2. It alters that with a little more focus on quick reflexes and aiming, but the fact is: If you are with your teammates, you are an unstoppable force.
The game keeps itself pretty simple; when reloading, you have infinite "extra bullets". Healing teammates just involves standing next to them. You can even revive them by "tagging" a downed teammate Gears of War style. There is also a flag that can be carried around allowing teammates to spawn right in the middle of battle; available in most gamemodes, and can be a big problem for the opposing team until it's picked up.

What I will admit is that there aren't many game servers for the game; it's popular during it's free weekends, but otherwise not so much.

Just Cause 2 is a game by the people who just messed around in GTA games without going to the missions. Furthermore, it's one of the biggest game environments created (record holder is much bigger, but it's in a boring racing game). The use of the grapple is pretty fun, if at times a bit difficult to be creative with, but more than anything you'll never get tired of blowing things up. Car chases are very fun - you may note at one point that once a car is going at a certain speed, it becomes a much stranger entity; shooting out a tire will cause it to turn sideways, flip over, and inexplicably explode. If you jump out at any significant speed, it will blow up upon the next object it touches. The game is so expansive that it doesn't even have a 100%-completion achievement; it labels you a "Perfectionist" at 70%.

You know that dream you once had that creeped the hell out of you, and felt indescribably eerie and just plain "wrong" every time you think about it, and actually felt sort of real?
Amnesia's horror beats that out.
I tell everyone this is the scariest game I've ever played, but its qualities definitely go beyond that. Frictional Entertainment is pretty creative with their use of physics puzzles, extending the physics system to doors, hinges, etc. The main scares come from the "out-of-place" look of the world itself, which set you up for the killer moments when a monster appears from nowhere.
Try the demo and see if that scares you senseless. Buy the full thing if you enjoy it. But a tip for the demo; GO TO THE BATHROOM BEFOREHAND.