Struggling for a PC FPS for a 12 year old

AlecEiffel

sillygoose wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the ongoing suggestions. Portal 2 is now installed and looks good

(even that has a few cheeky bits but it will go over his head, in the opening clip one of the workers has his computer screen pixelated and is subtly pleasing himself to the presumably adult content, made me laugh)

Where's that?? I have no recollection of that and it doesn't sound like something Valve would put I one of their games. All the other workers are dead at the start?

PenguinJim

sillygoose wrote: »

Laptop has a humble 1.8Ghz quad core, 4GB, and Radeon HD 8330 graphics chip. I wiped off Win 8 and put a clean vanilla Win 7 64 bit install on.

There are lots of benchmarks at the bottom of this page: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8330.92874.0.html

I'd still recommend Minecraft, I think. And perhaps some 2D games..?

I know I'm sticking my nose in and interfering, so apologies in advance, but have you considered a few slower-paced games? Warcraft 3 is already a great start. Civilization IV would run a treat on that laptop, and I found Civ2 quite "educational" when I was that age (and on disc, CivIV shouldn't require Steam). F.T.L. is a very tactical spaceship management game, and it's DRM-free (doesn't require Steam). Mount & Blade: Warband has lots of delightful character and army management as you run about from battle to battle, building up your army and taking over / defending your villages, towns and castles.

And on Origin, you can get the entire Command & Conquer Collection, which is frequently on sale from various places for about a fiver (providing an Origin key). In fact, Westwood released some of the older games (like C&C: Tiberian Sun) for free.

sillygoose

AlecEiffel wrote: »

Where's that?? I have no recollection of that and it doesn't sound like something Valve would put I one of their games. All the other workers are dead at the start?

When first run there was a sort of video intro with lots of faceless people sitting at rows of desks, one near the middle. Will look again next chance.

sillygoose

PenguinJim wrote: »

There are lots of benchmarks at the bottom of this page: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8330.92874.0.html

I'd still recommend Minecraft, I think. And perhaps some 2D games..?

I know I'm sticking my nose in and interfering, so apologies in advance, but have you considered a few slower-paced games? Warcraft 3 is already a great start. Civilization IV would run a treat on that laptop, and I found Civ2 quite "educational" when I was that age (and on disc, CivIV shouldn't require Steam). F.T.L. is a very tactical spaceship management game, and it's DRM-free (doesn't require Steam). Mount & Blade: Warband has lots of delightful character and army management as you run about from battle to battle, building up your army and taking over / defending your villages, towns and castles.

And on Origin, you can get the entire Command & Conquer Collection, which is frequently on sale from various places for about a fiver (providing an Origin key). In fact, Westwood released some of the older games (like C&C: Tiberian Sun) for free.

Yes Minecraft is already on (although I always think it plays best on a tablet as its ideal for a touchscreen interface)

Warcraft 3 running well.

Will look at some other suggestions thanks, my son only got it this morning so enough to be going on with today

d70cw6

agree with the half life 2 suggestion
portal 1/2 is also awesome puzzle FPP

speaking of which i believe i have a spare half life 2 key on my steam account which he can have if you also have steam and send me a message (d70cw6 is my account name there too).

sillygoose

d70cw6 wrote: »

agree with the half life 2 suggestion
portal 1/2 is also awesome puzzle FPP

speaking of which i believe i have a spare half life 2 key on my steam account which he can have if you also have steam and send me a message (d70cw6 is my account name there too).

Aww thats really kind of you. :T

But its currently rated a 16+ and a quick google showed its rated 18+ in some areas and is probably a bit too violent for my son, its not going to turn him into a crazed killer but it might cause nightmares!

SueBee

sillygoose wrote: »

Hi,

My son is getting a laptop for his birthday soon but I feel a bit guilty as he really needs it mostly for school work so not so much of a fun present.

It would soften the guilt a bit if I could load it with some good games, I already put some freebie downloads on and bought Warcraft 3 which is loaded OK.

I am now looking for a decent first person shooter suitable for a 12 year old but most seem rated higher or are 10 years old or something.

I don't mind one with fairly graphic violence as he is a well balanced mature lad and easily understands fantasy vs reality.

The adult content in some bothers me more, he knows all about the birds and bees but I don't like the way many games treat women as a bit of meat for male characters benefit, its not a message I want him seeing, I don't really understand the need for gratuitous bad language either.

So anyone know a graphically good looking PC FPS that isn't ported from a Sinclair Spectrum that might be what I am after? thank you!

There are literally none!

Alan2004

I'd suggest battlefield 1943, there's no blood or kill cams etc, they get to drive tanks and jeeps, plus fly planes. It's a bit old now, but my 10 year old sons love it. Although it's only 3 levels, it's multiplayer only so every game is different. It's also relatively cheap because of the age of the game. The age rating is 16, but appropriate for much younger

[Deleted User]

Battlefield 1943 led me to Battlefield Vietnam - which I still remember very fondly and an EPIC soundtrack with it. You can ride around in a helo with. It's only £3.50 for a used version of it on Amazon! I'm sure the graphics are rubbish compared to more recent games since it did run nicely on my cheap PC back in 2006

Tropez

Return to Castle Wolfenstein perhaps?

Pretty old now but the graphics aren't too bad and it should run on a newish laptop (even if that laptop only has an integrated chip).

There's some "scary" parts with zombies and monsters but a lot of it is about killing soldiers (some rather heavily augmented) of a certain fascist movement that was popular in Germany from the 1930s until their leader's suicide in 1945 (MSE doesn't let you use the word).

Quake IV is another option, along the same lines. Lots of killing aliens and "repurposed" humans (think Borg from Star Trek, only a bit more grizzly). There might be some bad language in it but I don't recall any sexual references.

I was playing Quake 1 around his age.

Ah, just seen that you think HL2 might be a bit too much for your son. I'd skip Quake IV.... and probably RtCW.