Of these four games...

[rye9]

Call of Duty Deluxe
Call of Duty 2
Unreal Tournament 2004
BioShock (just released)

How would you rate the graphics and fun factor of each? I'd like to get one, but I'm not sure which. I have a 13"MBP with 4GB RAM, 2.26Ghz C2D, 256MB VRAM and the stock graphics card...

I don't need stunning graphics and power (hence why I didn't list COD4), however I don't know how crappy the graphics of the older games would be. On the graphics section of Apple's MBP website, they do show screenshots and performances of UT2004, which leads me to believe the older games might not have that bad of graphics at all. But I have no basis other than that.

Any help/advice on these games will be much appreciated. =]

 

[master7000]

Out of those I have only played CoD Deluxe it doesn't have the best graphics but it's a lot of fun!! And the online is live and well!!

 

[rye9]

Are there really still quite a few people playing COD Deluxe online?

And will the new Gameagent universal binary version allow me to play with others playing on Windows, etc?

 

[master7000]

Yeah theres is alot of people on. and i dunno bout the other things

 

[apfhex]

BioShock, no question. If you want a single player game. Fun factor of 10 out of 10. It has the most advanced graphics (uses the latest Unreal Engine). Not sure how performance on the MBP 13" is but it's somewhat forgiving so it should run alright.

I never played much UT2004 but it still looks pretty alright graphically (probably the next best out of your list). I really liked the original UT back in the day, so...

CoD2 single player was fun enough. CoD4 is the best though. Can't speak for the multiplayer.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

BioShock is pretty immersive, Im waiting on a copy. UT2004 is really old now,COD deluxe is the same. Bioshock would be my choice and should look good on that macbookpro.

 

[lewdvig]

I vote Bioshock too, but I remember trying to play it bootcamp on an x1600 and it was pretty bad.

The 9400m is much better, but I don't think you'll be able to max the game's settings out. I would aim for 1280*800 medium settings for playable frame rates.

UT2004 should run great.

 

[Winni]

I have a very modded version of UT 2004 on my Mac. "WinterGlades" if my favorite community map, and I have Home Simpson, Bender, Blade and a bunch of other bots playing against me. The only problem with the Mac version of UT 2004 on Intel machines is that the characters don't speak - this only works on the PowerPC version. Anyway, UT 2004 might be old now, but it still is a lot of fun.

However, BioShock is an awesome single player game. It's got great graphics, a nice storyline and an awesome atmosphere.

From your list, if I could only buy one game, it would be BioShock.

 

[rye9]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far

Also I don't know if it will sway any opinions, but I am looking for a game specifically for multiplayer capabilities. Like, with UT2004 I believe you can have botmatches OR play online? Which I think is great. And with COD I don't much care to play the single player. I've played both of these games before on Windows in my past so those are my opinions for those, as for Bioshock I can't comment though about single/multiplayer capabilities.

Simply, I believe I'm just looking for a game that won't get old, quickly. Aka, beating all of the missions or their counterparts in any respective game won't be the end of it.

 

[txa1265]

Bioshock is a nice Ayn Rand story with cool graphics and immersive environments but as a shooter is average at best and terribly unchallenging.

I only say that since all of your list are shooters, so you should be aware. But as an experience Bioshock is one of the 'must play' games of the last several years.

UT 2k4 is really a MP game, don't know what the servers look like at this point.

And I actually liked CoD 1 better than 2, but both were pretty solid.

 

[Huntn]

Don't think I'd buy a game purely for graphics. All of the games below have adequate graphics. Depends on where your gaming interests lie.

Bioshock- solo, tense, I liked it.
UT2k4- Multiplayer mucho FPS arena-style fun. Can play solo against bots.
COD- good solo war experience plus MP maps.

 

[0098386]

BioShock, no question. If you want a single player game. Fun factor of 10 out of 10. It has the most advanced graphics (uses the latest Unreal Engine).

Nope it uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine and not the Unreal 3 that other games around that time used.
I'd go for UT2004, there's so much to do it in and there are plenty of servers still running. Lots of pro players around though so keep your distance from them! Bioshock is okay but it's very repetitive. I have to keep forcing myself to carry on playing since the corridors and locations look more or less the same. Amazing setting though.
Not sure how a game with unlimited continues and no punishment for dying can be called tense though.

 

[apfhex]

Nope it uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine and not the Unreal 3 that other games around that time used.

