TEH. BEST. GAMES. EVAR.
By Andr'e Swartley

Holiday Buyers' Guide to Video Games

Day 2: PC Games

My earliest memory of playing video games at home is watching my brother play Space Invaders on our Texas Instruments TI-99 home computer. I was born in 1979 and the TI-99 was released in 1981, so the timeline fits pretty well. At any rate, for the next 25 years or so, I played all of my games on PC.

Gaming PCs are and have always been the best of the best in terms of raw power and adaptability. And the cost of these advantages is, well, the cost. You can buy a decent gaming rig for under $1,000, but the step from "decent" to "cutting edge" can run you another $2,000-$5,000. However, for those of you buying gifts for those most discerning gamers, the list below is sure to please.

First, a recap of game genres (for more detailed explanations of each, please refer to yesterday's guide to Nintendo games).

Action Game
Adventure Game
Fighting Game
First-Person Shooter (FPS)
Platformer
Puzzle Game
Racer
Roleplaying Game (RPG)
Simulator (Sim)
Sports Game
Strategy Game
Survival Horror

Windows PC

Dragon Age: Origins, $49.99, rated M for Mature
Do you read the Lord of the Rings trilogy every few months? Do you get annoyed when people refer to Lord of the Rings as a "trilogy" when Tolkien CLEARLY wrote the story as six separate books? Are you furious that no one can seem to make an outsanding Lord of the Rings game? Look no further than Dragon Age: Origins. For your money, you'll enjoy a classic 50-hour high fantasy story full of trolls, ogres, mages, and, yes, dragons. The ridiculous amount of sidequests and optional character interaction could easily run you another 100 hours. If you only get one game per year, this one might well keep you busy until next Christmas.

Empire: Total War-Strategy Game, $39.99, rated T for Teen
The Total War series made a name for itself by allowing you to control two distinct levels of warfare across mainland Europe in the 18th century. You expand and conquer your way across land and sea, both as a supreme commander, moving armies across the map similar to Risk, and as a frontline general, commanding individual troops and battalions. You begin with a choice of several countries to represent, and the campaign for each will take days to complete. While fighting is bound to be the dominant part of a game called Total War, there are also portions of the game that require diplomacy. Anyone with aspirations to world domination should check it out.

The Orange Box-First-Person Shooter, $19.99, rated M for Mature
Silent, bearded protagonist Gordon Freeman has been a video game icon since the original Half-Life knocked everyone's socks off in 1998. The Orange Box is a compilation of that game's outstanding sequel, Half-Life2, the two expansions, Half-Life2 Episodes 1 and 2, the online-only Team Fortress 2, and a puzzle game called Portal. A couple of these games have been out for several years already, but every single one of them games would still be worth twenty bucks or more by itself, especially the amazing Portal. The cake is not a lie.

Happy shopping, PC owners! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Playstation edition of the Icon's Holiday Buyers' Guide to Video Games.