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[BigD145]

Everything before 2007.

No. Not for an 8 year old laptop. Anything before 2000 aught to be good.

[Singularity125]

I admit I haven't actually looked up the specs, but I think the Introversion Pack games from Steam might run. At the very least I'm sure Uplink will. The pack gives you 4 games for $5, I'd recommend it, personally.

[Grakelin]

I second Warcraft 3, the game is just endless fun, the campaign is huge, and then you have those custom maps... There was a time where I'd only play that. Starcraft is better as an actual rts, it still being played competitively and all.

You must not have played War3 in the last few months.

They released a patch in the last 6-8 months which fixed a 'possible exploit' involving JASS coding. It broke almost all of the quality maps released up to that point (including greats like 11th Vampire and some of the earlier Uther Parties). Also, nobody plays anything but DOTA anymore. I know everybody has always said that, but nobody plays ANYTHING else.

Also, somebody figured out how to let bots host games. Most people don't seem to have any problems with it, but if I try to DL off one of these bots, my internet insta-dies, so I now have to scour the internet anytime I see the name of a map that seems interesting. =/


I played it for around 5-7 years, though, and I always enjoyed it.

[andrea]

what? old maps broken? that is such a pity, there were some great ones. And I lost them when I changed computer

if everybody plays dota, it is time to host some good thing. Wasn't a DF map being developed in this forum?

I would usually second that suggestion about war III, but if the news are true...

[Muz]

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's the poor man's Diablo, and more lastable.

I'd suggest DF, but everyone knows that DF has high requirements.

[ILikePie]

I would usually second that suggestion about war III, but if the news are true...

I have to find out if this is true. If it is though, there's always the huge campaign, it'll take even the fastest of players at least a week of constant playing to finish. It took me a month, by I only finished a single mission every day.

You could also point your friend to abandonia, or if he'd like something a tiny bit more legal, GoG. ADOM is also great, and Angband, or just any roguelike you can find.

[Grakelin]

if everybody plays dota, it is time to host some good thing.

Nobody will join my games anymore. It's not that I can't host, because if I name it DOTA, it fills instantly.

I really like Metastasis, the latest rendition of Parasite (I was a beta tester for what would have been P3, and got to see DSG ragequit several times. He actually banned me later on. It was because I told him that Parasite and Parasite 2 didn't actually have a powerful story when he was bragging about it. I liked it better before he made P2 and it became a TKfest anyway). There are a variety of spaceships and stations now, it's pretty great.

Last time I was on, the clan the mapmaker was in was hosting a bot which ran it, so I'd suggest it if War3 is your thing. Somebody needs to bring the good TriviaBots back, though, so we have something to do in between sessions.

[Tarran]

Transcendence. Should be able to run at least half decently on your old computer. At least I think. Can't be sure though.

[Googolplexed]

Almost 90% of these suggestions WILL NOT run
if the laptop is from 02, and sim theme-park (A fairly low-specced 1998 game) won't run well ...

Transcendence -- Nope
Warcraft 3 -- Nope
Anything introversion except uplink -- nope
Homeworld -- Nope
C&C generals -- Nope

Seriously, if this laptop does not have ANY 3D acceleration, then I doubt many of these games have a chance at running.
(And many modern games, even if 2D take alot more processing power then you think)
For comparson, you are looking at sub-netbook levels of processing power(Even netbooks have 3D acceleration)

[Tarran]

Actually checking this time, I'd say try going to abandonia and search for some abandonware. Or grab a roguelike of some kind. ThemePark is very low on graphical detail already, so I highly doubt you will be able to run many games. Heck, I doubt it would be able to run even RCT2. Though you could have some luck with RCT1.

[ILikePie]

Seriously, if this laptop does not have ANY 3D acceleration, then I doubt many of these games have a chance at running.
(And many modern games, even if 2D take alot more processing power then you think)
For comparson, you are looking at sub-netbook levels of processing power(Even netbooks have 3D acceleration)

That's a shame. Abandonia should still work, and if he is okay with quasi-piracy, an NES, or SNES emulator can provide hours of fun.

[Virtz]

Transport Tycoon Deluxe
Theme Hospital
Fallout 1 and 2

Wait, what exactly is abstract about X-Com? It doesn't exactly cheap out on any graphical representations (as in use the same graphics for different unit types).

[Grakelin]

Almost 90% of these suggestions WILL NOT run
if the laptop is from 02, and sim theme-park (A fairly low-specced 1998 game) won't run well ...

Transcendence -- Nope
Warcraft 3 -- Nope
Anything introversion except uplink -- nope
Homeworld -- Nope
C&C generals -- Nope

Seriously, if this laptop does not have ANY 3D acceleration, then I doubt many of these games have a chance at running.
(And many modern games, even if 2D take alot more processing power then you think)
For comparson, you are looking at sub-netbook levels of processing power(Even netbooks have 3D acceleration)

If it was a top-of-the-line laptop from 2002, he should be able to play Warcraft III (July 2002) and Homeworld (1999). My Dad played WoW on his 2002 laptop, which was not top of the line when he bought it, until just a few weeks ago when he decided to switch for his megagaming laptop. His issue with SimTheme Park has to do with the OS, and I got the same thing on my desktop PC.

[nichaey]

Update:

I've begun installing a few games including Diablo 2, CnC tiberium sun and spelunky, although I'm not sure he will be into rtses. Now that I have my hands on the laptop I can tell you it has a 32mb graphics card(no clue about max directx version yet), 500mb of ram and a P4 clocked at 2.4.

Checking with the warcraft 3 wiki 32 mb is the minimum, so it should be able to run it. More surprisingly, it should be able to run mechwarrior 4 which has a 16 mb g-card requirement.


I notice quite a few good games, but I should clarify a few things.
By non-abstract I mean it should be conceptually simple, or have a damned good UI and tutorial. He is not a computer person, so he will not get games like uplink, transport tycoon or rogue-likes. Although some of these games look like they're worth trying myself.

[Muz]

Did you try Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup? It's not that abstract, easy to learn (good tutorial) and hours of fun. And has graphics. It's as easy to learn as Diablo.

He could play those Facebook games if he's not into those kind of games. Or just about any browser game.

I also second Stronghold, if he likes blowing up castles.

Iji's also good fun for a while.