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    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    Looking for a game for my laptop (low specs)

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    trylks

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    #1  Edited By trylks

    I'm looking for a game for my laptop, the requisites are:

    • No 3D (my card is a piece of crap), probably this is going to lead to old games.
    • It must be fun, preferably RTS or management (like age of empires, or pharaoh, or theme hospital, or dungeon keeper...)
    • It should not have a thread using 100% of CPU (which means 50% in double core, 25% in quad core, etc.) I don't want my laptop to burn (most games, specially old games do not limit this).

    I know, it's hard, but this is a forum full of gamers, there should be some games you know that match these characteristics.

    Thank you all very much.

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    Bio2hazard

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    #2  Edited By Bio2hazard

    I know its 3d but try torchlight - it even has a netbook mode. Excellent game - its diablo 2 esque.

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    PeasantAbuse

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    #3  Edited By PeasantAbuse

    @Bio2hazard said:

    I know its 3d but try torchlight - it even has a netbook mode. Excellent game - its diablo 2 esque.

    This is what I was going to recommend as well. My old PC, which was horrible, ran Torchlight just fine.

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    louiedog

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    #4  Edited By louiedog
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    tofford

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    #5  Edited By tofford

    Old RTS games. CandC Generals or Starcraft 1. I also loved Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds but that is nostalgia speaking

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    august

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    #6  Edited By august
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    Elusionar

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    #7  Edited By Elusionar

    Recettear - An Item Shops Tale

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    Vegetable_Side_Dish

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    Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 
    Red Alert    
    Sim City
    Diablo II  
    Baldur's Gate games 
    DEFCON for a more modern but processor-friendly game 
     
    These are all worthwhile!

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    Mr_Skeleton

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    #9  Edited By Mr_Skeleton

    Heroes of Might and Magic III.

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    junglistgamer

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    #10  Edited By junglistgamer

    GOG.com is a great place for older games that should run perfectly well. I'd second DEFCON as it's a very cool game that you should be able to buy cheaply on steam and it won't use many system resources.

    Personally, I really liked the Commandos games which should run fine on your setup. They're very challenging puzzle/strategy/stealth games based around guiding a handful of soldiers through WW2 scenarios. Each character has a different set of abilities to get you past different obstacles.

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    tourgen

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    #11  Edited By tourgen

    not to be nitpicky but cheap integrated video HW has really really REALLY crappy 2D acceleration - bitmap copies and alpha channel support and such. They have most of the silicon devoted to (bad) 3D acceleration and do the 2D stuff mostly just in the drivers all with software.

    anyway another vote for gog.com

    Temple of Elemental Evil

    Fallout

    Halflife2 probably runs pretty good on a old laptop at this point, and Portal

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    BeachThunder

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    #12  Edited By BeachThunder

    Frozen Synapse.

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    ryanwho

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    #13  Edited By ryanwho

    Age of Wonders 2, Civilization 3. Rise of Nations has 3d units but its really easy on your computer because all of the buildings are prerendered 2d. Warcraft 3 is fully 3d but its specs are suuuuper low. Same for Age of Mythology and the oft overlooked Sacrifice.

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    zidd

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    #14  Edited By zidd
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    ryanwho

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    #15  Edited By ryanwho

    @tourgen said:

    not to be nitpicky but cheap integrated video HW has really really REALLY crappy 2D acceleration - bitmap copies and alpha channel support and such. They have most of the silicon devoted to (bad) 3D acceleration and do the 2D stuff mostly just in the drivers all with software.

    anyway another vote for gog.com

    Temple of Elemental Evil

    Fallout

    Halflife2 probably runs pretty good on a old laptop at this point, and Portal

    You'd think so, but its still probably beyond his laptop's capability. The original HL2 came out in 04, yes, but it still regularly looks better than many modern games. His laptop would be on fire I think.

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    Aus_azn

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    #16  Edited By Aus_azn

    Torchlight, any Blizzard game pre-WoW, RollerCoaster Tycoon (2).

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    Zelyre

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    #17  Edited By Zelyre

    Baldur's Gate 1/2

    Planescape

    Icewind Dale

    All have mods that let them play at higher resolutions and in wide screen. All are available at GoG, and are on sale this weekend.

    Fallout 1/2/Tactics. Also have mods that let you play them at high resolution and in wide screen. You can find it on GoG.

    I vaguely recall Freespace 2 running really well on a netbook as well. -Excellent- game. It's also on GoG.

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    ThePaleKing

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    #18  Edited By ThePaleKing
    X-Com yo. I play it constantly on my laptop; even if I have other newer games, I end up coming back to it. 
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    Ghooble

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    #19  Edited By Ghooble

    You could run Starcraft 2 probably. My buddy has a laptop from early 2000 and it ran it (on low settings of course)

    -Ghooble

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    SeriouslyNow

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    #20  Edited By SeriouslyNow

    @Trylks: Download speccy and show us your actual specs please.

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    trylks

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    #21  Edited By trylks

    @SeriouslyNow said:

    @Trylks: Download speccy and show us your actual specs please.

    ok, I'll do that shortly, the point, however, would be not to use the processor more than 20% or so, to keep heat low and the life of my laptop long, because I like having a laptop more than gaming. Thx.

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    billyhoush

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    #22  Edited By billyhoush

    What about a sweet tower defence game like Plants vs. Zombies?

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    Cubical

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    #23  Edited By Cubical

    Peggle and go buy a real laptop.

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    Macabros

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    #24  Edited By Macabros

    Hello,

    I have a simillar problem, I am a console gamer but would like to try Starcraft 2. But I don´t know if my office PC can handle it.

    Here are my specs :

    OS

    MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3

    CPU

    Intel Celeron E3200 @ 2.40GHz 36 °C

    Wolfdale 45nm Technologie

    RAM

    2,00 GB Single-Kanal DDR2 @ 400MHz (5-5-5-18)

    Motherboard

    ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5KPL-AM EPU (Socket 775) 38 °C

    Grafik

    W2261 (1920x1080@60Hz)

    Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family

    Could anybody be so kind and tell me if that would work?

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    Branthog

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    #25  Edited By Branthog

    If it hasn't been mentioned already, dude -- ROGUE-LIKES.
     
    Might I suggest Dwarf Fortress?

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    krisgebis

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    #26  Edited By krisgebis

    OPENTTD - Great game with endless hours of fun :)

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    Branthog

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    #27  Edited By Branthog
    @Krisgebis said:

    OPENTTD - Great game with endless hours of fun :)

    I had to google that, because for a moment, I thought you were advising him to go play the phone protocol for the deaf. (And then I realized I'm even dumber than that, because as it turns out, I was thinking of TDD ... Telecommunications Device for the Deaf).
     
    Then again, that might be a fun game, too. :D
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    Meatley

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    #28  Edited By Meatley

    Can't believe no one said Star Ruler.

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