I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t wear out the WASD keys on my keyboard at work or at university because of playing video-games, I’d be lying to myself and I wouldn’t be able to fool myself. We’ve all been there, Microsoft Windows usually ships with some built in simple games, who hasn’t played Spider Solitaire or Mahjong, or even that wonderful built in Pinball game? Anyone remember that? These games all had something in common, they had to be low on processing requirements, and they had to be small. Anywhere between 500KB and 4MB was the norm, even now that standard hasn’t changed for Microsoft Windows built in game size, and it hasn’t since windows 3.0, anyone remember that?
These constraints weren’t only isolated to Windows in Operating System games, with DOS remaining in a form that Windows cut run on, and the new optical media of CD/ROM coming in, anyone remember those? Game-design met new constraints and benefits. CD/ROMs could only hold 737MBs of information, and publishing was expensive and disk-printing just shyly as. But CD/ROM offered 640X480 graphics, better sound (if you have the right sound-cards), and way more information than Floppy Disk which had a capacity ranging from 360KB to 720KB. In translation, it would take one-thousand Floppy Disks to fill a CD/ROM. So games that were single disk for installation would roughly be no larger than 720MBs (excluding newer CD/ROM titles that utilized compression).
Now it’s 2014, CD and DVD/ROM have been replaced by Blu-Ray which boasts a whopping 50GBs of storage. In the PC and MAC markets, optical media for game distribution has gone out the Windows (Anyone see what I did there?) and has been replaced by digital distribution. Now games as large as 45GBs can be bought and downloaded legally with now packaging or trips to the local retailer. But you’re at work, in a lecture, at your grandparents. You’re somewhere with a computer or laptop that hasn’t the storage capacity or processing power to play or maybe even install any games larger that 1GB. But as luck would have it, there are many talented people out there who have made portable versions of some of the games constricted to the parameters of the paragraph before. They sit on a USB pen and run on them, no installation, no hassle, just plug and play. Here is my Top 4 USB-Portable Games.
4) Syndicate Portable
Coming in at just 16MBs is a portable version of the original Syndicate and its expansion American Revolt. Now due to the game being sold again by Origin and GOG, it’s pretty hard to track down a version of the portable game, but it was the exact same game running completely on a USB pen and that is awesome. Like Cyberpunk espionage with micromanagement of killer cyborgs? Like that in a lecture hall? Then this is the game for you!
3) Warzone 2100
In this corner at 113MBs is the rather overlooked RTS (Real-time Strategy) game, Warzone 2100. set in the post-nuclear apocalypse future of 86 years from now this game was a solid RTS albeit rather watered down in comparison to its rival games coming out of Westwood and Blizzard during that time. But this game had a good setting, memorable missions, and great cutscenes – which are inexplicably missing from the portable version. But it isn’t a deal-breaker.
2) Albion
Not to sound cutting edge, but I need to talk to you about writing this entry, or more particularly picking an image that could some up the game elegantly. The truth is, I couldn’t, search ‘Albion Game’ in Google and you’ll immediately see why the vastness of game-play setting and style would make a header image choice a tough one. This RPG (Role-playing Game) is huge but only comes in at 153MBs. Marrying First-person dungeons and isometric world exploring, this game is full of depth, wonder, and ration bars. It is one of those games that is hard to sum up, like the Matrix; you have to see it for yourself, Neo.
1) System Shock – Portable
Coming in at 314MBs this game… wait there is an issue I need to address first. Why has System Shock and it’s sequel come up so much in my articles. Well I like this game a lot. Here’s why and why it’s a great portable game. System Shock is a deep, wonderful game full of pseudo-RPG elements and gameplay elements that we take for granted today such at audio log collection and corpse looting. But what is really extraordinary about this entry is that it is actually superior to its original incarnation. Whereas previous entries may have lost elements or quality to work, System Shock Portable actually contains all the spoken dialog from the original release, includes more contemporary resolution support, and the developers managed to get a toggle-able mouse-look option into the game, making it way more accessible to new-comers. My only warning is that I believe there is a macro hidden in the game when run on a USB stick that causing the system to SAFELY but ultimately shut down claiming that the games antagonist SHODAN has broken free of the game and has invaded your computer. Other than that, it’s a great game, it’s free to download, and it’s worth your time.