War Game Recommendations

magerette

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I have a recently retired spouse who I am trying to introduce to the joys of gaming. He thinks pointy-eared elves and wizards don't cut it, but loves Tom Clancy, Stephen King and Steven Seigal. His computer skills are moderate.

I am thinking he might enjoy something with a decent plot; a tactical shooter or strat game- maybe Splinter Cell or Rainbow Six??-- but I am clueless in this genre. I'd like to download a few demos for him to check out, but don't know where to start.

Any of you more eclectic gamers out there have any suggestions for a simple, addictive and easy to learn war or sci-fi game with a friendly GUI? It would need to run on an older system (Dell E510, XP, Pent4, 256 ram, 128mb Radeon x300).

Any and all help greatly appreciated! :)
 
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Depending on his action skills, he might try something turn-based like Silent Storm. Other than that, the Splinter Cell seems good. What about RTS stuff like Company of Heroes, or historical stuff like Civilization IV?
 
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Depending on his action skills, he might try something turn-based like Silent Storm.

Silent Storm is exactly what I was going to recommend. I'm not sure if the computer you mentioned will run it very well though, magerette.

However, if you can get it to run, Silent Storm is a great game. It's got great turn-based gameplay (so he doesn't feel overwhelmed, and can think out his strategy) and the destructible environments make for some memorable game play.

A great recommendation!
 
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I'm not so sure that Rainbow Six would be such a good idea because of the extremely unforgiving gameplay (you die after 1 to 3 hits) and no ability to save during a mission. There is a semi auto-aim function though to balance things out a little bit and if he would play it on easy... hmmm... it might be worth trying.

Rainbow Six Ravenshield Demo (Ravenshield = 3rd part in the series): http://www.gamershell.com/download_1456.shtml
or
Rainbow Six Rogue Spear Demo (Rogue Spear = 2nd part in the series):
http://www.roguespear.com/downloads.html#demo
or
Rainbow Six Rogue Spear: Black Thorn Demo (Expansion pack):
ftp://ftp.ubisoft.com/games/blackthorn/demo/BlackThornDemo2.exe

Or some Ghost Recon (this is pretty similar to R6 but where R6 is more police-style special ops, Ghost Recon is more military-style special ops):
http://www.download.com/Tom-Clancy-s-Ghost-Recon-demo/3000-7455_4-10246071.html

Then there is a tactical shooter series that is frequently overlooked but that is tons of fun and has a decent story with nice in-game cutscenes and all that. It's Project IGI and IGI 2 where you play undercover agent David Jones. At least part 1 has the same "problem" as the R6 series though. It's very unforgiving (no saves during the mission and the missions can be quite tough). Part 2 lets you save a few times during the missions though. I think it depended on the level of difficulty that you chose how often you could save.

If he likes WW2, then there are a few more options, of course, like the Call of Duty series or Medal of Honor series which are lacking the tactical element though.

Splinter Cell always seemed very consol-ish to me. I never liked that series because of the over-the-shoulder point of view.

Well, since you said "war game" and "tactical", I think out of all of the above, you ought to try Ghost Recon first and foremost. The game also has two expansions (Desert Siege and Island Thunder) and there should be a GotY edition available including it all in one package in case he likes it. Good luck! :)
 
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Thanks for the quick response, guys.

The computer in question won't run DSII without major lag, if that helps. Turn based probably would be a good way to go and Silent Storm sounds like a good prospect if it will run. I don't think Civ or most RTS would grab him, at least at first. You really never know where gaming will take you. :) I never expected to enjoy anything realtime, and early in my gaming days I wouldn't look at a realtime game. Now I play them all the time( mostly cause I have no other choice, but ;)...)

Moriendor--thanks for all the info and links--- really helpful. I thought of R6 because he's read everything Clancy ever wrote. Dying after 1-3 hits would probably just make him turn off the computer though. I will definitely download some of this and test drive it--I know if I can stumble through it he probably can. :)

Strongest candidates I think would have a contemporary flavor, mouse-based play, good combat with lots of guns, and quick learning curve. I want to hook him in with something basic.

@Cormac--that looks more like my kind of game--thanks! ;)
 
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You could go old skool and try XCom. Easy to jump into, but addictive. Turn-based for a relaxing pace and non-twitch. Squad based tactics to keep the brain involved.

You might also try Deus Ex. Again, old skool but easy to understand and enter. A fair bit of twitch, but a good story to drive interest.

Both older games that will run like buttah on that system. Not gonna enthuse if graphics is critical, though.
 
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@Cormac--that looks more like my kind of game--thanks! ;)

Glad to hear this, but I now realise that I misunderstood the type of games you were looking for. Should've read the entire post instead of just glancing at it :(

Wars, even whole continents were lost with this kind of oversight! :cries:
 
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The commandos series might be a good choice. I think there should be quite a few demos out there and since they aren't very new they should run fine on your system.
It's a tactical war game. You lead commandos (duh?!) through missions.
I wasn't a great fan of the series, but a lot of people liked it.
 
