Ive got a PIII 800MHZ machine with Win98, 256Megs Ram, and a Radeon 64Meg video card. Whats the most graphically advanced game that you know of that I can put on this thing. Right now the most advanced game I`ve got is Half-life.
Oh, and NASCAR 2003. Those work fine.
Any recommendations for a cutting-edge (for this machine anyway) game??
It’s not exactly cutting edge, technology-wise, but ADOM (www.adom.de) is a very cool game for -any- computer. If you don’t mind ASCII graphics.
You might be able to run Warcraft III on it, which is also pretty cool. It would be helpful if you could tell us more about what kinds of games you like!
FPS bias warning
To be honest, I would be tempted to give UT2004 a try, I know it claims that it requires a 1GHz processor as a minimum, but I have seen it running ok on far lesser machines, as long as you dont try to run it with all the options turned up, and am very impressed with the way the game performs.
If you don’t want to risk a game that might not work, there are very many games that will run on that system, of which I shall list a few of my favourites:
GTA: Vice City
Operation Flashpoint
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Freelancer
Max Payne
Postal 2 (although only if you have a really sick personality, like me:))
In Memoriam (really weird puzzle game)
Really, the myth of needing a hugely powerful machine to play good games needs to be broken down, as does the myth propagated by PC World that you NEED AT LEAST a 3GHz, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9000 beast of a machine to get email and mess about with the internet. So far as I can see it, there are two reasons to be getting a ‘top of the range’ machine, futureproofing (which I always think is of questionable benefit), and having gaming as a major hobby/addiction, which you are willing and able to spens thousands of pounds (or dollars) on.
Are you sure all of those will run well on an that system? Some of those (GTA and Max Payne, at least) seem like they would need a high-end system. Anyway, this…
technically, is the correct answer to the question, but I assume you want games that you don’t already have. In which case I can’t recommend Starcraft enough. If you like the RTS genre you could then go into Red Alert 2 and Age of Empires 2, which are also fine games that work perfect on an aging system.
The original Fallout games, if you can find one of the cheap double packs, are fantastic, as well. You should absolutely own both of them.
If you want some more instant-action, adreneline-oriented gameplay, you can’t go wrong with some of the older big-name FPS games. Like I said, Half-life is the best, but there’s also many other great titles. May I recommend Serious Sam? A fun little bloodbath in the same spirit of the original Doom.
Heck, I had a system like yours with a TNT2 card not too long ago. Go into any 2nd hand shop and you’ll find oodles of games. You should be able to run any game made before 2002.
Few gems:
- Starcraft
- Command and Conquer:Generals (barely runs at 1/2 speed)
- Rainbow 6: Rogue Spear
- Unreal Tournament (the first one)
- Quake 3 (might need a new 3D card)
- The original Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2
Maybe GTA might be pushing it, although you make the minimum requirements for processor speed, and exceed them for graphics card and RAM, but the original Max Payne (not Max Payne 2) should definately run fine, considering that it’s recommended (not minimum) system is only:
700 MHz AMD / Intel Processor (or compatible)
32 MB Direct3D Compatible Graphics Card
128 MB RAM
I would suggest looking on ebay, or in second hand shops, since you should be able to pick up games for very little money, thus reducing the risk of it not working on your system. I buy most of my new games from Game, which in the UK at least have a 16 day return policy even on PC games, which does somewhat take out the risk of buying games on the off chance that they work, so perhaps I tend to be slightly less worried about the risk of games not working on my machine.
Thanks, All.
I just wanted a place to start as far as what you guys recommend so I can go to the “outdated super-games shelf” at Wal-mart and brouse for some of these titles. I can usually find decent titles for around $10US, some of the games when they came out were upwards of $50 a couple of years ago.
They used to be packaged in the big colorful 3D stamped neato boxes but now they`re just in a cellophoane wrapped CD case with minimal packaging.
As far as the games I like? I`m willing to try anything new.
I tried Imperium Gallactica but it was incredibly time consuming and the learning curve was like a thousand years or so with a Bible sized instruction manual.
I do like the first person games (Half-life, which I finished in about two months of two-a-days) and Quake, Unreal, etc.
