Dominions 3 - huge scale, insane depth, fantastic synergy between magic, armies and artifacts. Rich, wonderful lore.
AI wars - the game has a true AI, also the asymmetric game design is both bold and innovative
Minecraft - I got bored by it, but Notch sure showed those corporate drones a thing about game design
Dwarf fortress - a true simulation, mind-boggling scale, maybe most ambitious game of all times
Tangle in the Web - interactive fiction from Andrew Plotkin, but of the finest quality. Storytelling at its best - text only
Fall from Heaven 2 (Civ4 mod) - the lore is just charming, the diversity in factions is awesome
Dreamweb - one of a kind atmosphere
Another World - quite an accomplishment when it was released, unique, mysterious
Dragontorc
Perihelion
Frozen Synapse
Chess - best abstract strategy ever
Chess ..started playing when I was seven with an uncle who was ten years older than me and had an IQ of 154. Ow. I beat him twice in ten years (on a bad day for him) and stalemated him three times when I was sixteen (then he stopped playing me). Since I couldn't usually beat him, my strategy was simply to destroy his pawns and then as many pieces as I could after. He always bragged about having pawns left in the game no matter who he played so I made sure it didn't happen. Hehe--he never figured out that I was playing more to eliminate his pawns than to win the game. Great fun.
Zork http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork
My first computer game--it was love at first sight. My uncle (same as above) was city editor of the capitol paper in Baton Rouge and they had a room with a two million dollar mainframe in the eighties. Each newspaper desk had smart terminals and I played at them on election nights when he had to stay all night. Many a time was I told to, "Get the *&%$# off, you're crashing all the terminals!". I had nightmares about being eaten by a grue when my torch went out.
Dogfight! http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1509/dogfight
A really fun WWI air combat game I could get my little brother and friends to play. Later I got Richthofen's War but no one would play it with me.
Battlecry http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2428/battle-cry
My first board strategy game. The board read, "A chess-like game of Civil War strategy" and I liked chess and was a Civil War buff (i had a subscription to "Civil War Times Illustrated at the age of nine).
This game I could beat my uncle at and it was hte first time I ever saw him get so mad losing that he knocked the board off the table into the air and sent the pieces flying while yelling, "You cheated!". He went out and bought his own copy to practice with and make sure I was playing fair...hehe.
Air Force http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3608/air-force
My first genuine "Geek Game". Very cerebral and great fun. My dad was a WWII B-25 gunship pilot so it was a natural along with it's sequel, "Dauntless".
Ogre http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5206/ogre
My first scifi game. Great and fast fun. My brother would actually play this one too.
Divine Right http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/23/divine-right
A quirky fantasy kingdom combat game but really cool map and rules. Was real fun to get half- dozen people at once playing. One of those rare asymetrical empire games.
Imperium http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3661/imperium
One of the first real science fiction empire games. Was very popular and a blast to play. A lot like Sins.
Star Viking http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1792/star-viking
This was a pocket game where you played either the Federation or Space Viking raiders. Great fun and fast paced. You can print this one for free online now.
Starmaster http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.php?tid=109
This was my first MMO--done by mail with twice a month turns. You designed an alien race and started with a single homeworld in a universe full of other players. Totally addictive.
The Third World War http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3605/the-third-world-war
This was the mother of all board games. A primary game and three expansions that all could be played together. The map covered the entire planet, every country and had over 10,000 counters. You needed a spare bedroom or a living room with no furniture to play and it took eight of us about three months to finish one full game. Was great fun fighting WWIII during the Cold War.
Enter the arcade...Defender, Joust, Asteroids, Galaga and Battlezone were king! When I was first married I saw one in a store years after they were passe and my wife said, "Go play"--an hour later she was grimacing at me and saying, "How much longer will this take?". I had to take a dive for the team
Then finally desktop PCs arrived to save us all--how we wished for them in the old days. But playing a deep board game is different from a computer game like reading a book differs from watching a movie. Better to have done both than only one of them. I've left off games like Freespace, Freelancer and the like as the comp games will be well covered already here. Yoiu guys just need to know where the ideas came from! :0
Yes, I have too much time when I don't sleep.
