Contd "...We'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music!”
Marcus Brigstoke.
Marcus Brigstoke.
A bit of a change from the norm here, today we're going to talk about games...
I’m one of the few males I know who doesn’t own a console. Really. The last console I owned was an Xbox, not even an Xbox 360. I’m married, so I’m not allowed one. Actually, I did own a Wii, but that hardly counts. I rarely have a chance for gaming, so I don’t miss it (often).
I’m one of the few males I know who doesn’t own a console. Really. The last console I owned was an Xbox, not even an Xbox 360. I’m married, so I’m not allowed one. Actually, I did own a Wii, but that hardly counts. I rarely have a chance for gaming, so I don’t miss it (often).
Anyway, I got to thinking about my childhood recently (now
having a child of my own), and reminisced about all the times my parents would
play computer games with me; well, my mum would watch the ones that had a
story, while my dad would actually play. Back then, games could be pretty
tough, not like these days where any idiot with enough time can complete them.
More importantly, games were very, very addictive; without the perk of
realistic graphics, games needed to rely on actually being fun. Sure, we may
now have Arkham City and Modern Warefare, but few games of the last decade can
compete with the ‘old timers’ for enjoyment and challenges…
Or does it just feel that way, now I’m a 30 year old? A
child of the early 80’s who thinks of 1993 as being just 10 years ago. Someone
who still thinks Jurassic Park is fairly recent… You decide. Anyway, here’s a
list of some of my favourite games, as played on my trusty Amiga or my
Commodore 64 (and on one occasion the PlayStation One).
If you’re old like me, enjoy the walk down memory lane. If
you’re sickeningly young, have a laugh at what us oldies used to do for fun (hey, it beats self-harm). I’ve
even provided a few You Tube links to sample the software, as it were.
Alien 3
A tough game, where you play a gun-toting sort-of-Ripley
through a hybrid platform world comprised of the previous films (so not
technically accurate). Not impossible though, as when you learnt where the
aliens re-spawned you could get enough shots off in good time, and you can
learn by repetition where the hostages are being held. Probably one of the better film-tie-ins of its day.
Alien Breed; 1992 edition
Back before there were any official Alien games (of any consequence
that is), Alien Breed was as close as I got to pretending to be a Colonial
Marine in the film Aliens. Unfortunately, I never had the skill to complete
this game without cheats, not sure I knew anyone who did. Who could forget the absolute
frustration of realising you’d run out of keys and couldn’t actually reach the
end of the level? All you had to look forward to was death-by-teeth when you
used up your last bullets.
Barbarian 2
(Commodore 64) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6o122yOPY
Being a growing boy with ‘issues surrounding social
interaction’, any game with gore was a promising prospect for me. Barbarian 2
was pretty basic, but it was bloody satisfying when you managed to land a
decapitating blow on your enemies. The difficulty was set pretty high from
level one, but it didn’t really get any harder.
Beneath A Steel Sky
One of my all-time favourite games, a point-and-click adventure
by the team who later bought us the awesome Broken Sword franchise, and the
artist behind the Watchmen graphic novel. It was gripping, exciting, sometimes
shocking (Anita, no!) and darkly funny, and provided me with hours and hours of
play. Unfortunately, almost half that time was comprised of loading between screens,
and coming on 15 floppy disks- that’s a lot of loading. Never completed it on
the Amiga, but managed to track down a copy recently that played on the PC and
finally put that nagging thorn-in-my-side to rest. Still holds up well today.
Cabal
(Commodore 64) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQnHAr0yLvY
The first game I ever loved. Basically you play Arnold
Schwarzenegger from Commando (or Stallone from Rambo, whichever your preference),
and you need to blow away an oncoming army of ‘not-Russians’. Basically a
fore-runner to the likes of Modern Warefare. Well, sort of.
Cannon Fodder
(Amiga) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ob73lgvE0MSimple. Addictive. Violent. Funny. Who could ever forget: ‘war, never been so much fun’? The names were a touch of genius, and it was easy to form attachments to the veteran members of your squad, and heart-breaking when they died! Jools and Jops FTW! What I didn’t realise till years later is that you could actually heal the soldiers who took a bullet but didn’t die, the ones that laid on their back screaming in agony. I always used to get upset at their suffering and give them the ol’ mercy shot. Oops.
Chaos Engine
Like Alien Breed, this was another top-down shooter, except
the difficulty was cranked all the way to ‘fucking ludicrous’. I did get good,
but never anywhere near able to complete it. An appealing novelty was the idea
of selecting different characters, whose weapons and speed handled differently
during gameplay. Catchy techno music too.
