2D LAN games?
December 18, 2012 9:54 AM Subscribe
Please recommend PC LAN multiplayer games that aren't 3D.
My partner suffers from motion sickness and so cannot play 3D games such as Half Life, Minecraft, etc.
2D games, such as anything top-down, are fine. What games can we play together on our LAN. We were thinking of Diablo III. Other suggestions?
Bonus points if there is a Mac version, but Windows is OK too.
My partner suffers from motion sickness and so cannot play 3D games such as Half Life, Minecraft, etc.
2D games, such as anything top-down, are fine. What games can we play together on our LAN. We were thinking of Diablo III. Other suggestions?
Bonus points if there is a Mac version, but Windows is OK too.
Diablo III is not LAN-capable - you have to play on the Internet, subject to the whims of Blizzard's server. I don't know if that's a big deal for you, but if it is try Torchlight II instead.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:59 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:59 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh, hell, FS doesn't actually have a dedicated LAN mode either, it uses a central server. Is your LAN connected to the internet?
posted by griphus at 10:06 AM on December 18, 2012
posted by griphus at 10:06 AM on December 18, 2012
Best answer: We play a lot of Supreme Commander multiplayer on the LAN... we just play Co-op against bots. (this is an overhead game but features a lot of zooming, so YMMV).
posted by selfnoise at 10:07 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by selfnoise at 10:07 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Do you mean "3D" or do you mean "first-person perspective"? They are different things, and the former is far more restrictive than the latter. Diablo III is 3D, but not a first-person perspective.
Regardless, you can go to GOG.com and you'll find many awesome options from the past, as long as you don't mind the dated graphics. Heroes of Might and Magic, Master of Orion 3, Civilization, and World of Warcraft are all 2D classics that should be fine and have LAN-based multiplayer.
posted by jsturgill at 10:14 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Regardless, you can go to GOG.com and you'll find many awesome options from the past, as long as you don't mind the dated graphics. Heroes of Might and Magic, Master of Orion 3, Civilization, and World of Warcraft are all 2D classics that should be fine and have LAN-based multiplayer.
posted by jsturgill at 10:14 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Internet games are fine.
And "3D" games that never change the camera angle should be OK too. (Hopefully!)
posted by Mwongozi at 10:31 AM on December 18, 2012
And "3D" games that never change the camera angle should be OK too. (Hopefully!)
posted by Mwongozi at 10:31 AM on December 18, 2012
If Internet games are okay, then a lot of the Blizzard titles are good recommendations, since they have always handled their own Mac ports and simultaneously publish them with the PC version. Warcraft III/Frozen Throne (venerable as it is!) and Starcraft II work pretty well on the Mac, and they both lend themselves well to co-op play, either against the AI or other people.
They use 3D graphics but are mostly played from a top-down perspective like their 2D predecessors (you CAN change perspective, but I don't think you ever really HAVE to) so I don't think they'd contribute to motion sickness. If you want to go further back, there's always Starcraft/Brood War (this was playable in older versions of OS X with a special installer download from Blizzard, but not sure if it still works.)
posted by Kosh at 10:45 AM on December 18, 2012
They use 3D graphics but are mostly played from a top-down perspective like their 2D predecessors (you CAN change perspective, but I don't think you ever really HAVE to) so I don't think they'd contribute to motion sickness. If you want to go further back, there's always Starcraft/Brood War (this was playable in older versions of OS X with a special installer download from Blizzard, but not sure if it still works.)
posted by Kosh at 10:45 AM on December 18, 2012
Best answer: Seconding Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light- the co-op is really good. And the Steam version at least does have online co-op as well as local.
The Trine series (Trine and Trine 2) is side-scrolling 2D, has co-op and is a ton of fun. Trine is just local co-op, but Trine 2 has online.
posted by Nelsormensch at 11:10 AM on December 18, 2012
The Trine series (Trine and Trine 2) is side-scrolling 2D, has co-op and is a ton of fun. Trine is just local co-op, but Trine 2 has online.
posted by Nelsormensch at 11:10 AM on December 18, 2012
Seconding Torchlight II and the Trine series. Throwing in Magicka as another suggestion, although Magicka may ruin relationships.
If you don't mind older games, I really liked the co-op in Neverwinter Nights.
posted by one of these days at 12:12 PM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
If you don't mind older games, I really liked the co-op in Neverwinter Nights.
posted by one of these days at 12:12 PM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Dawn of War 2 is a fantastic co-op game. Alien Swarm is great too. Both top down/isometric.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by Sebmojo at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2012
Best answer: Civilization V, with Gods & Kings expansion, bought on Steam. At this moment there's version skew between the PC and Mac versions but in the past (and hopefully future) they interoperate.
posted by Nelson at 4:46 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by Nelson at 4:46 PM on December 18, 2012
Liquid War is a lot of fun, cross platform, free.
posted by namewithoutwords at 7:54 AM on December 19, 2012
posted by namewithoutwords at 7:54 AM on December 19, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by griphus at 9:58 AM on December 18, 2012