My computer is a circa 1997 model with no memory add-ons, etc., owned by a carbon-based lifeform who wouldn’t know how to go about properly procuring and implementing such alterations even if he so desired (or could afford). So…my question is…are there any really good PC games out there that would run on such a deprived system? I’ve played Civilization II and Baseball Mogul for the past few years and gleaned a great deal of enjoyment from both, but was beginning to grow restless. Something with lots of replay value, preferably.
Note: responses that involve me getting off of my ass and learning more about RAM and ROM and whatnot and/or saving up enough money to go to Circuit City and enhance the performance of an already antiquated NEC model will not be accepted. Thank you.
Without knowing your CPU speed, graphics card (model and memory) and RAM amounts it’s hard to say. I have a 400mhz Pentium II that I got sometime in 1998 that’s still in good enough shape to run most games on the market now although I sometimes have to scale back the graphics in the program’s settings.
The quick and easy answer is to look in the bargain bins at Best Buy, Compusa, and other places that sell software. Usually these bins contain older games that most folks don’t play anymore. You could probably get away with most card/casino type games as they aren’t usually over system intensive. Pinball machine games and trivia games are probably another safe bet. The first person shooters that are quite popular now may be a bit much for your system.
How can you possibly have gotten bored of Civilization 2?
If you’re truly tired of it, just spend the rest of your free time holding your breath while you (breathlessly) anticipate the release of Civilization 3.
There’s plenty o’ games that will run on your computer. I only just upgraded from a 300 Mhz machine with 128K memory, so I can tell you the following games work fine:
The Caesar series (Caesar, Zeus, Pharoah)
Age of Empires (if you like Civ, you’ll like this)
Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale
Call to Power (another Civ game)
Half Life (first person shooter)
And I’m pretty sure the most addicting game of all time, Everquest, will work on an older machine as well. Probably have to have a 3d card, but you might have one.
I’m a big fan of the action/strategy game called X-com. It came out in '96, I believe. A sequel was released shortly afterwards. There was a third one that I never played.
There is a compliation CD available with all three games that is relatively inexpensive, as these are “old” games. I highly recommend you pick it up if you are looking for an inexpensive, well-made, addictive game to play on older hardware.
Funny someone should mention Caesar. I bought that recently, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t take five excruciatingly long minutes to load and doesn’t cause my age-addled system to groan and crackle in protest. It works, mind you, but as my ineptly governed provinces grow in size (population of 1500), things start to get a little touch and go. A frustrating game, anyway.
As for Half-Life…whew…no way, Jose. That would never work. I must have a lousy graphics card or whatever, because even “NBA Live '99” didn’t run the ill-fated instance my friend loaned it to me.
What genre of game is X-Com?
And, oh yes…apparently, it turns out that I have a mere 16 MB or RAM. That’s pretty crappy, right?
Funny someone should mention Caesar. I bought that recently, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t take five excruciatingly long minutes to load and doesn’t cause my age-addled system to groan and crackle in protest. It works, mind you, but as my ineptly governed provinces grow in size (population of 1500), things start to get a little touch and go. A frustrating game, anyway.
As for Half-Life…whew…no way, Jose. That would never work. I must have a lousy graphics card or whatever, because even “NBA Live '99” didn’t run the ill-fated instance my friend loaned it to me.
What genre of game is X-Com? Action/strategy? An outer-space adventure, no? Sounds familiar…
And, oh yes…apparently, it turns out that I have a mere 16 MB or RAM. That’s pretty crappy, right?
Ram is extremely cheap right now, you should consider getting more. Its easy to install. Just make sure you have the right kind. All you have to do is stick it in the slots.
A blend of turn-based tactical combat with a small squad of soldiers, between larger budgetting strategy, and is a must-play. Replay value is extreme, I still fire it up now and then, antiquated graphics and all and even though I need to use a utility to forcibly rein back system speed, and I’m going to be very sad the day a new system can no longer get it to run. One of the games, far as I’m concerned. It should run just fine on your system.
Other possibilities if you can find them:
Master of Magic is another good strategy title.
Master of Orion for yet another. Both the first and second should run just fine on your system.
Ultima Underworld 1 & 2 are nice possibilities. They’re first-person perspective, but not action-fests like Doom and Half-Life and such. I enjoyed the first a great deal more than the second.
The first System Shock was made by the same company as the Ultima Underworld titles (Looking Glass Studios, a giant among game companies, now no more but its talent lives on), and is the same sort of game–a slower, more cerebral first person action-rpg.
Star Control 2 is a great game wrapped around a fun little action core of dueling spaceships. I would still play it, but my current system simply refuses, and I can only sigh sadly about that fact.
http://www.theunderdogs.org is a site worthy of checking out; it’s dedicated to older PC games, many of which are available for download if you’ve got the patience and connection.