Games that I currently play

I don't really get consoles, but inbetween work and other things I always liked to play a few rounds. Here is a small list of games that I find so incredibly great that you should check them out:

1^st-person shooters

Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

There is nothing but value in this box, because you get 3 full new games and 2 old classics. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is interesting, but Portal and Team Fortress 2 are really what it's all about. If you want to know more, go to gametrailers.com's Orange Box page. The Team Fortress 2 trailers are especially worthwhile to watch!

If you're in Germany and of legal age, I recommend buying an imported version, because, unfortunately, Valve Software does not make an uncensored version of The Orange Box available via Steam if you're account's address is in Germany. In my opinion, by playing the censored version, you're getting robbed of the real experience, because, for example, it's impossible to tell if you've successfully hit a target in Team Fortress 2.

It's worth mentioning that I bought the censored version off the Steam network, without knowing that it was censored, first and Valve's excellent support staff let me activate an import version that I mail-ordered from PC Fun in Munich and subsequently returned the initial credit-card charge.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

What an excellent team experience! A few months ago, I locked myself away with some friends and we played this game almost exclusively for a few days straight! They get everything right that Battlefield 2142 got wrong:

• ET:QW has bots that you can use in every setting (Single-player, LAN and Online games). Battlefield 2142 only supports bots in a few maps and because of some idiotic piracy fears, it's impossible to play most maps in a LAN setting (which is where I play games the most, because I rarely have the time otherwise).
• ET:QW has upgrades for the class you're playing that carry through a series of maps, unlike Battlefield 2142 where the developers decided to cripple the LAN gameplay and do not allow you to achieve even temporary upgrades making offline gameplay even less satisfying.
• Instead of a dedicated "have less fun to enable your team's success"-commander role, they have an excellent AI system that generates missions on the fly. Even if the objectives on the maps become redundant, it's much more fun for everyone involved.