Low & mid-spec PC gamers have needs too, you know.
Being a PC gamer at heart, the one thing I consider myself spoiled for is options. Tons of options. PC gaming, you see, offers everything from a quirky selection of indie games, to tons of freeware, cheap retro gaming, MMORPGs, budget titles, casual games and even bleeding edge triple A games, that can easily put the combined might of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 to shame. Crysis, after all, still is a PC exclusive and so are epics like The Witcher.
On the other hand, to truly enjoy those triple A offerings, you’d probably need a state of the art gaming PC, and -let me tell you- these things cost a lot of money. Even then, after acquiring such a monster that is, you’d probably need to keep making sure it is constantly up to date with all the latest bells and whistles, like say a physics card, and after a while you’d either end up living on the streets or upsetting your ultra-rich daddies. Then again, you could wisely stick with your older computer and try some less power hungry games. There are lots of brilliant ones and they are usually moderately priced too. Here are some of the best:
Heroes of Might and Magic V (turn-based strategy)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (RTS)
Fahrenheit (adventure)
Sid Meier’s Civilization 4 (uhm, it’s Civ…)
XIII (FPS)
Dungeon Siege (action RPG)
Sim City 4 (city building, apparently)
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (adventure)
Serious Sam 2 (FPS)
Sam & Max Series 1 (adventure)
Starcraft & Broodwar (RTS)
Deus Ex: Invisible War (FPS/RPG)
Rome: Total War (RTS with turn based bits)
Football Manager 08 (obvious)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (RPG)
World of Warcraft (MMORPG)
Posted on February 12th, 2008 by konstantinos
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I agree that today’s top games need a top computer - but then, tehy do want to provide a top-notch graphical experience, and for that they do have to benefit from the latest hardware. It’s a pity that in some games, the gameplay isn’t up to par with the graphics…
Looking through that list of yours though and seeing your computer constraint, I think Sins of a Solar Empire could really be something for you. It just came out, it’s epic, a mix between Cuvilization (or rather, Masters of Orion, for those who know this one) and Starcraft. Which sounds odd, but works extremely well…
February 12th, 2008 at 11:39 pmAgree with almost all the choices - but TES3 seems to be a bit power hungry for an oldie but goodie - not that I’ve been anyway near an RPG for ages
February 13th, 2008 at 12:07 amI’ve been primarily a PC gamer and even though I kept up with all the updates in PC hardware, it had become a chore to get things working correctly for this or that game. Plus, I just can’t justify spending $800-1000 for a new PC every couple of years.
I’m now a bit more selective about what I play on the PC. I consider how much I might like the game and what mod community it might have. To me, Oblivion is much better on the PC than the console for the mods.
I got a lot of mileage out of my Nvidia 6600 GT video card, on which I played Oblivion for the most part. I had turn off or down some of the graphics settings, but it still looked great.
Also, if anyone is interested in the games you list but might not be able to buy those games, consider gametap which has several of the games:
Heroes of Might & Magic I-IV
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
Serious Sam 2
Sam & Max
Deus Ex: Invisible War
In addition, they also have these excellent games:
Beyond Good and Evil (adventure)
Planescape Tormet (RPG)
Psychonauts (action)
Also, for us Americans, Fahrenheit is known as Indigo Prophecy.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:20 amExcellent suggestions as usual my friend, but the problem is we don’t have no stinkin’ GameTap in Europe. Well, not yet at least…
Oh, and still have the same PC I had back in 2003. I did grab some extra RAM and a new graphics card though.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:46 amThe problem is that new PC titles HAVE to push the bar on technology. The entire enthusiast hardware market demands it. nVidia, Microsoft, Intel - they pay big publishers to make this stuff. Otherwise, who’s going to buy the high-end hardware they make the most profit on?
I work for a boutique system integrator. We can’t sell the stuff without the gaming market pushing the bar.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:45 pm[…] The best for pc gamers on a budget and without a monster pc 16 excellent budget priced PC games that will run on any contemporary PCs. Gems like Starcraft, Fahrenheit, Sim City 4 and Morrowind are of course included. Submitted: 1 minute ago Category: Gaming Submitter: RssFeed Website: blog.pricegrabber.co.uk Report this link: Click here to report Comments: 0 […]
February 13th, 2008 at 2:42 pm@ Guido: Sins of the Solar Empire, huh? Sounds very interesting. Guess I’ll check it out, though I can’t believe that anything could compete with GalCiv II, which I apparently forgot to mention too. Heh.
@ Roys: Morrowind is a 2002 game… It was demanding back then, yes, but now? Better get soon back at some non-indie RPGs dear Roys.
@ edborden: Think you are absolutely right there. Then again, I do believe it is the consumers fault really…
Oh, and cheers everyone!
February 14th, 2008 at 7:56 amEat a third and drink a third and leave the remaining third of your stomach empty. Then, when you get angry, there will be sufficient room for your rage.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:20 pmKeep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:40 am