1990-2005 games

[cleb]

I'm looking for pc games from these years to run on my laptop. It's using Intel gma4500m so its nothing near a gaming pc. So games from this era are pretty much a must unless you know of newer games with similar lower requirements (4gb ddr2 ram, single core support, 64-128mb vram) And yes I am aware that the integrated graphics are sharing the general ram. Sometimes it tells me it's using 64 of if sometimes it's telling me 128. I assume it uses what it needs within its limit. Anyway thanks a lot.

[Frosty]

I think that the first and possibly second Serious Sam games would run on that machine. One of my favourite titles if you're looking for a shoot-em-up. Fairly inexpensive too.

 

Just make sure not to get the HD remastered version

[Nup]

Descent! 

[PlayStation 2]

Left 4 Dead can run on that IIRC

[sirtoby]

I'm looking for pc games from these years to run on my laptop. It's using Intel gma4500m so its nothing near a gaming pc. So games from this era are pretty much a must unless you know of newer games with similar lower requirements (4gb ddr2 ram, single core support, 64-128mb vram) And yes I am aware that the integrated graphics are sharing the general ram. Sometimes it tells me it's using 64 of if sometimes it's telling me 128. I assume it uses what it needs within its limit. Anyway thanks a lot.

These are the games that ran on my thinkpad with a pentium M (700ish MHz)

Roallercoaster Tyccon 1 + 2

Driver

several Imagin gamens (last emperor and so on)

[Bogica]

Age of Empires

Age of Mythology

Warcraft III

Warcraft Frozen Throne

Original Starcraft series

Max Payne 1&2

Need for speed, the older ones, still are good

[TriviaBeast]

Diablo 2

[deadaccount69]

I have quite a bit of experience with hunting for old fun games to run on my crappy laptop.

 

Action:

• Half Life 1 - A classic game with crap graphics, yet one of the most immersive gaming experiences I have had. Throw on some headphones and become Gordon Freeman. I also highly recommend the two expansion packs. While not as great at the original, they really add to the game.
• Half Life 2 - Might be a stretch to run on that but it costs next to nothing. (More on cost later) The same as Half Life 1 overall but much better graphics, slightly better gameplay although slightly lower immersion and storytelling. If you can run this, you could probably just manage Episode 1 but Episode 2 won't go well.
• Assault Cube - I used to run this on a P4 with 512 GB of ram and crappy onboard mobo graphics through a GPRS connection. This game is super easy to run, has crap graphics but is also quite challenging, addictive, and downright fun without having a ridiculously high barrier-of-entry *cough*counter strike*cough*. For reference, I could often be a top player in this game on a good day, yet I can barely survive CS:S on single-player easy mode.
• Halo: Combat Evolved - Although I haven't played it on PC before, I have played Halo 2 several times and I love it, although it struggles on my PC. Excellent game series overall. Just a shame the rest of them aren't on PC(at least for now)
• Splinter Cell - I only have the original trilogy, and although chaos theory is undoubtedly the best for gameplay, it is frustrating to play on old hardware. Pandora tomorrow... well lets just ignore that one(it was pathetic). But the original is beautiful. It is not flawless, and there are many missing features, but I still love it to bits.
• Deus Ex - Although I can't bring myself to finish the darned thing due to a less than ideal control scheme(plus the fact that I am stuck), it is a legendary game which I would highly recommend.
• Call of Duty(the original) - Revolutionary for it's day. Very immersive, challenging war game. Nothing like the modern stuff. Runs smoothly enough on old stuff but don't expect any fancy graphics. IMHO much better than any modern stuff. Makes you really feel like an insignificant, weak soldier. Not some sort of steroid induced, invincible superhuman.*cough*captain america*cough*

Arcade:

• X-Moto - Fun, addictive, challenging, non-competitive biker game.(The original Happy Wheels) Thousands of free levels will keep you busy for months.
• Super Tux Kart - Free, fun, casual, albeit slightly boring karting game. Has a reasonably entertaining single player "campaign"

Strategy

• FTL: Faster Than Light - Extremely addictive, challenging game that will build your confidence and then heartlessly rip your saved game from you in one fell swoop. I struggled to complete this on easy mode.
• Age of Empires 1 and 2(3 may run, but it won't be a great experience) - The original classic strategy game. Hours of fun and just awesome for LANs(if you can get it to connect. It can be a bit temperamental.).
• Dota 2 - At low resolution it can run acceptably. Highly addictive, insanely challenging MOBA. Plus it's free.
• League of Legends - Ditto
• Uplink - An exciting espionage hacking game. Probably the most immersive, accurate game up till recently in the hacking scene.
• Darwinia - A cyber-punk civilization game by the same devs as uplink.
• Civ 3/4 - Although I never got into the series(not a fan of turn based. I'll stick to aoe) its very popular and runs well.
• Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2 - Very fun, basic, addictive games about running a theme park. Beautiful simplicity and easy to "play" AI. Once you get the hang of it, you won't want to stop.

