Game recommendation

[pontifex]

What are some fun easy to play games that don't require your constant attention? Like I could walk away from for maybe 30 minutes and then come back to or play while doing other stuff?

I've been playing Bejeweled 2 Deluxe and tried Civ4 again but they get boring after a little while, plus I had no idea what I was doing in Civ4.

Something turn based without a time limit on your turns would be cool. Maybe something with a little more depth than Bejeweled but less complex than Civ4.

 

[RavenSEAL]

pokemon? lol

P.s. there is a reason they invented the "PAUSE" feature for a lot of games...

 

[pontifex]

pokemon? lol

P.s. there is a reason they invented the "PAUSE" feature for a lot of games...

I don't just mean pause it, i mean something I really don't have to pay attention to.

 

[nsafreak]

Best bet I can think of for you would be turn based strategy games. So I guess something like Heroes of Might and Magic V (or wherever they are in the series) would probably work for you.

 

[simonizor]

Have you tried minecraft? Try the free version at www.minecraft.net and see what you think.

 

[gophins72]

have you looked at civ5? it is a lot easier than civ4 and also has turn auto-completion

 

[JujuFish]

If you like Bejeweled, you might like Puzzle Quest/Puzzle Quest 2. Same basic playstyle but with an RPG setting where you level up and use spells.

 

[duragezic]

I was going to suggest Minecraft too. Haven't seen you in the thread or on Krakn's server so I'm assuming you don't have it.

There's not much of a point to it but it sure is addicting. Also it's only an alpha so lots of things to come. Check out some Youtube videos and the thread to see if you'd like it.


When I'm not in the mood to play L4D or especially MW2 where there is these real intense players and bickering and hacking and blah blah I just jump on Krakn's server for some laid back mining and building.

 

[zerocool84]

There's Gyromancer on Steam. It has elements similar to Bejeweled but with RPG elements. It's made by Squaresoft. There's a demo for it on Steam if you wanna try it out.

 

[Elcs]

You could sign up for the World of Tanks beta.

Plenty of AT'ers on there already and the games are pickup 15 minute rounds.

 

[KeithTalent]

Eve? From what I've read you can go on a European vacation and just leave the game running without issue.

KT

 

[skace]

Eve? From what I've read you can go on a European vacation and just leave the game running without issue.

KT

lmao

 

[penske2298977]

chess

 

[exar333]

Puzzle Quest 2 is a great game. Similar (but better IMHO) than Bejeweled with some pretty fun RPG elements.

 

[pontifex]

You could sign up for the World of Tanks beta.

Plenty of AT'ers on there already and the games are pickup 15 minute rounds.

I may need to leave the game or at least be away from the pc at a moment's notice. i asume this is like other MMOs where it's real time?

I'd rather be SP so i don't have people relying on me in game.

 

[power_hour]

Turn based = Total War series or Galactic Civ. I did eventually bore from them tho but YMMV. RTS are good for pausing so that might be an option.

Regarding EVE: LOL! He wasn't kidding about logging in and going on vacation. I remember spending hours in mind numbing gate camps and falling asleep or going AFK. Somehow I don't think this game would suit your requirements.

Curious, did you just have a baby? We did and I am kinda in the same boat... so nothing with a serious time sink for me anymore

 

[pontifex]

Turn based = Total War series or Galactic Civ. I did eventually bore from them tho but YMMV. RTS are good for pausing so that might be an option.

Regarding EVE: LOL! He wasn't kidding about logging in and going on vacation. I remember spending hours in mind numbing gate camps and falling asleep or going AFK. Somehow I don't think this game would suit your requirements.

Curious, did you just have a baby? We did and I am kinda in the same boat... so nothing with a serious time sink for me anymore

Started working from home and we're not at point where we're taking the normal workload yet so I get assigned stuff throughout the day. Sometimes it's easy and I fix it quickly so I have some extra time on my hands. Sometimes we'll have last minute meetings or other colleagues ask questions, etc.

I have my personal laptop at my work area so I can do other non-work stuff.

Just trying to pass the time. Once we go to the regular workload, I highly doubt I'll have any time to play games.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Crimsonland and Puzzlequest 1 and 2.

 

[simonizor]

Did you even try minecraft? It's way more fun than the Super Nintendo era graphics make it look.

 

[Skott]

If you like RPG strategy with both real time and turn base you could try Jagged Alliance 2. Even during the real time phase you can walk away from it. Just simply back out of the strategy map to the overview map or you can simply save your turn at any time. Also once the real time switches to turn based moves the game will not continue until you click the end of your move. I have walked away from a game for hours without a crash or any such malfunction. The 1.13 mod also allows for a lot of replay. The game is old now so you can pretty much run it on any PC/Laptop. My laptop for example has a simple T-6600 cpu & 4500 IGP and it runs fine. I also have a copy of it on my rig in sig. You can buy it on STEAM but if you prefer to have something non-Steam related just buy it from GoG or D2D. You should be able to find it for $10 or maybe even less.

You could also play any of the HOMM series games since they are turned base. HOMM5 is pretty good and its the latest in the series if you want something a bit more modern.

 

[Obsoleet]

Hands down, for turn based, HOMM5. But I'd go for King's Bounty. It's got the turn based combat but a real time map. It's not really time based though. The KB series is alot newer than HOMM (nothing wrong with HOMM.. I bought HOMM1 on release back in the 90s and played them all).

But I think you'll find a big community around the King's Bounty games. Play through the Armored Princess Demo http://store.steampowered.com/app/3170/

HOMM/KB is one of my all time favorite series.

 

[DefDC]

Fallout 1 and 2.

It may be basic, but I LOVE Fantastic Contraption. http://fantasticcontraption.com

Heck, hit facebook. Plenty of free mindless games. Get sucked into the MafiaWars/Ville vortex. The more time you spend away, the more stuff you can do...

 

[cronos]

I came here to post Puzzle Quest like apparently several others already have.

 

[gorcorps]

You're stuck with farmville until you get over your phobia of using the pause/ESC button

Why does it have to be running 24/7 to meet your gaming needs? This makes no sense at all.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Hmm, what about Defcon? Technically it's a real time strategy game centered around nuclear war, but the thing is - it's actually REAL TIME. You can speed up the game time if you want, or you can leave it running at 1X and it'll stretch the game out over several hours. There's no resource gathering, you just place radar stations, nuke silos, fleets, and airbases. The goal is to kill off as much of the enemy populations as possible while protecting as much of your own population. At 1X you will only have to issue orders every once in a while and you can leave for a while without missing anything. You can even do 1X in multiplayer, I think it's called "office mode" or something.