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Need some RTS suggestions for my 13 year old

Q

Quick1

Senior member
Ok?need some RTS game recommendations for my 13 year old for Christmas. He?s currently playing/struggling with Warcraft III. He?s already completed Rise for Nations + expansion, Age of Mythology + expansion, Command and Conquer ? Zero Hour and of course AOEII + expansion. He may have other RTS's but I can't think of any others right now.

The problem is his rig is getting a little long in the tooth and my Ex won?t be upgrading it this Christmas. He will be playing Single player only.

P4 1.8
1GB ram
GeForce Ti4400 (128mb) AGP
WinXP

It doesn't have to be new titles. With his rig, it would probably be better if it wasn't. I was considering AOE III or LOTR-Battle for Middle Earth I or II but the min. system requirements are dangerously close. He only has a 17" monitor. So if I could turn off most of the eye candy and run the game at 800x600, he would be happy. Anyone running these games and could offer any feedback on FPS -vs- system hardware would be appreciated.

Or, any other RTS suggestions?
 
AOE3 runs on my sister computer fine with a 9800pro 1280x1024 and AMD 2.4Ghz but this is with most of the settings at High so i am sure you can run it at low settings My Laptop doesn't have a problem with a AOE3 and it has a P-M 1.8GHz, 512MB, and ATI 9500 Mobile which is probably slower than your video card minus the dx9.

I would download the demo and see how it runs first.

The single player game doesn't take very long, but online game is where the fun is.
 
Rise of Legends (From the makers of Rise of Nations)
Dawn of War Series - Over the top bloody
Company of Heroes - Realistic bloody
Earth 2160 - SciFi, fun SP campaign

Also, he may really like Turn Based Strategies as well. Some of the good ones are: Civ4, Total War Series, Heroes of Might and Magic 5.

I can't help you with benchmarks, but I can say there is good chance whatever game you get, that you are going to be turning down settings and hoping it runs good enough until he gets a new PC.

As far as what you listed, Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 are fun games. AOE3 is pretty boring unless you play multiplayer.
 
If you can find them, any of the Total Annihilation series. I picked up TA Kingdoms for $0.99 at Fry's a while back.

How about those Command & Conquer anthologies? Single pack containing all the older games.

These suggestions may not have all the eye candy, but they were good games BITD.

You think he'd go for a turn based strategy? I've always liked the HOMM (Heroes of Might and Magic) series, AKA Heroes. I've played them all (except for some expansions) through IV, and bought V though I haven't had a chance to play it yet. You may be able to find a compilation of the older ones - II and III were really good.
 
Originally posted by: Aikouka
Originally posted by: Cooler
If he does not have starcraft get it!
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Seconded. Surprised it took that many replies to mention it :Q
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Thirded! Maybe if he can do this, download some of the campaign and CTW senarios for RoN and Exp. There are some really good one's that add alot to the original gameplay basics.
 
Banshee: Good info, that?s what I need to know!

I don?t think he?s into the turn based RTS games, but I?m not certain. I?ve never seen him play one. I even let him play my Advance Wars 2 ? Black Hole (great GBA game) and he was luke warm to it.

No, he won?t be playing any multiplayer, single player only.

Ahh?the old Heroes of Might and Magic series. I actually have HOMM 2 and loved it.

StarCraft! Forgot about that one. Classic RTS! Good one!

Good stuff! I?ll have to do some research and figure which ones I?ll get him but this saves me a lot of time. Thanks guys!
 
Originally posted by: Quick1
I don?t think he?s into the turn based RTS games, but I?m not certain.
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I've never heard of a turn based RTS game. 😉

Does he like city builder type games? Something like Caesar 3 or Sim City could fit the bill.
 
I would think buying SC for a 14 year old would come off as extremely dated. It is not easy for a new gamer to look past dated graphics and get addicted to an older game. That was the main reason I didn't even suggest it, most people who love SC, played it during it's prime (me being one of them).

I'd expect it to be difficult to go from how well Blizzard did the WC3 campaign, back down to the SC campaign.
 
If he likes Sci-Fi: Star Trek: Armada II

If he likes a laugh: Warcraft 2 + Expansion (much funnier than WC3).

If he wants to see what old school RTS was like: Dune 2 (Dune 2000 for the "updated" version).

Alternatively: Dark Reign 2 or Emperor: Battle for Dune
 
Originally posted by: skace
I would think buying SC for a 14 year old would come off as extremely dated.

I'd expect it to be difficult to go from how well Blizzard did the WC3 campaign, back down to the SC campaign.
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skace: Good point. He and his brother do have an Xbox 360 which they play Halo2 and basketball games on. Stepping back to Starcraft graphics may be an immediate turn off, regardless of how good the game is.

plyboy84: Battlezone 1? Is that the tank simulator? I have that one. Full version came with a pricey Diamond vid card I bought years ago.

DeathReborn: Actually, he's played Dune 2, years ago. I still have it on floppies actually. It's somewhere in my closet. Great game!

Boy, I'm really dating myself! 😉
 
Empire Earth quickly developed into one of my favorites. Age of Empires was cool too. Ground Control (might be free on FilePlanet still) was an interesting game.

Starcraft is good, I prefer Warcraft 2. Don't forget Total Annihilation.

Company of Heroes rocks... but needs a higher end machine to play well. Despite the blood & language... I find it refreshingly REAL. I don't think I've seen a more realistic RTS, and it will give your kid a history lesson at the same time.
 
Originally posted by: DanDeighan
Another vote for Total Ahhihilation, if you can find a copy...
Click to expand...

and TA: Kingdoms....also, one of my favorite RTS's of all time was Warzone 2100. but i highly doubt you can find a copy of that anymore, most unfortunantly. :frown: my only concern is if he was getting frustrated with WC3 he may run into the same thing with starcraft.
 
Another vote for Empire Earth.
I still LAN it with my brother in law occasionally on weekends.
Graphics aren't great considering the age of the game but the AI is super!
🙂
 
I definately concur with Battlezone! The 3d remake from 1998 is a hybrid of a tank sim, fps and rts. It's still a quite good looking game even, particularly if you take advantage of the new texture packs and such, and has fun campaigns. http://www.bzfiles.net/

ps- You are a cool dad for hooking him up with quality games 🙂



 
Looks like we came up with a butt-load of good ideas already.

I would again suggest some of the older, 2D games. They have light requirements and are easy to get into.
Z for DOS was an awesome game, but impossible to find today. Steel Soldierz is not much of a sequal.

I think Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2 should qualify as an RTS. Number 2 could be found if you looked for it and has excellent tutorials. I would think even a 10-year-old could enjoy it.

Homeworld is good but probably not a beginners game.
 
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