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Hi guys, without sharing too many boring details: recently I've started using my netbook a little more since my laptop has broken down. Now it's either a gaming rig with a 28" screen and mindblowing audio setup running Windows 7 or a cute little netbook (Lenovo S10e) running Windows XP for me. I'm currently checking out games which are perfect for this cute little buddy.

But while most people looking for netbook games are just asking for titles with low system requirements I'm rather looking for games which are perfect for a small mobile device of this kind. Games that might actually benefit from a small screen, where the atmosphere is not that important (or at least doesn't suffer much from these conditions) etc.. Games that are well-suited for short sessions and where a touchpad and a small keyboard (with an awkward layout) will suffice get bonus points. In best case games that I'd rather play on a netbook than on a huge machine.

Games that I'm considering perfect finds so far (and that I have tested on this machine):
Battle Isle Platinum
Jagged Alliance
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
Heroes of Might and Magic
Ultima 1+2+3
The Zork Anthology

Disqualified candidates:
Geneforge 1-5 (requires 600 pixels in height - not supported by many netbooks)
Uplink: Hacker Elite (interface is broken on some uncommon resolutions)

So, I hope you get the idea and that you've got good suggestions.
Post edited October 03, 2012 by F4LL0UT
Besides HOMM, the M&M games also play nicely on netbooks. Other games I also played extensively on my netbook:

- Stonekeep
- Space Rangers 2
Post edited October 03, 2012 by lowyhong
I'm pretty sure Sacrifice works on Netbooks, as well as pretty much all of the older games.
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Licurg: I'm pretty sure Sacrifice works on Netbooks, as well as pretty much all of the older games.
Doesn't work on mine and believe me I tried :(

Carmageddon does, however, work on mine if I use the Win95 version :D

Acer Aspire One D260
1 GB RAM
1.66 GHz processor
Windows 7 32-bit Ultimate

As does King of Dragon Pass.
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Licurg: I'm pretty sure Sacrifice works on Netbooks, as well as pretty much all of the older games.
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JudasIscariot: Doesn't work on mine and believe me I tried :(
I guess that settles it: I'm never buying a netbook :P
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JudasIscariot: Doesn't work on mine and believe me I tried :(
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Licurg: I guess that settles it: I'm never buying a netbook :P
Meh, I prefer driving over my enemies anyways :P
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JudasIscariot: [...] King of Dragon Pass.
What that taffer said :)
From my experience, games like Fallout, Master Of Orion 2 or Alpha Centauri are quite tedious to play for long sessions with only a trackpad/touchpad because of all the clicking you have to do.

On the contrary, the point 'n' clicks from Wadjet Eye Games (Resonance, Blackwell, Gemini Rue) and older P'n'C (Gabriel Knight, Gobliiins and so on...) suit well the netbook format. I think the more "graphically advanced" (Deponia, Whispered World) won't meet your system requirements

You might also consider old shmups like Tyrian and Raptor as it only requires the arrows and 2-3 buttons.

As you cited Battle Isle, I'll also suggest Panzer General 2.
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Licurg: I'm pretty sure Sacrifice works on Netbooks, as well as pretty much all of the older games.
avatar
JudasIscariot: Doesn't work on mine and believe me I tried :(

Carmageddon does, however, work on mine if I use the Win95 version :D

Acer Aspire One D260
1 GB RAM
1.66 GHz processor
Windows 7 32-bit Ultimate

As does King of Dragon Pass.
My wife used to have one of those... *shudder*
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catpower1980: You might also consider old shmups like Tyrian and Raptor as it only requires the arrows and 2-3 buttons.
Yeah, although Tyrian is best played with a mouse. It makes the game much easier and more enjoyable, IMHO.
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F4LL0UT: Hi guys, without sharing too many boring details: recently I've started using my netbook a little more since my laptop has broken down. Now it's either a gaming rig with a 28" screen and mindblowing audio setup running Windows 7 or a cute little netbook (Lenovo S10e) running Windows XP for me. I'm currently checking out games which are perfect for this cute little buddy.

