Recommend me some PC games

Burning Eclipse

Hey guys, I've got a kind of a specific request. I was hoping people here could recommend me some PC games. I recently started a new job and for the first time in years, I have a laptop capable of gaming. Graphics card is Nvidia Quadro NVS 160m, nothing amazing, but it gives me 256MB to play around with.

There was a time when the only gaming I did was on PC (around the Pentium III era), but for the last few years I've been a console gamer through and through, so I'm keen to catch up on what I've missed. I don't have any interest in the likes of Crysis, etc. but to give an impression of what I'm looking for, the first thing I did was play the Civ V demo to check if it ran, then subsequently ordered it.

So, the tl;dr version: can people recommend me PC games that will run with relative ease on Windows 7 with 256MB of graphics. Since it's a work laptop, I'm not going to be partitioning and installing XP, so if it runs on W7, 4GB RAM and 256MB graphics, please post it up

Outkast_IRE

I can highly reccomend Sins of a solar empire and its subsequent add ons , the awards etc speak for itself and it would run on the laptop no prob id say.

ShadowHearth

Starcraft 2

Bf: bad company 2

Settlers 7

ShadowHearth

Down of war 2 + expansions

sink

If you like Civ try out the Total war series, Rome or Medieval II would run well but you may struggle with Empire/Napolean and Shogun II.

Sephiroth_dude

company of heros

Gonzovision

Europa Universalis 3 if you like strategy games, this being the ultimate one.

degrassinoel

left4dead &2

ShadowHearth

[insert any fps game that you played on console] on pc

Burning Eclipse

Thanks for all the advice. I've plenty of games to be playing, so I'm not planning on double dipping on my recent FPS history (no matter how good Valve's output is - and they are peerless). That also takes BFBC2 out of the equation.

ShadowHearth, do you really reckon Starcraft 2 would run on my gfx card? 256MB doesn't seem like much for something with that much going on!

Anything else people? Anything is welcome...

ShadowHearth

It will m8. Blizzard made it very flexible and it can run on huge range of mashones. My friend is running it on laptop with integrated on board card...


Games is awesome too. Irish community is very big too. Boards.ie section and irc very big now. We do LAN parties aswell!

cherryghost

Your card is par on performance with a desktop 9300 GS. These games should be playable and recommended:

Starcraft II
Heroes of Newerth
Call of Duty 4
GTR2
Civiliaztion IV/V
The Sims 3
Minecraft
Crysis
Bioshock
Elder Scrolls IV
Mass Effect
Shogun: Total War
Fallout 3
Dragon Age: Origins
RIFT
Trackmania Nations Forever
GRID
Tropico 3
Company of Heroes
World in Conflict
any Valve game

Of course there's plenty of older games, but I guess that's a pretty decent list of current 'gen' games that would be more than happy to your friend and I heartily recommend Your current card would be up for any game at lowest settings (with the exception of GTAIV and Arma II probably)

Burning Eclipse

Would anyone recommend The Witcher, and does it run on well on 7?

Another funny thing I noticed; Civ 5 crashes fairly regularly in DX11, but is stable as the day is long in DX9... is that a regular occurance?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

the witcher is ****ing awesome, the only edition out now really is the enchanced edition which fixed alot of bugs and improved some things about the game.
it's a fantastic game, combat can get a little stale but it's main attraction is the story and a feeling that what you do in game actually affects the overall plot unlike your mass effect's where all that really happens is an extra line of dialogue thrown into the next act.

CORaven

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Down of war 2 + expansions

I honestly did enjoy the single player of DoW2 but hated the multiplayer.
They have a new game which is 'better' and does not require the DoW2 or Chaos Rising, but has more multiplayer factions. The new one only requires Steam, while the older ones requires Steam and Games for Windows (pain in the ass).
I recommend picking up the old DoW1 series though. Good fun.

Company of Heroes is a great game. L4D2 is a great investment also.

ShadowHearth

CORaven wrote: »

I honestly did enjoy the single player of DoW2 but hated the multiplayer.
They have a new game which is 'better' and does not require the DoW2 or Chaos Rising, but has more multiplayer factions. The new one only requires Steam, while the older ones requires Steam and Games for Windows (pain in the ass).
I recommend picking up the old DoW1 series though. Good fun.

Company of Heroes is a great game. L4D2 is a great investment also.

Does retribution works without original Dow2?

Do you get all races in multiplayer so if you got only retribution?

I loved multiplayer in dow2, it was very good, I liked the way you could focus on your squads and not on your farms etc...

I do like starcraft too, but dow2 was good in it's own way.

CORaven

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Does retribution works without original Dow2?

Do you get all races in multiplayer so if you got only retribution?

I loved multiplayer in dow2, it was very good, I liked the way you could focus on your squads and not on your farms etc...

I do like starcraft too, but dow2 was good in it's own way.

AFIK, they dumped the other game's compatibly with it and made it a stand alone game. Apparently the GFW was too much of a handful, so yes. You do have to buy other races for the campaign, but I would like someone to verify that.

Retr0gamer

I'd recommend Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl as well. It will definitely run quite well on your system but trying the Stalker complete mod might be pushing it.

Spunge

I always post this but: Vampire Bloodlines

Usersname

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Starcraft 2

Bf: bad company 2

Settlers 7

This. Totally this.

busyliving

Ok i'm going to recommend an older game...Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind.

It is one of the greatest games ever, graphics are ok by today standards but there are a number of updates you can download that improve the graphics. But the gameplay, the environment and the story is all so unreal.

It is truely the best game i've ever played...after football manager of course

Burning Eclipse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd recommend Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl as well. It will definitely run quite well on your system but trying the Stalker complete mod might be pushing it.

Brilliant idea; I played Metro 2043 last year and it was a highlight for me. Just so different to your generic American shooter!!

Spunge wrote: »

I always post this but: Vampire Bloodlines

Brilliant game which I absolutely loved. I've never felt like a more complete inhabitant of a world.

busyliving wrote: »

Ok i'm going to recommend an older game...Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind.

It is one of the greatest games ever, graphics are ok by today standards but there are a number of updates you can download that improve the graphics. But the gameplay, the environment and the story is all so unreal.

It is truely the best game i've ever played...after football manager of course

Loved this even more than Vampire and consider myself lucky that I experienced it before Oblivion! It is in my Top 5 games ever.

Potential-Monke

May not be your type of game, but i've always loved the RollerCoaster Tycoon series! And 3 is fantastic with the add-ons. But you probably wouldn't be able to run 3, it gets bad on my yoke when you build a big park...

cherryghost

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Brilliant idea; I played Metro 2043 last year and it was a highlight for me. Just so different to your generic American shooter!!

Yeah heard that sequel was better than the first :pac:

Tea_Bag

a game i keep coming back to is Hospital Tycoon and Theme Hospital. also ski resort tycoon. great series.

SeantheMan

Bioshock
Fallout 3