Ten great PC games that your computer will run
by Sam Naylor on May 7, 2009 at 11:14 am
A popular criticism of gaming on the PC is the cost of upgrading your machine to meet the specifications for all the latest games. What people who say this tend to forget, though, is there are plenty of games you can play on your PC without needing a hulking beast of a computer to run.
In an attempt at converting more people to PC gaming, I’ve compiled a few of my favourite games that virtually any computer from the last ten years will be able to run without too much trouble. You’re not going to be running Crysis on your old hunk o’ junk, so why bother? Try one of these fantastic games instead. Chances are, they’re better than Crysis anyway.
Fallout
I’m sure you’re not surprised to see this here. Fallout (and to a lesser extent, Fallout 2) was, ironically, a haven in a wasteland of linear games. Fallout is famous for being incredibly flexible to the player; most notable is the ability to play through without even using combat, just by interacting with the huge cast of characters. So open was Fallout that people are able to play through the game and see almost nothing that another player might have seen. Sure, there are modern games that use the “open world” dynamic, but Fallout still stands up as one of the biggest and most expansive worlds open to players today.
System Requirements:
DOS: Pentium-90, 32 megs of RAM, 2x CD-ROM drive, SVGA (VESA-compliant), SoundBlaster-compatible.
Win95: Pentium-90, 16 megs of RAM, DirectX 3.0a or 5.0, 2x CD-ROM drive, SVGA, DirectSound compatible sound card.
Mac: PowerMac with 16000k free memory, CD-ROM, System 7.1.2 or higher.
All versions require 10+ megs of hard drive space and a mouse.
Peggle
It’s not only old games that run on old PCs. Peggle is only two years old, but it has already reached the unofficial title of “most addictive puzzle game ever created”. The game consists of firing a ball at pegs in the hope of clearing all of the orange ones using just ten balls. Simple formula, but the result is an incredibly addicting and absorbing puzzle game. Well, I say puzzle game, but when you really break it down, there’s not much you can control directly other than the first few bounces of the ball. Even so, Peggle has eaten so many hours of my life that it just has to go on the list.
System Requirements:
Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista: Pentium III, 700 MHz or faster, 256 MB RAM, DirectX 7.0.
Mac OS 10.3.9 and later: G4,G5 or Intel Core Duo, 256 MB RAM.
15Mb disk space and an Internet connection is required to register both the download and CD-ROM versions of the game.
Grim Fandango
Tim Scafer’s masterpiece Grim Fandango was an obvious choice for this list. The game is undoubtedly one of the wittiest and best written games ever made, and features a cast who, ironically enough, are brought to life with excellent voice acting and a fantastic story. Okay, I might be laying on the praise a bit heavily, but this game really deserves your attention. The adventure genre, often considered a dead art nowadays, reached a peak in Grim Fandango. There’s only one excuse not to play this game: illiteracy. If you’re reading this, you need to play Grim Fandango.
System Requirements:
Windows: 133 MHz processor, 32 MB RAM, 30 MB hard disk space, 4 MB video card.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2
Perhaps not the most critically acclaimed game on this list, but certainly one of the best in terms of sheer fun. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a full-on real time strategy game full of preposterous and brilliant units, topped with a helping of self-parody and real-time FMV silliness. In the universe of Red Alert 2, tanks that can become trees face off against soldiers that can mind-control other units, and it makes sense. The expansion pack even added flying saucers. A fine example of an RTS that is pure entertainment from start to finish.
System Requirements:
Windows: 266 MHz Processor, 64 MB RAM, 350 MB HDD space, 4x CD-ROM Drive, 2 MB video card, DirectSound-compatible soundcard.
Deus Ex
Widely considered to be one of the best PC games ever made, Deus Ex is an example of an FPSRPG- that is, a first-person shooter/role-playing game hybrid. Like Fallout, Deus Ex is one of the most non-linear games you can play- each problem can be worked around in a multitude of ways. This usually results in unique player experiences, as it could take many, many playthroughs to see every inch of the game. As the old saying goes: “Deus Ex was awesome. Man, I should play that again.” Well, I say ‘old saying’: I just made that up. I’ve heard people say it though, honest!
System Requirements:
Windows: 300 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 4 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 7.0a, 150 MB available hard disk space.