Shattered Horizon does look like a blast to play.
Anyone else here played Machiavelli The Prince and High Seas Trader? Those stand out for me as they were the first games I played on a PC.
Advent - because we are all in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
and Rogue - these two almost cost me my degree. Yip, of course I need all night access to the computer lab - I'm doing my project you know.
Paper Boy - the arcade version, another degree threatener when it appeared in our student union.
Space Ace - an early attempt at an "interactive cartoon film" - didn't really come off. Was just a case of learning when to twitch the joystick in different directions to avoid different death scenes. Interesting effort tho'.
Captain Blood - for fractal lanscapes and being totally wierd.
Populous - because it is addictive being a god.
Beneath a Steel Sky - for artwork and good point and click fun.
Tetris - for being hatefully addictive.
Cannon Fodder - for making a point, having an awesome theme song, and still being incredibly good fun.
Oh dear, I keep thinking of others and I've barely got out of the eighties. I better stop there or I'll be here all day.
This is a very small list
Kohan
Europa Universalis
Virtua Fighter
Gauntlet
Alpha Centauri
Since I'm seeing so many "blasts from the past" listed I thought I'd reminisce a tad.
RESCUE RAIDERS - Oh my......my APPLE II and I had sooo much fun playing this game on a 12" green mono-chrome screen. (one of the best side-scrollers of the '80s for sure)
JOUST - well lets see.......JOUST.....there is no other.
LODERUNNER - Same system (APPLE II) and what a ground-breaker this game was. Sigh......where are the games with no saves and sign "skill required" these days?
DESCENT - 3-D flying......shooting.......dodging......MP..........nuff said!
DUKE NUKEM & JAZZ JACKRABBIT - two of the best side-scrollers of all time!
RISE OF THE TRIADS - wow......first game to use dual-handguns.....sweeeet!
LEISURE SUIT LARRY SERIES (ONLY the ones with AL LOWE the new ones suck!) - oh the "education" a young man can glean from Al Lowe's wisecracks/humour....hehe
SPACE, POLICE and & KINGS QUEST SERIES - ALL ground-breaking in their own right. Such amazing memories with those series.......games lasted weeks and weeks back then......sigh
BATTLEZONE - Ah yes......what an amazing game. So many many hours of fun with friends. Why is something like this so hard to recreate these days?
HOMEWORLD - Of course this one cannot be ignored. Ground-breaking in too many ways to list. Best story ever and eventhough HW:CATACLYSM was made by different DEVS they did a nice job of continuing/tying into the existing saga! HOMEWORLD 2 is a LIE! @!#@!##@$@#% I refuse to acknowledge its existence...
....and so many more that I can't think of at the moment......well folks......enjoy your walks down memory-lane......I know I have!
the Monk
Homeworld
Half Life
Deus Ex
Battlezone
Eve Online
Battlefield 2
Galactic Civilizations 2
Age Of Empires 2
Super Smash Brothers
Mechwarrior
Rome Total War
Planescape Torment. Well written storyline. A little less 'linear' at times might have been nice, but thanks to some home grown mods/fixes (http://www.shsforums.net/forum/551-planescape-torment-mods/), I've replayed it several times recently. I love the party and NPC interaction! Chris Avellone and the guys really outdid themselves with this one.
Alpha Centauri. So sad that it is in IP limbo at the moment...
Starfleet Command I and II. A very decent computer port of arguably one of the best space combat boardgames out there. It's also nice to get battles done in minutes instead of days...
Still waiting for a decent updated take on Crush Crumble and Chomp (Your canned or custom movie monster terrorizes the city, and battles the local militia/army/police).
Final Fantasy. The old Nintendo one with 4 8 bit characters in your party (white/black mage, warrior, thief). I keep thinking about grabbing a PC port of this to relive the memories, simplistic as it was...
And on the PnP/Boardgame front:
Monster Derby. A decidedly simple concept (fantasy monsters race to the finish, and beat each other up along the way) that executed well for fun gameplay! Too bad that Jeff had to sell the company and MD is in IP limbo...
