Free / very cheap games that will run on a laptop?

Deicist

Hi all,

A couple of months ago my graphics card exploded, leaving me with no way to play recent games. In fact the extent of my game playing ability at the moment is either my main rig (core 2 quad, 4Gig...and a radeon X300) or my work laptop (core 2 duo, 4 Gig, mobile intel 965 graphics). I'm also terribly skint, so even if I did have a decent rig available, new releases are out of reach.

Anyway, enough of my woes, here's what I'm looking for: a decent game, that will keep me engrossed, for not much (or ideally none at all) monies.

Some games I've played that I liked (in better times, when I had the cash and technology to do so)

Eve online (my pc will actually play this, but can't afford the sub right now)
Oblivion
Morrowind
Fallout 3
Just Cause 2
Mercenaries 2
Battlefield (1942 onwards)

I think I'm looking for some sort of.... I dunno, strategy game maybe? Maybe even a 4X game like Moo2, something to really get my teeth into and kill some time.

So, any suggestions?

Antihippy

What's your price range?

You might want to check GoG out.

http://www.gog.com/

Also, for free, check cave story.

edit: actually it has MoO 1+2 for $4.19 if you're interested in that.

RoyceSraphim

Not to be a dick but GOG and its thread. You're actually very lucky considering that Atari titles are on sale. Until steam gives us a tech filter, i recommend X-COM:Enemy Unknown, X-Com: Terror from the Deep, and maybe Apocalypse.

There is also a freeware version of Sid Meir's Colonization called FreeCol

Babylon 5 based total conversion based on Freespace engine, Beyond the Red line


edit: Internet research for best open source games gave honorable mentions to Free Orion.

edit mk 2: If you liked Morrowind, try Elona. Elona Thread. Thread . Be forewarned, its quite a beast to get into and plays better with a full keyboard instead of a laptop keyboard.

Drake

I'll add to the redundancy. Get thou to ye Good Old Games, and take a look around. The most they charge for a game is 9.99, and lots of great titles at 4.99.

That said, I'm in a similar situation (dead video card, running integrated graphics at the moment).

It sounds like you are into a lot of free roaming, sandbox type games. Not a lot of older or free options there. Still, you have a few. Since you enjoyed Fallout 3, I'm gonna suggest Fallout 1 & 2, both available from GoG. You'll find that they give you tons of freedom. Elona, suggested above, is free and sandboxy. Check that one out for sure. It may not be your cup of coffee, but it's free, you lose nothing but some free time checking it out. Transcendence is a totally awesome, and free space based rogue-likeish game. It plays and controls like Asteroids, has quests, tons of exploration and stuff.

If you like FPS at all, there is always Doom (I & II), Quake (I, II & III), SHOGO: Mobile Armor Division (especially if you like 1980's anime), Blood (One Whole Unit), Descent ( I, II, & III). These are available at GoG/Steam and I think they are still very fun games to play, even if the graphics don't rock the house anymore. Hell, in a lot of ways I think the older FPS are more fun than the stuff that comes out these days. I tend to play them just as much (if not more!) as modern shooters even when I have ragin' graphics capabilities.

Hard to find, but awesome suggestions are Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Anachronox (if you don't mind JRPG combat in your WRPG PeeCee game). Anachronox is especially well written, with lots of great humor, characters and locations.

Finally I'll wrap this up by plugging Arcen Games. They make AI War: Fleet Command and Tidalis. The first is an awesome grand strategy 4X/RTS/Tower Defense game. Tidalis is a great puzzle game, with a lot of depth, tons and tons of modes (with COOP and VS options!) and a great style. Both games have great demos so you can find out if you want to drop you limited funds in their direction.

edit: Oh shits! I forgot about Minecraft. Check it out. There is a version that is free and plays in your browser. The pay version is in Alpha and is a sandboxy wet dream.

BigDes

The Mechcommander games are free, as is Mechwarrior 4 plus expansions.

The Suffering is also free on Filesomethingorother and its a decent length horror romp

cj iwakura

Cave Story is free, should work.

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/

I think you can download it there.

Gaardean

Dwarf Fortress is free, 4X-ish, runs well on a laptop, and can easily devour time. Steep/vertical learning curve, though.

Drake

Play This Thing! is a great resource for free gaming. Take a look around and check stuff out.

Ayulin

Not sure if they'd be up your alley, but Uplink and DEFCON don't have very high system requirements and have the potential to eat up loads of time.

Defense Grid is a pretty good Tower Defense type game, which I'm including purely because I don't usually play those types of games. It might be a little harder on the system, though, but you can grab the demo and see if you're interested.

Henroid

Torchlight. The game shouldn't retail for more than $20 and it often is cheaper via online DD. In case you don't know it's a Diablo-esque game, without nearly as much clicking. It's fun as bouncy-balls.