What should I play next

[Curious mum]

So the new pc is up and running but what games should I be looking at. Generally we enjoy CIV especially in hotseat games and Diablo 2 was fun, Halo seems Ok but I've not played much. Does anyone have any suggestions?

For reference the new PC is an intel Core i5 750 2.66ghz processor, a gigabyte mother board with intel p55 chipset running windows 7 premium 64 bit, Graphics card is a 1GB ATI Radeon 5770 and it has a wireless link to the router.

yours aye

Curious

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Wow! That's a nice rig! Best of luck with it!

As for what to play, there are so many different titles worth your while. You mention CIV, which is a 4X game, so I would recommend Sins of a Solar Empire. It is a sci-fi 4X RTS game - probably the best there is at the moment - and will run quite nicely on you rig. If you want something turn based, you might want to try Galactic Civilizations II - which is just like Civ in space.

 

[Vinnie]

It's for VASL I tell you...VASL!

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Just remembered: Sword of the Stars Complete is also on the way (another 4X game). I wrote a review of the previous version here.

VASL might be fine , but they should really get a game that shows off the potential of their new rig.

 

[Vinnie]

Yeah but if she gets a funky new ge for it I'll
be relegated to her old machine (which is admittedly a lot better than my one) and lose access to the big wide screen monitor. Don't quite know why she always manages to afford the new kit when I'm the one who works?

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Ahh...now I understand what's going on here.

 

[kawaiku]

Yeah but if she gets a funky new ge for it I'll
be relegated to her old machine (which is admittedly a lot better than my one) and lose access to the big wide screen monitor. Don't quite know why she always manages to afford the new kit when I'm the one who works?

Wait what??

And what the heck is VASL?

 

[Dr Zaius]

Judging from the games you said you already like, you may want to check these out:

Napoleon: Total War
Sins of a Solar Empire
Demigod
The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom

 

[Curious mum]

Wait what??

And what the heck is VASL?

VASL stands for Virtual Advanced Squad Leader. It runs on the boardgame simulator VASSAL.

Though why he insists on calling it my machine it's ours.

Curious

 

[kawaiku]

OoOohh... did not know that.

And heh indeed curious :crosseye:

 

[prymus]

Hey all,
Gotta go with Don and promote Napoleon TW. Game is a blast to play,challenging and can warm up a good graphics card. I just finished my build about a week and a half ago and have been playing all the titles I couldn't on my old P4 rig. Neen playing;
Crisis,very fun,great looking,very demanding hardware wise
STALKER-Shadow of Chernobyl,pretty fun,nice looking
Battle Stations Midway-seems fun but I'm only in the tutorial
Half Life 2,HL2EP1,HL2EP2, again. All the HL games have rocked hard,lots of fun
Am planning to get more games,the sequels to STALKER,FALLOUT 3, Metro 2033, Bioshock 1 and 2, and Just Cause 2. Need to finish a couple games before buying more though.Glad that summer is almost here,no more 5am morning wakeups and will be able to stay up late gaming!!!!

 

[Vinnie]

Problem withCurious is she is not into heavy wargames and I doubt I can persuade her into Napolean. maybe if it has more cookery than the others. The was almost none in Rome TW and very little in Empire TW.


A guy at work has been pushing Dragon Age. Is this worth looking at?

 

[kawaiku]

I hear it Dragon Age is worth it (there is a reason for all the hype ya know ).

And wargames eh... I know a few:

I was also going to suggest taking a look at the naval game(s) Distant Guns and Jutland. Though I don't own them those games look really good (especially Jutland). There is also Scourge of War: Gettysburg, it's one of the best Civil War games out there made by guys who helped do the Take Command series (I think). And then finally there is HistWar Les Grognard, the Napoleon strategy game. It looks very promising but I don't know how the gameplay is or if he fixed the demo from when I last played it but it's worth checking out as well. (Though I think it has a loooooooong way to go in my opinion, but patches might be fixing that.)

Anyways, I'd also suggest one of the Dawn of War expansions since they are stand alone and add in every DoW race except for the Tyranids (damned jerks leaving them out).

 

[Scott Tortorice]

A guy at work has been pushing Dragon Age. Is this worth looking at?

Dragon Age is an excellent game, and probably the best PC game of 2009, IMHO. However, you also might want to check out Guild Wars if you want a single player RPG but with with a free to play MMO option included. It's an older game (2005) but still can hold its own.

If you like shooters, I would heartily recommend Borderlands. It is a fun and remarkably addictive SP shooter with a sci-fi twist. It also has co-op gameplay if you want to play with friends.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Tropico 3 might also be worth a look.

 

[SkaterMcgee]

Graphics card isnt that great but I guess if you are playing games like Diablo and Halo it should be fine.

 

[prymus]

The reviews that I've read for Dragon Age have been great. Not really my kind of game but to each his/her own. As for the graphics card, that is an okay card but what I woould do if it were mine and the mobo can handle it slot wise, is drop in another 5770 in a crossfire set-up. You would definetly increase your graphics performance and be able to play further into the future with your set-up. But then if you can buy another 5770 it may be worth it to save another 100 or so and get a 5850, which has gotten pretty good reviews from what I've read.

 

[Curious mum]

I'm too slow for any games needing a greater frame rate than the 5770 can handle. So long as it can manage CIV and corel PSP it'll have to do for the forseeable future.
Yours aye

curious