According to the 'pedia it uses 2.5 with some parts of 3, whatever that means. Either way it looks about on par with UE3 games and I didn't see the need to distinguish it in this context. But if the OP is looking specifically for multiplayer that kind of rules it out.

 

[rye9]

According to the 'pedia it uses 2.5 with some parts of 3, whatever that means. Either way it looks about on par with UE3 games and I didn't see the need to distinguish it in this context. But if the OP is looking specifically for multiplayer that kind of rules it out.

Not necessarily multiplayer, just something that's not a bunch of solo missions. Like UT2004, you don't have to play with other live people, you can play against bots. Well, I guess that still is considered multiplayer, so whatever.

Does Bioshock offer fun beyond the solo campaign? Because that's what I'm looking for... if I were to get COD or COD2, I likely wouldn't even bother with the single player mode for example.

Anyways, are there any graphics improvements between COD/COD2 and UT2004? I know Bioshock would trump the 3 as it's most recent.

It's just a difficult decision because I've heard great things about Bioshock, but COD is a classic series that I've been with since the very first game, and UT2004 I've heard is fun as well.

 

[Eric5h5]

Why don't you try the demos and see for yourself? Granted Bioshock doesn't have a demo out yet.

--Eric

 

[apfhex]

Does Bioshock offer fun beyond the solo campaign?

No. It's a long enough game with some replay value due to the different ways you can upgrade your powers, but it's just the one solo campaign and that's it. Bioshock 2 is going to have an entirely separate multiplayer component.

With the original Unreal Tournament I had fun progressing through the single player tournament against the bots. It was a good warm up to the online play. UT2004 seemed to have a reasonably robust rendition of that but as I said I didn't play it all that much.

 

[lewdvig]

Nope it uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine and not the Unreal 3 that other games around that time used.
I'd go for UT2004, there's so much to do it in and there are plenty of servers still running. Lots of pro players around though so keep your distance from them! Bioshock is okay but it's very repetitive. I have to keep forcing myself to carry on playing since the corridors and locations look more or less the same. Amazing setting though.
Not sure how a game with unlimited continues and no punishment for dying can be called tense though.

.... brass balls ....

Bioshock is an easy game unless you are trying to get all the achievements. Try getting brass balls and lil sister helper all in one play through. Hah!

 

[Kristenn]

I second UT 2004! Runs great with all graphics on high. I mostly only use the 9600M too. And its supposed to be a crappy card. Personally its the best shared card I have ever seen =O

 

[0098386]

.... brass balls ....

Bioshock is an easy game unless you are trying to get all the achievements. Try getting brass balls and lil sister helper all in one play through. Hah!

That's the problem. Brass Balls is just an achievement, it means nothing in the game. The only reward you get is by saving the Little Sisters. On any difficulty, with or without Vitachambers on the only reward is saving the little sisters. Also there aren't achievements on the PC version (maybe the Mac version does?).

I second UT 2004! Runs great with all graphics on high. I mostly only use the 9600M too. And its supposed to be a crappy card. Personally its the best shared card I have ever seen =O

UT2004 runs at max resolution, max settings on my x1600 iMac! And a 9600M isn't a crappy card. It's not great but it will run all the latest games, not in the highest settings (unless it's a Source Engine game) though.

 

[lewdvig]

That's the problem. Brass Balls is just an achievement, it means nothing in the game. The only reward you get is by saving the Little Sisters. On any difficulty, with or without Vitachambers on the only reward is saving the little sisters. Also there aren't achievements on the PC version (maybe the Mac version does?).

It's the opposite. Saving lil sisters deprives you of an easy Adam fix. That makes the game harder. There is no reward for saving them.

And the OP has 13" MBP which has a 9400m not a 9600m.

 

[apfhex]

It's the opposite. Saving lil sisters deprives you of an easy Adam fix. That makes the game harder. There is no reward for saving them.

But you still get enough that it doesn't really matter. Plus you get some unique plasmids IIRC. The problem with the difficulty is that the game starts out challenging (remember the first Big Daddy encounter?) but then get's really easy (bolt gun + a few trip wires = dead big daddy with virtually no effort).

 

[rye9]

Thanks guys.

Right now I'm leaning towards UT2004, and if on Gameagent the price of COD Deluxe ever drops, I'll get that as well. I can't see myself spending $30 on such an old game with such stringent DRM. (There's been threads on this).

At least UT2004 comes in a boxed retail version.

I just wish the one poster hadn't said that COD Deluxe servers are still populated. I'm tempted to get that . About that though... am I able to play with others online with non-Intel versions and also those on Windows?