LAN Game Suggestions

[TevashSzat]

So my friends and I have alot of LAN parties. We get like 9-12 people, all bring our laptops and play all day/night/weekend. So far, our staple has been:

Starcraft: Brood Wars
Counterstrike 1.6
Warcraft III: Frozen Throne

Now, they're great and classics, but after 3 years, they become a little bit old at times. So, does anyone know of good LAN games for us to play?

They should preferably be old (since most of our laptops are really bad, ie Integrated Graphics) and relatively cheap since all of us would have to get it.

[Shieldmaiden]

If you like RTS, Age of Empires II comes to mind. You could buy AoE 1 & 2 for a £5 these days.

Or if your laptops could handle them how about Unreal Tournament 2004 or the original UT and/or Quake III?

[Fixiwee]

SWAT 3 is a funny coop shooter. You have to coordinate your tactics and movements. It's a nice game for a change.

Warcraft3 doesnt have high specs and can be funny too. The old Age of empires 2 and 3 games are nice too.
Day of defeat is similliar to CS, it's a german vs americans ww2 shooter. The old non-source version should run smoothly. Trackmania is a good racing game, but I dont know how tough the specs are.

[pevergreen]

Try defcon.

Depends what type of game...Diablo 2 is fun with 8 people.

Hard to pick games I know that are good in MP with integrated graphics.

[Warluster]

Well you could try the Call of Duty 1 MP; though its not the best (2 might work?) its good enough; plus its selling really, really cheap if you manage to get a copy, plus the expansion UO has vechiles and ranks. (#2 is $20 so 1 is about 10)

Try America's Army. I don't know if you can play it LAN, but if you get past the Training its a absolutely magnifcent game.

And my final recommendation is one of the Battlefield games. There is battlefield 1942 which is a 2003 game so hould work fine, plus it has a lot of mods which change the gameplay dramticlly (From WWII to Vietnam, Gulf War, Pirates or ACW, etc) THeres also battlefield Vietnam which is similar, not as good (And not as many mods) but has extras like napalm.

[TinCow]

Civ IV. If you're all in the same room and allow simultaneous turns, the game moves very quickly. You could easily pull off a couple deathmatch games on small maps, and it's a ton of fun.

[Kekvit Irae]

If you like RTS, Age of Empires II comes to mind. You could buy AoE 1 & 2 for a £5 these days.

I remember the days when I co-owned a gaming store. Weekend LAN parties of 2v2 AoEII... good times. If you've never used sheep to scout the terrain, you've never truly played AoEII.
I still remember one guy who used to swear by the Saracens as being the ultimate defensive civ, garrisoning his town center. That was until I went in with my Huscarls and wiped the floor with him.
Though, my favorite civ still remains the Britons for the Longbowmen. Fully upgraded, they have the same range as trebuchets and can out distance castle archers.

[TevashSzat]

If you like RTS, Age of Empires II comes to mind. You could buy AoE 1 & 2 for a £5 these days.

Or if your laptops could handle them how about Unreal Tournament 2004 or the original UT and/or Quake III?

Hmm, I guess I'll look around and see if any of us has AoE II and see whether it would be something we'd play.

I happen to have UT 2004 somewhere around my house and now I think about it, it would be pretty great.

Try defcon.

Depends what type of game...Diablo 2 is fun with 8 people.

Hard to pick games I know that are good in MP with integrated graphics.

Never tried defcon before, but I have been telling them of the wonders of Diablo 2 for ages, but they always seem to hate it

Well you could try the Call of Duty 1 MP; though its not the best (2 might work?) its good enough; plus its selling really, really cheap if you manage to get a copy, plus the expansion UO has vechiles and ranks. (#2 is $20 so 1 is about 10)

Try America's Army. I don't know if you can play it LAN, but if you get past the Training its a absolutely magnifcent game.

And my final recommendation is one of the Battlefield games. There is battlefield 1942 which is a 2003 game so hould work fine, plus it has a lot of mods which change the gameplay dramticlly (From WWII to Vietnam, Gulf War, Pirates or ACW, etc) THeres also battlefield Vietnam which is similar, not as good (And not as many mods) but has extras like napalm.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Battlefield 2 and I've loved playing it online, but sadly, its requirements are way too high for most of the laptops that we use.

I'm pretty sure that couple of us have 1942 and CoD1 though so we'll give it a spin

Civ IV. If you're all in the same room and allow simultaneous turns, the game moves very quickly. You could easily pull off a couple deathmatch games on small maps, and it's a ton of fun.

The problem with my friends is that they tend to be extremely impatient and a Civ game would take way too long for them to bother.

[TinCow]

If you're going to try BF42, I highly recommend using the Desert Combat mod. It's a vast improvement on the game in general and updates it to Gulf War I weapons/vehicles.

[Ramses II CP]

Personally I don't care for Diablo 2 at LAN parties unless everyone already has decent characters cooked up. Starting from scratch will get boring long before it gets interesting.

For old games I think of things like Myth and Myth 2, Ghost Recon coops, or maybe Mechwarrior 4.

If you can handle more middle aged games you might try Synergy for Half Life 2 coops.

[TinCow]

For old games I think of things like Myth and Myth 2

I completely forgot about these games, but they're possibly some of the best LAN games ever. The hilarity that ensues from random dwarf and wight explosions is worth its weight in gold when your opponents are in the same room.