2005 October | The Games of my Life

Archive for October, 2005 Page 2 of 3

Lords of Midnight (ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64, 1984)

Published

3 years, 1 month ago

in 80s games, Commodore 64 games and ZX Spectrum games

. 2 Comments

Do you like “Lord of the Rings”? Tolkien’s epic, the best known fantasy book in the world? Do you like Peter Jackson’s fantastic movie adaptations? If so, isn’t the idea of living the epic, even if “just” in a video game, tempting?

If you want to re-live the movies, the best choice is Electronic Arts’ two games, “The Two Towers”, and, especially, “Return of the King”. They’re fantastic, whether on a console or on the PC. But they’re movie adaptations - basically, you “play” the movies’ main battles. Those two are great action games, I’m not trying to diminish them in any way.

But if you want to re-live the books…

… there’s not a better choice than Mike Singleton’s 1984 classic, Lords of Midnight.

Nope, it’s not “Tolkien-licensed”. It’s not an official LotR adaptation in any way. And Mike actually wrote a short novella, which was included with the game, and was a joy to read.

But the game, a mix of adventure and strategy, was, 21 years ago, and is, right now, the best way to re-live Lord of the Rings - not an exploration of Middle Earth, not a meeting with Tolkien’s characters, but, instead, what Gandalf - who orchestrated the entire strategy - must have felt, and the challenges he had to meet.

Lords of Midnight is the perfect, still unequaled blend of grand strategy - defeating, or stopping, or at least delaying the Dark Lord’s might by force of arms - with high adventure - a heroic quest of a brave hero who attempts, without an army behind him, using only stealth and courage, to destroy the Dark Lord’s main source of power - which, obviously, can only be done deep inside the Dark Lord’s territory. Sound familiar?

Really, play this game. There’s a reason it still has an active community, with enhancements, remakes, multi-player versions and so on… after 21 years.

Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in 90s games and PC games

. 4 Comments

If you know this game - really *know* it (and the asterisks are a reference to it :)) - it’s one you’re sure never to forget. Like many of the best games, this one doesn’t have many fans, but the ones it has consider it one of the best games of all time - if not the best. To me, it’s certainly the best of its kind. Ladies and gentlemen… Planescape: Torment.

Torment is a computer role playing game (CRPG), and possibly the one which most deserves the “R”. The story is mature (and I’m not talking about sex or violence, although it has those, too - but described, not shown), thought-provoking, and deals with concepts never seen or even mentioned in a computer game. You play an amnesiac immortal who wakes up in a slab, inside a mortuary, with no memory of how he got there. His first companion is a wisecracking floating skull. He is in Sigil, the City of Doors, a city with portals to every plane of existence in the multi-verse, a place where belief shapes reality.

Continue reading ‘Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999)’

Pathway to Glory (N-Gage, 2004)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in N-Gage games

. 1 Comment

Yup, N-Gage. No, I’m not kidding. The world’s first gaming phone (it’s not a “handheld console”, but a gaming phone - and it might have been successful if only they had promoted it like that from the start, along with skipping the original sidetalking version and releasing only the QD, even if a few months later) is not only a very good phone, but there are some very good games for it. This one is my particular favorite.

Pathway to Glory is a turn-based tactical game in which you play an Allied squad of soldiers in World War II (you can also play as the Axis in multi-player games, but there’s only an Allied campaign). Soldiers have skills, get promoted, and improve their skills between missions - if they survive, of course. So you tend to get attached to the best ones.

Continue reading ‘Pathway to Glory (N-Gage, 2004)’

The Hobbit (ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64, 1982)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in 80s games, Commodore 64 games and ZX Spectrum games

. 6 Comments

Back in time, to a 1982 game I played on 1983, on my first computer, a 48K ZX Spectrum: The Hobbit.

This game… well, it has a story. A personal one. I guess I could say that this game changed my life - as much as anything can change one’s life.

So you’ll have to bear with me - or, of course, skip this post. Because this one is as much about “why I’m the way I am” as it is about the game - perhaps more. And it’s a long one.

Continue reading ‘The Hobbit (ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64, 1982)’

Tennis Critters (PC, 2003)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in 2000s games and PC games

. 0 Comments

One of the best multi-player games I’ve ever played, and a staple of the “post-lunch afternoons” at my place for years: Tennis Critters.

What’s there to say? It’s a tennis game, but with chipmunks (and a penguin). It plays very well with one player on the keyboard and three using gamepads. There’s not a lot of customization (the chipmunks only differ in colors, they don’t have different characteristics), there are only two courts…

But it plays great. It’s fast, tough, and unforgiving, but when you begin to get good at it, the joy of beating another player, or, even better, of you and your teammate beating the other team, is a wonderful experience.