But while most people looking for netbook games are just asking for titles with low system requirements I'm rather looking for games which are perfect for a small mobile device of this kind. Games that might actually benefit from a small screen, where the atmosphere is not that important (or at least doesn't suffer much from these conditions) etc.. Games that are well-suited for short sessions and where a touchpad and a small keyboard (with an awkward layout) will suffice get bonus points. In best case games that I'd rather play on a netbook than on a huge machine.

Games that I'm considering perfect finds so far (and that I have tested on this machine):
Battle Isle Platinum
Jagged Alliance
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
Heroes of Might and Magic
Ultima 1+2+3
The Zork Anthology

Disqualified candidates:
Geneforge 1-5 (requires 600 pixels in height - not supported by many netbooks)
Uplink: Hacker Elite (interface is broken on some uncommon resolutions)

So, I hope you get the idea and that you've got good suggestions.
I think Uplink supports an 800 X 600 resolution. It shouldn't be too broken...
avatar
Licurg: I'm pretty sure Sacrifice works on Netbooks, as well as pretty much all of the older games.
avatar
JudasIscariot: Doesn't work on mine and believe me I tried :(

Carmageddon does, however, work on mine if I use the Win95 version :D

Acer Aspire One D260
1 GB RAM
1.66 GHz processor
Windows 7 32-bit Ultimate

As does King of Dragon Pass.
I see, it's got an Atom processor, that's probably a large part of the problem. Those seem to run a quarter less efficiently than other types of processors of a similar clockspeed.

Seeing this thread makes me think about trying Sacrifice on this laptop. Especially seeing as I already own it.

Personally, I've found Evil Genius to run fine on it, providing that I set the affinity to one core and move all the other processes to the other core. Also DK2 seems to run just fine.

The laptop is a Lenovo x120e if anybody is curious.
Also there's this thread that should contain a lot of info on what runs and doesn't :D

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/netbook_playability_thread/page1
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JudasIscariot: I think Uplink supports an 800 X 600 resolution. It shouldn't be too broken...
Yeah, but some older netbooks have a native resolution of 1024x576 (which is the reason why Geneforge won't run at all) so 800x600 is not available. However, I just discovered that the "broken interface bug" I encountered with 1024x576 resolution in the Steam version (which I tried last year or so) is not present in the GOG release. However, the map screen is still broken (the buttons are located beyond the screen). But the game seems to work fine with 640x480 (except for slightly blurry text) and all performance issues are gone when software rendering is selected.

Still, Uplink requires a lot of precise mouse actions in combination with fast typing and there's many tense moments where you really have to focus. IMHO it's a rather bad candidate for netbook gaming.
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JudasIscariot: Also there's this thread that should contain a lot of info on what runs and doesn't :D

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/netbook_playability_thread/page1
Dang, I had found another thread about netbook gaming some time ago but the other one had not been active in a while and had a shorter list. Didn't notice this one.
Post edited October 03, 2012 by F4LL0UT
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JudasIscariot: I think Uplink supports an 800 X 600 resolution. It shouldn't be too broken...
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F4LL0UT: Yeah, but some older netbooks have a native resolution of 1024x576 (which is the reason why Geneforge won't run at all) so 800x600 is not available. However, I just discovered that the "broken interface bug" I encountered with 1024x576 resolution in the Steam version (which I tried last year or so) is not present in the GOG release. However, the map screen is still broken (the buttons are located beyond the screen). But the game seems to work fine with 640x480 (except for slightly blurry text) and all performance issues are gone when software rendering is selected.

Still, Uplink requires a lot of precise mouse actions in combination with fast typing and there's many tense moments where you really have to focus. IMHO it's a rather bad candidate for netbook gaming.
Ahh I didn't know the you had the older style resolution :D My bad. My netbook has 1024 X 600 and I use an external mouse for gaming because the touchpad is a joke...and if I want to play Carma with numpad controls then I have an external keyboard just for that :D Polak potrafi :P