I'm not a big gamer anymore, since I easily get bored of games. What I always end up doing is going through all the gametypes and mods on every game I play (tf2, l4d, hl2, cs, wc3, etc.) and I see alot of hidden gems that are worth trying.
I'm not active at all in this section of the forum but I still I though I'd contribute with a little thread. It's mainly for the people who own a source game and/or UT3. These two engines have some of the best mods that are small and fun to play (which is usually what I dig). Although some of these UT3 mods are being ported to UDK and will be playable without having to own the actual game.
HL2:
Research & Development:
Probably the best hl2 mod I've ever played (along with the next one).
In summary, it's pretty much a 2-3hour game LOADED with puzzles (hl2 style) and the whole game is playing WITHOUT any guns. It's pretty much hl2 minus the killing. If you love thinking and hate boring fps shooting games, this is gold. It has been reviewed by almost every big game blog (kotaku, rps, shacknews, etc) and is the most popular hl2 mod on ModDB
http://www.moddb.com/mods/research-and-development
Korsakovia:
This one is for all the people who love games with a deep atmosphere and complex mindfuck story. This game has been developed by a guy who studies in psychology at some university, and it will give you the longest chills you ever had. Preferably to be played with headphones with lights off. It's not really that much of a "scary" game, but the story, music and ambiance is so well made. Don't mind the screenshots, they are very poorly taken, and also, the missions are sometimes hard to understand, but you will not regret playing. Although, I'll have to say, this doesn't have as much gameplay, and if you're into big mainstream video games, you might not like it.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/korsakovia
Radiator:
These are very short, each episode is around 15minutes and the third one is coming very soon. This one has great detail and is very well made, but is also very story driven. Not very much gameplay like the first mod. Still, if you're looking for something short and fun, it's a nice little mod.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/radiator
Perfect Stride Continuum:
Now, PS is completely different from the 3 mods above. This one is all about freestyle. If any of you has been into surf, scoutknives or even kz, back in CS1.6 (or even source I guess), you will love this. Right now, it only kinda has one good map and 3 meh ones, but I'm sure there are a lot custom ones being made (I played it 3months ago so I'm sure many came out already). You can either try to do the missions, or just fly around and be creative. Very intuitive movements, plays with mouse only.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/perfect-stride-continuum
Provenance:
This one is very similar to HL2. Has slightly more puzzles than killing IIRC, but is short and fun. Not much more to say here.
Looks great, might be heavy on the gpu (not so tweaked for fps).
http://www.moddb.com/mods/provenance
Curse:
The mapping and detailing in this one is mindblowing. Also filled with custom models and textures. The gameplay is completely unique, and honestly I'm not really sure what's really going on in there, but it was still short and fun. Episode too coming soon.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/curse
Dear Esther:
I'm finishing the HL2 mods with this one, but it's not because it's bad. It's actually probably one of my favorites from the list. It's made by the same guy who made Korsakovia, but it's not really out yet. Well, they did a first release, with only the story (since the guy is just a psychologist), but then they hired a professional artist to work on the maps, and holy crap it's orgasm for your eyes. You will not believe this is running on the source engine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Fzj7-0vNQ
http://www.littlelostpoly.co.uk/devblog/
You can see the before/after on the blog, it changed ALOT. The ModDB page has a download, but it's the old version, I'd highly recommend waiting for the new one. Also, again, warning, this is a 100% story without ANY gameplay. You pretty much get to "walk" in a narrated story while enjoying the view and stuff. It will sound like shit to most of you, but I loved playing this more than any other big million $ game that has been coming out lately.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/dear-esther
UT3:
The Ball:
Again, the most popular UT3 mod. It won best mod many times in many different competitions and it's still going strong. I believe it has 4 or 5 episodes now (almost 5+ hours of gameplay) and has even been ported to UDK for the people who don't have The Game (Teehee~). In short, it's again a puzzle game. It's very similar to Portal as you only have one gun that pushes/pulls a big giant ball (mouse1/mouse2) and you have to go through a lot of puzzle solving, killing and stuff just with that. It gets more and more interesting by the 3rd and 4th episode. You can easily see the improvement that they went throught. They are all fun and interesting though. I'm quite sure none of the puzzles ever became long and repetitive.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ball
http://www.udk.com/showcase-the-ball.html
Prometheus:
Again, another mod slightly based on Portal, and filled with puzzles (as you may have noticed by now, I love puzzles and stories with atmosphere). You may be familiar with the games style where you get to play the same thing multiple times, and you need to use your previous ghosts to get further in the level (cursorx10) This is exactly like that, but in FPS.
Also available for people who don't own UT3.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/prometheus
http://www.udk.com/showcase-prometheus.html
Hazard - The Journey Of Life
This is my personal favorite. Sadly, you need UT3 to play it. Still, great mod with alot of puzzles and great ideas. It somehow teaches the simple lessons of life through gameplay. Very clever and entertaining. There's a video on the site showing the gameplay, but try not watching too much of it as it contains alot of spoilers.
http://www.demruth.com/hazard.htm
Feel free to post more. I couple couple more but I don't want to list to be too long. If anyone actually likes these a lot, feel free message me or post here and I will post couple other interesting ones I've seen in the past.
