Dungeon Seige 2 is playable via lan, and is a very fun game
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Good Offline LAN Game (Possibly free)
Hi all!
Perhaps someone can help me with a little issue. I have just networked my 6 computers together (barely) and would now like to get into multiplayer gaming. Problem is I am not very familiar with the games available. Could you please offer some suggestions? Here are my criteria:
-Playable over a LAN
-Offline (I've got a 56k internet connection so online gaming [mmorpg's] is out for now). This would rule out games such as America's Army.
-Free?? (Not necessary, but it would be appreciated :)
-Computer players/NPC's (Again, unlike a game such as America's Army that only pits you against other real, live players). I guess you could say that I'm interested also in co-op games.
-Action/Adventure/RPG (Not necessary, but I'm not as interested in, say, board games)
Well, that probably rules out just about all of the available games!! If you have any suggestions, though, I would greatly appreciate it.
The above criteria aren't 100% necessary but I would like to stay somewhat inside of these bounds, but if there is a game to die for that you think should be mentioned and it violates one or more of the above criteria (i.e. it isn't free or something) by all means, please mention it. Thank you so much!
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Answers
LAN Party -
Nothing for free (that is worth considering - IMHO!)
However with a single purchase you could* consider:
FPS:
++++
CS Source run in Offline Mode
UT (as above)
BF2
RTS:
++++
Warcraft III/FT - althuough moving the CD from machine to machine to launch could be considered copyright infringement*
Diablo/LoD (mentioned earlier) but requires a Battle.Net EMU to host - Blizzard really don't like this
AoE III - according to M$'s EULA OK as long as the host computer has the purchased disk installed - same with earlier AoE disks
Codename Panzer II
AD&D:
+++++
Neverwinter Nights
Just Plain Fun:
+++++++++++
Any of the Worms series but especially:
Worms Forts
*(i.e. there's nothing in the EULA that actually forbids it! - Strict interpretation of EULA remains untested!)
I have a three copies of Unreal Tournament I use to plan on my LAN. It may be 5 years old, but it still is fun to get blasted by friends and family. i have played Counter strike on a LAN and it to is fun. Some older games you can pick up dirt cheap. I know all this has been posted, just throwing my take on it out there..........
You didn't mention what kind of computers you have hooked up. If I'm correct in assuming that some of these machines are of the variety with older 3d video cards then I would definetly pass on any of the newer first person shooter like Unreal Tournament 2004 (an awesome game). You're gonna need min a 64MB AGP video card for that to be worthwhile.
I'm a first person shooter (FPS) fan so...
I love the original Quake and Duke Nukem 3D because of the co-op play against NPCs. (I really don't know why more games do not have co-op play modes with storyline.) Those two games run well on older computers and are dirt cheap to buy. You can find it for $10 less and one license entitles you to play on unlimited LAN clients. Half-Life: Team-Fortress is also one of my favorite all-time team-play game but alas no co-op. If you have more robust hardware, I'd reccommend Serious Sam and the sequels. They look great and the co-op play is addictive. The game has very little in the way of boundries so you are not constrained by a linear storyline. You can wander and explore almost everywhere on each level.
Newer games typically have co-op against bots in team-deathmatch modes but lack NPCs or a storyline. If anyone knows of a current gen game with co-op play against NPCs with storyline, PLEASE let me know! In the meantime I'm making do with team-match games like Call of Duty, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, America's Army, UT 2004, Quake III Team-Arena, etc. (When Call of Duty 2 for PC comes out it will be awesome!)
Have fun!
You can also give a look at the classic "command&conquer" series, they're fun to play.
Also, on one of your points "-Offline (I've got a 56k internet connection so online gaming [mmorpg's] is out for now). This would rule out games such as America's Army."
You can setup America's Army for your lan using your own lan server, without internet connection - it would only fail on the "computer players" issue. But keep in mind, once you start "Multi-playing", you'll hardly go back to. :)
For 3D first person shooters, don't forget to have a look at "Enemy Territory", it's free and has so many add-on's that I imagine it might have bots available. (yep: http://returntocastlewolfe
It's a fun game, and runs well even on "older" machines.