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I would say FPS is generally a good intro.

I'll second the "be wary of Tom Clancy" thing. Theyre tempting because theyre critically acclaimed, and a lot of them are dirt cheap. They can really give the avg gi joe a real kick in the ass that starts to feel like a sucker punch after a while, particularly the older ones like the original Ghost Recon. I wouldnt sit him down with an RTS game either, that might send the casual newcomer into the foxhole for cover too. TBS very well might put him to sleep quicker than anything else, you dont want him going AWOL on ya.

Medal of Honor, Call o' Duty, those would be good, cheap, easy-to get-into-and-play games for him w/ lots of guns. Seen some major noobstorms around both of those games. Bro Sam aint a gamer but he enjoys sitting down and blasting nazis for an hour or two when he stops over. Who wouldn't?

Kill a million or so, then it's time to bust out Ghost Recon.
 
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Call of duty and united offensive, get my vote as well ...cinamatic, engrossing, not too demanding on hardwares.
 
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You might try to get Halflife (cheap and not demanding) and an old, pre-Steam version of the Day of Defeat mod for hubby, (preferrably version 1.0). Then get the Sturmbot program, and hubby can play Day of Defeat (WWII capture the flag - no story, but great atmosphere) all by himself. Or rather, with bots against bots. Since you can choose the bots proficiency, it shouldn't be too frustrating. Good for training, and did I say 'atmosphere'? Another WWII shooter I would like to recommend (but cannot: bots are extremely dumb, and gameplay is tough, no crosshairs etc.) is Red Orchestra.

Delta Force: Landwarrior
is old, cheap, not too demanding and decent, but it is tough in parts.

As far as contemporary settings go (and if it doesn't HAVE to be a military setting), SWAT 3 might be an alternative.

Another game that hasn't been mentioned (or I overlooked it) is the first Soldier of Fortune.
 
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It would need to run on an older system (Dell E510, XP, Pent4, 256 ram, 128mb Radeon x300).

Any and all help greatly appreciated! :)

Regardless of what games you'll decide to be getting for him, I think you should try to install at least 256 more ram with that system. Or go back to Win 98.. Otherwise it would be slower than it actually is. Why, I got a P4 myself still (2.2GHz), though with 1GB Ram and a GeForce 6600 something.
 
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Does he like Star Wars? If so KotOR could be an idea. It runs on systems way slower than the one you mentioned.

I agree with Arhu. Everything else can be discussed but by all means get more RAM.
 
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Thanks for all the input and suggestions. I showed him this thread to get a feel for what he might go for, and he really enjoyed your posts. I took him over to gamespot and showed him the ropes on looking up what might interest him. The evil seed has been planted and now we must nourish it :devilish:


I downloaded Ghost Recon and I have to agree with Sammy--not intuitive enough for a never-touched-a-game in-his-life beginner. But it did get his attention and a small gleam came into his eye as we browsed over the m-16's.

AFA the system--this is his pc he uses mainly for e-mail--we can always let him play on my rig which has 2 gigs RAM...then he will be motivated to shell out for more memory on his. Yes, it's an insidious plot but it's for his own good.:]

Once again, major thanks to all. I'll let you know how the saga unfolds. :)
 
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I see that I discovered this thread too late to drag out the WarGames quote. Kudos to the rest of you for avoiding it.
 
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I see that I discovered this thread too late to drag out the WarGames quote. Kudos to the rest of you for avoiding it.

It was *not* easy, let me tell you ;)
 
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Geez, you had to mention it. That connection hadn't popped into my head, but now I'm going to be running around with "Global thermonuclear war" running thru my head. Thanks, you two! ;)
 
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freedom fighters might be a good one. 3rd person games are usually much more forgiving than fps and while this game doesn't do anything outstanding the gameplay is fun and your husband might like the modern day cold waresqe storyline. also it worked fine on my video card i had just a year and a half ago the weak 5200. also if he likes mobster movies at all mafia is a not too hard game that has a well told story and a nice world to run around in.
nobody has mentioned them but adventure games (non action) are fairly easy for the non gamer to pick up. unfortunately i am not aware of any personally that might be to his liking but i'm sure someone here should.
 
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I'd second the Silent Storm recommendation. Don't worry about the TB aspect being to slow/boring as it's pretty much non-stop kill-kill-kill. However, it's performance is a bit wonky, so don't be surprised if it doesn't run well on either comp. Plus the Russia-to-US translation of the story, dialogue and skill system doesn't always make a whole lot of sense. But there's nothing lost in translation when it comes to the fun parts: lots of guns and explosions. :)

I'd also suggest Hitman 2. Straight-forward shooter with a good dose of atmospherics and style plus it accommodates varying play-styles from clean-silent-sneaky-one-shot-one-kill all the way up to double-fisted-.45's-blazin'-kill-em-all.
 
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