Looking for a new multiplayer game for LAN play

Talon

2[H]4U
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Apr 8, 2002
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My family is in the tradition of holding periodic gaming nights where we invite a few friends and play some multiplayer game over a LAN. For the past five years or so, this has basically been Age of Empires II, with attempts to bring in Warcraft III or other new RTS games not succeeding.

I'm looking for something new (for us) that can meet some basic criteria:

Has Multiplayer - 2 to 8, preferably more than 8 players.

Not totally combat oriented - My younger sisters who like to build farms and small cities need something to do too. Some sort of building up game would be ideal. Something like Civilization 4 would be perfect except for the turn-based and time length aspects.

Can run on older hardware - Most of the computers have limited video capability.

Moderate individual game length - 30 minutes it too short, 2 hours is too long.


I haven't really kept up on games since starting school a few years ago, so I'm out of the loop really in what's fun or not. The main factor here is enjoyability, not genre. Games we've had a lot of success with in the past were Motocross Madness (trying to syncronize jumps with 6+ people can be endlessly entertaining ;) ), Tony Hawk Proskater, transport Tycoon and Age of Empires II. The dated titles are indicative of the time when we first starting doing this, not the hardware available. I don't think any of the computers are slower than 2 GHz.

I know it's a somewhat odd request with some odd criteria, but I'm hoping for some suggestions. Thanks. :)
 
2 hoursis too long... rules out Sins of a Solar Empire then,

Warhammer 40k Dawn of War is an excellent RTS which doesn't take too long to play. Also the different game modes can be adjusted to speed thing up. Take and Hold takes considerably less time than Annihilation games for instance and the gfx still look pretty good and scale well today.

For short sharp lan gaming fun, Trackmania Nations is free and immensely enjoyable.
 
Titan quest, diablo 2, diablo,

Stronghold, Stronghold Crusaders, Warcraft 2, any of the command and conquer games

Carmageddon TDR2K

Command and Conquer Renegade

Worms Armageddon

Rune, Counter Strike 1.6, Unreal Tournament


These are the games we've had the most fun with at LAN parties.
 
Carball can be really fun at a LAN. Even for those who aren't into combat games.
 
Rise of Nations is a quick upgrade from Age of Empires 2. I gave it to a friend who was playing AoE2 nonstop and now all he does is play RoN :/
 
Age of Mythology....

can't believe I forgot that one! It's a blast!
 
Hmmm - how about Rise of Nations? It's older and doesn't need speedy/new hardware. It's an RTS, but has the options to be able to win via Cultural victory or other methods.
 
Total Anihiliation( pwee wars ftw), warcraft 2, suange(new it's like starcraft) Empire earth 1,
 
Age of wonders 1, Age of wonders 2(i liked the first one more), Fantasy Wars, Kohan, Rise of Nations, Starcraft, Heroes of might & magic games are fun too
 
C&C95, Red Alert, original WarCraft, StarCraft, Need for Speed, GTA / GTA II, BF1942 :) :D

all minimal overhead & great games!
 
Hmmm - how about Rise of Nations? It's older and doesn't need speedy/new hardware. It's an RTS, but has the options to be able to win via Cultural victory or other methods.

Seconded. It has a lot of parameters that are easy to change and several non-military strategies to win, also highly recommend. Make sure you pick up the expansion too. (look for Rise of Nations Gold)
 
Games like this that my LAN group enjoys include:

any Worms game
MicroMachines V4 (haven't tried any of the older ones)
UT2K4 "ball" mode
Star Wars Jedi Knight 2
Starsiege Tribes Shifter mod (there's really something for everyone in this game!)
Heroes of Might & Magic series
Need For Speed series (the best drunken LAN games ever possibly)
Serious Sam series (CO-OP FTW)

I will add more if I can think of them.
 
Just got done with a LAN this weekend. Ended up playing Command and Conquer 3 all night and not practicing COD4 like we planned -_-
 
Seconded. It has a lot of parameters that are easy to change and several non-military strategies to win, also highly recommend. Make sure you pick up the expansion too. (look for Rise of Nations Gold)

imo empire earth > rise of nations and aoe2. You might try that. C&C Generals is okay, but will take more powerful hardware to run.
 
How limited is your hardware? Recently we've been LANing AoE 2, Company of Heroes, Gears of War, and obviously StarCraft. Need to get back into Empire Earth 1. That game rocked faces.
 
It's not out yet, but here's one to keep in mind, The Political Machine 2008.
 
was empire earth the one that you could start as cave men and play all the way through starships?

If so --- I hated that game about the time my star fighters were being destroyed by World War 1 era bi-planes at a LAN party. It lost dignity at that moment and I decided to never play it again.
 
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