Slashdot Mirror
What Are Your Top Five 'Comfort' Games?
Via GameSetWatch, an article at The New Gamer talking about comfort games. These reliable, fun titles are the old favorites you consistently look to for amusement and solace after a bad gaming session, a bad day, a bad week. From the article, with the author's comfort games: "Mega Man 2 - This Capcom classic has been with me since I was a kid, and I know it like the back of my hand. I'm sure that, if blindfolded, I'd somehow intuitively be able to maneuver through the levels, but I'd much rather be able to view it in all of its 8-bit goodness and remind myself of the good times." My current top five would have to be Super Mario World, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, God of War, and Civilization IV. What are yours?
Comfort games? Not that I would usually 'comfort' myself with video games, more often I comfort myself with indulgence :p Anyway, mine would be:
San Andreas. Sometimes I have a bad day and want to shoot stuff, beat some hookers, blow up some cars etc. Quite often I will load the game, and not do any missions. Just blow shit up for as long as possible. For fun.
C&C Generals. It's so fun to play against friends on a LAN, and it's so warming to hear a Scottish pal yell obscenities after a carefully planned assult on his base. It's also fun on skirmish mode, solo. I'll do battle against the CPU, and win. That makes me feel a little better.
Settlers. I loved this game, played it as a young teen. I played the first one to death. So did my younger sister, and occasionally I'd tell her the level password so she could try and beat it. That was fun. I remember enjoying the little swordfights.
Transport Tycoon. Sorry, I love this game. It was and is great. Tried to get Locomotion working today, but XP is crashing on it for some reason (must me some driver error, I'll work it out). Anyway, what a classic game. So much fun.
The Sims. Fine, it is basically a virtual doll house, but its mindless and easy to lose yourself in. I remember many years back, a friend and I tried 'hash cake' - my friend stared at the ceiling for hours and I played (the first) Sims. For about ten hours solid. All of the people in my house had top level jobs, not that it matters now though.
While games are engrossing and fun to play, and it is so easy to spend that many hours on them, they're not the hours you're going to remember in ten years time. The comparison with 'comfort foods' is apt though, I don't remember what food I comforted myself with two years ago either. Labelling something a 'comfort' doesn't really say anything though. We're all different, and what comforts me may completely unsettle another. For instance, I might smoke in a tense situation and in doing that I make someone uncomfortable.
Different strokes for different folks. This is just a poll rather than an article though.
1. Killing Zonk
2. Killing Zonk II: More Death to Zonk
3. Killing Zonk III: Die Zonk Die
4. Killing Zonk V: Can't Slashdot Fire Zonk Already? (Killing Zonk IV sucked almost as much as zonk)
5. Tetris
Operation Flashpoint.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
StarSiege
Tomb Raider (the good ones... not that piece of crap AOD).
Every now and then, I just need to get some adrenaline pumping. If I don't need much of it, a quick match against bots (The Longest Yard, hardcore level) will do nicely.
My top 5:
- Mortal Kombat
- Halo
- Unreal Tournament
- Load Runner
- Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Good times.
Mark
My current top five would have to be Super Mario World, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, God of War, and Civilization IV.
WoW is more like my full-time job, and I play other games to relax after my 8-hour pvp shift.
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
CARMAGEDDON
M.U.L.E.
My 2nd home is on IRATA.
After that:
Alternate Reality
Ultima IV
Jumpman
and tied for 5th are a number of old infocom games (Zork, H2G2, Infidel)
River City Ransom
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Tetris (Gameboy)
- Bubble Bobble
- Age of Empires
- General Chaos
I find it interesting that so many newer games are finding their way into the highly revered realm of gamer's favorites. The social aspects of the game are a double edged sword because although this increases the enjoyment, it also causes the enjoyment to be highly volatile because your friends aren't going to always be there playing with you. Had Star Wars Galaxies never underwent the combat upgrade, I would have it as a comfort game. Unfortunately, it's no longer there for me. I currently play World of Warcraft but I am wary about marking it as a comfort game. After all, the expansion is on the horizon and who knows what's going to change in the game? There is a chance that World of Warcraft suffers from the same corporate zeal that destroyed Star Wars Galaxies--all we can do is wait and see.My work here is dung.
1. Duke Nukem Forever
2. Daikatana
3. Superman 64
4. ET
5. Extreme Paintbrawl
Whenever I'm feeling down, I can say: "At least I don't develop video games for a living!"
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
"Five or More" and "Same Gnome" are like my solitaire and minesweeper. Just something to pass the time and I always try to beat my highscores. Many of the nice commercial games tend to get boring after a few hours of play. Why is it that the simple games get the most game play? Like tetris for instance, it's not a very complicated game but it's still being played a ton.
Beer! It's what's for breakfast!
The Balder's Gate series. It is a HUGE game. And it runs great on old hardware,..
I'd go with Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition, Shadow Warrior and Blood.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
This is a tough one for me as I feel the need to play something "fun and familiar" is based whatever one owned in the past, but here are 5 off the top of my head that I feel you cannot possibly live life without as a gamer:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Final Fantasy III (SNES)
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo (psx/arcade)
X-COM: UFO Defense (PC)
Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
1. Alpha Centauri
2. Kohan - Ahriman's Gift
3. Super Mario World
4. Super Metroid
5. Colonization
It is the best comfort game after a really bad day.
You sit down, play and lose. You get up and you are full with that warm fuzzy feeling inside which wispers into your ears that the world is not so perversely against you, because the game has proven that things can be much, much worse.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
I didn't realize how relaxing this game was until I played Adventure again on a friend's "retro 2600 game consoles built into a joystick" machines. I knew exactly where to grab the sword, defeat even the red dragon, and find the micro-dot/easter egg without having played it (or even thinking about it) in years. I suspect other games like the Superman game, or Yar's Revengewould trigger the same response, but it's very strange (and perhaps a little scary) how comforting it is for those built in motor memories to kick in again.
:-/
Maybe I can see now why my mom is nostalgic over some mundane useless activity like shucking vegetables. Or my dad recalls how great it was to kill wasps. Weird activities from when we were young and not concerned about politics, relationships, or investment portfolios. Maybe I should have learned something else besides how to beat Adventure though.
AvP1, skirmish, level "stranded", run around blasting the critters, collecting pickups. They spawn at a challenging rate at some points.
When it starts to get boring, try to raise hoard of crippled aliens; aliens with arm or leg shot off can't wallclimb anymore thus effectively pacified if you're atop a structure. For challenge, cripple praetorians (hint: predator speargun)
Gotta be one of the Infinity Engine games. I began a new BG1 char not long ago, with the intention of taking him all the way through the series. I love them.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
In no particular order:
Nethack
Masters of Orion 2
Continuum
Alpha Centauri
Neverwinter Nights
Those games can only be considered classic if you're eleven. Oh wait, nevermind.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
I am quite surprised no one has mention Command and Conquer; I play these to let off steam. Nothing like sending in hundreds on tanks and obliterating something.
In order, top 5 C&C:
1) Command and Conquer generals + addon pack
2) Command and Conquer red alert
3) Command and Conquer tiberian sun
4) Command and Conquer
5) Command and Conquer Red alert 2
Signature v3.0, now with 42% less memory usage.
Whatever Tetris clone is available on the nearest computer. Preferably Netris (the NCurses Linux game, not the Gator-infected Windows game).
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
These aren't in any order.