Good lists by everyone so far, but you're forgetting something....
http://www.tetrinet.org/
I can't believe how many hours I've spent on this game at LAN parties.
Free Games:
------------For Fun:------------
Liero Xtreme:
http://lieroxtreme.thegami
------------FPS Games------------
Cube:
http://www.cubeengine.com/
CodeRED:
http://red.planetarena.org
------------RTS Games-------------
Glest:
http://www.glest.org/en/in
Older games that you can pick up for pretty cheap but are real classics:
RTS
StarCraft
WarCraft II & III
Age of Empires II
RPG
Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II
Dungeon Siege
Icewind Dale
Neverwinter Nights
Diablo II
FPS
Rise of the Triad
Doom & Doom II
Quake & Quake II
Unreal Tournament
Hexen & Hexen II
Heretic
Half-Life
A lot of these have mods and maps you can download and extend gameplay immensely
For older PCs:
The Marathon Trilogy (One of the most famous FPS of all times)
It's now opensourced and features better graphics and is free, meets all specs and runs on older pcs.
Get it here: http://source.bungie.org/
Greetings!
PS: It was the predecessor of Halo, created by Bungie Studios (which were then bought by Microsh*t)
Wow, I didn't even know that Marathon was still being played much less on a PC! This brings me back to late nights at the office with the crew playing deathmatch over the LAN on studio PowerMacs. Hehe.
I can definitely attest to the addictiveness of the game. I think only Duke Nukem and Quake came close as a productivity killer. :)
@VerifyMe:
hehe!
yeah, the good ol' times... I think there isn't any other game with so much fan maps available, as I have bought the Trilogy Collectors box (15$ or so, it was in one of the *really* old shops) and the bonus CDs feature more than 1000+ playable maps and alotta complete campaigns...
Just out of interest, did you ever use the map editor that shipped with Marathon III (Infinity)? I think it was the most comfortable and easiest editor *ever* created...
@C_Sharp_Programmer: I can tell you, the available opensourced version has the same levels as the old marathon I-III trilogy, but the textures are heavily modified (redrawn) by the community, so the game is pretty much up-to-date! And it's damn fun, as there are coop, dm, king of the hill, skull (similar as ctf) and other play modes...
Greetings!
Oh I forgot to mention, there are no bots in dm, but you can play the campaign in coop, and thats damn good. One thing I liked especially bout marathon were the hidden secrets (similar to doom, but not as easy to spot).
Another game I forgot, which is good for coop, is Serious Sam 2nd Encounter. (no bots in dm here either)
Greetings!
As for old classics, I notice that Nox has not been listed.
Nox is an excellent RPG made by Westwood. It's made in the vein of Diablo but it still varies from it. The most interesting part is the multiplayer aspect of Nox. Nox multiplayer modes are First Person Shooter multiplayer modes, and they work well. It's fairly old and should be purchasable for $10. It outdates Diablo 2. It also comes with a special 2nd disc which is installable for a multiplayer only version. This way, up to 2 computers at a time can play Nox online. It also has coop once you download the Nox Quest "expansion," which is free.
Since we're into older games that are fun to play:
Worms World Party - An excellent platform game.
Warcraft 3
Jere997,
Yes, we got really into the map maker in Marathon infinity. We in fact made a pretty realistic map of our multi-level office building to play on. It was a blast. We filled one of the executive's office with slime and added funny sound clips of his favorite quotes. I wish I could find that map now. It's a shame it was never published to the internet community as it was pretty well done.
Is Marathon playable over the net? One of the drawbacks if I remember was that it was restricted to LAN play only.
A racing game called TrackMania Nations ( http://www.trackmanianatio
Only one downside: it's a 200MB+ download! :(
You should note that it installs a CD-protection device driver called Starforce. There's a whole web site dedicated to banning this driver & uninstall options if you feel that way inclined: http://www.glop.org/starfo
Guildwars claims that it can be played over a 56k modem if you are looking for great online action.
