Are any of those cheap $10 PC games any good?

[norkusa]

Just got a new Intel Mac recently so now I'm starting to get into PC gaming. I've pretty much ignored PC games until now, so I have no idea what's good and bad. Was at some big retail stores like Target and Circuit City and always see these cheapie $10 PC games for sale. You know, the ones in the jewel cases with the cardboard cover. A lot of them are strategy & point-and-click games which I dig but going by my instincts, I assume they are crap since they are budget titles and never buy them.

So my question is, are these games usually garbage or can some gems be found in the $10 section? I only have a couple games right now, so I'm running out of games to play and need some new ones ASAP.

[scooterb23]

As a general rule, yeah, assume junk. But every once in a while, you can find a great game. For example: I was at Target today and saw Railroaad Tycoon 3 for $10. So you can find some good, usually 2-3 year old games, in there from time to time.

A lot of the time though, what you see are games that started as online flash games, so they may look ok, but have really shallow gameplay, or overly clunky controls. If you have the spare money though, and don't mind taking the risk...you may find a nice hidden gem.

And avoid Master of Orion 3 unless you really need help falling asleep.

[Trebuken]

Zuma...$10 at Walmart.

Best option is online. You can find good games everywhere cheap as long as your OK with something a couple years old.

Then there's MAME and this site:
http://www.the-underdogs.info/

Too many options. You don't even need to buy games to get started...

Later,
Trebuken

[mr_nihilism]

I agree with the Tycoon (railroad, mall, etc. etc.) games. And that's the extent of my knowledge of good cheap PC games.

[Lord_Magus]

As already mentioned, most of them are unfortunately junk. However, you must do yourself a favor and grab a copy of Deus Ex if you stumble upon it.

If you don't know anything about the game, it can loosely be classified as a first-person RPG, and put simply, it stands as a monument to genius game design. Although an old title (it runs off a heavily modified Unreal 1 Engine), its open-ended gameplay was revolutionary for its time, and in my opinion there hasn't been a FPS since that has managed to achieve that perfect balance between exploration, action, and deep, thought provoking storytelling. To put it another way, whenever I see a "best game ever" thread, Deus Ex and Ocarina of Time are the first titles that come to mind ;)

Off the top of my head, here are some other PC games you might want to look into (which you also might find in a bargain bin somewhere):

Disciples II (highly underrated turn-based strategy game, with some of the most beautiful 2D graphics you will ever see)
Grim Fandango (simply a masterpiece. Nothing more to say here :))
Monkey Island Series (classic point'n'click adventuring, with an unmatched sense of humor and brilliant puzzles)
System Shock 2 (amazing Sci-fi FPS\Horror\RPG, somewhat along the gameplay lines of Deus Ex)

There are several others out there as well, but I'm sure the more PC-oriented gamers on this board will be able to fill you in more informatively than me :)

[Trebuken]

Quake 3.

[norkusa]

Thanks for the tips, guys. I actually stick to point-and-click + strategy stuff because I get violently ill when I play FPS games (I seriously almost puked when I played Halo PC last week for only 15 minutes), so I gotta stay away from those. Railroad Tycoon and Monkey Island sounds good though, so I think I'll check those out.

How's Diablo? I think that was one of the $10 games I saw at Target and that looks okay. Think they included a couple expansions with it too. I actually have it for PS1 but I never got around to playing it.

I'd really like to play something that has online multiplayer too, so any recommendations that include that option would be great.

[shadowkn55]

I found Alice, Curse of Monkey Island. and Civ II. All of them are great games.

[Cryomancer]

Try your local dollar store (i've had good luck at a chain called 'Deals') for "dual jewel" games for $1. Both Fallout games are phenomenal and are available in a dual pack, you can also find Shogo and Septerra Core together, and those are interesting games. I've also seen couple dollar copies of icewind dale II and such at big lots.

Honestly you can gleam quality levels a decent amount by the packaging a game comes in. If it looks like some quick photoshop job of the logo and a screenshot it's probably a flash-like game. If it's got a decent design and drawn artwork and whatnot you might be in a better direction. Try taking a notepad and writing down what you see, then come home and google the titles.

[roushimsx]

Both Syberia 1 and 2 have a home on the budget rack and are well worth picking up. Sanatarium is a downright MUST as well, especially since it got the $10 jewel case treatment.

Crimson Skies is a hell of a lot of fun if you're down for an alternate history flight combat game.

Age of Empires Deluxe, Age of Empires 2 Deluxe, Civilization 2 Complete, and Civilization 3 are all on the $10 rack and should be purchased post-haste. With Civ 2/3 it's really personal preference... I love both to bits and pieces (the second one I can play via VirtualPC on my G4 Powerbook and natively on my ghetto laptop while the third one runs peachy on my desktop) and would recommend you look into which one best suits you.

Those Nancy Drew games are supposed to be pretty fun, but I haven't played them yet :( There's a few 5 packs out there or something, so I'll probably pick one of those up and go to town. Apparently they're just good, solid, fun adventure games with reasonably easy puzzles and interesting stories...can't go wrong with that formula.