One of the best anti-stress games I have is Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. All the colors and lights are quite soothing to me.
Halo 2 works because it makes me forget whatever I was stressed about and focus on those damn Legendary Elites. Refocusing stress is fun!
And who can forget nethack? Nothing like comparing your bad day to someone who's pet kitty died due to a falling rock and who is stuck in a dark dank dungeon with only a shield and a sword. Of course, this game is a double-edged sword. About the worst thing that can happen is getting addicted right before exams.
I've always found all of Microsoft-published RTS games (Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, and their sequels) to be really fun, so I'll just throw that in there. AoE2 is definitely my favorite game of all time.
And then there is Real Life. Nothing compares to just hanging out with some friends to get rid of stress. I haven't gotten to the last boss, but I hear you'll die facing him. Fun game nonetheless.
-Cheapy
Would you kindly mod me +1 insightful?
Wonderboy, Rampage, Shinobi III, Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles
Used to be a Sega fan, can you tell? Only problem is they're not really comfort games proper since I haven't played any of them in over 8 years. I don't have a Master System or a Genesis anymore. I'm really hoping some of these titles are going to be offered on the Wii for download.
Since I've started using Linux exclusively, it has changed somewhat:
1. Multiple instances of Doom with the doomsday engine
2. Crack-attack
3. Mutant Storm
4. Nethack:)
5. Grid Wars 2
Mario Kart (esp after a bit of drinking)
Commander Keen
Sim City 2000
Sam and Max Hit the Road
And some good ol Doom
-Super Mario World
-Starcraft
-Donkey Kong Country for SNES. Any of the 3.
-Heroes III
-Unreal Tournament, the original.
Notice a pattern?
#1- Most of these games are old.
#2- Most of these games have had sequels made to them, and in my humble opinion, none of the sequels have been better than these ones. Game developers should REALLY look at this article and look at the games listed when they wonder why their game isn't selling amazing. You'll notice most people here haven't put like Unreal Tournament 2005 or Duke Nukem Forever.
1. Tetris (and variants) - SNES
2. Gran Turismo 1
3. Ms. Pacman - arcade
4. Lierati
5. We Love Katamari
My 'comfort' VG's are Tetris (played manically), only while on an airplane, and the Civ series. The manic games of Tetris calm me down. It's basically escapism @ 30k feet, since I'm a nervous flyer. I usually play a Civ 4 game (or before that it's predecessors) when I'm sick at home, or in a hotel for work. There is no better mind numbing escapism than Civ 4.
In no particlular order:
;P
Halo (the PC version)
World of Warcraft
Super Mario World
Zelda: A link to the past
Zelda: Occarina of Time
Yoshi's Island
Halo replaced Unreal, once the Mac I had it on died. Halo has a sence of adventure and exploration that always triggers good feelings with me. In a sence, World of Warcraft does the same, but the relaxing element in that game is the fact that the world truly lives. I've had a few recreational moments just watching people pass by in a city in WoW.
The Nintendo titles are just outright great titles. Especially the Zelda titles, who's dark atmosphere is just endlessly deep. I can dive in and let it engulf me at any time.
Of course, Solitare should probably be on the lust, but I guess this discussion will have enough jokes about that
I'll be flamed for this, but mine definitely are :
1) tuxracer
2) frozen bubbles
These games are simple, takes only 20 seconds to comprehend, don't hog the pc at all and best of all run on linux. In fact most of my friends keep telling me these are dumb games from a bygone era, but their simplicity and ease simply outblow all those fps-shooter-in-5-DVDs packs. Out of curiosity, are there any other *nix users here, who play games like once a month, but really relish their 5 minute getway?
Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips."
Turned up to the biggest board size. It takes about 200 seconds to clear the board, and it's so mindless.
Perhaps it's not a comfort game, as having fun with it requires a few people who aren't necessarily there after a bad day...but Super Smash Brothers for N64 is the one game I can always go back. It's so damn satisfying, and well-balanced enough to endure millions of plays. I feel like someone will take me to task for claiming it's balanced, though.
1) "Rise of Nations" (Thrones and Patriots) ... by far.
2) Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
3) F.E.A.R.
4) Quake 3 Arena
5) Black & White 2
- Spryguy
There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
I can still play tetris for hours if I had the time. For short bursts, Freecell. I have installed wine on my linux boxen to play freecell. Why isn't there a good linux clone? (gnome freecell looks like crap).
Will the War in Iraq get better or worse in 2007? Vote here
Megaman 2 - oh so satisfying
Homeworld 1 - best story ever
NBA Jam TE - all my favorite players, with MONSTER JAMS
Pac man - enough said.
Tie Fighter - all time best space shooter, my fav.
So basically we're talking about using games as therapy. I'd like to break it down to the following: Something that's easy to win / not impossible to win (patience isn't on top), something where one starts to construct something after a week when everything fell apart (Sim City) or something to release anger (Quake). I'd say that I'll go with a calm game that gives results with familiar music. For me, that's a strategy game like Civilization or Warcraft on an medium level (so I'm sure I'll win). Sim City doesn't cut it because you can't win. We also have nostalgia; to remember back to the days that were not as hard as this one. Especially the music of a game falls into this category. The funny thing is the old days were not harder than those of now, but we only remember the good stuff.
I spend a lot of work time on phone calls, sometimes boring, and sometimes on hold waiting for people. Solitaire's not a deep game that drags you in, but it's as good as doodling or sketching on a notepad, and there's enough flow to stay occupied.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
E.V.O.: The Search for Eden - This game is still as fun as the day it came out for me. (R)evolutionay concept. It's a shame Enix never followed up with a sequel on this one. Possibly Spore will quench my thirst for a while when it hits.
Castlevania: SotN - I'm pretty sure most console gamers will list this or Super Metroid in their top 5. The thing that bumps Castlevania in the lead is the the insane amount of replay trying to get all the rare items.
Final Fantasy Tactics - Still my favorite SRPG of all time. While parts of the game are broken (super combos, characters that are overpowering, etc), it just adds to the play styles available. You can play the game with all mages for a challenge, you can play with all the best gear and characters if you just want to get through the game. Tons of hidden stuff. Deep dungeon. Square nailed it with this one.
Panzer Dragoon Saga - Incredible RPG. One of the most beautiful gaming experiences ever. Great story. Shorter than most RPG's at around 20 hours, but every second of it is engaging and it never feels like you're in an "in-between" part of the game thrown in to draw it out. Hopefully some day we'll get a sequel/remake/rerelease of this one so everyone can experience it.
Toss up (Super Metroid / Super Mario World / Mega Man 2 / Mario Kart) - Not much to say about these except that they're all amazing games.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
You must be very proud.
I personally prefer Star Trek: Armada II for real-time strategy.
When the carpal tunnel isn't too awful, I'll break into an hour or so of original Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition.
And when the pain killers are prescription rather than over-the-counter, I can tolerate a few hours of Need For Speed Underground.
Failing these three, I always enjoy a game of "Let's re-install the OS". It is a little more challenging when drunk, though, and the outcome is more often disastrous.
Finally, I recommend marriage. There is no more comforting game than the one we play with our other half.
Whenever Mrs. Fitch breaks wind, we beat the dog.
5. Pirates!
4. Civ 2.
3. Homeworld.
2. Starflight.
1. Battlefield 1942.
There is simply too much glass..
