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Which of the following strategy games should I get?

M

MXM

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2009
54
0
I'm thinking to get a strategy game, and I have the following in mind
(i). Civ4
(ii). Age of Empires III
(iii). Age of Mythology
(iv). Simcity4

I played (i), (ii) and (iv) a bit on windows before. I wonder which one runs better on a Macbook Pro (2G RAM, 256M graphic memory). Which game is in general more playable and more fun? (I haven't completed any of the games above). Any suggestions?
 
I can't comment on SIM because I always found it boring, and I haven't played CIV4, just the older ones. But I have played Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 3. AoM is fun and cheap to buy, but graphics are dated now and story line is a bit shallow, plus i don't think its universal which means you will be running it thru Rosetta. Requirements are low, but it could still have issues. AoE3 has alot more eyecandy and might be more fun than the sometimes dryer Civ series. I liked it. AoE3 also has add on packs which might extend the game for you a bit. These I do not have.

You also might want to give Command & Conquer3 a look. I haven't had time to get it yet (working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl), but some of my friends enjoyed it and said the cut scenes were pretty good too.
 
All games will run on your MBP at max settings and resolution.

As to which is best, hopefully you know what type of games you like better than I do.
 
MXM said:
I'm thinking to get a strategy game, and I have the following in mind
(i). Civ4
(ii). Age of Empires III
(iii). Age of Mythology
(iv). Simcity4

I played (i), (ii) and (iv) a bit on windows before. I wonder which one runs better on a Macbook Pro (2G RAM, 256M graphic memory). Which game is in general more playable and more fun? (I haven't completed any of the games above). Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you bootcamp, buy cossacks: european wars, very good game, relatively undemanding (released in 2001), but i still play it often. Quite cheap now too
 
Out of that list, Age of empires III and Age of mythology. Get gameranger and you will have a blast playing against other people.
 
They all have their merits. I suggest downloading the demos of all of them and seeing which one you enjoy the most.

Civ IV is great if you're into nation building from the dawn of time. The diplomacy and intricacies of technologies and development are really rather interesting but combat is poor to say the least.

Age of Empires III is just like the first two but with muskets. It's well done and generally enjoyable. The combat system is still the rock-paper-scissors type as in the previous AOE series but I happen to enjoy that. The new home city and card approach adds something different and it works well.

Age Of Mythology, in my opinion, isn't all that great. I'm not a fan of fantasy games and AOM utilizes fantasy elements in an AOE type of game. It's not bad by any stretch but I didn't enjoy it as there was more a fantasy than a historical approach.

I haven't played Sim City in a loooooonnnng time so I can't comment, but I imagine if you're looking for combat you won't find it there.

I'd also recommend Rise of Nations. The gameplay is basically Age of Empires but you start off in ancient times and research your way through to the modern era all in the course of one game (although you can put limits so all players ca only reach the industrial era). It's very enjoyable and the campaigns are pretty neat.
 
Beric said:
All games will run on your MBP at max settings and resolution.

As to which is best, hopefully you know what type of games you like better than I do.
Click to expand...

Do you think they'll also run on MB 2.4G?
 
speaking of AoEII

All of them, as someone pointed out before, have their merits. And yes, I also agree that AoM is the one I appreciated the least.

OT:
Yeah, AoE II brings back memories...

Btw, does anyone know why AoEII Gold Edition doesn't start on a white-cased MacBook? Its error message seems to indicate graphic issues... ?
 
I also vote for Rise of Nations - I play in BootCamp, however, so I can't speak to performance in OS X. RoN and AoEIII are similar, in my opinion, but RoN feels quicker. I mean, the pace of the game is quick and you really need to keep up with the tech of the times. Lag just a little bit and it is hard to recover. Both games are great, though.

I just started Civ IV and so far I am liking it but it's much different from RoN and AoE. So many more things to keep up on and manage.
 
I have recently picked up Civ 4 (for windows) and it is like the greatest PC game I've ever played... However, I picked up the Mac version (Aspyr) and the port is ****ing horrid. It's extremely choppy while in mac (lowest settings and resolution) and in windows it's smooth (highest settings and resolution)... so I wouldn't recommend getting Civ4 for your mac.

BTW my MBP is 2.4GHZ 4GB Ram.
 
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