So a couple days ago I picked up a used copy of Icewind Dale (with original manual and quick-reference flier). My first thoughts: "What am I doing?". The transition to AD&D, even having played Baldur's Gate for hours, from Neverwinter Nights? Painful, at best. However, after some graphics tweaks (on my XP rig, I needed to set up Open GL rendering mode to not get a ton of black boxes around text that go down maybe a few inches (or ~600 pixels? It's been a while, and I don't really have a ruler in by my computer).
Anyways, I'm a huge fan of the graphics of Icewind Dale. The artwork is spectacular, which you don't get with a lot of new 3d games (though, I guess that is less and less now, but NWN doesn't begin to match IWD), and the attention to detail is stunning. With a horribly cheating solo wizard, the difficulty isn't so bad (though, he does have vanilla spell levels, so that 1 spell/8 hours does kinda mean he winds up hitting stuff an awful lot). The main concern I have with the game is that I won't be able to pay attention all the way through (when IWD2 was on Gametap, I started it up and got about 5 minutes in before leaving for a break).
However, it's an enjoyable experience, and 8 dollars for a game and a nice heavy manual? I'll take it.
I'm a major Tom Clancy fan, if you haven't noticed. I'm about 1000 pages through Executive Orders when I write this. However, my first experiences with Tom Clancy's works were not with books, but with movies and games (Red October and GRAW 2).
Rainbow Six Vegas is a great game, and it's on GameTap, so you can play it at any time for a monthly fee. I recommend it personally, though I've price locked into lower rates. It is not quite as "hardcore" realistic as its predecessors, being more forgiving and less focused on tactics. This means that it is easily possible to beat the game for even novices.
The first R6V is significantly more difficult than the latter in my opinion, and I was unable to really play the coop to full enjoyment due to the loss of some story information. The second remedied this situation. The controls are easy to learn, at least if you take a good glance at the controls list first and go through the tutorial level in the second (which may be mandatory, I don't recall for sure). The games look good and play smoothly. The experience/ACES system from the second is very engaging, and allows a sense of accomplishment, though I didn't finish the whole system (lvl 14 assault out of twenty, everything else maxed, unsure if I was at max experience level or not). The cooperative experience in the second was enjoyable, and Terrorist Hunt was good for a few laughs on the easiest mode and a few exciting moments on harder difficulties, though the difficulty was such that it was possible to finish the whole campaign in co-op in one weekend.
They are both relatively mature games, with harsh language and disturbing themes for young children (and did I mention violence). Oh, and the casino music in R6V 1 was haunting, though that might just be me (and a select group of other similarly easily fazed people).
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is more action packed than R6V, with less emphasis on stealth and tactics (though it is a Tom Clancy game, beating it without dying requires skills in using team-mates to your advantage).
GRAW 1 is much more difficult and realistic. I was unable to beat the second level alone with heavily-modded weapons (a high-damage MP5S with reduced recoil). The second game was much more easy, though I have only beaten it in co-op mode fully (partly owing to the fact that I rented it first, meaning the only time I dedicated towards solo mode was pretty limited, and ever since I've never felt like going through it alone).
They are both incredibly similar, though the first GRAW (at least on PC) is first person and the second (on Xbox 360) is third person, they are incredibly alike. The game consists of a campaign (which is pretty much all I've played), though on 360 I've played GRAW 2's Helicopter Hunt mode (I recommend a big sniper, the rocket and grenade launchers are too inaccurate and hard to track with) and gotten a blast (sometimes literally, I hate assault choppers) out of it.
All four games get 4.5/5, the first lose half a point for too much difficulty, and their sequels lose half a point each for not being terribly innovative, though the quality is impeccable.