1) Half-Life
2) Battlefield 1942
3) Tai Pan
4) Sonic the Hedgehog (1-3 really)
5) Everquest
In no particular order:
Falcon 4:Allied Force - (used to be Falcon 4) is simply the best "game" ever. Infinite replayability, a learning experience and a way of life. It's great if you have 10 minutes of free time, or 10 hours.
Alpha Centauri - I think it's the best of the Civ series of games, and I've played them all. Much replay in this one.
C&C Red Alert 2 (including Yuri's revenge) - great multi-player fun on a LAN or stand-alone.
Wolfenstein:ET - for multi-player fun
Q3 Arena w/bots - for when you just want to run around and shoot things.
You know you're a geek if you've ever replied to a tagline.
I can't believe no one mentionned Super Mario Kart.
Play it once a year..
Without a doubt my top 5 comfort games are the first 5 leisursuit larry games.
Best. Game. Ever.
Depends on my mood and what type of game I want to play. But my main list is:
Quake 1 - Throw in an Omicron bot or 2 and I can DM in qcon1 or dm4 for hours
Shenmue 1 - I try to replay this every so often, as old as it is, it's amazing how rich this game still is, plus it's the only single player rpg to even hold my attention
Worms - Be it worms1, the java version on my cell, or worms 3d, it's a great series of games for just wasting time
Tetris - Runs on any device I have, can hold my attention for hours
Mario 3 - Brilliant game that (imho) only shows it age until you play a couple levels, the fact I can bring it anywhere with my gba is a plus.
Unreal Tournament 2004 (The demo - never bothered to buy the retail version, but I find the Onslaught games in the demo to be a great stress reliever)
Guitar Hero - Because rocking out is fun!
F-Zero X on N64 - I've become reasonably good at this one, but for stress relief, I set the difficulty at Easy and try to knock out as many other racers as possible.
Ok, the tag system isn't working... Every story on the front page is tagged as "yes, no, maybe, fud, notfud." How is that supposed to be useful? And more importantly, how was the tag system ever intended to be useful in the first place? There's no way to browse stories with a particular tag (is there?)... Isn't that how tags generally work? People tag a story as "science" and then some time later, I can look for all stories with the "science" tag and read about science. Either that functionality isn't here, or it's really hard to find. But either way, the tags aren't being used well anyway, so it wouldn't matter. Searching for stories tagged as "yes" isn't going to be very productive...
For a RPG - Final Fantasy (1 or 7) (Nintendo/PSX) For a shooter - Duke 3d or Dark Forces (MSDOS) For an adventure - Under a Killing Moon (MSDOS) For a sim - Master of Orion (MSDOS) - Sky Odyssey (PS2) For a RTS - Red Alert II (Win 9X/XP) Depending on which game I'm getting stuck in, I'll stick to the same genre
Doom, Quake3, Command and Conquer, Battle Isle II, Descent
Other honorable titles worth mentioning: Death Rally, Daikatana(only ep.2,3,4), Uplink, Metal Gear Solid 2, CnC: Red Alert, Crazy Cars and Duke Nukem 3D
-Seeing the problem is ½ of solution-
Counter-Strike: Source because I can share the fun with my friends with a variety of different mods available (such as zombie and gun game) as well as the normal gameplay.
Freeciv because I really do need to get to the space age sometime.
Mahjongg because it's quite calm and soothing.
In no particular order:
Time Pilot
Mr. Do!
Q*Bert
Kung-Fu Master
As for non-MAME: GTA3, GTA:VC or GTA:SA (when I'm in the mood to just run/drive/fly around and blow off steam by commiting acts of mayhem).
~Philly
Our two offsprigs have departed for homes of their own, taking an impressive array of game consoles with them. So whatever I play has to be available on my Mac.
To my utter delight, when I switched to the Mac four years ago, two "obsolete" games came back and revealed themselves to be utterly playable under Classic. They are Oregon Trail II and a piece of obscure insanity called Marco Polo, which I don't ever recall winning. Each is well over ten years old, and I'm so glad their CD's managed not to be thrown away.
I really enjoy the nostalgia and can actually be quite entertained. My Holy Grail of nostalgic games would be Miner 2049er. No telling if I'll ever find it, but I do look from time to time.
When I need to clear my mental decks, I do "evil" sudoku.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
... but i'll say it : GO MINESWEEPER!!!! WOOOHHOOOOO!!!! this are the moments i feel glad for not having any karma left to lose. Take it easy
When my Karma level reaches 0 I feel in piece with the Universe
1. Barbie's Horse Adventure II - The Glue Factory
2. The Olsen Twins Take The Moonlite Bunny Ranch
3. Hello Kitty - Blood Feud
4. Final Fantasy VII - Cait Sith Must Die
5. Super Mario's Extreme Masturbation Party Game
I could never play Mega Man 2 for "comfort."
I paid $70 for it and beat it in 3 days. That ticked me off to no end.
I play games like BloodRayne, Icewind Dale, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and when on my friend's PS2, I play Disgaea 2 or Makai Kingdom. Playing those kinds of games is its own reward. It's satisfying just blowing stuff up. What I don't like is grinding to get to "the good part." That's why I switched from a Paladin to a Mage in WoW. There's a huge difference.
Of course one of the most relaxing things I ever did was spend a day playing icewind Dale, creating a party just to see how far I could get without saving or loading the game. I actually ended up getting all the way to the end boss fight for the first time, and had to save just because I would never be able to forgive myself if the party died after all that.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
So simple, so easy, so unstressful. Just load it up and let the Prince's fluid wallrunning soothe your tired eyes.
DELETED!
I'm not much of a gamer, but I enjoy some light headed stuff when I get my ass kicked from some newer games that I can't figure out. Oh yea, and I don't play the preinstalled windoze games.
1) Meltyblood - it's so easy, it's fast gameplay and it's so fun.
2) Azumanga Beach Volleyball (doujin game) - it's entertaining.
3) Winning Eleven @ 2 stars difficulty -- when I want to beat the com 10-0
4) Old School video games - ie. NES, SNES, Gameboy, Genesis stuff
5) I have this japanese game lying around where you go around evading bullets and see how long you can last without getting hit (I lasted over a minute!!). The game is 28k and is called Missile541. It's a good waste of time @ work, too ^^.
http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/
One of the most relaxing games ever.
2) Starcraft (EVOLVES or turret defense)
3) Grand Turismo 4
Second Life Not really a game, more like a chatroom. There are people to talk to, games to play, FPS-style areas, etc.
Lugaru The graphics aren't great, but there's something nice about murderous bunnies. The ragdoll physics can be quite amusing. Kicking dead enemies into still alive ones can be quite satisfying.
One Must Fall Ancient, but very good. It lacks the complexity of newer games, but that makes it very easy to play. The lack of complexity also makes it quite relaxing, as it doesn't have the frustration levels of games like Killer Instinct (those combos look cool, but I really hate it when they're used against me)
Neverwinter Nights Very good RPG. Multiplayer games are really great, and there's always the possibility of pausing the game and giving orders.
Magical Drop 3 Ok, this is only comforting at the lower levels. In the later levels the speed is insane, and the danger of RSI is rather high, but it's still really fun.
Quake 1 - Team Fortress (PC/Quakeworld)
Doom 1
Super Metroid (SNES)
Super Mario64 (N64)
Counter Strike: Source
Well my comfort games are those games that i can launch instantly and play then save or not and quit as easily.
;] )
... 2d top view multiplayer shooter styled as Counterstrike
;]
;] it was just eating my life.
