[Old Games] Good games for old machines

[Mencelus]

So, I've still got my old laptop (after my newer desktop fell apart). 32mb nvidia card. 128mb ram, 30gb hard drive. Bought it in 2000?

And I'm still gaming on it, poor thing. Thanks to the other computer's death, I've gone to playing my old games. And I've sort of rediscovered that they're brilliant.

Take the current game I'm playing, Europa 1400 Gold. Unadultered genius. It's just a lot of fun. I'd forgotten the craziness.

Crusader Kings is also good. I did buy Deus Volt for it, but that just made the game infinitely better.

Then there's Patrician 3, which I haven't started yet, but found a month ago in the bargin bin at a small game store. Looks pretty neat.

So, what are some other good games for old machines like mine? I've got a few others that I'll slowly be getting into as the year goes by no doubt. I've got Medieval Total War (with Viking Invasion), Startopia, Europa Universalis 2, Knights of Honor, and Hearts of Iron 2. Thoughts folks?

[Chikahiro]

Diablo 1 and/or 2? Starcraft? Hard to go wrong with those.

[Boris]

Deus Ex. A thousand times Deus Ex. I just checked the system requirements on steam and it only needs a 16mb video card and 16mb of ram.

This is a superb game, probably my favourite of all time. I have played the entire thing through 13 times and each time I have enjoyed myself immensely. More importantly, each time I have found something new - sometimes only a small thing, but something.

In addition to being a superbly fun and balanced RPG/FPS hybrid, Deus Ex has some of the best writing, characterisation and music of any game.

Plus, you can get this banquet of magnificance for around $10.

$10! For a game I have played through 13 times!

[Chikahiro]

http://www.gog.com/

Check around here, too. Lots of good, older stuff. Cheap and no DRM to boot.

[Mencelus]

Deus Ex. A thousand times Deus Ex. I just checked the system requirements on steam and it only needs a 16mb video card and 16mb of ram.

This is a superb game, probably my favourite of all time. I have played the entire thing through 13 times and each time I have enjoyed myself immensely. More importantly, each time I have found something new - sometimes only a small thing, but something.

In addition to being a superbly fun and balanced RPG/FPS hybrid, Deus Ex has some of the best writing, characterisation and music of any game.

Plus, you can get this banquet of magnificance for around $10.

$10! For a game I have played through 13 times!

Ah, I'd forgotten that one! Yes, I played through 2x myself back in the day. That's a good idea too. Homework.

And I wanted to add Planescape Torment - just found the old disks. That was a great game as well.

[Boris]

Ah, I'd forgotten that one! Yes, I played through 2x myself back in the day. That's a good idea too. Homework.

And I wanted to add Planescape Torment - just found the old disks. That was a great game as well.

Excellent!


Play it again. See if you can find the nanotech researcher whose car was buried in the Hong Kong tunnel collapse. That is a seriously obscure little cache and I only found it last time I played through and even then only with the assistance of a walkthrough.

Also, I heartily endorse PS:T. I need to reinstall it myself some day. I'd also suggest System Shock 2.

[Ultimate Chicken]

Try playing the Homeworld series. It's a spaceborne RTS game with a full 360 degree +-90X zoom, the likes of which you'll probably NEVER see again. It's running happily on my gen-1 eeePC, which doesn't have a discrete graphics cards and only has a Celeron M.

Takes a while to get used to, tho...

[Leif]

Running HOI2 may actually be beyond that machine; it's a bit of a resource hog.

But there's a heavenly host of other classic 1990s-vintage CRPG and strategy games etc. that should run fine. Master of Magic, the Might & Magic series, Heroes of Might and Magic, X-COM and so on. You may have to resort to abandonware sites to find many of them, unless you have a lot of luck, but there are also some that can still be bought legally, or are actually free. The Ur-Quan Masters is an open-source remake of Star Control 2; Battle for Wesnoth is an original free old-school strategy game. The Avernum series are high-quality old-school dungeon-bashingRPGs and can be bought as quite inexpensive downloads. All of this should keep you gaming for a god while.

[Reeze]

It might be near impossible to find, but Oni is an excellent brawler from Bungie - i still replay it reguarly - it's just got wonderfully solid gameplay.

And seconding Deus Ex.

[kakarothusain]

Well i also have a desktop with the same configuration and i play GTA Vice city,Project igi,hitman etc on it...http://www.pppcm.com/138l1368.jpg

[Slortar]

Thief 1, Thief 2, System Shock 2, Operation Flashpoint. No shortage of awesome things to play even with an older system.

God, I miss Thief. I've had absolutely no luck getting them to run on my current rig, even with the help of TTLG's excellent forum. :(

[J. R. Henderson]

I'll second Battle for Wesnoth. It's open source, runs quite well on low-end systems, looks gorgeous despite that (in a retro way that I particularly like), and also, despite being open source, it's a bloody fantastic game.

Battle for Wesnoth is the exception that proves the rule: "You get what you pay for." It's far better than a lot of games I have paid for, frankly.

The Avernum series is also highly recommended.

You might also want to look into Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire.

[Nalanod]

Without hesitation I suggest the following:

Fallout from GOG.com
(http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/fallout/)
Seriously, $5.99 for this classic is too good to pass up.

[Bailywolf]

I find the Dungeonkeeper games deliciously addictive.

-B

[Asklepios]

You might also want to look into Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire.

Alpha Centauri seconded. For that matter, Civ 2 was pretty excellent too.

Me, I carry Civ 2 in my car's CD' carry case, and if ever I find myself somewhere with boredom + a computer I install it to pass some time.