Mac: PowerPC G3 (266 MHz), 64 MB RAM, 150 MB disk space, mouse or compatible device, 4x CD-ROM, 3D accelerator card.
Quake
Forget the outdated controls and nasty graphics. It’s Quake. Sure, it takes some configuration to get the controls to work properly, but once that’s done, Quake is as frantic and eye-bleedingly brilliant as ever. Get a few friends over for a LAN game, or play over the internet, and you’ve got yourself an evening of instant entertainment. There are endless custom maps coming out of the community, and the face-melting pace of the game keep the thrills coming, even after a horrible clichéd phrase like “keep the thrills coming”. Once you pop [the disc in the drive], you just can’t stop!
System Requirements:
IRIX 5.3 / Linux 1.3.88 / MS-DOS 5.0 / Solaris 2.5.1 / Windows: 66 MHz Processor, FPU, 8 MB RAM, 80 MB Hard disk space, 1 MB Graphics card.
Starcraft
Starcraft is one of the most popular PC games of all time, especially among the competitive scene. The Korean Starcraft circuit is so popular, in fact, that players have become celebrities and the competitions are broadcast nationwide on TV. This is perhaps indicative of the quality of the game: it revolutionised the real-time strategy genre, and is one of the deepest strategy games available. UC Berkeley even offers a course on the various strategies and theories surrounding the game.
System Requirements:
Windows/Mac: 90 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM, 640×480 8-bit display.
The Secret of Monkey Island
Alongside Grim Fandango, The Secret of Monkey Island is often heralded as the Holy Grail of PC adventure games. The writing is the holy water in the Grail, though; Guybrush Threepwood’s caption for the above image is simply “That’s the second biggest monkey head I’ve ever seen!” Seriously, this game is full of great one-liners similar to this one, and is a stickler for the adventure formula- make the puzzles as outlandish and crazy as possible. One of the most relentlessly funny games ever produced.
System Requirements:
MS-DOS 5.0 or higher: 386/33 DX, 1 Mb EMS, 256 color VGA/MCGA, SoundBlaster, Adlib, Roland MT 32. Basically, your computer can run this game.
World Of Goo
World of Goo serves as an example of a new market of games that even low-spec PC users can enjoy: Indie games. Indie games aren’t known for their graphical prowess, but rather for their often unique gameplay and attention to detail. World of Goo is a physics based puzzle game where you must build a tower out of bits of goo. It’s got all the makings of a great puzzle game: colourful and bright visuals, a catchy soundtrack, a deceptively simple mechanic, and little bits of what appears to be sewage. Actually, scratch that last point. That bit’s unique to World of Goo.
System Requirements:
Windows: 1.0 GHz or faster CPU, 3D Graphics Card, DirectX 9, 512MB RAM, 100MB hard drive space. One of the more demanding games on this list, but it shouldn’t cause too much trouble if you’ve got a modern PC.
Mac: OSX 10.4 or newer, 1.0 GHz or faster Intel or PPC processor, 512 MB or more RAM, 3D graphics accelerator, OpenGL 1.1 or newer.
Half-Life
Although this list is in no particular order, I decided to put Half-Life here, at the bottom. Why? Because, without all of the hyperbole I’ve poured into the descriptions of the other games, Half-Life is definitely one of the best games ever made. The total immersion that you have while you play, the feeling that you actually are Gordon Freeman, has only been matched by the sequel, Half-Life 2. All too often, when a game focuses on story, or level design, or the gunplay, the other areas suffer slightly. The massive amount of fine-tuning and polish put into Half-Life is evident from the fact that every one of these areas is top-notch. There’s a reason that people praise this game so much, you know; it really is something that everyone must play.
System Requirements:
Windows: Pentium 133 MHz, 24 MB RAM, SVGA video card, Windows-compatible sound card, 2x CD-ROM drive, 400 MB hard-disk space.
Well, there you have it. I went through a lot of options to get this down to just ten entries; there are a plenty of great games that can run on older machines. If your favourite isn’t on the list, feel free to leave a comment with a small explanation, and I’ll add them to the bottom of this post. Similarly, if you need help tracking down some of these old games, or can’t get them to run, head over to the forums and the community will be glad to help out.