1. Soldat-It's not that popular but its dynamic multiplayer 2d shooter(side view) and fun i can loose myself in this game for hours
2. Transport Tycoon any description don by my would be unholly. I'am not worthy of describing it.
3. Mount & Blade- Nice simple cRPG with 3d battles on horses ( not pink unicorns
4. CS2D i have a thing for 2d its my fethish i know
5. Any current mindless game
I have not listed WoW here i succesfully got rid of it
Hope some of you will look up those games they are worth trying out.
Fallout 2 Freespace 2 System Shock 2 Baldur's Gate 2 Prince of Persia 2 The digit 2 behind each title is really a coincidence. Somehow the sequel is always better.
May the source be with you.
Sometimes playing Global Thermonuclear War can be quite comforting.
- Colin McRae Rally (the first one)
- Gran Turismo 3
- Nethack
- Commander Keen (any one of the series)
- SSX (the first one)
Colin McRae Rally actually has a lot deeper meaning for me than just being a comfort game. I have developed a habit that every christmas I buy some crackers, different sorts of cheese and I dedicate a day just for playing this racing classic. I eat nothing but cheese and crackers and play and I'll have this Zen-like experience. This ritual gives me the peace some people seek form churches or other spiritual christmas activities.Well, here are a few of my favorites for such occasions:
Manhunt
F.E.A.R.
Postal (all of them)
and of course, DEFCON.
I didn't think of FEAR until I saw another poster mention it, but now I realize how satisfying it actually was to grab the shotgun and blast the fucking clones away.
For me, a Comfort Game is one where I don't want to think. For instance, I like playing the original Quake on God Mode. You just go and blast. Another one was the first Unreal Tournament. (I don't know if there was a God mode, but it was mindless fun.) In both instances, there is no need to worry about goals or puzzles. You just ... play. Yeah, there are those that would argue that you don't get any of the euphoria around your successes, but you don't get any melancholy either. I work in IT support and I have enough of both in a single day.
Here are my five:
1. Quake I (God Mode)
2. Unreal Tournament
3. Bubble Bobble (C=64)
4. Orignal GameBoy Tetris
5. H.E.R.O. (2600)
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
1) Sam and Max hit the road
2) Day of the Tentacle
3) Secret of Monkey Island 1
4) Secret of Monkey Island 2
5) Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father
They're classics!
1. GTA
;-)
2. Burnout Revenge
3. Star Wars: Battlefront (1 or 2)
4. Rez
5. UT2004
In the past, it would have been:
1. Day of the Tentacle
2. Monkey Island series
3. Commander Keen (etc.)
4. Myst (or Riven)
5. Zork (any of them, really)
Long, long ago, it might have been:
1. Pitfall
2. Mario Brothers
3. Joust
4. Missile Command
5. Tempest
Honorable mentions go to Nethack, Moria, Pole Position, Choplifter, Earthworm Jim, Gorf.
Here are some games I constantly return to:
:/)
* Sim City (lately, it's been Sim City 4)
* Transport Tycoon (OpenTTD)
* Baldurs Gate 1&2 (and Icewind Dale too)
* Planescape Torment (!)
* Morrowind (and daggerfall and even arena! I didn't like oblivion
* NWN
* KOTOR 1
Super Street Fighter II Turbo Street Fighter Alpha Capcom vs. Marvel Street Fighter III ...and, ...erm, one of the GTAs; the one I havn't played to death yet.
1. Manic Miner 2. Manic Miner 3. Manic Miner 4. Manic Miner 5. Doom
Runs on everything, fits on my usb stick, Still fun after 10 (?) years...
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
1. CS:S (vs. bots)
2. Alice
3. Civ III
4. Thief
5. Any of the numberous Mahjong games floating around.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Well, my all time top five are probably Adventure (originally seen on an IBM system 360, and numerous places since) Asteroids (on a PDP 11, with a nice re-release on Win 3.1) Rogue (mostly on DOS, but originally on Sun workstations, and these days in Classic mode on OS X) Snake Byte (on an Apple 2) Tetris (everywhere else) I guess I'm not in the target demographic here, though... mt
mt
Galaga
Raiden
Joust
Rampage
Asteroids
Bigtime Consulting - "We're the best because we cost the most"
Most of my favorites are from the Apple II days. Ultima IV and V, Montezuma's Revenge, Mario Brothers, Conan, and a personal favorite, Wings of Fury. I'd like to play that again but I don't have a II anymore.
Talk of playing blindfolded.... if you beat Montezuma's Revenge enough the light would start being removed from the lower levels. Beat it enough times in a row and the first room was dark!
If you want a little fun with those games, play Ultima V and ask the water what he forgot. (to tell you in Ultima IV, oops you can't win the game!) Or in Wings of Fury, try to land on your carrier... from the RIGHT side. (land downwind, with no tailhooks) Or sink a carrier before it manages to get all its planes off the deck.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
There are no games I regularly go back to. I used to have some, Half-Life, Total Annihilation, Quake 3, UT 2004 but I stopped playing them, too. Occassionally I dig out some older games but not very often and usually the games go back on the shelf for a few years after that. People have top fives of games they return to regularly? I have trouble finding one.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
I'd have to say Neverwinter Nights, F.E.A.R., FarCry, GTA: Vice City, and any of the Descent series are my choices.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
How do we define "comfort" games? For me these are games that I've played for a while, and come back to again and again. I'm having a hard time coming up with five of them, though it wouldn't be so hard if I still had an old NES or Super NES (which is what was all the rage back when I played a TON of video games). So, my top three games that I still play regularly and don't see putting down anytime soon are: 1. Tribes 2 2. Falcon 4.0 (currently on Allied Force) 3. Operation Flashpoint
What are you doing now, you lazy drunken obscene unsayable son of an unnameable gipsy obscenity?
Go to any forum on games and you'll find about five threads of the same topic theme as this news post. It's an uninformative and pointless exercise in "look at what I enjoy". Waste of space.
If anyone likes Transport Tycoon, I seriously suggest you visit http://www.openttd.org/ for an open source version that uses the original graphics. I have spent countless hours playing via an immensely improved multi-player game system.
Just remember to password your companies in game or else you could have some bastards come in and spend the millions of dollars you have earned.
1. Nethack or Slash'EM (depending on mood).
2. Some kind of shooter (ut2k4 right now).
3. Some car game (CMR04 at the moment).
Used to be WoW but after one year I realized it was more dangerous than smoke, alcohol or crack combined so I quit it. Still fighting with the "urge".
Frontier - Elite 2
That game amazed me when it was released. Absolutely wonderful, and all on a single floppy disk! I still play it now on my XP machine.
Speaking of which... I'll be back after I upgrade my ship.
My top 5 are probably.
Team fortress classic : I can play a guy in a basement.. except with a sentry gun. What's not to like? Whenever I feel emo I just play TFC and my head clears and I can think things through as I play.
Pokemon games : Don't matter which one, it's all the same TBH. Either way they're great to chill out with and just go for a wander while it doesn't feel like you're just wasting your time.
Mario kart DS : It's Mario kart, what more needs to be said? It's care free and even if you arn't at your best items balance you out.
Devil may cry 3 : Always fun game to perk you upwhen you're down. You get too focused on how difficult parts of DMD are that you just don't care what made you emo any more.
