A List of Playable Games For The Microsoft Surface Pro

Tablets. Full PC games. What year is this!? 2050?!

Seriously, though, the day is almost upon us when we can play full PC games on a very portable tablet that happens to also function very well as a full PC. On February 9th Microsoft will be releasing a version of their Surface tablet that comes with Windows 8 Pro. The already existing model carries Windows RT.

Wait… what’s the difference?

You see, Windows RT was meant for tablet interfacing. It is primarily for touch screens but can be used with keyboards and mice. RT is Microsoft’s mobile platform for screens 6 inches or bigger. It cannot use legacy Windows apps (everything you’re using right now most likely) and is limited to the brand new apps that come from Windows 8’s Metro OS and Store app.

Windows 8 (and Windows 8 Pro) are full operating systems that let you utilize the Metro OS or stick with the tried-and-true desktop with all the programs you’re used to use. Yes, even games.

This is a pricey device sitting at $899 for the base model but new technology never comes cheap. This isn’t a device for everyone and even if you don’t plan on buying one, the aspect of this extremely portable way of playing your PC games is tantalizing and a glimpse at the future.

It won’t play everything under the sun and what it will play won’t be running at max settings. You may have to settle for Low to Medium settings but this is the first iteration of something this portable being able to load up, say, Civilization V and let you play the damn thing.

I want to quote NBC News’ review of the Surface Pro. There’s a section that talks about gaming on it and here’s what it says:

The proving ground for us on the Surface Pro was the gaming. NBC News games editor Todd Kenreck and I loaded it up with real PC games, including “League of Legends” and “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” We even used the Mini DisplayPort jack to connect the 10.6-in. device to my 23-inch Dell monitor, and got 1080p resolution on the bigger screen. I am happy to report that the Surface Pro goes a lot further to living up to the claim. Its battery life is not “all day” like the RT, but it won’t die on you if you forget to plug it in overnight. I have read books in bed, played realtime strategy games, streamed video and music, and even installed our publishing software. This single device is a true multi-modal Swiss Army kind of a tablet that does a more reasonable impression of both a laptop and a tablet than anything else I’ve played with to date.

The Surface Pro may be a “first gen” device but it is going to be hard to keep your hands off of something like this if you’re a big PC gamer that needs a laptop replacement or never got into the laptop scene. If you’re looking for something that can play League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, Call of Duty, Dota 2, or whatever your fix may be then the Surface Pro is alright. Just don’t go expecting beast performance. You’ll be fidgeting with the settings in each game to find a nice and happy medium but it will play.

Just so we’re clear, we’re talking about a tablet running a Core i5 3rd Gen CPU with an Intel HD 4000 GPU. Yes, yes internal GPUs, somebody shoot me, right? However, the HD 4000 is a workhorse. It won’t beat out most dedicated GPUs but isn’t a slouch like you’d expect it to be.

Thanks to reddit use “davidintransit” we have a list of some games that will work on the Surface Pro on Low or Medium settings.

Aion: The Tower of Eternity YES Alan Wake YES Alan Wake’s American Nightmare YES Alice: Madness Returns YES Aliens vs. Predator YES Alpha Protocol YES Anno 2070 YES APB Reloaded YES ARMA II YES Assassins Creed II YES Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood YES Assassin’s Creed: Revelations YES Battlefield Bad Company 2 YES Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition YES Blur YES Borderlands YES Borderlands 2 YES Breach YES Bulletstorm YES Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 YES Call of Duty: Black Ops YES Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 YES Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood YES Champions Online YES Cities XL YES Civilization V YES Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight YES Commander: Conquest of the Americas YES Counter-Strike: Global Offensive YES Darkspore YES Dawn of War II: Retribution YES DC Universe Online YES Dead Island YES Dead Space 2 YES Death Rally YES Deus Ex: Human Revolution YES Diablo III YES Dirt 2 YES Dirt 3 YES DiRT: Showdown YES Dragon Age II YES Dragon Age: Origins YES Driver San Francisco YES Duke Nukem Forever YES Dungeon Siege III YES Dungeonbowl YES Endless Space YES F1 2010 YES F1 2011 YES Fable III YES Fallout New Vegas YES FIFA Manager 12 YES FIFA Soccer 11 YES FIFA Soccer 12 YES Front Mission Evolved YES FUEL YES Ghostbusters: The Video Game YES Guild Wars 2 YES Hamilton’s Great Adventure YES Jagged Alliance – Back in Action YES James Bond: Blood Stone YES James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game YES Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days YES Krater YES L.A. noire YES Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West YES Left 4 Dead 2 YES Legend of Grimrock YES Legends of Pegasus YES Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes YES LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 YES LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues YES LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars YES Lost Planet 2 YES Mafia II YES Mass Effect 2 YES Mass Effect 3 YES Max Payne 3 YES Microsoft Flight YES Might & Magic Heroes VI YES Mini Ninjas YES MTG: Duels of the Planeswalkers YES Napoleon: Total War YES Naval War: Arctic Circle YES NBA 2K12 YES Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit YES Need for Speed: SHIFT YES Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising YES Orcs Must Die 2 YES PCMark 7 YES Port Royale 3 YES Portal 2 YES Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands YES Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 YES Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 YES Prototype YES R.U.S.E. YES Red Faction: Guerrilla YES Resident Evil 5 YES Rogue Warrior YES Section 8 YES Section 8: Prejudice YES Serious Sam 3: BFE YES Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter YES SHIFT 2 Unleashed YES Shogun 2: Total War YES Sins of the Solar Empire: Rebellion YES Space Pirates and Zombies YES Spec Ops: The Line YES Splinter Cell: Conviction YES Split Second YES Star Trek Online YES Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes YES Star Wars The Force Unleashed II YES Star Wars: The Old Republic YES Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty YES Street Fighter X Tekken YES Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition YES Supreme Commander 2 YES The Darkness II YES The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim YES The Saboteur YES The Secret World YES The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom YES The Sims Medieval YES Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 YES Trine YES Tropico 4 YES Unstoppable Gorg YES Virtua Tennis 4 YES Wargame: European Escalation YES Wolfenstein YES World of Tanks YES World of Warcraft: Cataclysm YES World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria YES

This is not a complete list, obviously. This is just many of the more popular (and some obscure) titles that will be playable on a Surface Pro.

This is quite exciting, actually. You may need to keep a charging cord with you when you go out but the thought of needing just a Surface Pro, the Type Cover, and a USB mouse (I use the Microsoft Arc for great portability) just to play PC games on the go is an awesome thing to behold.

I already own a Surface RT and bringing it with me to places and just unfolding the cover out to reveal the keyboard and slapping my Arc’s USB dongle on the side to create a close desktop experience is great. Being able to do that and have a full desktop experience is quite a feat. This is revolutionary stuff, guys.

I reviewed Samsung’s ATIV Smart PC (not the Pro edition) and while it carried full Windows 8, it was unable to play simple games like Diablo 2 and Minecraft. I’m extremely excited about not having those issues with the Surface Pro.

This is a new day for PC gamers. There has been a constant choice between two options: desktop or laptop. Now you can factor in tablets (or hybrids, whatever you want to call them) in the mix for extreme mobility.

To show you an example how easy it is to set up a Surface for when you go out to a buddy’s or just anywhere with a table, here’s a very crappy video (I do not have recording hardware yet!) I made for you all. Enjoy!



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