A friend of mine recently took in a second computer, and set up a two-PC network. Both computers have internet access. Anyway, he isn’t really into games, but now all of a sudden wants to set up a network game and play against each other at something.
I have many games, but I rarely play online and I never have over a network, so I have little experience with this. We have NHL 2004, FIFA 2004 and Madden 2004, but he is also really interested in racing games. I have Half-Life, and a number of other FPS games, but which are best for a network (or direct internet connection). So any recommendations for a fun, easy to set up, challenging network-playable game would be appreciated, especially racing games.
I second this… and best of all, you can play a fairly full-featured demo for free (this is what I’m doing now).
I love jumping into planes, parachuting out, hopping into an unoccupied tank in enemy territory and wreaking havoc. Also, very nice mix of soldier classes (Assault, Engineer, Anti-Tank, Sniper are all interesting… Medic seems to be useless though).
Thanks for your responses. I just bought an ATI Radeon 9600, so I can’t wait to get my hands on Half-Life 2, whenever it finally comes out, but I think it’s time to go and pick up Battlefield 1942 (or Call of Duty).
BF 1942 and Call of Duty are both great games. You can’t go wrong with either one.
One potential drawback to the BF 1942 games is the two expansion packs: you will be limited to only playing on servers that run the packs that you have. Not a huge deal, but something to consider. I think they are packaging the Road to Rome expansion with the basic game for $40, and tack on another $20 for the Secret Weapons of WWII pack. Or just download Desert Combat for free!
One other caveat: it’s VERY easy for two players to get lost on a big map with a raging battle. Meaning that unless you coordinate places to meet up first, you can get caught up in the battle and never see each other.
For co-op play, a few friends and I just started playing Ghost Recon. The Gold Edition with two expansion packs can be had for $30 these days. The game is more “realistic” and less “arcadey” than BF 1942, but the co-op is lots of fun. Since it’s been out for a while there are a million mods out there. You can download single-player missions that will keep you occupied for weeks, and multiplayer maps are all over the place.
Sorry, but I have no advice on racing games.
So, for lots of fun and plenty of “Oh my God did you see THAT?” moments, I’d say go with BF 1942.
For serious teamwork and good co-op with your friends, go with Ghost Recon.