I've been playing Ground Control 2 and it's metric tonnes of awesome! I thought WH40K games was where it was at, but wow, was I wrong- GC2 has awesome controls, superb unit usability, action-packed, yet tactical, gameplay, and an interesting story-driven campaign. I am hooked! 4 lyfe! Not saying Dawn of War games etc. aren't as good as GC2, but despite having played those games, which in some ways have more than GC2, I feel like GC2 is more organic...and I love the unit replies ("I do it for you, sir") Lol, that voice.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I am half-asleep right now. But yeah, what games have hooked you, then?

Two things which just occurred to me, that GC2 does nicely- even playing the tutorial was immersive as far as the storytelling goes, I liked that, and the other thing being, that instead of a lame-ass, black glob, fog of war, visibility is impeded by making enemies in the distance invisible, but you still see the environment, which is more natural as far as warplay goes.

Oh, oh, and love the characters! The characters half-make the game, really.

When I first played Master of Magic I didn't really know what to expect. Even after starting the game several times I had no idea what I was doing. One day I started it up and it just clicked and I found myself playing it well into the night. It's now one of my favorite games but I try not to play it too much so I can make progress on other games I haven't beaten yet.

Portal 2 is the best example I can think of. The minute I got it home (since I bought the retail disk), I installed it and played through most of it in an entire siting. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was remembering I still had classes later that day... when I paused at 2 in the morning. I love the Portal series. Having the crumbling testing track and remains of the old Aperture Science facilities only made Portal 2 that much cooler to me.

It's a short little game but it hooked me into completing 100% of the achievements - Hero of the Kingdom. Now if only I could find more like it ;-)

I had a similar experience with Portal 1. I bought the Orange Box on my way home from work, installed Portal, and completed the game in one sitting. The next day when I got home from work, I completed it again in one sitting. Of course, Portal 1 is quite a bit shorter than Portal 2.

It's nice to know I am not the only one who's done that. I finished Portal twice the day I got the Orange Box.

I couldn't even play Portal the first day I bought it. I had to run out and buy a dedicated graphics card the following weekend. Factoring that in, it's probably the most expensive gaming purchase I've made.

Hehe, I would have, but then I wouldn't have gotten any sleep before I had to go to work again ;-)

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. I think that game is still the best 4X ever created: 7 believable factions with solid ideologies behind them, a wise use of both in-game characters and real human literature quotations, technological trees based on hard science, always changing maps and AI strategy (once they tried to drown my cities by melting the polar caps! They increased the sea level by 333 meters! THAT'S MONSTROUS!), terraforming, customizeable units, advancend city and economics management and an unmatched replay value. Sometimes it really made me think of how hard could be to run a country, given all the unpredictable events and reactions. Plus, you can play as the ultimate fascist-communist immortal leader: how could you ask for more? ;)

Didn't stop me, I bought it on steam and finished it a third time at work! I fell in love with that game haha.

Well,the best clue that i'm hooked to a game is that I only play that game until completion. When I'm not really hooked, I tend to play several games simultaneously. So, if I only play one game, it means that i'm really hooked ! (I'm speaking only about single player games, not MMOs).

Recently, the games which really hooked me were Remember me and the reboot of Shadow Warrior. I'm actually surprised how good this reboot is!

Borderlands 2, couldn't put it down and still play it regularly, have all the Headhunter Packs and also got the season pass for it.

South Park : The Stick of Truth. Finished it already, absolutely fantastic license and it is a great game start to finish.

Dishonored, played it through over a few days, what an amazing game start to finish.

Currently playing through Evil Quest and Van Helsing, both very good and should finish them in the next week.

Shadow Warrior took me by surprise aswell. I think I finished it in 3 sittings, it is great fun!

Same with portal 1 for me. I just can't get into portal 2. Have it installed for a year and i am not even half way. I play a level every few weeks and just can't get into it...

I'm still at that phase with MoM. :D Applies also to e.g. Master of Orion and Theme Hospital.

I just wished games had better tutorials. I've lately played M.A.X., and I thought it had quite a good set of tutorial missions, explaining different procedures quite clearly.

But when I started the actual campaign, boom, I was thrown into cold water, into a situation which I don't think the tutorial explained at all. Air units? Enemy AA-units? How do I use these? How do I reload ammo to air units? How should I utilize those new air units I see the first time? This concrete wall, should I try to destroy it or go around it? And how come the tutorial missions were about building and maintaining your base, while this campaign mission is a generic "destroy certain enemy structures in 30 rounds with your limited set of units"?

It almost felt like I hadn't played the tutorial at all, and had started some other game. :) Anyway, slowly I learned how to use the air units to my best advantage, learning which enemy ground units are helpless against air units etc. Well, at least the tutorial told how to use the infiltrators in that mission...