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VERY deep game. Huge tech tree, very complex gameplay if you want it to be. Highly recommended.
Sims2: Well, if you liked The Sims, you'll love this. The Sims is in 3d with Sims2; the visuals are sharper and the Simlish is just as silly to listen to. New items include a sort of mini-game slot machine of desires; attaining or denying them directly affects your sims' mood. Sims2 is actually much more of a goal-oriented game than The Sims. I have the original, several expansions, and The Sims2.... and the latter is the only one I have installed.
If your machine ends up being quite fast, you may also want to check out Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. Finally, in this newest edition of RCT, you can ride ALL the rides in a first-person view. Yes, even the coasters you yourself create. It also includes a couple features long-awaited by RCT fans: full 3D, and a coaster designer that lets you pick from any track type in the game.
If you like simulation games, one of the more complex ones is Children of the Nile. It's a city-builder set in ancient Egypt; gameplay is very similar to that of Pharaoh. Again, CotN is in 3D, and once the city is developed, it does tax the system quite a bit, so you'll want a faster machine to play it smoothly as time passes.
If you've ever played any role-playing games, and wanted an online game ala Everquest BUT without the monthly fee, then Guild Wars might be just for you. Once you buy GW, that's it- you can play online with others as much as you like, any time, for NO EXTRA MONEY. And GW will run fairly well even on lower-end machines (relatively speaking). It's even optimized for dialup users, which means (and this has been proven) that dialup users, even on different continents, can connect without too much lag compared to broadband users. Moreover, if you send the admins of the game a donation (which is NOT EVER required) you get a big pile of gold for your character. GW supports voice chat, too, which can turn it into something of a social experience among your guild's members (and membership in a guild, while recommended, is also NOT required). Also, the admins of GW are continually adding new items, quests, and character classes, so the game is ever-expanding, even after you buy it!
If you enjoy quiet, nonviolent games requiring more thought than speed, try out the Myst series. Beginning with Myst (which you should be able to find in just about any well-stocked computer game section), the series follows with Riven, Exile, Uru, Revelation, and End of Ages (in that order). The story of this series follows the struggles of one man (and later his family) to restore his lost civilization of D'ni. The D'ni had something they called The Art- they had the ability to write books in a special language which, when complete, would include a moving image at the beginning of the book that acted as a portal to the world they described in the book. Placing one's hand on that image takes you into that world. Such power, of course, brought huge corruption into their society and resulted in the downfall of D'ni long ago. The Myst series is one of puzzle games- logic puzzles, some of them devilishly difficult. Solving the puzzles advances the story and gains you access to other areas of the game. From a purely mental standpoint, the Myst series has to be both the most difficult and the best example of its own genre.
If you get a brand-new system with a top-of-the-line graphics card, you could take a look at Lionhead's The Movies. In The Movies, you control your very own movie studio. From sets to cast and crew to the lot itself, everything is up to you- much of the game plays like a "Movie Studio Tycoon". However, The Movies includes something that puts it a cut or two above that: it has the ability for the gamer to make his or her very own animated short films. Using the Advanced Movie Maker, one chooses from over 7000 (yes, that's seven thousand) preconstructed scenes- and there are more on the way- which are put together into the storyline of your choice. It even allows for custom dialogue, and mods will certainly be available soon to add in scenes and sets and props that the community decides got "left out". Additionally, once your film is done, it can be uploaded to Lionhead's own website and "released" to the public, where it will actually be ranked (and possibly win you an award).
I could add in lots of other games, but I think you get the idea. Keep in mind, many of the newer games today require a decent graphics card (and games like The Movies and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 just about require the best graphics card you can get), and that alone may end up being your single biggest expense. My advice is to get the best you can afford, hardware-wise; you'll thank me later :) Nothing is worse than playing a real real cool game... at half the framerate or less that it's supposed to display.
Hope all this gives you some ideas of what to get. I personally own all the games I listed above, and they're all well worth the cash; it just depends on what sort of game you like most. Some games, like the Myst series, have no "in-game timer"; there's NO pressure to continue or keep playing. Others, like Guild Wars, play at the pace of the missions; Civilization 4 can be stopped at any time (and can even be played over email). Try to download a demo of what you're thinking of buying so you can better decide if it's something you'll like, and above all, just have fun.
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