I'm not active at all in this section of the forum but I still I though I'd contribute with a little thread. It's mainly for the people who own a source game and/or UT3. These two engines have some of the best mods that are small and fun to play (which is usually what I dig). Although some of these UT3 mods are being ported to UDK and will be playable without having to own the actual game.
HL2:
Research & Development:
Probably the best hl2 mod I've ever played (along with the next one).
In summary, it's pretty much a 2-3hour game LOADED with puzzles (hl2 style) and the whole game is playing WITHOUT any guns. It's pretty much hl2 minus the killing. If you love thinking and hate boring fps shooting games, this is gold. It has been reviewed by almost every big game blog (kotaku, rps, shacknews, etc) and is the most popular hl2 mod on ModDB
http://www.moddb.com/mods/research-and-development
Korsakovia:
This one is for all the people who love games with a deep atmosphere and complex mindfuck story. This game has been developed by a guy who studies in psychology at some university, and it will give you the longest chills you ever had. Preferably to be played with headphones with lights off. It's not really that much of a "scary" game, but the story, music and ambiance is so well made. Don't mind the screenshots, they are very poorly taken, and also, the missions are sometimes hard to understand, but you will not regret playing. Although, I'll have to say, this doesn't have as much gameplay, and if you're into big mainstream video games, you might not like it.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/korsakovia
Radiator:
These are very short, each episode is around 15minutes and the third one is coming very soon. This one has great detail and is very well made, but is also very story driven. Not very much gameplay like the first mod. Still, if you're looking for something short and fun, it's a nice little mod.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/radiator
Perfect Stride Continuum:
Now, PS is completely different from the 3 mods above. This one is all about freestyle. If any of you has been into surf, scoutknives or even kz, back in CS1.6 (or even source I guess), you will love this. Right now, it only kinda has one good map and 3 meh ones, but I'm sure there are a lot custom ones being made (I played it 3months ago so I'm sure many came out already). You can either try to do the missions, or just fly around and be creative. Very intuitive movements, plays with mouse only.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/perfect-stride-continuum
Provenance:
This one is very similar to HL2. Has slightly more puzzles than killing IIRC, but is short and fun. Not much more to say here.
Looks great, might be heavy on the gpu (not so tweaked for fps).
http://www.moddb.com/mods/provenance
Curse:
The mapping and detailing in this one is mindblowing. Also filled with custom models and textures. The gameplay is completely unique, and honestly I'm not really sure what's really going on in there, but it was still short and fun. Episode too coming soon.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/curse
Dear Esther:
I'm finishing the HL2 mods with this one, but it's not because it's bad. It's actually probably one of my favorites from the list. It's made by the same guy who made Korsakovia, but it's not really out yet. Well, they did a first release, with only the story (since the guy is just a psychologist), but then they hired a professional artist to work on the maps, and holy crap it's orgasm for your eyes. You will not believe this is running on the source engine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Fzj7-0vNQ
http://www.littlelostpoly.co.uk/devblog/
You can see the before/after on the blog, it changed ALOT. The ModDB page has a download, but it's the old version, I'd highly recommend waiting for the new one. Also, again, warning, this is a 100% story without ANY gameplay. You pretty much get to "walk" in a narrated story while enjoying the view and stuff. It will sound like shit to most of you, but I loved playing this more than any other big million $ game that has been coming out lately.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/dear-esther
UT3:
The Ball:
Again, the most popular UT3 mod. It won best mod many times in many different competitions and it's still going strong. I believe it has 4 or 5 episodes now (almost 5+ hours of gameplay) and has even been ported to UDK for the people who don't have The Game (Teehee~). In short, it's again a puzzle game. It's very similar to Portal as you only have one gun that pushes/pulls a big giant ball (mouse1/mouse2) and you have to go through a lot of puzzle solving, killing and stuff just with that. It gets more and more interesting by the 3rd and 4th episode. You can easily see the improvement that they went throught. They are all fun and interesting though. I'm quite sure none of the puzzles ever became long and repetitive.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ball
http://www.udk.com/showcase-the-ball.html
Prometheus:
Again, another mod slightly based on Portal, and filled with puzzles (as you may have noticed by now, I love puzzles and stories with atmosphere). You may be familiar with the games style where you get to play the same thing multiple times, and you need to use your previous ghosts to get further in the level (cursorx10) This is exactly like that, but in FPS.
Also available for people who don't own UT3.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/prometheus
http://www.udk.com/showcase-prometheus.html
Hazard - The Journey Of Life
This is my personal favorite. Sadly, you need UT3 to play it. Still, great mod with alot of puzzles and great ideas. It somehow teaches the simple lessons of life through gameplay. Very clever and entertaining. There's a video on the site showing the gameplay, but try not watching too much of it as it contains alot of spoilers.
http://www.demruth.com/hazard.htm
Feel free to post more. I couple couple more but I don't want to list to be too long. If anyone actually likes these a lot, feel free message me or post here and I will post couple other interesting ones I've seen in the past.