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74 Comments » |
on May 7, 2009 6:41 pm
great article, mate. I agree with a startlingly large amount of this.. Although we need a Heroes of Might and Magic representative on there….
on May 7, 2009 6:43 pm
Really great article!
on May 7, 2009 7:21 pm
Where's Theme Hospital?
on May 7, 2009 12:49 pm
what about Diablo 2?
on May 7, 2009 8:41 pm
As they say, every time someone mentions Deus Ex, someone else reinstalls it.
on May 7, 2009 9:08 pm
It was on the shortlist, actually.
on May 7, 2009 11:11 pm
Honorable mention in the adventure game genre is FULL THROTTLE!
on May 7, 2009 11:36 pm
In terms of monkey island and grim fandango games, you also have to include the Discworld game. It's tricky as hell, voiced by Eric Idle of Monty Python and utterly hilarious. Funnier than all the monkey island games, and those were great too.
on May 7, 2009 11:56 pm
what about baldur's gate 1 and 2
on May 8, 2009 12:03 am
nobody likes alpha centauri? come on people!!
on May 8, 2009 12:18 am
How about Quake Live? U can play that on most PC systems and it runs directly in your browser.
on May 8, 2009 12:19 am
You can find a lot of old games on Amazon for less than $10 – enough to keep you busy playing for the rest of your life. I have a script that shows ratings, year, and price:
http://tendollargamer.com/
Console games too.
on May 8, 2009 4:41 am
That first picture is not a computer. It is the maneuvering space on a s5w nuclear power plant. The panel on the right is the EPC (Electrical Control Panel), the one in the center is the RCP (Reactor Control Panel), and the one on the left is the Throttle. The printer and monitor are fake.
on May 8, 2009 4:49 am
broken sword?? :O
on May 8, 2009 6:24 am
Does it really matter?
on May 8, 2009 6:33 am
I'd add Neverhood too. This clay game driven me crazy theese days :)
on May 8, 2009 6:36 am
Heartily endorsed.
on May 8, 2009 6:37 am
Heh, yeah. It was the best quality picture available.
on May 8, 2009 7:34 am
Diablo 2? Come on.
on May 8, 2009 7:52 am
That Quake picture is already the fugly (yay, saran wrap all over the place!) Tenebrae techdemo and not Quake. The system requirements for that are a "bit" higher than for Quake.
on May 8, 2009 10:23 am
No X-Com? For shame.
on May 8, 2009 11:12 am
jesus people go write your own list, there are about 100 games he could have named off but damn would you really want to read them all?
on May 8, 2009 11:44 am
We're actually just contributing to an already great list.
And I quote the orignal poster as saying: "If your favourite isn’t on the list, feel free to leave a comment with a small explanation, and I’ll add them to the bottom of this post."
on May 8, 2009 2:40 pm
Well Can I say this……
THE FIRST FALLOUT CANNOT BE PLAYED ON XP OR VISTA…..
I should know I had to download a virtual operating system to simulate WINDOWS 95 just to play the game.
k thx
on May 8, 2009 2:42 pm
You can also find them on rapidshare and a torrent site for less than free…. o wait that means it's free.
on May 8, 2009 4:17 pm
fallout can definitely be played on xp… i don't know about vista though.. and speaking of open-world rpg's what about arcanum? pretty good game even if it's combat sucked…
on May 8, 2009 8:24 pm
right on
on May 9, 2009 6:41 am
Age of Empires II
on May 9, 2009 10:05 am
Outlaws – FPS in the old west by Lucasarts from 1996 (?) can still be bought in an updated version that works on vista
Dune 2 now abandoneware i think but youll need dosbox or something to run it
Tribes from 1998 is now freeware and runs excellent on a low-end machines. this is my personal fav.
on May 9, 2009 7:53 pm
Great list. Especially love Grim Fandango, Fallout and The Secret Of Monkey Island. Also, Fallout 1 can definitely be played on Windows XP, try following this: http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=1593
My own little additions are: Planescape Torment and The Curse Of Monkey Island
on May 10, 2009 1:04 pm
Gah. You forgot Riven. Or Myst. Riven's the best of the lot. And low spec for modern times… Doesn't work on Vista though. Also, Creatures – get a torrent, and daemon, and you're set.
