Christ Centered Gamer

Hey ya'all,

I've been to a several PC based LAN-parties organized with friends over the past years, and every time it's hard to decide what to play. There is definitely no Christian input in this field (at least to my knowledge), and most secular "fun LAN-games to play" lists I've found are lacking or very out-dated.

So I'm thinking of coming up with a list of my own and I could use some hints on what are your favorites. I'm going to narrow it down to PC-only, there are definitely some really fun console games I love to play with friends (e.g. NHL), but they're usually not LAN-games strictly speaking, but rather what I'd call "party games".

Some topics I was thinking of covering briefly for each game:
- Genre (obvious, RTS/FPS/Racing/...)
- Blood & Gore, How casual it is (Profanity from a Christian perspective, but also covering fields on which games are more fun to play if people are rather competitive - I've found this an issue sometimes)
- Price (thinking of using vanilla Steam-prices with emphasis on if a game is sold in 4-packs vs. freeware games)
- Computer specs (people always have varying hardware setups - the lower the requirements the better)
- Amount of people required (only a few, ~8, ~16)
- Something else?

Preliminary list of games (updated 7th of May 2012)
- Alien Swarm (f2p coop)
- Altitude (tags: arcade, indie)
- Baldur's Gate I & II (RPG)
- Battlefield 2 + Project Reality
- Borderlands (FPS, coop)
- Dungeon Defenders
- Flatout (racing)
- GTA - San Andreas multiplayer mod
- Half-Life 2 mods (FPS): Zombie Panic, ...
- Killing Floor (FPS)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (co-op/versus FPS)
- Magicka
- Minecraft
- Mount & Blade - Warband (FPSish)
- Neverwinter Nights 2 (RPG)
- Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe (Strategy, simulator)
- Sid Meyer's Civilization -series (turn-based strategy)
- SWAT 4 (FPS)
- Team Fortress 2 (FPS, F2P)
- Terraria (platformer/casual)
- Total War -series (turn-based strategy/RTS)
- Trine 2 (platformed puzzle)

Preliminary list of additional tools (updated 2nd of April 2012)
- Hamachi (for simulating LAN)

Feel free to contribute or suggest improvements/games to cover!


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Explanation of tags:
Casual: The game offers a not-too-serious atmosphere, which may be preferred if the participating players have a danger of being too competitive.
Co-op: The game offers possibility to play against computer controlled bots.
FPS: First person shooter, often gun-based (violent) game.
Platformer: Game features platform based gameplay typically in a 2 dimensional world.
Violence & Gore: Game includes excessive violence, blood or themes, that require a warning.

Specs: Low/Medium/High: The hardware requirement, low being approximately a 4+ years old laptop, medium being a few years old tabletop/laptop and high being a recent specs tabletop.

For the time being I have not yet taken screenshots of my own. I will fix this ASAP.

Left 4 Dead 1 & Left 4 Dead 2
Tags: Co-op, FPS, Violence & Gore
Specs: Medium

Left 4 Dead games (L4D or L4D2) are co-op horror shooters, where a team of survivors battle through a zombie apocalypse to reach safety. Alternative game modes offer possibility to play 4 human survivors while 4 special zombies are controlled by an opposing team, while the common zombies are still AI controlled. The game features excellent cooperative game play with scalable difficulty. However, the themes in the game are highly questionable from a Christian perspective. The game captures desperate atmosphere of a zombie horror movie, and the gun fights against the infected people are very bloody. Even if this game is one of the best cooperative FPS'es available, it is not generally edifying for a Christian and certainly not suitable for a young audience.
Fun-factor: 3/3 - One of the best survival shooters available
Family-factor: 0/3 - Abundant violence and horror
Price-factor: 1/3 - 20€ from Steam, reduced price for bundles of 4 copies
Preferred player amount: 2-8, but 4 or 8 is optimal
No CCGR review available.

Liero eXtreme
Tags: Casual, Platformer
Specs: Low

Liero games date back to 90's as fun and casual 2d freeware shooters. Players control worms that battle each other a bit like in Team17's famous Worms franchise, with the exception that the game is run in real-time. The worms wield a variety of arsenal and fight in a deathmatch setting. Some minimal pixel violence (such as tiny blood spatters) is included, but overall the game is rather cute. It is a fun little game, and due to its price it is a really easy option for any LAN-party. It is better suitable as a supporting game rather than the main focus though.
Fun-factor: 2/3 - Casual shooter fun
Family-factor: 2/3 - Cartoon violence
Price-factor: 3/3 - Free! Available from http://www.openlierox.net/
Preferred player amount: 2+
No CCGR review available.

Dungeon Defenders was played at our last LAN party. The only issue with that game is the huntress shows her butt crack in her default outfit.

ccgr wrote:Dungeon Defenders was played at our last LAN party. The only issue with that game is the huntress shows her butt crack in her default outfit.

I'm sorry, but I can't help myself: "LULZ THAT ARE DOWNSIDE???"

Now, focus...Battlefield 2 comes to mind. I think it has LAN, it's team-based, it has bots, and no blood.

Thanks for the ideas!

I was looking to Dungeon Defenders. I probably should buy it off Steam to try it out briefly. And I should read the CCGR review of it with a close eye again.

Battlefield 2 I remember testing out in LAN; I always preferred it online, but it is true as you say, that bots can be added in LAN. Did you like it in LAN? I remember that the maps were limited to rather small confined spaces, something that I disliked for the LAN games. Plus I think vehicles were pretty much disabled in LAN-mode, if I remember right?

Syksy wrote:Battlefield 2 I remember testing out in LAN; I always preferred it online, but it is true as you say, that bots can be added in LAN. Did you like it in LAN? I remember that the maps were limited to rather small confined spaces, something that I disliked for the LAN games. Plus I think vehicles were pretty much disabled in LAN-mode, if I remember right?

I actually didn't play it like that...ever. I just suggested it because it's an intense but clean shooter. I'm afraid you'll have to find out how it works by yourself.

Posted a couple of reviews to show what kind of a list I was thinking of. What do you guys think, is it worth the trouble to try and compile such a list? At least I could've used such a list when planning LANs in previous years, but I don't know how common it is nowadays, especially for Christians.

Quite a big list there....it was funny at first I though Left 4 Dead 1/2 was a new game/prequel. hehe Worms Reloaded might be a fun option as well (cartoon violence).