Glad you got the Orange Box... Half-Life 2, its episodes and Portal are all great introductions to the genre.
Check out No One Lives Forever 2, I'm not sure how well the original game has aged in terms of its gameplay but I played the sequel recently and it's still a great game. It has wacky humor, some great spy gadgets to use, vibrant 60s setting and a female protagonist who isn't a cardboard cutout sex symbol.
You should check out Fallout 3 too... I'd also recommend Escape From Butcher Bay, Crysis (shitty story but the game is honestly really fun, and very beautiful), and for a more recent game: Call of Juarez - Bound in Blood surprised me in what a quality game it turned out to be.
Once you've gotten settled in and used to the genre, I would recommend renting or at least borrowing Mirror's Edge. It's one of those "love it or hate it" games, a very acquired taste; but if you happen to enjoy it its an experience unlike any other FPS... The game emphasizes the idea that stopping to fight enemies isn't a necessity and the better and less violent option is to evade or avoid them; which is a nice tone for something like an FPS. The way the movement works feels very liberating... Sprinting and jumping across rooftops, seeing cars below you and hearing the wind rushing in your ears gives this fantastic sense of speed which is a completely unbridled experience I have felt in no other game. Sadly the story is rubbish, and its very short, but there are time-trials too.
Check out No One Lives Forever 2, I'm not sure how well the original game has aged in terms of its gameplay but I played the sequel recently and it's still a great game. It has wacky humor, some great spy gadgets to use, vibrant 60s setting and a female protagonist who isn't a cardboard cutout sex symbol.
You should check out Fallout 3 too... I'd also recommend Escape From Butcher Bay, Crysis (shitty story but the game is honestly really fun, and very beautiful), and for a more recent game: Call of Juarez - Bound in Blood surprised me in what a quality game it turned out to be.
Once you've gotten settled in and used to the genre, I would recommend renting or at least borrowing Mirror's Edge. It's one of those "love it or hate it" games, a very acquired taste; but if you happen to enjoy it its an experience unlike any other FPS... The game emphasizes the idea that stopping to fight enemies isn't a necessity and the better and less violent option is to evade or avoid them; which is a nice tone for something like an FPS. The way the movement works feels very liberating... Sprinting and jumping across rooftops, seeing cars below you and hearing the wind rushing in your ears gives this fantastic sense of speed which is a completely unbridled experience I have felt in no other game. Sadly the story is rubbish, and its very short, but there are time-trials too.