As I said, it’s not perfect - we haven’t played it any more since I bought Mario Power Tennis on the GameCube, since that one’s even faster, more involving, and, for a change, highly customizable, and the characters are actually different. But it’s still (along with Super Sprint, which I’ll write about in the near future, hopefully) possibly the multi-player game I’ve played the most.

Link: Official site.

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (PC, 1999)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in 90s games and PC games

. 4 Comments

It should actually be “Brian Reynolds’ Alpha Centauri”, but Sid Meier was (and is) the best known name, and it draws heavily on Meier’s original Civilization, so… Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri it was. By Firaxis Games, distributed by Electronic Arts.

SMAC, as the game is affectionately called, is still a very popular game these days among strategy fans, and for good reason. In my opinion, it’s still the best Civ-style game, and I doubt even Civilization 4 (which I can’t wait to have) is as good, in some respects. Unfortunately, it didn’t sell as well as it should have, because people these days lack imagination, and it’s much easier to understand what you get by inventing “The Wheel” or “The Alphabet” than what “Bioadaptive Resonance” or “Controlled Singularity” even are. In short, it scared many Civ fans, which was a shame.

But it has some things no other game of its kind has:

style - the spartan interface, the voices, the graphics, the sounds, the descriptions, the movies. Unforgettable.
characters with personality - Civ 3’s leaders, even though they’re supposed to be real life ones, have no personality. SMAC’s had. Who can forget Chairman Yang, Lady Deirdre, Sister Miriam, or CEO Morgan? They actually have different goals in mind, and act towards them. They all speak in their own way. And they all have great quotes.
a story - yes, a strategy game with one. Really. And it doesn’t always end the same way (and I don’t mean just because you lose the game in the middle).

As I said… still my favorite game of its kind, after 6 years. You can probably buy the Planetary Pack (the game plus the expansion pack on a single CD) very cheaply, these days. And you really should.

Links: Wikipedia entry, Official site.

P.S. - did you know that this game has inspired 3 novels, a comic book and a GURPS book? Not bad for a turn-based strategy game…

Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2004)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in 2000s games and GameCube games

. 2 Comments

Back to the present decade for one of the best, most involving, most visually impressive, and most polished games games ever: Capcom’s Resident Evil 4. This is about the Nintendo GameCube version - the PS2 version isn’t out yet, and I’m sure it won’t be as good (I love my Cube. :))

First, unlike previous Resident Evils, this one has a great control scheme, and a great point of view, which makes me wonder why it’s not used more often. The story is good, the game is creepy (almost scary, sometimes) from beginning to end. Great voice acting (again, unlike some previous REs… “master of unlocking”, anyone?). Some parts of the game are unforgettable: the big fight in the first part of the village… the first El Gigante… the “big fish” under the lake… the first time you fight a… oops, don’t want to spoil it for you. This time, there are no zombies… your enemies are human. Or at least, appear to be… They communicate among themselves, work as teams, go after you in several ways at the same time.

In RE4, you play Leon Kennedy, from RE2, who is sent to a mysterious rural area in Spain (it’s so rural that they still use pesetas instead of euros! :)) to investigate a clue about the kidnapping of the U.S. President’s daughter. Of course, things aren’t as they seem… (are they ever?)

I haven’t seen a GameCube or PS2 game that looks nearly as good as this one. And believe me, it’s not just a graphics fest. Let’s put it this way: I can still remember how I played through several parts, even though it was months ago. It’s simply an experience you won’t soon forget.

Really, buy this game.

Sango Fighter (PC, 1993)

Published

Dehumanizer

3 years, 1 month ago

in 90s games and PC games

. 3 Comments

Sango Fighter, again, is a game few will know. It’s a Chinese-made fighting game, in the Street Fighter mold. For MS-DOS. Remember that?

Since the game is Chinese, and not originally intended to be distributed in the West, it’s… well, exotic. The fighters don’t look angry, they look ceremonial, and painting-like epic. Their looks… let’s say me and my friends gave most of them nicknames, such as “the bearded guy” or “the barkeep”. Their battle cries… How heroic does “oyyyy!” sound? And you have to see some of the winning poses to believe them…

But it played great.

It was a game where you always felt you could become a little better - and not, like in more recent games, by memorizing and practicing a 12-button combo, but by using about 5 special moves per character (other than the basic ones). No matter how fast the other guy was, there was always a way to move faster and counter his move - not out of cheapness, but because you really could perform the counter-move faster. When we got good, we were really good - our matches became epic, as we countered move with counter-move with counter-counter-move. Wheels within wheels within wheels, and other Dune quotes.

This is the fighting game I’ve played the most in my life, with the second one being the PC port of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. And I still have fond memories of it. Current fighting games seem to be either graphical show-offs, button mashers, or simply combo memorizing games… not Sango Fighter.