Supremacy. A game that should lend itself well to a modern day computer version, with online opponents (still waiting).
Naval War (and it's derivatives). A simple card game that eventually evolved into one of my faves in the genre, Star Force Terra: Contact!
Battletech. This boardgame took the gaming world by storm, is still around today, and has spawned some pretty good computer games along the way.
Shogun Total War
Machavilli was a great game to play when a group of friends get together for an afternoon or evening..Great backstabbing!
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 was my first entry into turn based strategy. I've owned every NA released Romance game since.
Alpha Centauri. Incredible. I truly fully envisioned new world. The factions truly had personality, the world itself was a player. Just incredible.
Kings Field. I loved this game, it was just so amazing for me at the time, exploring.
Dark Wizard. Creating an army from monsters, humans, elfs, dwarfs, and halflings...so great. leveling them , doing quest, finding special gear and gaining special heroes. Just wonderful. Terrible AI and no challenge, but a wonderful game any wayl
Brigandine. A fantasy TBS with a map system like Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Hell yes! Combat is so well balanced. You rule a kingdom and the continent is at war, the heroes are people who can control monsters. Just plain awesome. Play it all the time still.
Morrowind. Such an amazing open world. Every person, other than guards, were named individuals in that game. Go to some backwoods bandit cave and the guys in there were not jsut random guys, they had names, and were not replaced if killed. Felt like a real world.
Arcanum. Love this game. Many character choices, the game is pretty open ended, tons to do and explore, very interesting and unique world.
Dragon Warrior 4. I had loved the series, but this one blew my mind. I actually cared about the characters in this game. I loved the chapter system, and it wasn't until chapter 5 that you even met your hero, and when your hero went and gathered companions, they were old friends! Yay, there's Ragnar!!!!
Dominions 3. At first glance, it may seem underwelming. Crap graphics, Buildings? Shit temples, labs and forts? Thats it? No diplomacy with AI? But the game is amazingly deep. The magic system, crafting, so many different factions, so well balanced. Just amazing game.
To bad I have not yet managed to get DOSBox to work with its installer.
Everyone ages 6 and up should play it as it is highly educational.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that about Homeworld 2 though, because I have only played the demo, but I will say that some the gameplay changes are less than stellar in my opinion. Glad to see that game hasn't been lost to the sands of time.
Groudbreaking games:
board games:
Scrabble
Acquire
tactics II / Blitzkrieg (Avalon Hill)
Kingmaker (later AH)
Civilization (later AH)
Squad leader (AH)
War in the East / west / europe / against japan (Simulations Publications, Inc.)
Ogre (flying buffalo?)
Star force / star trooper (SPI)
Voyage / crash of the Pandora (SPI)
Blitzkrieg module system (SPI re does Blitzkrieg)
Chainmail (precursor to Dungeons and Dragons)
D and D
PC:
Wizardy 1 ....
Ultima - lord british
everwinter nights 2 (first two were great, third.. sorta lame)
Oooh Freespace, makes me want to play it again !
No, honnestly I will go with something else :
Aquaria !
This game just amazed me by it's simplicity, it's beautiful drawn 2d graphics, it's amazing soundtrack which I still listen to and cannot get rid of and mostly the unusual story few have explored !
Underwater games are just too rare and well done to forget this one ! If you haven't played it, do it !!! It's an amazing mix of Action with some slight RPG elements. Great voice acting too.
I think it's the one of the few game that made me look differently on video games and how they can be perceived.
Great games, there's just tons I could mention that I loved from begining to end but truly groundbraking, original, awe-inspiring and memorable... I can't think of most.
There's many adventure games who gave me that feeling like Samorost which is simply charming in many way ! Like maniac mansion and day of the tentacles who are the first game which made me laugh (then space quest and monkey island)
And only because it must have been the first computer game in color I ever played : Dune 1 !!! That I still love but which is just too hard at the end ! I never finished it to my great ashamedness I had to youtube the ending I mean everything in that game was charming me, the graphisms, the colors, the characters... And it is THE GAME that made me want to start reading the books which I am a huge fan now, fan of all the dune games, fan of the movies (old and new)... Well, this game definitely marqued me forever and I hope someone smart enough will make another game but not EA like since the universe of Dune is so amazingly rich and huge ! All hail to Dune 2, the first RTS ever ! Loved Dune 2000 too.