on May 10, 2009 2:57 pm
It can be played on both operating systems. nub.
on May 10, 2009 3:51 pm
Please learn to use "ironically" correctly. None of the things mentioned in the article were ironic, they were simply coincidences.
on May 10, 2009 8:11 pm
http://www.myabandonware.com/ for some freebies. cheers.
on May 10, 2009 8:16 pm
Gabriel Night? personally i think its one of the best mystery games out there bar none
on May 11, 2009 12:15 am
final fantasy 7?
on May 11, 2009 1:05 am
Constructor was good for a laugh too. :)
on May 11, 2009 1:08 am
Oh shi… almost forgot. Duke Nukem 3D. That takes about as much power as Quake did.
on May 11, 2009 1:24 am
Its been so long i've forgoten all about that, what a great game, they should bring a new one out :)
on May 10, 2009 8:51 pm
xcom, duke 3d and settlers 2 are the older games i’ve found myself going out of my way to play agian, although i’m sure i’ve got a cd with RA2, tribes and starcraft on it somewhere …
on May 11, 2009 5:32 am
Im playing thought it now. I just wish the second one had lived up to its older brother.
on May 11, 2009 3:06 pm
way to steal and rebrand that first image.
on May 11, 2009 3:39 pm
I think i may possibly say that was the best list i have ever read around the whole topic of games.
Not only does it have a pretty well defined subject area (not BEST GAMEZ EVA, for example), so no arguing there.
And, unlike many lists in these kind of areas, you actually had multiple genres of games; a vast variety of types here.
Sam Naylor, i salute you. I hereby award you one internet.
Oh, and I agree with Thundermeat. The Discworld game is possibly one of the best games i have played in my life, and i would heartily endorse it. If i could find it, i would buy it immediately.
Hey, while i think about it, there's always Amazon… I have a gift token for that… :P
on May 11, 2009 4:01 pm
There is also the excellent ePSXe emulator (don't kill me for mentioning this) that plays well on any Pentium 4/Athlon XP era processor. If you have the original discs, you're set. I picked up my Final Fantasy IX discs and then realized my original PSX no longer worked, so I got the program and a dual analog logitec controller and now I'm near disc 4. Lots of cheap goodness there since you can find the games for next to nothing online or locally.
on May 11, 2009 4:21 pm
I'm glad none of the Final Fantasy games made it to that list. They were never fun, engaging or worked properly. They probably would work on today's hardware, but sucked large on even really good PC gaming rigs back in the day. For FF7 in particular, you wait 2 minutes for a battle to start then yawn your way through it. Horrible game play.
on May 11, 2009 5:46 pm
do these work with integrated graphics?
on May 12, 2009 6:26 am
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 are must-have as well. 100s of hours of gameplay. Literally, 100s. You can easily put a couple hundred into BG2 alone.
Apocrypha is correct. You can definitely play Fallout 1 in Vista. Check out:
http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/
It is an awesome service and they ensure all games are DRM free and Vista compatible.
on May 12, 2009 8:24 am
Two words: System Shock
I’m gobsmacked that it hasn’t been mentioned yet.
And I gotta admit my old copy of Deus Ex is right here on the shelf and it’s begging to be played all over again.
on May 12, 2009 6:51 pm
Incomplete system requirements for Starcraft. It was, as are all Blizzard games, released on a PC/Mac Hybrid disc. In fact, the first thing I did when I bought my first mac in 2002 was buy a copy of the Starcraft Battlechest.
on May 12, 2009 9:44 pm
Aw, Commander Keen 1-6 isn't on the list.
Definitely a great list, though.
on May 13, 2009 12:50 am
awesome list…. would add total annihilation. great rts game.
on May 13, 2009 12:52 am
also agree with a previous poster, diablo 2 is awesome.
on May 13, 2009 1:42 am
Come on, where's Unreal/Unreal Gold?
on May 13, 2009 2:33 am
Funny you put Deus Ex in there. I found that disk a few weeks ago and I played it from start to finish with all the graphics on max. Game is beautiful, engaging and almost prophetic.
