First games on my new PC

There has to be games installed after building my first PC rig. What better way to show off the rig in terms of raw computing performance than playing some graphically demanding games?

As soon as I set my PC up, I got started installing and buying a few games that might not only interest me, but also be able to make full use of the hardware that I built. My build is a beast, showcasing the latest graphics card from Nvidia, the GTX 10xx series, in particular, the mainstream GTX 1070 graphics card. A good value for money in terms of price to performance. This card is able to play any current triple A titles on PC without breaking a sweat at 1080p and as well as on the 1440p. As I am playing on a 1080p TV, it shouldn’t pose any problems when I crank up all the graphics setting of any games out there on the market at ultra settings. So here are the first four major PC titles to debut on my new rig.

1. Battlefield Hardline

Battlefield Hardline actually on my list of ‘must have games’ list. But as I was browsing the EA Origins store, it was on offer. Selling at only S$6. It was an opportunity too hard to pass up on. Although I have read mixed reviews about the single player campaign and the game in general, I was still curious about this new Battlefield iteration. Swapping military warfare to police and thieves setting, I wanted to find out what is new in this franchise and whether this new idea would work out. Apparently not so. I didn’t really enjoy the single player campaign much, and although I have yet to finish the campaign, things were starting to go stale. The combat isn’t just as fan as the previous Battlefield games. I do applaud the cast and characters portrayed in this game. Featuring a star studded cast playing out various NPC roles to push the story along, but ultimately, while I admire the graphics, the story and gameplay is a little flat.

2. Star Wars The Old Republic

Star Wars The Old Republic is an MMORPG along the veins of the ever popular World Of Warcraft (WoW). W0W set a very high standard in the MMORPG genre, so it became natural to emulate its successes in the Star Wars setting. Released in 2011, I only recently had the opportunity to start my grand adventure. After a 5-year wait, I was excited to begin my journey. Why the wait? Well, before I built my rig, I was exclusively using the Mac. I’ve only had the Mac ever since then. My last computer was a MacBook Air and this game did not release a Mac equivalent for Apple users to enjoy. Now that I have a Windows based PC, I immediately swooped on the opportunity to get my hands on this game.

I am enjoying every moment of this game. The story took place after the award winning RPGs from Bioware, Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, The Sith Lords. As a huge fan of those RPGs, it would be strange for me to delve once more into the Star Wars lore that took place around the time of the first two RPGs. This MMORPG is one of the rare ones where all dialogues are voiced over, making this game one of the largest MMORPG project when it comes to voicing all dialogues in this game. It was an immense undertaking and it really paid off, since the roleplaying aspects feels familiar to fans of the original Bioware RPGs. The spirit of roleplay in an MMORPG is kept true, which is what I love about The Old Republic. I foresee myself playing this game for months to come, since there are tons of contents to uncover, many worlds to explore and various gameplay aspects I have yet to experience.

3. Rise of The Tomb Raider

A sequel to a well received reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, I was disappointed when it was released as a PC/XBOX timed exclusive. But no more. I enjoyed the first game and it seemed natural to play the sequel. Rise of the Tomb Raider was the first game I bought on Steam for my new PC. And a full priced game at that, being a recent title and all. But I have no regrets and I am surely I will enjoy the game as much as I did on the first on, maybe even more. Truthfully, I have not started playing it despite the fact that I bought it. I should start on it soon.

4. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

The final game that I will talk about, this game was released at just about the right time when I completed my build. I told myself; why not? And immediately paid and downloaded the game on Steam.

I have never played any of the Deus Ex games prior to this one. While I was brought up to speed in terms of the story so far, I have stayed away from this game primarily because this is a stealth game. And stealth games aren’t my forte. I don’t particularly enjoy stealth games and it seems that I neither have no patience for it (planning, hiding, waiting) nor I have the ability to think out of the box in getting my character out of supposedly impossible situations.

But I decided to give it a go, and the first thing that impressed me most was the graphics. This is by far the game with the most gorgeous graphics I have ever downloaded on my new PC. It is such an eye candy. Everything looked great. From the character models, lighting, reflections, high resolution textures, everything coming together to make one stunning world for Deus Ex.

I am in the process of playing this game through and while I still find it a difficult game to play, at least I have the option of cranking down the difficulty and allowing me to focus more on the story, so that I don’t have to agonise through repeated attempts in stealth-and-escape situations.

One aspect of this game that I applaud is the open-world feeling to this game. Not only that, you are given the tools and freedom to approach your objectives, problems and challenges in any way you like. This is as non-linear as you can get out of a stealth based game. And it is a surprisingly refreshing feeling, never penalising you from out of you way to find a unique solution to your problem or approach to your objectives. So that at least makes the gameplay bearable.