I will have to say among great games : Lands of Lore 1, system shock 1 and 2 (bioshock still sucks compared to what system shock was), eye of the beholder... and of course Sins of a Solar empire which is the first strategy game that truly amazed me on every single little details with graphisms and zoom possibilities.
Doom 1 and 2 ! And all their funny mods ! lol As well as Heretic and Hexen (both 1 and 2)
Warcraft 1 and 2, big disapointment with the 3rd one where they ripped away my favorite WC2 units, no more ultra powerful spells like in Warcraft 1 (and half warcraft 2) where you could take out an entire ennemy base with a couple wizards... Aaaah...
Toonstruck, amazing game for those of you who knows it !
Hi-Octane, was always better than Wipeout for me, sad they never made it go further... RIP Bullfrog !
Dungeon Keeper 1, not the 2, for the atmosphere and the all new original idea
Populous... of course !
Tunnels of the underground... great free game !
Tyrian, the best... No shooter was ever as half amazing as this one !
Arcanum, Morrowind, Planescape Torment... I loved them for their universe and characters !
Cannon Fodder and Lode Runner, 2 oldies I spend lots of time on it... I don't remember which lode runner, but the one where you can play in coop or against each other is just pure fun and I had so much fun !
Worms and Worms Reinforcements, since starting worms 2, they never grabbed the fun of those and the beautiful maps !
Duke 3d for all the crazy multiplayer fun I had, same with Half-life 1, just for multiplayer fun !
Battlezone definitely made me obsessed with FPS/STR, no other game ever caught the greatness of such combination !
Sacrifice, truly underrated, lots of fun with their amazingly destructive spells !
Oh my god... I have so much games to list among great games ! But for true awe-inspiring... I'll just stick with Aquaria !
Star Ruler (Indie Game)
Give it more than 30 minutes of gameplay and you might be completely addicted. It's a small budget indie game that 3 people worked on. It's pretty amazing, it has everything I wished Sins of a Solar Empire had.
-Low Budget
-High Value
-Hours to spend in game
-Very fun MP (when someone is around)
You can have infite armada of ships or gigantic ships as large as a planet/sun/solar system..... or more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJEMmzKzR4
The 3 people working on the game are constantly in Irc, they listen and respond and fix bugs as soon as you've pointed them out. They release a steady flow of patches.
Are the Star Ruler guys the ones who freaked out and pulled their game from Impulse? I'm not saying that would affect me buying it (they have every right to), just that that game name sounds familiar.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Can't belive this hasnt been mentioned yet. This is arguably the first game to mix empire building and space combat in one continuous real time setting. Probably the first RT4X game.
Galactic Civilizations II: Probably the best AI that the TBS genre, hell strategy genre, will probably ever see.
Roller Coaster Tycoon: The original ideas are the best. It was great fun building giant amusement parks, and this series was better than any other tycoon series ever put out. (By the way, RTC4 is in development).
X3: Reunion/ Terran Conflict: Some of the most complicated games one will EVER play, but once you master them, they are vastly rewarding. The gameplay is extremely complex, and graphics are stunning. Plus, plenty of updates, free mission downloads, and excellent mods. It should be interesting what Egosoft will announce at the end of April, when they unveil their next project.
Trackmania: You have pieces to make extreme race tracks. You put them together to make some crazy design. You publish your tracks online and race on other peoples creations. Despite a complete lack of realism, one of the best racers and online games ever created.
EVE Online: The space MMO for grown ups. Like X3, it's extremely difficult, but very rewarding. Unlike WoW, everyone is on a single server, all 350,000+ players. One of the most dynamic in game economies ever created (Forbes even checked it out). There are over 11 free expansions released so far. While almost everyone has copied WoW, EVE Online has survived because of its uniqueness, even to the point where some are trying to copy EVE now.
