Top 10 Best Action Games For PC

The PC has been feeling some neglect in the action genre ever since consoles took the forefront in the eyes of the gaming public. But that's not to say that the platform is dead--far from it! Here are ten of the top action games on the PC.

Doom 3 

What can be said about the Doom series that hasn't already been said? These games are immensely satisfying, and it's hard to pick just one. However, there's so much disparity between each game, particularly between 3 and the first two, that they really have to be looked at as separate entities in this case. Doom 3 does uphold the tradition of having Earth threatened by the minions of Hell, but this time, teleportation experiments conducted by a military-fortified corporation on Mars have accidentally opened a gateway, releasing demons who are intent on heading towards Earth.  

Even though the thought of demons and the walking dead taking over a military base on Mars and piloting stolen spacecraft to earth sounds moderately hilarious ("Hey, Beelzebub, can you drive a manual transmission?"), the game unfolds at such a pace that there isn't much time to contemplate the realities, as one of the humans associated with a visiting team is revealed to be cooperating with Hell to facilitate the invasion. Loading with exploding guts and blood splatters, gameplay is about what one would expect for a Doom game. Gory, satisfying, and not without a touch of black humor. 

Team Fortress 2 

This game is another first person shooter, but can be a nice break from the seriousness of other titles on this list. Two teams representing rival corporations, Reliable Excavation & Demolition (RED) and Builders League United (BLU) compete against one another for various objective determined by the mode of gameplay. Some maps involve arena/team deathwatch mode, where players do not respawn after they've been killed, but others are focused on objective similar to "capture the flag", where both each team is trying to steal information from the other team's base, or are attempting to capture and defend a specific point on the map. All the while, teams are berated by the voice of an unnamed woman who is clearly in charge of something, but exactly what it never made completely clear. She is voiced by none other than Ellen McClain, who Valve fans will recognize as GLaDOS.  

Play as one of 9 character classes, each with unique weapons that encompass at least one ranged and one melee each. This game can be good for killing a whole evening, but is also fun for a few casual matches. Its comic style provides a welcome contrast to the gritty realism depicted in many other shooters. 

Half Life 2 

Gordon Freeman wakes from stasis to find that a lot has changed since he defeated Nihilanth and was subsequently plucked from Black Mesa by the G-Man. As Freeman comes to, he comes to know that the Earth has been taken over by a hostile alien civilization known as the Combine. He must pass through various Combine-operated security checkpoints to get to wherever he is going. However, before he can figure this out, he is detained by a security officer and taken to an interrogation room. The officer then reveals himself to be a former co-worker, and introduces Freeman to Alyx Vance once in the relative safety of Dr. Isaac Kleiner's Lab, where they've contracted a rudimentary teleporter to send themselves to the anti-Combine base resistance base known as Black Mesa East. Unfortunately, Dr. Kleiner has a pet headcrab named Lamarr, who interrupts the teleportation process, causing Freeman to teleport to a few open locations before landing just outside the lab. This alerts the Combine to his presence, and he must fight his way to Black Mesa East, not knowing what awaits him there. 

Fans of the original Half Life seem to have taken to the sequel just as easily, but it has also attracted new attention from gamers. Additionally, HL2 was released as part of the Orange Box in October of 2007, which also featured 2 additional HL2 episodes, Team Fortress 2, and surprise favorite Portal, which was so successful in its own right that a sequel is now due in spring of 2011.   

Far Cry 2 

This game is fairly polarizing, and I don't blame anyone who completely disagrees with me on this. I loved this game because it is beautiful to look at, and the story mode is very thought-provoking. The main character is essentially a mercenary who's been hired to help take out a war-profiteering arms dealer who's been supplying both sides of a civil conflict in eastern Africa. In gameplay, weapons degrade over time, the weather can be unpredictable, and players can get killed for doing absolutely nothing at all. 

Sometimes the missions can feel quite repetitive, and many people don't like the mechanism by which one looks at the map is a bit awkward. Vehicles often must be repaired before they are drivable, and anti-malaria medicine must be taken in real time in order to stave off blurred vision and eventual death. In story mode, the player eventually has "buddies" who are NPCs that can assist during difficult missions or often simply provide moral support. It might sound ridiculous, but I had to euthanize my buddy during a mission at one point by shooting him, because I had to keep the syrettes, which are used to heal, but can also be used to overdose a fatally wounded buddy for an easy death.  

This experience hit me harder than it should have, but it was also at this moment that I realized I loved Far Cry 2, in spite of some of the tedious and tense missions. It provides a higher degree of realism than a lot of games out here, because let's face it: being a hired gun trying to take out a warlord in a third world country would probably involved just as much tedium as it would danger. Far Cry 2 isn't for everyone, but you'll know almost immediately if it's for you. 

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 

It was difficult to pick a GTA title, even though it was obvious that there needed to be one on the list. However, after looking back over the main contenders, Vice City is the one that strikes me as being the best all-around game. Play as Tommy Vercetti, recently released from prison after serving a 15 year sentence for murder (Like, a LOT of murder). Tommy's boss, Sonny, doesn't want him hanging around and drawing attention to his organization, so Tommy gets shipped off to Vice City to oversee some cocaine deals, because it is 1986. Needless to say, the initial meeting with the dealers goes awry, resulting in the loss of both the coke and the money, and in order to save his own skin, Tommy must recover these things and track down whoever instigated the ambush.  

Vice City features A-list voice work from the likes of Dennis Hopper, Fairuza Balk and even Gary Busey, which is a compelling enough reason to give it a shot if you haven't already. However, the best part of this game, in my opinion is the fact that you can listen to the radio while you're in a vehicle, and switch the station among a variety of genres that were popular at the time. As an Iron Maiden fan, I stuck to V-Rock most of the time, but each station has a pretty decent array of hits, which were released as a compilation later on.   

Really, all of the GTA titles are good, but this one stands out for me as the best. Or at least the most memorable.