Sacred is a really cool rpg style that can be played as solo or multiplayer.
If you like FPS then the original Battlefield 1942 is fun and can be set up for LAN, if you had a buddy with high speed they could even download some mods for it. My personal favorite is the Desert Combat mod. 1942 sells for like 10 bucks at walmart now since BF2 came out.
Just found one more: http://www.nexuiz.com/inde
freeware open source, based on the quake3 engine.
Jere997: I've absolutely no idea, sorry. You could try the TrackMania Nations Exchange (TMX) site's forums: http://nations.tm-exchange
free and lan playable:
BZFlag
i love this game, you're a tank and you blow up other tanks. there are power ups and all sorts of stuff like that.
www.bzflag.org
@damianiw: I mentioned it! Serious Sam 2nd Encounter is really just a better Serious Sam and it doesn't even need a better pc! Although, NPCs? The enemies there are more like hordes of no-brainers (i'm not saying it's not fun!!). very entertaining and you can even play coop it on 1 pc splitscreen with up to 4 players and keyboards/gamepads!!!!!
PS: UT was already mentioned several times, and something very interesting about UT2003 & UT2004 (maybe original UT too) is that you only have to buy one single copy, apply the newest patch which removes the CD check at startup and then its possible to play with only one CD & key (it's even legal to do so!!) The only thing you can't do is go online the same time, but offline play is perfectly possible.
Greetings!!!
If you have Grand Theft Auto Vice City you might want to get the Multi Player server and host one on your LAN and everyone can connect to it. I could play for hours!
http://www.mtavc.com/
Oops! My bad! I totally forgot about this question and somehow didn't get the email announcing the first admin comment from MASQUERAID. If this isn't a problem, I will close out this question now. If it is too late for me to do so, I will accept your decisions. So sorry for taking so long on this one. I do have to admit, though, that there were several good suggestions posted here. Thanks everyone for your help!
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by: WillHudsonPosted on 2005-12-09 at 02:35:40ID: 15451520
I would recommend Diablo 2 (and possibly the Lord of Destruction expansion pack). It is a very fun multi-player RPG, and it is possible to play it on a LAN.
I believe it would meet all of the above criteria apart from being free, but it has been out a few years now so you should be able to pick up a few copies on budget (I would seriously recommend getting the expansion as it adds so much more to the game).
I played it online for a good couple of years, and because there are so many ways you can customise your characters with skills and equipment it makes for a very addictive game. Website: www.blizzard.com/diablo2ex
If RPG is your kind of game then you may also want to check out Dungeon Siege. In many ways its alot like Diablo 2 but will probably last you longer. Again its not free but you should be able to get it cheap. Check it out here: http://www.microsoft.com/G
Another possibility is something like Quake, Duke Nukem, Half Life (including Team Fortress, Counterstrike and Day of Defeat) or Unreal Tournament. All of them are well established multiplayer first person shooters. Although they are a bit dated now you should be able to pick them up on the cheap and still enjoy hours of gameplay. Unfortunately Quake , Half Life and Duke Nukem are not really playable against the computer (there maybe co-op play where you can complete the levels with other peopls). The good thing about games like UT and Halflife is that there are loads of available downloads and add-ons for them which will increase their lifespan. Of the 4 mentioned, i'd recommended Half Life or Unreal Tournament - both of which have been out in the budget range for quite a while. With Halflife there are several Mods available which adds more Team vs Computer play. In UT You have the option to add Bots (Computer controlled characters) and several different types of game-modes to keep you interested such as Capture the Flag, Last Man Standing, Team Deathmatch, plus downloadable mutators which can add extra content to the game.
If possible you may want to get one of the newer versions of UT such as 2003 or 2004, which add more weapons, more maps, vehicles, better graphics and more game modes. I believe 2006 is the latest version so you should be able to get one of the older versions on the cheap. Websites:
www.unrealtournament.com
www.unrealtournament.com/u
www.unrealtournament.com/u
www.unrealtournament.com/u