Games to play on a laptop computer?

[Pumpy Tudors]

I bought a refurbished laptop computer from Dell over the weekend, and it arrived at my house this afternoon. It's got an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of RAM, along with a decent video card (ATI X1400, if I remember correctly). I'm looking for suggestions about games to install on it. I'm talking about stuff like text sims, turn-based strategy, puzzle games, time wasters, etc. I know that none of those things will really take advantage of the processor/graphics in the system, but I intend to use the laptop for games that I can play while sitting in bed, so I don't really want to fool with a mouse or gamepad too much. I'm not terribly comfortable with touchpads (at least not yet), so games that don't require quick reflexes are best for my laptop.

I guarantee that Worldwide Soccer Manager is going on it, as it'll probably run better with the dual-core processor than it does on my desktop. Freestyle Street Basketball is also going on, because that's played entirely with the keyboard. For you folks who occasionally play games on laptops, what kinds of games do you play?

I'll take any suggestions. Shareware/freeware stuff is preferable, but I have no problems with going out and buying a retail game if it'll be fun.

Thanks!

[Eaglesfan27]

Not sure if it is a genre that you like, but I find Space Empires IV and V to be two of my favorite laptop games for the reasons that you mention.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Not sure if it is a genre that you like, but I find Space Empires IV and V to be two of my favorite laptop games for the reasons that you mention.
I've been eyeing Space Empires V in the stores lately and wasn't sure about it. It looks like a lot of fun, and I think it'd be perfect for a laptop. Thanks for the tip!

[Coffee Warlord]

Galactic Civ II would be in that same mold.

Or Europa Universalis.

[st.cronin]

Werewolf

[MikeVic]

Hide the teacup.

[Travis]

EHM. A great game for playing on the side while watching TV or even console gaming at the same time. Only 2-3 times per season that you have to really delve into the inner workings of your team (barring major injury rashes), other than that, lots of subtle changes and waiting on sim processing.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Galactic Civ II would be in that same mold.

Or Europa Universalis.
I have GalCiv II and never did get around to installing it on my desktop. It'll go onto the laptop. Good call. As for EU, I played EU2 a few years ago, and I found it to be a little complex for my liking. I might pick up EU3 when it gets cheaper, though.

Werewolf
You try so hard. :)

Hide the teacup.
This is my wife's favorite game. Perhaps I'm sharing too much.

EHM. A great game for playing on the side while watching TV or even console gaming at the same time. Only 2-3 times per season that you have to really delve into the inner workings of your team (barring major injury rashes), other than that, lots of subtle changes and waiting on sim processing.
I never did buy the final EHM game. I played the demo, and I know it's in great shape now. I'll put the demo onto the laptop and see how fast the processing time is. It wasn't tolerable on the desktop, so I'm hoping it flies on the laptop. :D

[JPhillips]

Maximum Football.

[Marc Vaughan]

Battle for Wesnoth has been permanently installed on my laptops for the past couple of years - great turn based strategy game .... and its free (end pimping).

[Celeval]

Dwarf Fortress

[Izulde]

OOTP 6.5 and FBCB are the two games I play most often on a laptop.

[Antmeister]

Fate (http://www.fatethegame.com/) - Cool real-time roleplaying game. Cost: $19.99

Battle for Wesnoth (http://www.wesnoth.org/home) - I second what Marc says, although I haven't played it for a while. Cost: Free.

RocketBowl Plus (http://www.largeanimal.com/node/54) - A combination of golf and bowling. You can upgrade your bowling balls to have turbo boosts and arcing capability and well as play in tournaments. Luckily you can try out the demo to see if you like it. Cost: $18.47

TotalGaming.net (http://totalgaming.stardock.com/) - Nice collection of games with no DRM including Hacker Evolution and Space Rangers 2. Cost: varies, but reasonably priced. Space Rangers 1 & 2 are very good bargains.

[daedalus]

obligatory PS:T and a wireless mouse . . . no? my bad. :)

beyond the already mentioned great choices, popcap tends to have great time wasters. i've seen various versions of bejeweled in B&M shops for cheap.

space rangers 2 seems to be extremely highly thought of at OO which is good recommendation to me.

i still have to try freestyle so i can play with you folks.

[Dr. Sak]

Rise of Nations

[Pumpy Tudors]

obligatory PS:T and a wireless mouse . . . no? my bad. :)
What is PS:T? I'm sure I know somewhere in my head, but I can't place it at the moment. :)

[hoopsguy]

PlaneScape: Torment. Great game, but not necessarily one I (or probably daedalus, in a serious moment) think of for the laptop.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Not sure if it is a genre that you like, but I find Space Empires IV and V to be two of my favorite laptop games for the reasons that you mention.
Quick question about Space Empires V. GameSpot's review says that SEV has a lot of bugs in it. Have those problems been ironed out with patches? I can play SEIV through GameTap, so that won't cost me any money, but I just want to be sure about SEV before I spend money on it.

[Tyrith]

That comp will run Civilization 4 easily, so that'd be my number 1 pick for turn based strat. X-COM on GameTap is a big one for me too, but I don't know if it will scroll well with a touchpad.

[Eaglesfan27]

Quick question about Space Empires V. GameSpot's review says that SEV has a lot of bugs in it. Have those problems been ironed out with patches? I can play SEIV through GameTap, so that won't cost me any money, but I just want to be sure about SEV before I spend money on it.


Yes, there have been at least 7 or 8 patches since that review was released. Hundreds of bugs have been quashed and some nice features have been added.

Edited to add: The AI still seems a bit weak at times, but not enough to deter me from having fun when I play it.

[FBPro]

I play:
OOTP
Puresim
FOF
DMB

All on my lappy, every now and then TPG2.

[daedalus]

PlaneScape: Torment. Great game, but not necessarily one I (or probably daedalus, in a serious moment) think of for the laptop.Yeah, on both count. :)

Although, y'know, it's doable and surely worth it!!!

I mean . . . Fall-From-Grace? :)

[cartman]

I can't believe these haven't been mentioned:

Hearts
Minesweeper
Solitaire
Pinball

[MJ4H]

ICY TOWER

[ntndeacon]

or how about web based games like simsports