UNATCO trooper: "God Damn Terrorist!"
on May 13, 2009 6:15 am
You took the words right out of my cliché. Discworld utterly brilliant, books film games etc. Yes funny as a very funny thing. Great characters great voices. Great game!
on May 13, 2009 1:54 pm
I can play fallout on my fairly lo-spec Vista laptop just fine!
on May 13, 2009 3:49 pm
Gabriel Knight is great. I personally think sins of the fathers was better than the beast within.
on May 13, 2009 3:50 pm
duke > quake.
on May 13, 2009 3:53 pm
hmm… no civilization games, mr. naylor. they may only appeal to a limited audience, but game reviewers worship them.
on May 13, 2009 7:13 pm
MAXIMUM FAIL. You mention Starcrap but fail to recognize Total Annihilation. TA came out long before Starcrap and was one of the first truly moddable RTS games in existence. Does Starcrap have units like the Karganeth? Krogoth? Buzzsaw*? Bob**? Can you select 500 units at one time and tell them to attack somewhere and expect them to arrive at the destination without getting stuck on some stupid rock? Can you have 10 teams on one map with up to 10,000 units on that map? Can you cause a massive, constant barrage of carnage up to five screens away that requires the use of the minimap to fully appreciate? Can you hot-swap the A.I. with hundreds of alternate A.I.'s for an entirely different gameplay experience?
Starcrap is just that – crap. TA is the basis of all good RTS' and no one to date has made anything that comes close – not even Supreme Commander comes close. The only reason people believe Starcrap is the best is because they have never even heard of TA. Or those that have and think it sucks have never modded it. TA + Core Contingency + TAUCP + TACC + Bob + Cheating A.I. + 10 team "cheat code" + 1,000 unit limit per team "hack" = Awesome.
* A Buzzsaw is a formidable, immovable defensive platform. Fires up to 300 rounds per minute (assuming you have the energy to support this behemoth weapon) with a range that can cover about half a large map. You also have to build supporting radar and defend it against air and multiple inbound nukes, but once everything is up, one of these is dastardly to any inbound enemies. Can single-handedly wipe out enemy bases in range.
** 'Bob' is a very silly name but just imagine 1/4th of a Buzzsaw…on wheels. Building about 50 of these = instant awesome.
on May 13, 2009 7:43 pm
Solid choices, I'll have to check some of those out.
on May 13, 2009 9:16 pm
COUNTER STRIKE… best gunplay of any online fps… still is. Source got a little easier than 1.6 but no fps can match the amount of customization this game provides. It also makes you a very computer savy if you get into the game alot. not even going to mention custom maps it is too vast
on May 13, 2009 10:33 pm
What about the first 2 doom games? They were amazing to play and had low req's if I remember correctly
on May 14, 2009 3:18 am
Deffinately the Neverhood! One of my favorite games ever.
on May 16, 2009 3:06 am
i peed in a cat once
on May 18, 2009 9:57 am
The gratest game of all time Planescape Torment is missing :(
System shock 2 should be on the list too, I think it's better then Deus Ex, at least deus ex borrowed a lot from it.
Other great game that deserve to be on the list: Thief 1 and 2, Myst/Riven,The Neverhood, Abes exoddus/oddysee, Soul Reaver series.
on May 19, 2009 5:35 am
Fallout 2 > Fallout
on June 10, 2009 6:00 pm
Where is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri?!
on June 14, 2009 8:48 pm
Fallout, a game about a a dystopian post-apocalyptic future ( one might call it a WASTELAND ) being an oasis in a metaphorical wasteland of linear games….That's not ironic?
Wait, let me break it down…
Irony is when something is the opposite of what it seems it should be….
Fallout is about a wasteland, but is an oasis…
A wasteland is more-or-less the opposite of a oasis…..
GEE YOU'RE RIGHT the author CLEARLY doesn't know how to use irony!!
Buy a dictionary, ass-hat. Most ironies are in fact coincidences.
on June 29, 2009 3:19 am
I just had to reinstall Deus Ex. Thanks alot.
on July 27, 2009 8:36 pm
i just played it about 30 seconds ago on xp and fallout 2. it can definatly be run on xp idiot
on July 29, 2009 6:20 am
Yeah need Diablo 2 Up there. lol
on August 7, 2009 12:26 pm
what about baldurs gate 1-2? Simply awesome games
Diablo 2???
on October 16, 2009 3:40 am
Plants vs Zombies