SD Gundam G Generation : Any of the series is fine. Maybe it's the fanboy in me but turn based strategy with characters I adore and lots of little fanboy mecha touchs seems to make the world just a better place. Rather than be a bitch and worry about every little thing the whole world seems to melt away when I realize I can take apart 3 mecha to form one of my favourites, but then I have to decide if it's worth it.. and hence the classic "I'm too busy pondering the useless to care for the useful" situation arises.
I like muppets.
Beer Chess
Asshole
State of the Union Address Drinking Game
Quarters
Sixes
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
Nothing like blowing off steam enaging in some inconsequential mayhem. It's also funny to see how many stupid things you can get the cops to do while they're chasing you (nothing against cops, just the sometimes funny AI in the game). The only other "comfort" game for me would be Warcraft 3's DoTA.
1] castle vania 2 - simon's quest (nes) 2] final fantast tactics advance (gba) 3] world of warcraft (pc) 4] crimsonland (pc) 5] virtual pool 64 (n64)
Quake Custom Team Fortress, superb gameplay and (with a recent client) honorable graphics
1. Super Mario 3. You know you've played that game enough times when you can get through all 8 worlds with just one small mario.
2. Unreal. Yeah, it's unreal.
3. Megaman 3. By far the hardest (good) Famicom game there was. Also one of the best.
4. Keith Courage in Alpha Zones. You know you want more of that PC Engine goodness.
5. Quake. The almighty.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
COH when I am too tired to think straight but can't sleep and avoid doing work at home..
Civ 4 when I am too lazy to think about what I should.
Gal Civ when I am watching tv to see a show but am getting bored during the commercials. I play it on my laptop.
I have to be careful though, I am way too easily sucked into games for hours at a time, especially Civ.
Also any of the games on my ipod when I am stuck waiting, Parachute in particular to while away the minutes and hours in the airport.
That's my top 5. Legend of Zelda on the NES was the first game I felt so strongly about. I was just sucked into the game world as a kid. A friend in the neighborhood had an NES and a few games in 86, and Zelda had just come out. We played it for hours. I'd never asked for expensive Christmas gifts before, but I told my mom if I could have the NES and Zelda, I didn't care about anything else. I said that in October. She managed to get it for me, and a few other things (she was a great mom) and I worked my thumbs raw by New Year's.
:)
SMW needs no explanation, we all love it.
Space Quest 3 was the best of the series, hands down. 4 was a close second.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein was perfectly done. It's the first thing I play when I upgrade my video card.
Homeworld is like Zelda. I hadn't been sucked into a game like that since Zelda, and I still play it the whole way through on occasion.
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
In order of freqency:
1) Rogue. The PC version, copyright 1984. Accept no substitutes.
2) Bubble Bobble, via MAME or the PS2 port named "Taito Classics"
3) I Katamari - that game just *cannot* be stressful.
4) Space Cadet Pinball. You know the one.
5) Freecell
The other games I play (these days, primarily Gran Turismo 4 and Day of Defeat) have a tendency towards stressing me out more than I already am. If I just want to calm down and play something to distract me before going to bed, the above are sure to do just that.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I'm going to break the rules and put down my top 8, in no particular order:
Final Lap Twin (Turbografx/Duo)
Final Fantasy (NES)
Heroes of Might and Magic (PC)
Zelda II: The Adventures of Link (NES)
The Oregon Trail (Apple IIe)
Uniracers (SNES)
Killer Instinct (SNES)
Twinkle Star Sprites (Neo Geo and now the PS2)
1. Tetris Attack - best puzzle game ever
2. Guitar Hero - Pick it up, play a few, put it back down again
3. Battlefield 2 - Takes a bit of an effort to get an online game that rotates maps, but it's worth it.
4. Astropop - It's like Magical Drop but not. Well worth the 10 bucks.
5. Geometry Wars - old school action with modern AI = fun
what about the classics...
1. star control II (my personal fav)
2. Wing Commander II
3. star control III (yeah, i know... but I thought it was hilarious)
4. Kings Quest (also the new one http://www.tsl-game.com/ Silver Lining
5. don't really have a number 5, or just can't think of one that I play like I do the top four.
My favorite comfort games are just games that I can pick up, play a bit until I'm bored, and then return. This means games that have no real "conclusion" or plot, or else just simple time wasters.
gameDB
Star Control II
...sandbox-style games. I'm currrently addicted to robocode, and it's really satisfying to create a whole robot and have only a handful of errors in the code. It's even more satisfying to have your little robot kick the snot out of the robots your friends make.
1) Quake 1 (PC) 2) Warcraft III (PC) 3) Lemmings (Mac Classic) 4) Grand Tourismo (Playstation 1) 5) Command and Conquer: Red Alert (PC) The newest game on the list is Warcraft III, but I find myself playing that after I keep getting destroyed in AQ40 and am not quite ready to separate myself from the Warcraft.
Oregon Trail. Larry Bird vs. Dr J if i'm feeling it.
Quest for Glory (especially the first two in the series), will always be the ultimate comfort games to me; I have played through them several times in my life, and I can sit down any time and go back to them. They were a big part of my childhood, and it always gives me the warm fuzzies. Even after all these years, those games are still as colorful, rich, and imaginative as they ever were. Most modern games can't even come close to them.
Another one of my favorite things to do is to go back and play old Final Fantasy games. VI is my favorite.
MOHAA, the original. Online, I know the maps by heart, the weapons like they were my own, and there are still people out there who play for fun.
Tribes 2 - reinstalling this game after a few months of inactivity allows me to make a pot of coffee while the updates download and install. Then by the time my brew is done, and I've had a cup - I've found something else to do and uninstall the game.
NES - Zelda. The original RPG... in the gold cart. Just because I remembered which bush I can burn for the 100 rupees doesn't indicate I'm a geek. Now that posted it on slashdot - I've proven it.
And, anything by Sid Meyers or Maxis. Civ (any number) or SimCity (any number) make me happy. And killing off sims in your pool... what could relieve stress faster? Those little tombstones are just so cute.
1. Bonk's Revenge 2. Dig-Dug 3. Super Mario 2 4. Splatterhouse 5. Golden Axe
I'm not a big gamer (nor an especially good one) but for a relaxing, immersive experience nothing beats the Myst games.
Reasons aren't difficult to list: No worries about perfect timing or tense edge-of-your seat action; you can navigate around using nothing more than a mouse in one hand leaving the other free for a warm/cold drink (or a newborn, which has been the case for me recently). You can pick up and play for 5 minutes or 5 hours, and the game isn't at all diminished by not having human opponents to play with (or against).
The immersive environments are what really do it for me, though -- the audio/visual design of the games is excellent. Sometimes I find myself sitting and listening to the sound of waves lapping a shore, observing a distant crackle of thunder, or watching the flame of a gas burner as it hisses and eventually boils the liquid above.
There are a few other games I absolutely love: Grim Fandango, most of the Clancy games from the past ~7 years, Star Control II/UQM, System Shock II, Armadillo Run ... but none have anything close to the same comfort factor for me.
I must admit. Blizzard owns nearly all of the slack-space in my life. I go back to Broodwar everytime that I get tired of new games. I know this post is supposed to be about my top five, but here's my experience. Broodwar, C&C Generals and Zero Hour, Warcraft 3, The usual FPS's like Quake, Unreal, XIII, Halo, Doom, blahblah. Then I got into City of Heros & Villains, then into Elderscrolls Oblivion. Throughout all of this, I am always drawn back to Broodwar. Sometimes, I wander if my love of RTS games stems from years of playing Go, the oldest strategy board game. I would play about 100 games of Go a week, making me better at Broodwar. I know that I'm a dork.
