I just bought a new computer (Athalon 1700+ processor, 256MB pc2100 memory, Radeon All in Wonder 7500 video card), and want to pick up a couple of games, but there are soooooo many out there.

For the first game, I am looking for a strategy war game (one where I can move men, planes, etc). Graphics isn't too important here, but strategy and the fun of the play is.

For the second game, I want a first person perspective "shoot -em-up" game. Like Doom, just whatever is out there today.

Also, should I buy a joystick for my machine, one of the controllers that looks like it's from a PC 2 or X-box game, or would the keyboard work just fine?

Price will be taken into account, but not as much as the quality of the game itself. Thanks!

for strategy, age of empires 2 is the best.
for shooter, get either medal of honor, return to wolfenstein or serious sam. those are the newest and really show off the graphics and sound of a loaded computer.

For strategy with men and planes and such i'd recommend Empire Earth.

For First Person Shooter, I think Warcp above nailed it with the recommendations. I'd just add--Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (after you've beaten The First Encounter, of course). And my personal favorite, Half Life (old, but damn fine game), still on my machine after all these years.

--HN

Thanks for the suggestions.

Where are the cheaper places to buy video games, if I wanted to buy a couple at a time?

Also, what about a driving game (something like the "Cruising USA" arcade game)?

And do you recommend buying a steering wheel, joy stick, game controller, or does the keyboard & mouse work fine for these games?

If you like turn-based strategy, you can't beat Civilization 3. Also, coming this month is the long-awaited Heroes of Might and Magic 4.

For driving I would go with Midtown Madness 1+2. I would also say Civ3, Deus Ex (less than $10 bucks at Wal-mart), or Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

Civilization 3 and Age of Empires as previously mentioned for moving troops around strategy games.

I'd also agree with MoH Allied Assault and Return to Castle Wolfenstein for first person shooters.

I play all 4 and love 'em.

Where to buy.....hmm...just keep an eye out for deals Check Wal-Mart and the local mall's video game stores.

Check around for prices. Online, I'd say that www.gogamer.com is one of your best bets- especially if you register. Otherwise, for B&M, Best Buy is OK, but I usually shop around online and purchase there.

More votes for Deus Ex (for an older but still great FPS... first-person-shooter) and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. If you're interested in tactical FPS, I suggest SWAT 3.

For a FPS, I agree that Deus Ex or Max Payne is way cool.

BUT better yet, wait until the first week of April and pick up Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. That's going to be a killer game.

I agree with Groucho, my vote for a great strategy series is Heroes of Might and Magic. Heroes 4 will be out soon. I can't wait.

Dunno about aircraft, but for shoot-em-ups, I'd go with Unreal Tournement: Game of the Year Edition ... You can get it fairly cheap, and it's one of my faves ... Granted, I'm also slightly to the rear of the left of reality.

right now you can get Serious Sam: The Second Encounter at Best Buy for 14.99. it doesn't get cheaper than that.

Good thread. I was just asking people at work who are gamers, what they recommend for strategy games. Now I can add a few more to my list to research. Basically, I'm looking for a risk/millitary type two player strategic game to play with a roommate. Are the ones mentioned in this thread mainly single player? How is Command & Conquer? Thanks

Chili- If you are looking for something like Risk, try to find a copy of Civilization II, which has full network/internet support. Unfortunately, Civ III does not (yet). I also wholeheartedly reccomend the Command and Conquer, StarCraft/WarCraft, and Age of Empires stuff, but be aware that those are RTS and play more like an action game than the slower pace of strategy board games.

As for the original question, here are my picks for awesome games at good prices that you can get today:

Serious Sam (1): $6.99
Starcraft : 11.99 or 19.99 for the whole shebang in the big box.
Deus Ex: $14.99
Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold Ed: $7.99
Unreal Tournament: $5.99

These are all prices from my local EB, and they always seem to be around.

If you just wanna play, Why not pick up the Half life pack. the Mods for that itself make it well worth the price of the package

Hmm... I was planning on using Windows 2000, but it seems that there are a lot of games that don't support it.

From this thread ('x' means highly recommended):

Supports Windows 2000:
Strategy:
x Age of Empires 2
Empire Earth
x Civilization 3
Heroes of Might and Magic 4

First Person Shooter:
Half Life
x Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Jedi Knight II: Outcast

Doesn't support Windows 2000:
Deus Ex
Swat 3 (tactical FPS)
x Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Serious Sam
Serious Sam, Second Encounter
Midtown Madness 1 & 2 (driving)

Half Life is still the best FPS ever made.

I have both Serious Sams on my computer, running WinXP. Should be fine in Win2k

--HN