I also have an affection for racing games including drag racing stuff.
I’m running Freelancer and Splinter Cell on a system that’s almost exactly the same as yours.* All detail levels are maxed out with no major slowdown (okay, big battles in Freelancer get a bit choppy). Splinter Cell is absolutely gorgeous and completely smooth.
It’s odd, but I’m actually having a pretty easy time running new games. I think games are making more use of video cards these days than processors.
- 700 mhz Athlon, 384 mbs of ram. Video card is a 64 mb Radeon 8500.
Deus Ex. It’s an older game, but it’s still quite lovely in the graphics department, and it gives you a lot more free will than your average game. Locked door? You could find the key, or pick the lock, or just blow the door down.
Also, that machine is more than capable of playing Q3A and UT.
Someone else mentioned ADOM, which is a cool but frustrating game. In the same genre, you’ve got Nethack (and all of its variants), Moria, Angband, AlphaMan, and a number of others. If you like those, you should give Rogue a try (it’s the game they’re all based on).
Oh, you could also try to hunt down a copy of Grim Fandango.
I HIGHLY recommend Grim Fandango as well. It’s minimum requirements are a Pentium 133 and 32MB RAM, but somehow, this game looks so much better than it should for such low requirements! It’s an “adventure” game" where you get items and get to solve puzzles with them. The characters are hilariously sarcastic, and the music is great too! Unfortunately, after playing it three times, I know the puzzles too well!
I recommend the latest version of Nethack (ASCII graphics) and the formerly Macintosh-only Escape Velocity: Nova (shareware, $30, only available online). The latter requires QuickTime and features graphics that were probably high-end back in 2000. Nethack is the famous ASCII dungeon-crawler; probably a little too primitive for your tastes.
EV: Nova is a game similar to the old Privateer series, only redone from a top-down view with several very cool mission strings. I usually describe it as “Firefly, the video game.” Run cargo at a profit; smuggle more profitable goods through Federation picket lines, ferry passengers to far-off planets. Avoid the pirates – or become one. Help the Federation destroy the Rebellion – or help the Rebels establish independence. A boat-load of free plug-ins gives it a lot of replay, too.
These aren’t “graphically intense”, but they’re extremely enjoyable. I run them on my office laptop when I’m on travel because they don’t thrash the processor or the hard drive, and so they use less battery power.
Oh, and if you do want a game that’ll last for a while, and show off some moderately flashy graphics, try Diablo II if you haven’t already - it will run fine on your machine. The Expansion Pack is a must. A combo package can probably be purchased for $30, and it’s well worth it.
Agreed. EVERYONE should own both Fallouts (not Tactics, though).
No way in hell is this going to run reliably, if at all. Hell, my system can barely handle it- Athlon 2600+, Nforce 2 chipset, 512megs RAM, onboard GeForce4… and if it runs on yours, it will a) be choppy as hell, and b) run out of memory every five minutes.
I’ll add Tachyon: The Fringe (great spacey shoot-em-up), Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 (great top-down RPG), and you might be able to run Madden 2003. If not, you can almost certainly run 2002. 20004 I doubt though.
A highly underrated game. Voice acting by Bruce Cambell. Cool storyline and graphics.
Although I never did get through the Galspan storyline. It just felt…wrong…somehow. 
Great games have already been mentioned. I’ll throw in a vote for either Civilization II or III. Both will run fine – Civ III is prettier and has some modifications to the rules that some people like more than Civ II, others don’t. Both games are freakishly addictive, so you really can’t go wrong with either one.
Check out the latest two in the Need for Speed series. NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 should work with no problem while NFS: Underground is a bit iffy.
You could certainly play Freespace 2 on a machine of this vintage as well, which is a very fun, well-made space shooter (my genre of choice.)
Moving gaming thread to Cafe Society.
What better game than the coolest game ever?
hey man if you’ve got half life then you’ve got access to a ton of games. just look for half life mods!
Crimsom Skies was a fun game on my rig, which is very similar to yours, except I have an even older graphics card.
It’s a flying game with fantasy planes, and my 7 yearold also loves it.