Pow! Freowwww! Games to test out my new rig with?
August 18, 2011 5:15 PM Subscribe
I got a new PC a few months ago. I like to think that it's a good build, but I never play any games on it anyway besides minecraft because I already had an Xbox and there's nothing coming out until christmas. What are some games/demos I can get (for free) that I can try on it to really get a sense of how good of a gaming rig it is - and if I should start buying PC games, or stick to xbox games?
also feel free to suggest any PC-only titles I may have missed in the past 5 years
also feel free to suggest any PC-only titles I may have missed in the past 5 years
Download Steam and make an account... there are many demos and trial games on there, and they frequently have "free weekends" where you can try out some games for free for a couple of days.
posted by xdvesper at 5:22 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by xdvesper at 5:22 PM on August 18, 2011
Response by poster: I have steam and I've looked at the demos, but do you have any specific recommendations for really high-graphic games?
posted by rebent at 5:26 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by rebent at 5:26 PM on August 18, 2011
If you want to get a good idea of how your PC handles graphically intensive situations the various 3DMark programmes are worth a look. They'll run some technically complex (and quite pretty!) scenarios and measure the frames per second you get. You do have to pay to unlock a lot of the features, but there are free versions available if you're just curious.
If you want to test your rig with a game the Crysis demo is worth looking at.
posted by fearthehat at 5:32 PM on August 18, 2011
If you want to test your rig with a game the Crysis demo is worth looking at.
posted by fearthehat at 5:32 PM on August 18, 2011
Shattered Horizon is older, but it's PC exclusive, and has pretty high graphical demands on its max settings. It's cheap, and also novel, working with the idea of zero-gravity death matching.
STALKER and its expansions are PC exclusive, very fun, and can get pretty demanding on highest settings. You can get them for cheap, and I think there are demos.
Metro 2033 (from what I've heard) can really tax a system at its highest settings, but I haven't played it myself.
You could mod Oblivion with the Nehrim TC, which I've heard is more fun than vanilla Oblivion, and also kills even top-of-the-line computers.
Crysis games, hands down, push graphical capabilities for the generation they're released in, but I think they get cross-released on consoles.
posted by codacorolla at 5:38 PM on August 18, 2011
STALKER and its expansions are PC exclusive, very fun, and can get pretty demanding on highest settings. You can get them for cheap, and I think there are demos.
Metro 2033 (from what I've heard) can really tax a system at its highest settings, but I haven't played it myself.
You could mod Oblivion with the Nehrim TC, which I've heard is more fun than vanilla Oblivion, and also kills even top-of-the-line computers.
Crysis games, hands down, push graphical capabilities for the generation they're released in, but I think they get cross-released on consoles.
posted by codacorolla at 5:38 PM on August 18, 2011
Also, it's not graphically impressive, and has a (bad) console port, but Risen is one of the best RPGs that I've played in years. It has a demo here. By the makers of the Gothic series.
posted by codacorolla at 5:40 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by codacorolla at 5:40 PM on August 18, 2011
the de facto benchmark is Crysis, a really nice looking but (IMO) quite bland shooter.
There's Starcraft 2, if you're into that kind of game.
The last current games I played on my PC were Fallout New Vegas and Mafia II, the latter because it was free with my video card. I wouldn't recommend Fallout as it's a 4 year old engine and riddled with bugs- but Mafia II surprised me- it looked pretty good (REALLY GOOD compared to the consoles on a YouTube comparison) and was actually worth finishing, despite the gameplay being a GTA-type deal.
Rage, the newest game from Id (Doom, Quake, etc) will likely become a new benchmark.
posted by tremspeed at 5:50 PM on August 18, 2011
There's Starcraft 2, if you're into that kind of game.
The last current games I played on my PC were Fallout New Vegas and Mafia II, the latter because it was free with my video card. I wouldn't recommend Fallout as it's a 4 year old engine and riddled with bugs- but Mafia II surprised me- it looked pretty good (REALLY GOOD compared to the consoles on a YouTube comparison) and was actually worth finishing, despite the gameplay being a GTA-type deal.
Rage, the newest game from Id (Doom, Quake, etc) will likely become a new benchmark.
posted by tremspeed at 5:50 PM on August 18, 2011
and by Crysis, I just mean the series as perennial benchmark- you'd want the latest one I guess.
posted by tremspeed at 5:51 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by tremspeed at 5:51 PM on August 18, 2011
Ess-Tee-Eh-Ell-Kay-Eee-Arr: Call of Pripyat has a benchmark, and it's pretty hard on your graphics card. Batman: AA is really good, but it's getting a bit long in the tooth.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 6:31 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 6:31 PM on August 18, 2011
Witcher 2 cranked up as high as it can go, apparently.
posted by tumid dahlia at 7:06 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by tumid dahlia at 7:06 PM on August 18, 2011
People suggesting Crysis are a little off beam - the first one was a system killer, but the sequel is pretty baseline.
The advent and long life of the xbox 360 and playstation 3 have taken the edge right off the hardware treadmill for PCs. Many of the games mentioned above can be played at high settings with a three year old video card and a couple of gigs of cheap RAM.
The one I'd go for is Witcher 2 - it has a 'show me your electro-cock' option, ubersampling, that absolutely murders framerate in exchange for a modest increase in pretties. If you can run it with everything maxed and ubersampling on at solid framerate (ps - you probably can't) then you do not have a computer, you have an ichor-fuelled godbox.
Plus, it's just phenomenally good, and you can get it for $30 right now.
I'd also suggest GTA IV - it's surprisingly demanding (on both processor and video card) and you can run various mods to make it prettier, which will also up the requirements.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:26 PM on August 18, 2011
The advent and long life of the xbox 360 and playstation 3 have taken the edge right off the hardware treadmill for PCs. Many of the games mentioned above can be played at high settings with a three year old video card and a couple of gigs of cheap RAM.
The one I'd go for is Witcher 2 - it has a 'show me your electro-cock' option, ubersampling, that absolutely murders framerate in exchange for a modest increase in pretties. If you can run it with everything maxed and ubersampling on at solid framerate (ps - you probably can't) then you do not have a computer, you have an ichor-fuelled godbox.
Plus, it's just phenomenally good, and you can get it for $30 right now.
I'd also suggest GTA IV - it's surprisingly demanding (on both processor and video card) and you can run various mods to make it prettier, which will also up the requirements.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:26 PM on August 18, 2011
Plus, Deus Ex Human Revolution is Amazing, and comes out in a week or so - grab it from Greenman Gaming for $40 or so.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:27 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by Sebmojo at 8:27 PM on August 18, 2011
If it has an nVidia chipset in it, then there are a lot of eye-popping demos you can download from nVidia's web site. But they'll refuse to run on anything except nVidia's chips.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:32 PM on August 18, 2011
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:32 PM on August 18, 2011
Witcher 2 cranked up as high as it can go, apparently.
Yeah the witcher definitely gave my PC a work out, and it's gorgeous.
posted by empath at 6:15 AM on August 19, 2011
Yeah the witcher definitely gave my PC a work out, and it's gorgeous.
posted by empath at 6:15 AM on August 19, 2011
came here to suggest free to play games on steam -- specifically team fortress 2...
posted by knockoutking at 5:31 AM on August 23, 2011
posted by knockoutking at 5:31 AM on August 23, 2011
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