Four Modern Internet Games That Can be Played on an Old Dinosaur CPU

While this game is not completely free (you can become a Star Captain for certain bonus weapons, Mechs and privileges) the content is so very good that a free player (Me!) can derive incredible amount of enjoyment from the wit and the bonhomie of the Player-Staff relations.

Puzzle Pirates

As the only MMORPG on my list, it certainly has a lot to live up to. I chose this purely for the reason that it's an intelligent, cheerful game that has a short download time and has quietly discovered the gaming Holy Grail of creating a game that is sustainedly enjoyable without any “grinding” at all involved.

When you create an account, there are various possible oceans, two of which, Cobalt and Midnight, are “Subscription” oceans, which don't have doubloons (more about those later) but do require a monthly subscription. The other three are doubloon oceans. One of these, Opal, is a German language ocean. I wouldn't recommend going here unless you can speak German. The two other Doubloon Oceans are Sage and Viridian. Viridian is the more established Ocean, but anywhere will do, really.

In this game you play 18 different puzzles, to do different things. *Breathes in* There's Sword Fighting, Bilging, Carpentry, Gunnery, Battle Navigation, Duty Navigation, Sailing, Rumbling, Hauling Treasure, Drinking, Diamonds, Spades, Texas Hold "em Poker, Treasure Drop, Distillery, Alchemistry, Shipwrighting and Blacksmithing *Breathes out*

The better you perform, the better things you do/make and the more your statistics (Words indicating how good you are at a puzzle) go up, which tends to impress people.

The main part of the game is battles between ships. The most frequent encounter is between a ship of players and a ship of Brigands or Barbarians (computer controlled opponents) the Officer in Charge (OiC) controls the ship and fires it"s cannons, while the Sailors provide the ability for the ability for the ship to move, Bilgers remove bilge that slows down the ship, Carpenters fix damage and Gunners load cannons.

When one ship manages to get close to another ship and grapples it, the ship goes into a brawl stage, where you have a Sword Fight and Brigands and a Rumble against Barbarians.

The same is true for PvPs (Plaver vs. Player battles). The winning team get Pieces of Eight and Rum, as well as cannonballs and other things from the opponents hold.

Multi ship battles can occur, during fights for control of islands called “Blockades”. The owner of an island can creates Shoppes and other useful buildings.

Groups of Pirates can band together to form crew, and crews can form fearsome flags that can control islands.

On the non-subscription oceans, you have to pay a premium cost in Doubloons, when you purchase certain items. These can be brought from other players on the Doubloon exchange for approximately 900 Pieces of Eight (PoE). They can also be bought with a credit card. This game manages fabulously to give a benefit to those willing to pay, while making sure those that don't pay, can be, and are, at the top level of the game.

You can start the (swift) download process by going to Puzzle Pirates website. If you wish, I have a Refferal banner below; starting your account from it will give you 500 Pieces of Eight, but will also give me pieces of eight. If, for some reason, you don't want to do this, just go to the website.

Boxhead: 2 Play Rooms

Boxhead is a fascinating shooting game. There are 10 different weapons, which you use to fight off Zombies and Devils as they come at you, in different rooms you can choose. It's an entertaining single player game, but it really becomes fun in the two player mode.

I think the beginner mode is actually harder than the Nightmare mode, at least in two player mode, because there are too few of them for an explosive weapon (like the rocket launcher) to be effective. You've also got friendly fire to contend with. There's endless possible strategy useable, with two players, walls, barrels, 18 rooms and all those weapons. Another incredibly fun part of the game is the two player Deathmatch, as it's got obvious parallels with an arms race, as one player discovers a “winning” strategy, until the other player finds the stone to bit their scissors, one player gets on top, then the other, in an brilliant combination of thought and video gaming skill.

These are a couple of strategies that I've found that can be useful:

One player lays a barricade of fake walls, with a gap between, in a place where there is no wall behind them.

If player two attempt to move towards the gap in the fake walls, P1 can use their rocket launcher, which, with its blast radius, would kill P2. P2 must stand to the side and destroy the fake walls. They must then run forward, while creating fake walls to shield them as they go, until they have a wall near to P1. They must then lob grenades OVER the wall, by holding down space.

P1 can make a cluster of mines, followed by a cluster of barrels, followed by mines. So, when P2 steps on the mines, after a short pause, a firestorm is created. If P2 attempts to destroy the barrels, P1 simply kills them before they have time to shoot, in the wake of the barrel explosion.

P2 must build a fake wall to hide behind, and then set of the chain of barrels. If they are lucky they may kill P1 in the process! This is the problem behind many highly explosive setups. They look cool but the only really catch the unaware, unawares.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed reading this guide, as it's been great fun writing it. Who knows, I may even compile another list of my favourite games.

Just remember, don't complain about what you can't play because of certain things. If it wasn't for my CPU, I'd be playing World of Warcraft instead of this. We can only be thankful.