Puzzle

• Portal - Fun, challenging game with a twist at the end. Runs well enough at low res.
• Myst/realMyst + Riven - The original puzzle game. You will find yourself extremely frustrated and yet intrigued at the beautiful simplicity and challenge of it. Excellent story too. Riven is the sequel and I would recommend playing them in order. The next three games are excellent too(especially 4. I loved that game.) but won't run well for you.

To get these games cheap, use http://www.g2a.com. They are a legit site that sells Steam keys for dirt cheap. if you're skeptical, check out this for more info.  http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/buying-advice/game/is-g2a-safe-or-scam-3610388/

 

There are many, many more but these are just what came to mind. Enjoy 

 

EDIT: You may want to check out this: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6856534-So-Old-But-Still-Gold/ for a few more 

[cleb]

I have quite a bit of experience with hunting for old fun games to run on my crappy laptop.

Action:

• Half Life 1 - A classic game with crap graphics, yet one of the most immersive gaming experiences I have had. Throw on some headphones and become Gordon Freeman. I also highly recommend the two expansion packs. While not as great at the original, they really add to the game.
• Half Life 2 - Might be a stretch to run on that but it costs next to nothing. (More on cost later) The same as Half Life 1 overall but much better graphics, slightly better gameplay although slightly lower immersion and storytelling. If you can run this, you could probably just manage Episode 1 but Episode 2 won't go well.
• Assault Cube - I used to run this on a P4 with 512 GB of ram and crappy onboard mobo graphics through a GPRS connection. This game is super easy to run, has crap graphics but is also quite challenging, addictive, and downright fun without having a ridiculously high barrier-of-entry *cough*counter strike*cough*. For reference, I could often be a top player in this game on a good day, yet I can barely survive CS:S on single-player easy mode.
• Halo: Combat Evolved - Although I haven't played it on PC before, I have played Halo 2 several times and I love it, although it struggles on my PC. Excellent game series overall. Just a shame the rest of them aren't on PC(at least for now)
• Splinter Cell - I only have the original trilogy, and although chaos theory is undoubtedly the best for gameplay, it is frustrating to play on old hardware. Pandora tomorrow... well lets just ignore that one(it was pathetic). But the original is beautiful. It is not flawless, and there are many missing features, but I still love it to bits.
• Deus Ex - Although I can't bring myself to finish the darned thing due to a less than ideal control scheme(plus the fact that I am stuck), it is a legendary game which I would highly recommend.
• Call of Duty(the original) - Revolutionary for it's day. Very immersive, challenging war game. Nothing like the modern stuff. Runs smoothly enough on old stuff but don't expect any fancy graphics. IMHO much better than any modern stuff. Makes you really feel like an insignificant, weak soldier. Not some sort of steroid induced, invincible superhuman.*cough*captain america*cough*

Arcade:

• X-Moto - Fun, addictive, challenging, non-competitive biker game.(The original Happy Wheels) Thousands of free levels will keep you busy for months.
• Super Tux Kart - Free, fun, casual, albeit slightly boring karting game. Has a reasonably entertaining single player "campaign"

Strategy

• FTL: Faster Than Light - Extremely addictive, challenging game that will build your confidence and then heartlessly rip your saved game from you in one fell swoop. I struggled to complete this on easy mode.
• Age of Empires 1 and 2(3 may run, but it won't be a great experience) - The original classic strategy game. Hours of fun and just awesome for LANs(if you can get it to connect. It can be a bit temperamental.).
• Dota 2 - At low resolution it can run acceptably. Highly addictive, insanely challenging MOBA. Plus it's free.
• League of Legends - Ditto
• Uplink - An exciting espionage hacking game. Probably the most immersive, accurate game up till recently in the hacking scene.
• Darwinia - A cyber-punk civilization game by the same devs as uplink.
• Civ 3/4 - Although I never got into the series(not a fan of turn based. I'll stick to aoe) its very popular and runs well.
• Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2 - Very fun, basic, addictive games about running a theme park. Beautiful simplicity and easy to "play" AI. Once you get the hang of it, you won't want to stop.

