Question 1. Computer game

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Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Right, I feel the need to tap into the forum's massive combined knowledge.

Having played the various versions of Solitaire on my laptop to death, I'm starting to hanker after a game to play on it. I'm not interested in anything shoot-'em-up, or sports related, or racing cars. I'm thinking either a flight sim (a friend has one (not MS flight sim) which he seems to be enjoying, although I think to really enjoy it, I'd have to fork out for a joystick as well), or something puzzle based. I remember a few years ago, a friend had something called Myst(?) which involved solving puzzles and so on, and I quite enjoyed it. I suppose another alternative would be something like the Sims (of which there seem to be so many) or another thing a another friend had, Black and White, in which you created a creature and go tit to do stuff, and how you treated it affected its character...

Anyone got any recommendations? And am I likely to have any problems running this sort of game on a 4 year old laptop? (I know, the spec probably matters most, but I couldn't tell you anything about it off hand). Basically, I'm more interested in cerebral challenges, rather than hand/eye coordination...
 
I have a fantastic 'pinball' game on my lap-top. Didn't know it was there until I went for a breake at a photo-shoot and on my return my assistant was playing pin-ball, at the rate I was paying her as well! Anyway, I find it calming and enjoyable. It even as a 'tilt' thingy.
 

NickM

Veteran
I haven't played Myst, mainly because it has the reputation of being one of the dullest computer games ever.

Myth, on the other hand, is an absolute classic - easily the best computer game I've ever seen. And it will run without problems on your machine, which many graphics-intensive recent games won't. It's a battle between the forces of good and evil set in a kind of Tolkienesque world. It's witty and exciting and has genuinely 3-D graphics (you can look behind things). Much of its appeal derives from the way the three-dimensionality is used - you have to master shifting your viewpoint and using the terrain in order to succeed. It's not all fighting - within most scenarios there are things to find and work out as you go along, which will make it possible to complete your task.

If it's too violent for you (it's a hack-em-up rather than a shoot-em-up, but your little army on the screen does the hacking on your behalf), you might like Pharoah (ancient Egyptian city building thing which is OK but I found a bit dull eventually) or its Roman equivalent, Caesar (I think). I'm afraid I found Black and White dull before very long.
 

PrettyboyTim

New Member
Location
Brighton
I still occasionally get sucked up by Transport Tycoon Deluxe

There's now an open source implementation of it called OpenTTD, which is improved over the original, although you still need a copy of the original graphics files to play it. These can either be taken from a CD of the original game or downloaded in a not-strictly-legal-manner from the internet or some other kind TTD player who will send them to you :ohmy:

Great little game, and it'll work on really old computers :tongue:
 
Civilization IV might be worth a look at as well, espec as you like Archaelogy. You can build up your cities and empire etc. Very easy to get into.
 
OP
OP
Arch

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Canrider said:
If you want a copy of Black and White, you can have mine. I've never had the time to get 'into' it.

Ooh, that would be sweet of you! I'll PM you my address. And with another forummer thinking they may have an old copy of Myst going spare, I might be sorted! I'll bung a few quid in the Oxfam box in exchange.

The transport one and civilisation also sound good. I might turn into a games junkie! I did have one called "colonisation" on my old PC, which was based aorund the colonisation of America, and used to while away hours on it, mainly because my old PC was so slow it took ages for each instruction to be carried out and sometimes it just froze up in the bluescreen of death...

Still fancy a flight sim eventually (when funds allow). Had a friend who played one for hours, but he wasn't the sort to settle to anything and he'd keep changing the plane, the weather, the landscape, mid-flight. Still, he did prove you can't land Concorde on Papa Westray...
 

pzycoman

New Member
Location
Huffing a kitten
PrettyboyTim said:
I still occasionally get sucked up by Transport Tycoon Deluxe

There's now an open source implementation of it called OpenTTD, which is improved over the original, although you still need a copy of the original graphics files to play it. These can either be taken from a CD of the original game or downloaded in a not-strictly-legal-manner from the internet or some other kind TTD player who will send them to you :ohmy:

Great little game, and it'll work on really old computers :tongue:

Iv only been playing TTD since it was released about 10 years ago, and i still play it, im hooked! Its one of the best games iv played :ohmy:
 

frog

Guest
Flight sims without a control stick is a waste of time. FS9 and FSX are huge programs and need a very healthy PC to run them properly. Puzzle games aren't such resource hogs and can be played on a modest spec machine. If you are into detective stuff there is the CSI bunch of games which aren't bad. Even simpler there is Mah Jong which is addictive as hell. Mrs frog plays Bookworm a lot which is a bit like scrabble.

Another vote for Civilisation. Will run on a very low grade PC, but without the 'advisor' animations - which are pretty dire anyway.
 

walker

New Member
Location
Bromley, Kent
trustysteed said:
Civilization IV might be worth a look at as well, espec as you like Archaelogy. You can build up your cities and empire etc. Very easy to get into.


I'd second this and age of Empires too. Nothing better than getting the strategy right to conquer the world. MWWWAAAHAHAHAH:evil:
 
OP
OP
Arch

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Hmm, it seems TTD is only about £12 on amazon, so not such a big deal to buy. I'd hate to fork out £30 on a game that I didn't enjoy, but that's not so bad. I think I still have some Christmas money left from Mum (She sent it in advance bless her, and it's helped pay for everyone else's presents...:tongue:)

One other thing (bear with me, I'm a bear of very little brain in these matters) I saw a review of TT ( a cheaper version) on Amazon saying that the Windows 95/98 version won't run on XP, is that a usual sort of thing? Just in case I get hooked on buying games, I want to buy the right ones...
 

domtyler

Über Member
A word of warning, I can see Civilisation IV taking over your entire life. It happened to me for a while, but my wife spent four and a half years spending every minute of her free time "just visiting my people". As it is based on history/archaeology type themes you may even be hit worse.
 
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