I'll see if I can get it running better then. It had the pesky idea of shutting my computer down last time I tried it, but it should run smoother if I uninstall some other stuff. 

I say Half-Life 2.

Would you still recommend it if I don't own and have never played the first Half Life?

Pffft...Yeah man!  Plus, you should be able to get Half-Life 1 on Steam anyway if you really want it. But yeah, I never play the first Half-Life (beyond a demo), and I was able to get right into HL 2.

Good deal!

1.Hotline Miami.  You don't have to spend a lot of hours on it to get satisfaction, it's unique, the developers have a style all their own,  and the music is awesome.

2, Bully. Also a unique game. I don't understand why it didn't achieve the commercial success of Rockstar's other games. They are in rare form with this game. How many other games have taken the high-school setting and and really run with it, like this game does?  Music is also superb

Hotline Miami does sound tempting. Is it short, in addition to being satisfying quickly? If so, I may go with it first. I want to knock off some of the shorter games I own. 

As for Bully, it was overshadowed by GTA, plain and simple would be my guess. Just a guess though.

HM isn't a long game at all. Each mission only takes a few minutes of normal play, or you can spend 3 times that trying to get the highest rank on each stage.

You are making a damn good case for me going to Hotline Miami, sir. Think it just might be next up, especially since it looks like a quick DL that won't put too much strain on my computer.

Psychonauts.  I need to finish that myself.  

I want to finish it as well, but I want to choose something I can get into and over with pretty fast. Hotline Miami is sounding pretty good.

This would be easier if every comment didn't pick a completely different game. I shouldn't have bought so many ... 

ha ha, welcome to the Steam Sale hell!    but seriously, yeah that's a lot of games.  But I've got a big backlog too, and I've decided to attack it for real this year.  

I'm torn between Rage and Cthulhu Saves the World. I'll go with Rage. See what the ID Tech 5 engine can do. Lots of games are going to use it in the future.

Which games?

So far it's been Rage, Wolfenstein: New Order, and The Evil Within. It looks like the engine will only be available to ZeniMax owned devs like MachineGames, Bethesda, ID (of course), Tango and Arkane Studios. I was just thinking the other day that ZeniMax certainly has a nice crop of devs.

You haven't played Portal 2? GET ON THAT SHIT ASAP!

Want to finish the original first, since I own both.

Rage is another good one and its not to long and is pretty fun..

That's two for Rage.

Here are my picks:

Portal & Portal 2

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Guacamelee!

Psychonauts (my GOTY for 2005)

2 for Psychonauts, now tied with Rage and Portal 2 vote-wise

Portal 2.  Blake knows what's up.

You owe it to yourself to play Portal 2, right now.  Easily the best game on that list, aside from Shovel Knight.

I kind of want to finish Portal 1 first, since I started that a while ago. I enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away by it; still would like to finish it though. Unless Portal 1 is unnecessary to the experience of 2?

You'll get plenty out of Portal 2 without finishing up the first Portal.

There is no cake.

I think it is necessary.

You have quite a lot. Since you've been saying that you need something short, Hotline Miami is the way to go.

I also recommend to finish the first Portal before the starting the second game and from the rest of the list, Rayman Origins, Half-Life 2 (no worries if you want to start with the first though), Cave Story, Dust, Psychonauts and Super Meat Boy.

I think Hotline Miami pretty much wins the prize.

Hotline Miami is pretty short. It gets kind of difficult at times. Gianna Sisters is a nightmare to get working properly on Steam. Also, Cthulu Saves the World is a turn based RPG. It's pretty much all plot and battles, and the battle system is basic. That game has a lot of humor in it though.

A basic battle system is better for me as a JRPG noob. 

Why are seemingly low-res games hard to get working on Steam?

And Shovel Knight gets difficult at times too. I like the challenge. Hotline Miami should be a good short game to get outta the way.

Thanks for the comment!

I was just giving you a heads up. I know you have trouble getting into JRPGs. If you do like Cthulu you might also like Breath of Death VII. I'm pretty sure it was made by the same people. They are extremely similar.

There's a lot of good games on there though Joe. Guacamelee! was great and Mark of the Ninja seems awesome from what I played of it. Mirror's Edge has some issues, but it was one of my favorite games last gen.

Awesome. Glad I didn't waste my money then haha.

Bioshock! No reason!

That's one I really need to play,.