Flashback
One of the first games I remember playing that featured a
coherent plot (a cross between Total Recall and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers),
or cut-scenes between the action. Realistic motion-captured movements added to
the cinematic quality. Very influential. I even managed to complete this one!
Ghosts & Goblins
(Commodore 64) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkgsA01gJvQThe hardest game I have ever played! Seriously. It looked cute and child-friendly, but by Christ it was hard- probably the hardest game ever made. Many a new gamer will disagree with that last comment, they will probably tell me "no way, Demon Souls is much harder than that piece of shit". To them, I reply "no save points or continues here, pussies!"
It Came From The Dessert
This was an odd little game; part point-and-click adventure,
part text adventure, part shooter, part platformer. It was basically a 50’s
‘giant-ant’ style B-movie plot, filled with mini-games. Interestingly, it was
time-frame dependent, meaning you needed to be at certain locations of the map
to discover certain clues and witness certain events to complete the game. I
got as far as getting a plane together, along with a scientist with some
chemical that would kill the ants, but I could never work out where the hell
the nest was! I would be the last human in town left alive; driving around the
town centre in a tank till either I ran out of shells or fuel. One could easily
argue that a game like this is in the genetic make-up of games like Fahrenheit
and Heavy Rain.
Lemmings
Everyone knows Lemmings, surely. Again, I couldn’t get
through all the levels, but it was still fun. After a hard day, I used to let
off steam by trapping all the creatures together and hitting the
‘self-destruct’ button. Blue little buggers!
Monkey Island
Another funny point-and-click game, about a looser who
dreams of becoming a great pirate, similar in tone to the first Pirates Of The
Caribbean film, with a dash of Naked Gun. I did complete this game, but I was a
fair bit older when I started playing this.
Moonstone
Another gory game, this played like Golden Axe or Streets Of
Rage, except with blood-spilling on a level akin to Monty Python's Holy Grail. Characters would have to cut a bloody trail
through their enemies while searching for magical keys to save the kingdom (or
something like that). Never saw the game completed because my copy would always
crash during the final battle, but the fun to be had here was in multiplay; you and three friends could play this in turns, either working together to search the map or by screwing eachother over in violent one-on-one combat!
Mortal Kombat 2
So, everybody knows Mortal Kombat, right? It’s been going on
long enough. Could have mentioned the first game, except that for me this was
the apex of the franchise’s history. All the best elements; a good control
system, a varied cast (a big roster for its day with 12 characters) blood,
brutality, fantasy, magic and monsters. Even on the ‘very easy’ setting it was no picnic, and I
had to rely on glitches and sneaky tactics to beat the 2 bosses, and I
considered myself ‘pretty mustard’ agvainst human players…
North & South
A simulation of the tragic American Civil War, via an Astrix
sensibility. You took it in turn to move your armies about the map, and during
conflicts things begun to resemble a very basic Command & Conquer. Looked
crap, but surprisingly addictive; very few things will give you a thrill akin to
riding your brave cavalry against a loading cannon! You WILL here yourself shouting "charrrrrge!"
Resident Evil
(Playstation One) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc7vnJ0O5LUent
I’ve still not completed this bloody game! I still have the
save slot on my memory card, stuck in a safe room, next to an empty locker, 2
bullets left in my shotgun, and a house crawling with fucking Hunters
(monstrous humanoids that want to make a donner kebab out of your face). Not a
good reload point. And who could forget the porn-quality voice acting, or the
heart pounding moment the first dog attacked you through the window? Truly an
experience that redefined what a game could be, even if its many sequels became
stale and repetitious…
Simon The Sorcerer
Pretty much the same sort of experience as Monkey Island,
only with a dash of Discworld thrown into the mix. You play a looser who wants
to become (wait for it) a sorcerer. The puzzles were sometimes tedious, but the
humour and graphics kept the game fresh and enjoyable.
Syndicate
(Amiga) Syndicat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4jQ2ZFvPVge
A strategic war game, where the player takes control of a
shady organisation intent on taking over a Bladerunner-styled future world. You
do this by way of a campaign of street-level warfare and conspiratorial
subterfuge, such as assassination, abduction and mass-destruction. Sometimes
frustrating, but always addictive. Also, it’s pretty cool to control a group of
trench-coat clad killers, roaming the city, armed with sniper rifles and
shotguns.
Worms
Hopefully, this is a game that requires no introduction. I
fondly remember evenings after school, a room full of friends sat round the TV
screen, passing the mouse from person to person, blowing shit up while
listening to Guns N’ Roses or Iron Maiden. Ah, those were the days…
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