Puzzle

• Portal - Fun, challenging game with a twist at the end. Runs well enough at low res.
• Myst/realMyst + Riven - The original puzzle game. You will find yourself extremely frustrated and yet intrigued at the beautiful simplicity and challenge of it. Excellent story too. Riven is the sequel and I would recommend playing them in order. The next three games are excellent too(especially 4. I loved that game.) but won't run well for you.

To get these games cheap, use http://www.g2a.com. They are a legit site that sells Steam keys for dirt cheap. if you're skeptical, check out this for more info. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/buying-advice/game/is-g2a-safe-or-scam-3610388/

There are many, many more but these are just what came to mind. Enjoy

EDIT: You may want to check out this: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6856534-So-Old-But-Still-Gold/ for a few more

Best response so far. Thanks for giving me all of that time of yours. Thank you to the rest as well.

[razor767]

Psychonauts

[deadaccount69]

Best response so far. Thanks for giving me all of that time of yours. Thank you to the rest as well.

Hey no problem  always happy to help a fellow gamer and I know how frustrating it can be to find good old games.

[SnakeDrone]

This is bit off topic, but you could ask from friends and family if anyone has an old computer/laptop they don't need. A lot of people these days are able to find better computer this way then what you mentioned having, if not for free then under $50. Specially laptops that has a dead battery, but work just fine when connected to power outlet.

[LabRat]

the early quake games/medal of honor allied assault/early unreal tournament games/.that's about it. my brain doesn't think that far back anymore.

[Arkzyw]

Don't know what kind of games you like, but I can give some titles, that I think are worth mentioning.

Strategies:

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms

Heroes of Annihilated Empires

Earth 2140/2150

KKND 2

Cossacks

Original War

BlackMoon Chronicles

Kingdom Under Fire

Armies of Exigo

Battle Realms

Z: Steel Soldiers

Tzar

Warhammer 40k Dawn of War

Disciples

Disciples 2

 

RPG:

Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul

Planescape Torment

 

Action:

Crusaders of Might & Magic

SHOGO

 

That's just few titles. I tried to give some quite less known titles, which I could remember quickly.

[cleb]

This is bit off topic, but you could ask from friends and family if anyone has an old computer/laptop they don't need. A lot of people these days are able to find better computer this way then what you mentioned having, if not for free then under $50. Specially laptops that has a dead battery, but work just fine when connected to power outlet.

That's a pretty good point for people generally. However that isn't my situation. I have a computer perfectly capable of my gaming needs. I'm just looking for what this is capable of for a project I'm working on.  

[SteveGrabowski0]

Fallout 1

Fallout 2

Age of Empires II

Half Life series

Quake series

F.E.A.R.

Diablo

Diablo II

Warcraft 2

GTA Vice City

Mafia

Starcraft

[jollander]

 

Don't forget this beauty of a game.

[Miguel Batista]

RPGs:

Baldur's gate 2 - because it is awesome!

Kotor - with lower settings

Morrowind - another awesome RPG from Bethesda.

Strategy:

Total War titles up to medieval 2. With Rome 1 and Medieval 2 you have access to tons of mods some of which you will provide you a completely different game experience.

Darkest hour - a game based on the hearts of iron 2 engine that just makes everything better. Loads of mods too. My favourite is the Total Realism Project.

HOI 3 might run.

Europa Universalis 3 - another awesome paradox entry.

Fps:

Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 - amazing fps.

Medal of honour

Call of duty up to modern warfare 1

Honestly if younarrow down your preferences it will be easier since there are so many good games...

Oh, lets not forget tye first XCOM! Amazing game!

[sgtcool]

a

Battlefield 2 -> fh2mod.org , Project Reality, http://battlelog.co/

Bf 2142

Star wars Battlefront

Half Life 2

CS Source

 

 

Command and conquer Generals + Zero hour

Need for speed hot pursuit 2

 

Prison Architect -> 2D game released in 2015, easy to run

[GoldSrc]

You can add GTA III, GTA VC and GTA SA to the list of games you've been given.

[sobe]

You can give a favorite of mine a try that hasn't been mentioned, Red Faction (the first one... not 2, not Guerrilla, not Armageddon). 

[Delicieuxz]

Check out Gothic 1 and 2. They're two of the best RPGs.

[Miguel Batista]

Carmagedon