Recommend me a Video Game

[TomLok]

a good game - sizzling. Try, then sign off. It’s interesting to know your opinion

[Paul_in_Qatar]

@Jophiel

Do you have the make and model of your laptop? Could try and look up the specs.

Or else run “Dxdiag” (just type it in from the start menu search bar) and copy/paste what it says for “Device” under the “Display” tab.

DESKTOP-83GPNNO2
Windows 10 Home
HP Envy x360 Convertable
F.23
Intel Core i5-6200 @ 2.3 Ghz
8192 MB RAM

I have no idea what any of that means. Meanwhile, let me check out Borderlands.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

@Jophiel

Do you have the make and model of your laptop? Could try and look up the specs.

Or else run “Dxdiag” (just type it in from the start menu search bar) and copy/paste what it says for “Device” under the “Display” tab.

DESKTOP-83GPNNO2
Windows 10 Home
HP Envy x360 Convertable
F.23
Intel Core i5-6200 @ 2.3 Ghz
8192 MB RAM

I have no idea what any of that means. Meanwhile, let me check out Borderlands.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

Borderlands 1 yes,
Skyrim nope
Metro 2033 nope
Rimworld nope
FTL nope

(I am getting all these from Can You Run It, but it tells me I cannot run Call of Juarez, and I have played it on this machine.)

[Hampshire]

Is there such a thing as a head-to-head tower defense game?
Like a 2-player Kingdom Rush but you can also buy and deploy troops at your enemy?

[BigT]

According to HP’s site, you have either the Intel UHD Graphics 620 or an Nvidia GeForce MX 150. I will venture a guess that, based on the games it claims you can’t run, you probably have the Intel card.

So I will offer this benchmark to show how good this card is. It has a large number of games for reference.

[Uosdwis_R.Dewoh]

OpenTTD

It’s a free transport business sim that’s surprisingly deep and very addictive. You can spend hours optimizing your train routes. Runs on nearly anything.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

I’m having a hard time imagining a computer that can’t run FTL but can run Borderlands–that seems really weird to me.

[Jophiel]

@BigT

According to HP’s site, you have either the Intel UHD Graphics 620 or an Nvidia GeForce MX 150. I will venture a guess that, based on the games it claims you can’t run, you probably have the Intel card.

That’s for the latest version of the Envy. His has an i5-6200 processor so it’s likely this one with integrated HD 520 graphics.

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

I’m having a hard time imagining a computer that can’t run FTL but can run Borderlands–that seems really weird to me.

Can You Run It has weird metrics sometimes and might be rejecting it for something other his GPU (or lack thereof). FTL runs on mobile devices and should really run on just about any PC from the past ten years.

His computer should be able to play Skyrim. He might find Fallout: New Vegas to be fun if he likes both shooters (CoD) with a dash of, albeit post-apocalypse, Western. Wolfenstein: The New Order was a fun shooter that should work on low graphic settings. Here’s the home list of modern (last few years) games that Intel thinks will work with your processor and integrated graphics.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Jophiel

Can You Run It has weird metrics sometimes and might be rejecting it for something other his GPU (or lack thereof). FTL runs on mobile devices and should really run on just about any PC from the past ten years.

Yeah, I think I’ve bought games that I was close to CYRI’s minimum specs for, and they’ve run fine. FTL really just seems like a bare-bones game in terms of its design: if it requires a lot of resources, that seems (to my completely untrained eye, mind you) like bad coding.

[Alessan]

@Sir_T-Cups

I’m just going to recommend the Mass Effect Trilogy because it’s my favorite game series (2 especially!) of all time and feel everyone should play it at all time.

It’s not TRUE FPS, but it’s a shoot-em-up and the best game ever.

While I agree that 3 and especially 2 are among the best games ever, you can skip 1 - the story is good, but the gameplay is clunky and antiquated. Just buy the interactive comic at the beginning of 2 to get up to speed and to make some choices you’ll need for the future (hint - don’t kill Wrex!).

[Sir_T-Cups]

@Alessan

While I agree that 3 and especially 2 are among the best games ever, you can skip 1 - the story is good, but the gameplay is clunky and antiquated. Just buy the interactive comic at the beginning of 2 to get up to speed and to make some choices you’ll need for the future (hint - don’t kill Wrex!).

But playing the first one does give you a richer experience. You understand more references the characters say and you get to see a character or two that you don’t otherwise.

[Atamasama]

@Sir_T-Cups

But playing the first one does give you a richer experience. You understand more references the characters say and you get to see a character or two that you don’t otherwise.

Agreed. It’s not as good as the other two, there were some massive gameplay improvements that happened in 2 and carried into 3. But it’s not awful in the least, and I think you enjoy the series less if you skip it.

[Alessan]

@Sir_T-Cups

But playing the first one does give you a richer experience. You understand more references the characters say and you get to see a character or two that you don’t otherwise.

This is just based on my own experience. I tried playing 1 soon after it came out, and gave up after a couple of hours - the story was great, but it just wasn’t fun to play. Years later, I picked up 2 and absolutely loved it. After finishing 3 I went back and tried to play 1 again… and it still wasn’t that good. I think I’ve played through 2 and 3 fives times by this point; I’ve only finished 1 once, and even that was more out of a sense of obligation than anything else.

I’m just afraid that the OP will pick up Mass Effect 1 and have the same experience I did. It might lead him to miss out on 2 and 3.

[Skywatcher]

Check out Heat Signature. It’s almost like FTL from the boarders’ point of view; same sort of top-town graphics but you’re the boarder.

[Gukumatz]

Maybe X-COM Enemy unknown and, if possible, the sequel.

[Sir_T-Cups]

@Atamasama

Agreed. It’s not as good as the other two, there were some massive gameplay improvements that happened in 2 and carried into 3. But it’s not awful in the least, and I think you enjoy the series less if you skip it.

Agreed.

@Alessan

This is just based on my own experience. I tried playing 1 soon after it came out, and gave up after a couple of hours - the story was great, but it just wasn’t fun to play. Years later, I picked up 2 and absolutely loved it. After finishing 3 I went back and tried to play 1 again… and it still wasn’t that good. I think I’ve played through 2 and 3 fives times by this point; I’ve only finished 1 once, and even that was more out of a sense of obligation than anything else.

I’m just afraid that the OP will pick up Mass Effect 1 and have the same experience I did. It might lead him to miss out on 2 and 3.

Yeah, and despite recommending playing through 1, I always begrudgingly do when I do another full playthrough. It eventually picks up, but the beginning is really quite boring.

A friend of mine once compared Mass Effect to Star Wars. The first is good and establishes the world, but it’s not really THAT good and you can see its faults. The second is better in pretty much every way and is the fan favorite. The third looks the best and has more action and setpieces, but it’s a bit shallow and not as good as 2 even if it look prettier.