Half Life 2 and Episode 2: You work doesnt get declared "Best Game Ever Made" by PC Gamer, a mag known for not caving to megapublisher pressure (they gave COD:MW2 a 77%). This was the first game to truly captivate me, and to make me sad when it was over (even though I hated the first few sections, Ravenholm scared the shit out of me!) I just wish Valve would work on Episode 3 (though some are speculating that they are instead working on Half Life 3) Why did I not mention Episode 1? I liked it, but it just didnt blow me away like HL2 and Episode 2 did.
It is really hard to sit down and come up with a list of these types of games. I find myself constantly discovering games which I can place in this type of category. I think a lot of great games have been pointed out here, but I will add a couple that I think are missing.
Mount and Blade: This is one of the most innovative CRPGs in the last few years. While the game lacks a defining story, it is more than made up for in great open ended game play and a combat system that makes you feel the huge scale of every battle. On top of this, there are a large amount of mods which greatly enhance the game play.
Rome Total War: A lot of people have pointed out the first shogun, but I think it is in Rome that the total war series truly hit its stride. This iteration brought everything that was amazing about the previous iterations and made changes which made the system far more incredible to play. Each faction in the game had a distinct flavor, and made you really think about how to engage each one. From the elephants of Carthage to the hoplites of Macedonia, there were unique challenges to overcome.
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War: It is hard to deny that this game really add a huge amount to the RTS genre. In many ways, Relic reinvented the wheel with Homeworld, and they brought this same desire for innovation to the table when developing the original dawn of war. Squads, strategic points, and customizable weapon load outs are just a few of the features that Relic brought to the table and each gave the game incredible strategic depth.
I wouldnt say freaked out, or pulled exactly.
They did have a dispute of some sort though.
I'll look into it, I guess I'll have to get it from GamersGate if it's off of Impulse already.
Thats what I mean by its not exactly pulled, it's still on impulse from the looks of it.. Star Ruler still plans on supporting it with patches.
I suggest Direct2Drive it's currently $12.98 opposed to $30 ish anywhere else.
http://www.direct2drive.com/Search.aspx?SearchTerm=star%20ruler
Ooh, I can't resist a sale!
Yeah I dont know why it's still that inexpensive.. I know they cut the price because they were donating $1 per sale to japan's crisis. (this was weeks ago)
It's a complex game, give it the time it deserves and if you like building shipsets and ships in general youll be spending hours just making our designs . Then there is the Galaxy and conquering thousands of planets and hundreds of solar systems... well that adjustable too so it could be thousands of solar systems or 1
I almost gave up on this game, but got sick and had to stay home for awhile.
Edit: The MP is pretty good too, it crashes seldomly like any indie game with 3 people working on it, but if you do get it Id like to see how well your ship designs fair against mine =D
It will be on Impulse until May.
Be sure to update often, as it gets patched frequently (link to change log for the next patch: http://forums.blind-mind.com/index.php?topic=3295.0)
Dune. The original, not Dune II (also know as Dune: Battle for Arrakis i think) nor Frank Herbert's Dune (2000-something?)(game, not the miniseries of course. Yes, i know, it is obvious and i am rambling). The CD version has some damn nice graphics, the musics in that game are among the best i've ever heard, the desing, the look is PERFECT. And it is adventure/RTS... Actually, on personal scale, i'd say it does fulfill all four points, despite having played it after some more advanced games (considering i'm born 21 years ago (birthday today, April 13th!) it would've been hard to have played this before some others). Groundbreaking for me. This is the game that shaped my vision of Dune's visuals. It is a prototypical RTS... Ur-example of RTS games maybe? With Dune II being the genre codifier (or just another ur-example). Awe-inspiring: the looks, the music, the best adaptation of Frank Herbert's masterpiece in my opinion. Memorable of course... I wouldn't be writing this if it wasn't memorable. Originality is a bit hard but... as a game, yes i think it was pretty original. A mix of RTS and Adventure, adapted from a book which is quite hard to get right...