Have you ever played Flight of the Amazon Queen or Beneath a Steel Sky? They're both freeware now so you may want to give 'em a whirl if you haven't yet :)

[Eggman]

I second Beneath a Steel Sky, my absolute favorite point-and-click game.

You can download ScummVM (a tool used to run certain older games) and Beneath a Steel Sky here:
http://www.scummvm.org/downloads.php

[Kitsune Sniper]

How could anyone forget the masterpiece that is Daikatana?! LOL

I recommend Quake IV Limited Edition (comes with Quake 2+two expansions, and costs about $20 at Wal-Mart these days!), most adventure games by LucasArts... I dunno what else to suggest, eheh.

[Push Upstairs]

I'll 2nd, 3rd and 4th "Age of Empires 1&2".

But I'm more partial to AOE2 as i found whopping ass with primitive guns/cannons and trebuchets to be a delight.

I wish that ships were still the powerhouses they were in 1 though. Nothing like a naval blockade and catapult ships to soften up some shoreline to make way for a landing party.

[Lord_Magus]

Both Syberia 1 and 2 have a home on the budget rack and are well worth picking up. Sanatarium is a downright MUST as well, especially since it got the $10 jewel case treatment.

I second Syberia 1 and 2 - both are beautiful games, and well worth your time. If you like those, then you could also seek out The Longest Journey, and perhaps the more recent Dreamfall and Fahrenheit\Indigo Prophecy as well :)

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that certain older games (Win98 era) will have trouble running on XP. I started playing Sanitarium and it seemed like a truly amazing game, but due to said incompatibility issues it kept crashing and wouldn't let me play past the second level\area :(

PS: If anyone here has any recomendations of how to get Sanitarium working properly, I would greatly appreciate it. I have tried downloaded all available patches and tried seemingly everything on the net to no avail...

[exit]

Black and White can be found for a cheap price, theres nothing more fun than playing God. E-bay is also another place to find cheap games, I got my copy of Enemy Zero for $6.

[Trebuken]

Diablo is great but graohically it's a bit dated. Diablo II might work...not sure what it sells for though.

If you want strategy you have to have Starcraft, and any of the Warcraft games. Warlords or Age of Empires. Even some of the Star War strategy games are adequate.

Later,
Trebuken

[Alucard79]

Command & Conquer titles can be found for 10 and less. I love some Generals & Zero Hour.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Both Syberia 1 and 2 have a home on the budget rack and are well worth picking up. Sanatarium is a downright MUST as well, especially since it got the $10 jewel case treatment.

I second Syberia 1 and 2 - both are beautiful games, and well worth your time. If you like those, then you could also seek out The Longest Journey, and perhaps the more recent Dreamfall and Fahrenheit\Indigo Prophecy as well :)

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that certain older games (Win98 era) will have trouble running on XP. I started playing Sanitarium and it seemed like a truly amazing game, but due to said incompatibility issues it kept crashing and wouldn't let me play past the second level\area :(

PS: If anyone here has any recomendations of how to get Sanitarium working properly, I would greatly appreciate it. I have tried downloaded all available patches and tried seemingly everything on the net to no avail...

The compatibility tab. Rightclick on the Sanitarium executable, click on properties, choose the compatibility tab, and run it in Windows 98 mode. I got no problems when I did that with my copy, and it works on many games. :)

I suggest staying away from many games by The Adventure Company. They use very destructive copy protection schemes, such as StarForce... -_-

[Balloon Fight]

I'm not 100% sure if this game is $10 or not for the battlechest, but it can't be above $20. Anyway, the greatest game of all time with one of the largest followings, 2 tv channels in a country, professional teams and players...
STARCRAFT BROOD WAR!

Seriously, if you have any interest in rts games, get it.

[Iron Draggon]

I have a huge collection of these... I'm somewhat addicted to them... in general, you get what you pay for... the best ones are usually re-releases of older games... the worst ones are usually re-releases that originally appeared in a compilation... and there are alot of freeware flash games being sold like this now for some reason... not sure why...

I'd have to say the best $10 budget title of all time would have to be Roller Coaster Factory... but of course I'm a coaster nut, and a non-enthusiast may not agree with me... however, if you'd like to give it a try, then I suggest tracking down a copy of 3D Roller Coaster Designer... it's a pseudo-sequel that includes everything in the original, plus a new coaster type and tons more that you can do with it...

[Jorpho]

A lot of folks seem to be quite satisfied with Dark Fall and its sequel, Lights Out (more of the same), both of which are largely the efforts of a single individual. I've seen both quite frequently in budget racks. Much the same can be said for Riddle of the Sphinx and its sequel.

I'd still love to get my hands on Bad Mojo Redux sometime, but it's been quite some time since I've seen that, alas.

Various Atlantis games and something called "Mysterious Island" seem to be as common as dirt. Anyone ever try those? They seem like cheap cash-ins trying to ride the coattails of The Longest Journey, Myst, and Syberia.