What older PC games should I buy?

[capoeirista]

Hello all. I purchased a replacement drive for my laptop and am considering putting XP on it via bootcamp (got a Uni copy so it's a free experiment) as I've so much extra space!

The reason I was considering it is I'm in need of some gaming. I hunted round my flat and found copies of:

Final Fantasy VII (PC)
Half-Life (Blue shift etc.)
Deus Ex.

I'm guessing these will run well on my Core Duo (NOT 2Duo) macbook - 2ghz 2GB Ram.

Having never been into PC gaming, I was wondering if you could suggest some games from a similar era that I may have missed (yes I've searched the forums extensively). I'm not interested in the 'latest and greatest' graphics (which is lucky), but just good solid (classic?) games that will run well and be fun to play. No genre specifically, but no MMOs.

Thanks!

[Keleko]

You may enjoy Farcry and Elder Scrolls Oblivion (which isn't that old).

[JayMan8081]

Well for RTS games I would highly recommend any of the older Warcrafts and Starcraft. Tomb Raider Chronicles is also very good as is the original Unreal and Unreal Tournament.

[Huntn]

The original Medieval:Total War is an awesome game. combination of strategy and RTS.

[Consultant]

On a MacBook, people have luck with
- Oranage Box, such as Team Fortress 2. Orange box is a really great value.
(not sure whether it runs on Core Duo)

Was going to say FarCry, but not sure if MacBook's integrated GPU could handle that. The game is fairly open ended so I can't even run all the settings on high on MBP 2.4 17". The AI are pretty smart for its day. They will actually sneak up behind you if they know your approximate location.

Dues Ex is a great game. I played it at the time when real news reports are fairly similar to some of the in game elements, and it's amazing.

These should run:
- Psychonauts (a bit unusual, but acclaimed)
- Grand Theft Auto
- Red Faction (also available for OSX), really old, should run fine.
- No One Lives Forever (runs slugish in Rosetta), great fun to sneak around and hear all the funny conversations before you get the baddies.
- Max Payne (really short with some challenging parts) they never released 2 for OSX but it's available for pc
- Soldier of Fortune II
- Rogue Spear (realistic damage = 1 shot kill, AI is fairly simple so if you figure things out it's like duck hunt, but the same strategy won't work at all for the sequal)
- Postal 2 (odd "story" but actually a good game) might work under OSX
- Stubbs the Zombie (unplayably slow in Rosetta)

[Eidorian]

Homeworld is love. <3

I have a soft spot for Starfleet Command I/II as well.

[capoeirista]

Thanks all!

...To eBay!

[jeremy.king]

Descent

[Eidorian]

Originally Posted by kingjr3

Descent

Freespace

[kahine]

For a FPS the Original Tribes is #1 for me still - you can download it for free I believe and still find servers with fans of the old one

Also the Battlezone from late 90's was a great game -

And for RPG's the Icewind Dale was a good one too


All I would think would run fine on it - and the Myth TFL was a good one also

[stainlessliquid]

First game that came to mind was Deus Ex, one of the best games ever made and probably the best PC game ever made. 2nd game that came to mind was Jedi Knight II because the Force Unleashed demo came out today and pales in comparison to JK.

Dont play FF7 for Windows, it sucks (and probably wont work in XP). Just get ePSXe and emulate the PS1 version, it works and looks better.

Off the top of my head:

Jedi Knight II (Outcast is the main game, Jedi Academy is the expansion)
Twinsen's Odyssey
Grim Fandango (if you like this game then also try Escape From Monkey Island)
Freelancer (like Freespace but newer and better)

[Zortrium]

Originally Posted by stainlessliquid

Jedi Knight II (Outcast is the main game, Jedi Academy is the expansion)

Minor correction - Academy is actually a standalone game, although since it uses the same (albeit tweaked) engine as the first and gameplay is mostly the same, it feels like an expansion.

And, for what it's worth, both JK2 and Academy are available on the Mac and should run fine on a Macbook.

[stainlessliquid]

I assumed it was an expansion since when it came out Im pretty sure it had a typical expansion price of around 20 bucks and didnt take very long at all to make. Either way they didnt seem to put as much effort into it as Outcast, it was kind of like a bonus campaign with fun levels but bland story.

[Dagless]

I still play all the old Dooms, Quakes, Duke Nukems. Love em! Bought a bunch on Steam so I can access them on any online PC I come across

[shawnathan]

Wolfenstein 3D!

[eXan]

Originally Posted by stainlessliquid

Jedi Knight II (Outcast is the main game, Jedi Academy is the expansion

Academy is actually JK3, but the graphics are the same s it feels somewhat like an expansion.(then again, KOTOR 2 has the same graphics as in KOTOR 1, but it feels like a standalone game)

To OP:

RTS - Starcraft
FPS - Unreal Tournament 1 or 2004

[mrtekkid]

Originally Posted by kingjr3

Descent

Descent was freakin ...amazing!!

[Let's Sekuhara!]

DOOM II
Command & Conquer Red Alert
Command & Conquer Red Alert 2
Quake
Half-Life
Unreal

Those are the games that have sucked up the most hours of my pre-adult life.

How are you intending to play these? Parallels?
DOOM II and Quake ran through DOS from a shortcut in Windows, so I'm not sure if Parallels is the complete solution for those since (as far as I know) DOS support is not built in to Parallels, Fusion, etc. I just started a thread asking about how to make an old DOOM 2 disc work via DOS emulation in OS X. No replies yet.

[nakamuramori2]

u should get counterstrike and starcraft. they are like old old school version but both are the best games ever ...

[nakamuramori2]

Originally Posted by eXan

Academy is actually JK3, but the graphics are the same s it feels somewhat like an expansion.(then again, KOTOR 2 has the same graphics as in KOTOR 1, but it feels like a standalone game)

To OP:

RTS - Starcraft
FPS - Unreal Tournament 1 or 2004

hey do u wanna have a SC game with me on bettlenet. what is your ID??
im a king of terran. ^^ what is your race? leave me your Id the i will put it on my friend's list~

[Let's Sekuhara!]

So it seems there are a few different ways to play Doom on OS X.

PrBOOM
DOSBox (emulates any DOS game including Quake)
Doom Legacy for Mac (PPC only)

Some of these require the original Doom or Doom 2 wad files. I'm still looking into the details myself.

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Also, if you want some really oldskool games, there are some great emulators out there thanks to Richard Bannister porting many of them to Mac.

This includes:
NES/Famicom
SNES/Super Famicom
Genesis/Megadrive
and many more

Here's a good place to start:
http://www.bannister.org/software/nestopia.htm

[Dagless]

Originally Posted by Let's Sekuhara!

Some of these require the original Doom or Doom 2 wad files. I'm still looking into the details myself.

No, they all do. Doom games (maps, textures, weapons etc) are stored in the Wad files. All these new apps (and the original Doom.exe) just launch the game stored in the Wad file. Think of them as launchers.

[JackAxe]

System Shock 2 -- because it's from the same era. (System Shock is the best though, by far. Great game period.)

Grim Fandango
Psychonaughts


I love all the old PC games, but most predate XP.

<]=)

[Huntn]

Originally Posted by JackAxe

System Shock 2 -- because it's from the same era. (System Shock is the best though, by far. Great game period.)
<]=)

System Shock 2, one of the most fun games I've ever played solo. Parent of the current Bioshock. Great atmosphere. Turn the lights down.