Funny. Dune II is not in my list of awesome etc. games. I played Dune 2000 first and Dune 2 just feel like a pale shadow of it's remake. I have no nostalgic feelings of course... but even if i had played it before D2k, i doubt i'd like it better. I'm not a nostalgic type, not really... i dislike that feeling. Dune 2000 is not original nor groundbreaking. Nor it was very awe-inspiring nor memorable since it didn't get very good reviews. But for me (and some others based on Youtube comments) it is awe-inspiring and memorable. I got it as a birthday present (did i turn 10 then? I cannot recall that) and being a Dune fan... No words for it, just love. (Now that i think of it there might be some nostalgia here but i do reinstall it every now and then and play it and it still feels fun and replayable, i don't feel nostalgic when doing that)
Civilization II. Do i need to say more? Again a sequel i've played before the original... though in this case i've never played CivI though i think i've seen my friend to play it. *Shrugs* An important game for me though the sequels are better games and i really don't like to play CivII anymore.
Alpha Centauri. Like CivII, only way better. Actually, i like SMAC (+SMAX) better than CivIII or CivIV (don't have CivV yet, waiting for a price drop, maybe an expansion and better computer). Really alien world, interesting civs (being based on ideologies rather than a culture/nation), damn good writing/quotes/stuff, terraforming taken up to eleven... Not quite ground breaking and originality is a bit questionable as in its hearth it is just another civilization game but still... The best of Civilization series.
Blizzard games (Diablos, Starcrafts, Warcrafts). They get only this entry.. Not all of them fill each point except maybe "memorable". Dunno, there's just something special in Blizzard's games.
Command&Conquer series. Especially under Westwood... CnC Generals is C&C in name only but still quite good. Classics, fun games even though the latter ones suffer from stagnation (CnC 3, almost like remake of the original), wrong style and direction (RA3) and a stupid try to re-invent the series gameplay-wise (and damn bad cutscenes) (CnC 4).
Halo Combat Evolved. The first Halo's title, "Combat Evolved" is true... sort of. AFAIK, none of its features (quick use grenades, melee and regenerating health) were original but their polish and combination with good shooting and good weapons did popularize them (and console shooters) and evolved the genre. Of course there's a drawback... FPS genre has stayed the same for a decade. Time to move on really. Back to the game itself. Open levels, large scale, good AI, really good and mysterious feeling enemies, great visuals... In retrospect, the game does suffer from lack of good and original story and the latter levels are not very good nor fun. The sequels are good too though all of them have take two steps forward and one back. Except maybe in Halo: Reach's case where it took two steps forward and one and half back, with the remaining half step being the visual upgrades and techical upgrades...
Mass Effect, 1 and 2. The first one isn't a very good game in retrospect nor did it have very original plot (quite similar to Star Wars KOTOR's (which BTW gets bolded for being an important game for me) but its visual and sound desing, the world, the characters... and even story even if its plot wasn't new one. BioWare's blessing and curse... they do play with tropes well but they really don't make new ones nor do they twist them in completly unexpected ways. Oh, "Ur-example" links to TV-Tropes which explains "trope" if you don't know what they're (or have only a vague knowledge) but be careful there... Search for TVTropes Ruin Your Life and you'll understand.
Battlefield 1942. Seeing an aircraft carrier driven to a beach, people sniping and firing (and hitting with) rockets at planes, jeeps carrying a squadfull of people and driving to mines, single handedly clearing and capturing a heavily defended capture point, awesome flying, infantry rushes, tank war, a battleship duel in which the side with more engineers repairing their ship wins, Desert Combat mod... Classic.
And finally: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Got this one from sale and... well, it was probably the best deal i've gotten. Where to begin? Open world sandbox RPG, very interesting alien-feeling world, very interesting lore, great visual desing, awesome music... and of course, the mods. Better than its sequel, Oblivion though the fifth game of the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim might beat it. Might. Morrowind is... well, Morrowind. Sort of polarizing game really, you either love it or you hate it, there doesn't seem to be middle ground really. The same seems to apply Oblivion as well.
Of course ther are others but i can't stay up the whole night listing them and writing something about them.. And these are probably the most important ones for me.
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