Ninja Gaiden on Xbox, because flipping out ninja style is a cure for what ails ya
HL2, I really love this game...maybe its the disenegration...
Tekken (5 currently), Because once again nothin like beating the Snot outta somethin..
Battlefield 2, not really a classic, but im not really a cs fan and its really relaxing to blow up things with c4.
Fifa 06, Because in the imaginary EA universe, the USA can win every time. ;)
And they say games are bad!
-those people who tell you not to take chances, they are all missing what lifes' all about-
Strider - Game that looks hard but is actually quite easy and fun to play. You always feel like you're doing amazing things.
Puzzle Pirates - Time to bilge your life. Yarr.
Ikaruga - My nethack. Just play. You're dead. Ouch.
Sim Golf - I don't actually like playing golf, but for some reason running a golf course is really relaxing.
Ore No Ryouri - No matter how panicked things might get in real life, nothing can compare to running a japanese ramen house in a video game.
The ______ Agenda
I'd probably be a millionaire by now if it wasn't for computers and the xbox. But then again, if it wasn't for computers, I'd be unemployed. Based on the time killed, I aguess here are my top five:
And now back to Tetris...
I'm 19, and I never had a good p.c., so I never played real games on the computer when I was little. In light of that, here is the list: 1.) Mario Kart 64(I've probably made about $500-$700 from betting on this game...my friends might just be terrible though who knows) 2.) Tetris(Gameboy)(I'm kinda good, not legendary tho) 3.) Super Smash Bros 64(I can beat the computer, but get pwnd by my friends...wicked fun anyway) 4.) Burnout 3 or Revenge, any platform(the mode where you try to smash as many cars as possible) 5.) Mother of All Battles(shareware game on this shitty win '95 400-game cd I found in the bargain bin) 6.) Slay(another shareware game on that same cd, absolutely marvelous) Yeah, so much time spent unsober playing these games and talking shit. I haven't really played games since Nintendo 64 except for Burnout and some Halo. Being CSE in college doesn't really leave any time for video games any more though, I'm kinda pissed that I'm never going to have time to buy/play a Wii. N64 and Game Boy was the shit back in t he day, though. No competition whatsoever (unless you had a sweet computer that was rolling Doom and Quake and stuff). My definition of a comfort game is one where I either almost always win(1,2,5,6) or games where I am still happy when I lose (3,4). Halo and Goldeneye were always frustrating because I felt really crummy when I lost, whereas I didn't really care if I lost Smash or Burnout or Tetris.
DooM
By means of the Doomsday engine of course.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I lack the time to play any of the 'big' games (WoW, etc) so I content myself with playing those games that can be started and finished in about 2hrs max.These definitely help me de-stress my life.
Tiny Othello (it's about 500KB and hypnotic)
Riskful (a free Risk clone)
CounterStrike ("Die M*thaf*kka! Die!")
Magic The Gathering Online ('cos I have no mates to play the paper version with. Sniff! Sob!!)
Axis and Allies
Ta-Daa!
Travelling forward in time at a rate of 1 second per second.
Earthbound.
1)Masters of Magic 2)Masters of Orion 2 3)Civilization 4)XCOM UFO Defense 5)Continuum
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
I'm 19, and I never had a good p.c., so I never played real games on the computer when I was little. In light of that, here is the list:
1.) Mario Kart 64(I've probably made about $500-$700 from betting on this game...my friends might just be terrible though who knows)
2.) Tetris(Gameboy)(I'm kinda good, not legendary tho)
3.) Super Smash Bros 64(I can beat the computer, but get pwnd by my friends...wicked fun anyway)
4.) Burnout 3 or Revenge, any platform(the mode where you try to smash as many cars as possible)
5.) Mother of All Battles(shareware game on this shitty win '95 400-game cd I found in the bargain bin)
6.) Slay(another shareware game on that same cd, absolutely marvelous)
Yeah, so much time spent unsober playing these games and talking shit. I haven't really played games since Nintendo 64 except for Burnout and some Halo. Being CSE in college doesn't really leave any time for video games any more though, I'm kinda pissed that I'm never going to have time to buy/play a Wii. N64 and Game Boy was the shit back in t he day, though. No competition whatsoever (unless you had a sweet computer that was rolling Doom and Quake and stuff).
My definition of a comfort game is one where I either almost always win(1,2,5,6) or games where I am still happy when I lose (3,4). Halo and Goldeneye were always frustrating because I felt really crummy when I lost, whereas I didn't really care if I lost Smash or Burnout or Tetris.
I like your list, Chosen Reject.
UT 2004 is a fantastic game. I can think of all the times I'd take a flyer up to the top of a tower where there's a nuke shooter and just blow the hell out of a little group of enemy. Sniper is tops.
It's been a long time but I remember being so enthralled by UFO, Total Annihilation and Starcraft for a good long while.
Half-Life 2. Just the best FPS ever made.
Eve-Online. I can't get enough. It's the first game that I've ever played that actually makes me feel at peace. Also the only game that doesn't make me scrunch up my neck muscles until I get a headache/backache. The only game my wife endorses for me to play. And I haven't even scratched the surface of this deep and involving universe.
Gee, I enjoyed this little vacation from congressional sex scandals, secret prisons and phone taps. In fact, I think I'll log into Eve right now and see if I can finish Angel Extravaganza mission in my Brutix, by myself, with only 5 tech II Hammerhead drones for company.
Wish me luck.
You are welcome on my lawn.
...I play the Candy Land boardgame with my little neffews and beat the diapers off them. It is a cheap and easy way to get one's ego back.
Table-ized A.I.
I don't play a great wide range at the moment, but have done this in the past. So, over the years (and in no particular order or care for numbers):
Sinclair Spectrum:
* 3D Deathchase
Amiga:
* The Chaos Engine
* Zeewolf
* Skidmarks
* Dieser Zug
* Speedball II
Wintel:
* Battlezone
* Transport Tycoon
* TIE Fighter
* GTA1
* Quake 1
PS2:
* GT4
* Stock Car Speedway (if you've not tried it and see it, get it! Normally cheap, and racing on dirt short ovals is such great fun!)
* Simpsons Hit & Run
* Super Monkey Ball
* WRC3
* IndyCar / Nascar 06 (either, they're interchangeable for this for me)
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
These are my old standbys, listed in approximate frequency order: 1. Counter-Strike 2. Worms: World Party 3. Super Metroid 4. Master Of Magic (this is also perhaps my favorite game of all time) 5. Kirby's Dream Course
Angband: http://www.thangorodrim.net/, runs on almost anything. You can save, but that can't save you from death. (Well, you could cheat with savefile scumming, or go in to Wizard Mode.)
Requires concentration. No matter how bad the day, you can get in there for 5 or ten minutes, or hours if you prefer. You just have to concentrate. Low memory and processor overhead so you can let your compile or burn, render or download continue in the background.
Coffee is the drug of choice at work, but Angband gives you 5 minutes to switch moods. (Did I mention you have to concentrate?)
Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
See subject. :)
Logan Smith
1. Fallout - Love this game. Love the sequel too. I'd kill for more of this series. In Fallout 2, I like to listen to the "Driving Car" music. Very reflective. Cutting foes in half with the laser, melting them with the plasma gun, and the meaty sound of riddling them with bullets from the chaingun are highlights not to be missed.
