Ok, so I have a friend who has recently picked up a computer that can actually run something more than Civ3, and is looking to broaden her horizon a little.
The last FPS she played was Redneck Rampage back in the days when cooling your GPU with LN2 was seen as "excessive" and not "necessary to run Crysis at playable framerate".
So, my question is which FPS would you recommend for someone relatively new to the genre - I am looking for something with forgiving mechanics but equally a good story.
My obvious standout ones are something like Half Life 2 which obviously has a superb story and is first class representation of the genre, but is it really the FPS that you would start someone off with?
My other option was something like Halo (the first one) which I think could be more forgiving in the gameplay - aiming with what are effectively tracer rounds using the plasma rifle while you get used to mousing and the Master Chief's shield providing a cushion so that mistakes aren't so heavily punished (it's as powerful as an Overshield if you set the game to Easy) .
My other option was Fallout: New Vegas since the story is excellent and you can practice FPS aiming but have the backup of the VATS system to help you out (and later, your companions, although they can be *too* helpful and do all the work before you've unholstered your gun sometimes), and the RPG element of the game is more familiar to her (as a former D&D player/board game geek etc).
I should mention the system in question is a Macbook Pro 13" (2.3Gig Core i5, HD3000 GPU) running OS X but also can dual boot Windows, so we're looking for things that will run on that sort of hardware. Not bleeding edge obviously, especially the built in GPU, but it's respectable for a fair few games, especially with the details lowered).
What would you suggest?
The last FPS she played was Redneck Rampage back in the days when cooling your GPU with LN2 was seen as "excessive" and not "necessary to run Crysis at playable framerate".
So, my question is which FPS would you recommend for someone relatively new to the genre - I am looking for something with forgiving mechanics but equally a good story.
My obvious standout ones are something like Half Life 2 which obviously has a superb story and is first class representation of the genre, but is it really the FPS that you would start someone off with?
My other option was something like Halo (the first one) which I think could be more forgiving in the gameplay - aiming with what are effectively tracer rounds using the plasma rifle while you get used to mousing and the Master Chief's shield providing a cushion so that mistakes aren't so heavily punished (it's as powerful as an Overshield if you set the game to Easy) .
My other option was Fallout: New Vegas since the story is excellent and you can practice FPS aiming but have the backup of the VATS system to help you out (and later, your companions, although they can be *too* helpful and do all the work before you've unholstered your gun sometimes), and the RPG element of the game is more familiar to her (as a former D&D player/board game geek etc).
I should mention the system in question is a Macbook Pro 13" (2.3Gig Core i5, HD3000 GPU) running OS X but also can dual boot Windows, so we're looking for things that will run on that sort of hardware. Not bleeding edge obviously, especially the built in GPU, but it's respectable for a fair few games, especially with the details lowered).
What would you suggest?
