@randanicole I second the opinion that Counter-Strike is a horrible place to start playing shooters. It’s a place where you’ll get torn to shreds without a chance and laughed at constantly. We’re not talking about “getting rekt by your brother in Halo 2 or 007 Nightfire because you’re using the Madcatz controller.” We’re talking getting sniped across the map through a wall by someone who knows 100% of the map and proceeding to be called every single Russia-phobic and racial slur you know, and then some new ones. So, uh… no. Start off slow.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend Mass Effect. Even as somebody who mainly plays shooters, the original game (which is amazing, by the way) has some really odd difficulty spikes on pretty much every planet. There are few things as frustrating as getting one-hit or stunlocked to death 22 times and watching the same unskippable dialogue tree and cutscenes up to 40 times before getting through the section. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been a little contrarian about Mass Effect though, especially when it comes to my hatred of ME2 (dare I say, here-say) and my actually high regards for ME3 (…).
I’d actually check out some of the games that really aim for a more cinematic feel.
On that note:
No QuanticDream. No David Cage. You’ll be better for it. If you really want to hear my reasons, it’s not something I can explain, simply because I hate even talking about his games.
but i'll still try!
It makes me feel… gross. The way he bluntly throws in sex scenes, r-word scenes, shower scenes, and similar shock-value moments at the most awkward moments… his obsession with robot aliens and supernatural BS that makes no sense… his awkward pacing that goes from weird and boring training montages to supernatural slapfights in minutes… his games are burning clusterf***s, with the only improvement being that their so-bad-it’s-good value is diminishing with every entry. That doesn’t make the writing better, and doesn’t make the games enjoyable… they’re still bad. It just means that you don’t get the weird satisfaction of watching the story self-destruct into a weird meta-world of hobos forming an underground resistance to fend off Mayan cultists that worship ancient aliens as your main character comes back from the dead due to Area 51 radiation and still gets a creepy romance scene out of it, with of course no context or even buildup. Casual sex with a zombie, mkay. Won’t judge… oh, yeah, I’m completely judging. Cage is a creep.
… actually, is that a good thing?
Telltale got away with making a point-and-click without puzzles for a while because even if choices were fake all along, even if the gameplay was placeholder at best and absent at worst, it didn’t matter because people stuck around for the storyline. There’s a reason people still care about The Wolf Among Us, while critics fell for the art-school nonsense of Heavy Rain for maybe a few weeks before falling into “well, his last one was a bit rough” to hype up whatever garbage ideas he had to throw at the wall next.
He’s a real piece of work, and it’s a shame considering there’s clearly a lot of talent behind each new entry in the Sadness Quintology.
Bah, no more sadness. No more! I’m losing my mind just thinking about it.
If you’re looking for an easy game that tells a great story, the first few that come to mind are easily Remedy’s Quantum Break and Alan Wake (unfortunately AW is unavailable due to licensing issues, so keep your eye out for when it returns). If you have a PS4, skip David Cage’s trash and play the Uncharted Nathan Drake collection. If you have a PS3, see if you can get the original Uncharted releases, even if they’re a bit clunky at this point.
If you really want physical games, Amazon is your friend. I’ve got The Division, Overwatch, and Bulletstorm all staring me in the face, all sitting there as reminders that I should be wiser about spending money.
I honestly miss having physical games around. I love Steam but I want a library I can hold in my hands.
? 
(can’t speak for the other two there tho)
