Windows 7 Games Compatibility Testing

Windows 7 Games Compatibility

Those of you who listened to the latest bit-tech and CustomPC gaming podcast will know that there are those of us at bit-tech who are a little bit worried about the inevitable move to the new Windows 7 operating system. Namely, me.

As I explained in the podcast, my hesitation to upgrade stems from my previous changes of OS and how Microsoft has steadily removed my classic gaming options. It's just a fact of life; as the operating system grows and steadily advances, some software gets left behind and become incompatible with modern systems. It's a pain.

Admittedly, these incompatibilities can often be overcome by the use of wily fan patches, dual booting PCs or virtual machines – but it's always best to be forewarned about such problems. With that in mind we've tested a huge number of games on Microsoft's new OS in order to gather info. It also makes a handy way for me to get paid to spend time testing if all my favourite old games work on Microsoft Windows 7, if I'm going to be perfectly honest.


Our testing methodology was kept as simple as possible. We grabbed 60 different games, installed them on Windows 7 and then tried to run them. If they didn't work then we used Windows 7 in-built compatibility troubleshooter to try and find a solution to the problem and, for some games with known problems, we tried a few specific workarounds on top of that.

The games we tested ranged massively, from Arkham Asylum to Crayon Physics Deluxe. We tried massive commercial releases like Modern Warfare through to free indie games like Facade and casual games like Bookworm Adventures Deluxe; from recent racers like Colin McRae's DiRT through to classics like Commander Keen.

Naturally, we tried Deus Ex too because, honestly, if that didn't work on Windows 7 then we'd burst into tears and flat out refuse the upgrade.

Flip the page to start checking out the results – and if you find any classic games that don't work in Windows 7 and aren't on the list then please do let us know in the forums.