2. Stars! - 4x Game. Some called it spreadsheets in space but it helps me unwind. I sure wish those guys had finished Stars! Supernova. Most 4x titles these days are just glitz and fancy art. I love to be the Stealth guy, show up and steal a planet full of minerals and laugh as I disappear!
3. Jedi Academy - I feel the need to impale my foes on the tip of the lightsaber. Kills anybody fast. Fast style, force pull + attack = Impale! YEAH BABY!
4. Sword of the Samurai - Old Microprose title. 3 or 4 modes of play. Very fun. Top down, run around and waste ronin. Army command mode. Sword dueling. Invade the house of a rival and kidnap his heir, or steal something that will cause him to be dishonored cause he doesn't have it. Great game. They quite litterally, DO NOT MAKE THEM LIKE THAT ANYMORE. The title by the same company, Covert Action was a blast too.
5. Battlezone 2 - I just pulled it out last week and played through it. Nice terrain to have hover tank battles on. Plenty of vehicals and weapons combinations. The base building stratigic element. Wish more games like that came out.
Honorable Mention - GTA: San Andreas. I bought a PS2 just to play this very fun title. Drive around, shoot people and listen to Radio X. Hard to beat!
Venyce
remove all references to 007 to email me
- Wing Commander: Prophecy
Either either three or four is my favorite. Three is a delightfully dark and gritty story of the last part of the decades long war. By the end of it all, billions have died, three planets have been utterly destroyed, two have been laid to waste, and countless others have been devestated. Four is a less dark story, but equally horrifying, with astonishing acts of aggression to provoke all out war, including the development and deployement of a bioweapon that causes skin to melt off in the later stages of the disease (they even give you a glimpse of the effects in one of the live action scenes). They have never made a game to equal this series.Tekken 2 I could play that game every single day.
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
All of my comfort games are oldies.
1. Duke Nukem (the old one, not DN2 or 3D)
This is by far the one I reach for most often as a "wind down at the end of a long day" game.
2. Trolls and Tribulations
This is my all-time favorite Commodore 64 game. I played it so much back in 1984 that it started infiltrating my dreams. I even dreamed up and played through several entirely plausible new levels, and was quite dismayed when I discovered that these didn't actually exist. I stopped playing for a while because that just can't be healthy. I still play it fairly often on a C64 emulator.
3. Minesweeper.
Honorable mentions:
1. Wizard of Wor (standup arcade machine)
I bought one of these used from a video arcade in 1985 and had it in my livingroom for a couple of years before selling it. It was definitely my #1 "comfort game" for those two years. It might still be if I still had it. I played it so much that my finger would ache from pounding the fire button, so I modified the machine (by means of a little homebrew oscillator board) to fire continuously when the fire button was held.
2. Hocus Pocus
3. Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
4. Commander Keen series
Can't believe I didn't see this one listed for anyone! Was always one of my favorites, every 6 or 8 months I end up digging up a copy of StarCraft (and some of the addons) and get stuck playing for hours.
In my opinion it must be one of the most balanced games ever made. I always found it much more playable than Warcraft or Ages of Empires... Perhaps becuase of the simple graphics or lack of 'hero' characters, which always seem to just make battles harder to orchestrate.
Big ones, small ones, some as big as yer 'ead!
Give 'em a twist, a flick o' the wrist...
... with GIB.
Your god may be dead, but mine aren't!
1) Zork
2) Super Mario 3
3) Pirates!
4) UT
5) That one where the Japanese girl is asleep and you have to use your mouse to give her an orgasm before she wakes up
This
It's an old racing game with lots of vehicles and tracks and game modes... my favorite: free roam.
You can download cars and levels others have created (some are pretty great) or design your own cars and levels (with 3rd party tools).
The graphics aren't great, but for a car nut like me, thrashing around in ANY kind of vehicle, even on the same track, can be loads of fun and is great for taking your mind off the daily grind. Even if you're just roaming and seeing how many ways you can wreck your vehicle.
-- This sig for rent.
1. Super Mario World (SNES)
2. Super Metroid (SNES)
3. Super Mario Kart (SNES)
4. Half-Life (PC)
5. StarCraft (PC)
Well I'm off to install ZSNES and Cedega...
StarCraft, with or without Broodwar.
;)
A) Runs on damn near any hardware that'll run Windows.
B) It's CHEAP. Anyone who has a computer can afford a copy of the Battlechest.
C) After a couple days going through the story missions (not even completing it) you can play against multiple AI and fair pretty well.
D) It can be played with multiple strategies making it last as short or long as you wish. I've played games as quick as 12 minutes or as time consuming as 4 hours.
E) There's always someone to play with online, but you'll probably get smoked
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Carmageddon is probably one of the least known but bloodiest DOS racing games ever. You can win the race by finishing the race, smashing up your racing opponents' cars so bad they can't race, or running over the hundreds of pedestrians littering the sidewalks and street corners in the game. When I play, I knock out all but one opponent, then go after all the pedestrians. After a tough day, I don't mind knocking off a few hundred cyberpeople.
There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
I'd put The Same Game high on my list but every time I play it again it becomes an addiction. My list is Master of Orion, Elite/Sequels, Pirates! Gold, Super Mario Bros, and Tetris.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
Mom! More Hot Pockets!
I've only got 2 but here they are:
1. Mr Do - totally love this game (Universal, 1982). I play it using MAME. Incidently if anyone can beat 206,000 I like to hear from them.
2. MicroMachines 3 - PSX. A classic when played 2 players. Me and a friend have had the most laughs with this title over the years.
spoonerize "magic trackpad"
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
Gods
Legacy of Kain : Anything but Blood Omen 2
Jedi Outcast
Wing Commander/Privateer anything but particularly WC Prophecy and P2
Leaving out Commander Keen and Barbarian but Gods was just so much more incredible.
These would definetly be the comfort games as opposed to favourite games - the games I load up over a weekend for a quick romp after a hard period. The favourite list is similar but includes Masters of Orion, Half Life anything, CoD 1/2, Diablo, Thief, Duke...
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
So I'm sure there's a huge argument as to whether or not new or old games function better as comfort games.
I'd have to say old. Playing Go is virtually meditative.
Honestly, I don't see how a racing game/destruction game could be a comfort game but to each their own.
I can see how playing Rampage would be therapeudic, as well. That's the sort of thing I did a lot when I was younger; I'm way too calm to try to extract comfort from that today.
I don't have a World of Warcraft account, I have a life! Well, I guess it will not be long until Southpark pick up Slashdot ...
Eat seaweed, fish breath!
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
- BZFlag
- BZFlag
- BZFlag
- BZFlag
- BZFlag
Ok, I guess I showed I'm a seriously lame gamer.1. Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis)
2. Ghouls n' Ghosts (Genesis)
3. The Legend of Zelda (NES)
4. Phantasy Star 2 (Genesis)
5. Super Mario Brothers (NES)
This is my favorite game of all time... I've been playing it on and off for the past 10 years. Sure, I tried similar games, but I still prefer good old MOO.
Lotus 2 (damn, that was fun, 2 players on the same computer), Bubble Bobble, Betrayal at Krondor, UFO, Tetris
Nethack
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Half Life
SimCity
Freecell
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
Took me years of practice.
I see the tagging feature is working quite well
Resident Evil 4- A good all around thriller game, but this is my "feel good" game because I acquired the infinite Rocket Launcher. It's incredibly fun to just run around the levels and blow up any and everything.
Pokemon- (Currently Sapphire) The lack of a story can make it a bit tiresome, but I enjoy the collection and raising portions of it (grinding though it may be).
Sonic Mega Collection- Just being able to run through the various platform games is enjoyable. Your goal? Move forward. Yeah, you can get those pesky emerald things, but so what?
Minesweeper- works those logic skills. So frustrating when you "die", but it makes you want to go on even more.
DDR- While I actually use StepMania, the idea remains. It's a good and fun workout, with some pretty good songs. Unfortunatly, being on the second floor of an old apartment building doesn't lend itself to playing often.
...most of my faves are pre-2000: 1. R-Type 2. Elevator Action 3. Oddworld: Abe's Odessey 4. Nightmare Before Christmas 5. Monster Rancher 2 R-Type just kills me cause even with all the cheats turned on, it took me forever to finish the damn game, only 13 years after I started playing it..heh.
0x09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
Fallout
Fallout 2
Arcanum
I don't think I need to explain for the above three - anyone who likes them will understand why I keep going back.
Summoner
This is just fun. Sure - there are a couple of areas that are annoying (like the Wolong caves) and there's a lot of fedex stuff, but overall it's just a fun game with a great twist in the middle.
I don't think I've got a fifth. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and The Temple of Elemental Evil both come close, but in the end neither quite makes it as a "comfort" game.
Go here. Its even been improved (well, i think so).
"I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
My favorites are:
Alpha Centauri
Majesty
Eight-Off (AileRiot version)
Free-Cell
And, if I'm on a Mac
Civilization IV
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Mine are:
-Infocom games: Well, more than one game, but they are nice and fun to play. Simple, run on any platform (including my mint condition C64), etc
-Nethack: This is a dangerous game. So many hours gone, so much fun. But yet, so simple, and it can't get old. I still have to try some of it's derrivatives
-Grand Theft Auto: Because blowing up shit is cool. Never gets old to see how long I can last with the cops coming after me full throtle.
-Quake Deathmatch: Still one of the funnest FPS games ever
-Metal Gear series: These are just so damn good.
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Starcraft of course ...
he demonstrated by A plus B minus C divided by Z that the sheep must be red, and die of the rot
I play these every year or two on the original console and enjoy them every time:
The Legend of Zelda (NES)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Yoshi's Island (SNES)
Super Metroid (SNES)
Final Fantasy VII - probably my favorite game of all time and one of the few RPGs I have played though multiple times
:P no idea why that is relaxing, but hey it is
;)
World of WarCraft - though if I am just doing it to relax I usually just farm gold
Super Mario Brothers - why didn't more people mention this? i am insulted to see it so forgotten
Tetris
StarCraft
Matt
You have 1 Moderator Point! Use it or lose it! Is that a threat? -vapid
That would be
1. Call of Duty
2. Call of Duty
3. Call of Duty
4. Call of Duty
5. Call of Duty (well, maybe Unreal 2004)
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
Ultima IV
Rescue Raiders
Castle Wolfenstein (Silas Warner version)
River Raid
Doom
(Christ, I'm old...)
Don Negro
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall
1. Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It's speedy, rather mindless (requires only one button and the D-pad), and amusing
2. Halo2 - Sometimes I just load it up to mess around on the multiplayer maps by myself. I've gotten to some interesting places on some of the maps as a result.
3. Knights of the Old Republic II - I'll load some game that I have in the middle of gameplay and do side missions, or run around and kill things. Also rather mindless
4. Tetris. No explaination needed.
5. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. It's fun on easy and normal, and if I decide I need more of a challenge bump up to hard.
Marathon What put Bungie on the map.
Apeiron Runs on OSX, great soundFX (the orgasm sound is awesome), pure mindless fun.
Reckless Drivin' Ditto the above, minus the orgasmFX!
Medal of Honor Except for that damn "Bastogne" level, which pisses me off to no end!
UT The latter two we play at work on Friday afternoons.
Farcry is just beyond pretty and the gameplay is awesome.
The lucas soundtrack, puzzles and gameplay make the Jedi
games comfort games.
Most of my comfort games are older and the only real rule is that they have to be somewhat simple and mind numbing.
Here are a few of them in no particular order:
Pitfall- This was the first game I really rembember getting into on a console and I always go back to it. I had a copy of it on my last cell phone and was sad to find out that I couldn't get it with my new provider. I don't like any of the sequels to the franchise but Pitfall still rocks out when I just want to relax.
Rogue (and Rougelikes)- This one is the first game I got into on a computer. Lately I've been going for NetHack and I used to be into ADOM.
Age of Empires- There is just something satisfying about making little armies of people go kill other little armies of people for no apparent reason when you're having a bad day.
Black & White- Same as above with the added bonus of being able to screw with your villagers by throwing rocks at them, throwing them off cliffs or praising your animal for pooping on their houses.
Katamari- This game joined my list just recently. Fun and mindless. I can play it for hours.
Quake3 1v1. When i get beaten up in Quake3 1v1, i tend to play Quake3 1v1 (dm17) to get back in mental shape.
People have already mentioned a bunch of other stuff that occurred to me as I was going through the comments, like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, StarCraft, Bubble Bobble, and so on. I make a point of replaying StarCon2 every couple years, though. The port of it, The Ur-Quan Masters, which runs on modern OSes, makes me very happy, and it's free. I spent months and months playing through the single player setting and playing multiplayer with my friends when I was younger, and it's still just as fun.
Secret of Mana might deserve an honorable mention from me. A couple friends and I got together last year to play it again with three players, which makes the game a lot of fun. Unfortunately we didn't get to finish it before one of them moved across the country. I haven't gotten to play the game all the way through with three people since high school.
Technically I suppose I tend to pull out Legend of Mana more often, mostly because I really like the art style and music. Hmm. Didn't see Dr. Mario skimming through the comments, either. Screw making this into a list or a coherent post. I have to go. Submit button, I choose you!
I can relate to the article as two of their choosen games make my list.
:)
1) Mega Man 2: Never before has there been a game that remained fresh and fun to play all my life. I still get goosebumps every time I have to jump the bricks and fight the mechanical dragon on Dr.Wily's first stage.
2) Burnout 3: Great game when you just want to break something AND listen to a good non-video game soundtrack. Best served after sitting in traffic and filled with stress.
3) Tempest 2000: While my Jaguar is usally not hooked up, whenever i'm in the mood to zone-out i'll plug it in and loose days to this game. If i'm unable to play this, i'll just load up Gridwars on my PC.
4) Super Metroid: Though it has as much replay value to me as Mega Man 2, I cannot play it as often as I like to saviour this game every time I play.
5) Blast Corps: Even better then Burnout for smashing things, this is for everyother moment I want to smash something.
---- Anyone can act smart, but it takes a smart person to act stupid. ----
I like simple games, like Tetris and MahJongg. But the best is a very simple one called "Color linez", that somebody sent me (is a little executable). You forget yourself moving balls here and there, with no time pressures and knowing that the machine is absolutely _not_ putting balls at random, nossire.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
My top 5 games are;
Ceasar III
Pharaoh and Expansion, Cleopatra
Zeus and Expansion, Poseidon
Emperor: Rise of Middle Kingdom
Civlization 3
Because building an empire gives me more joy then destroying one.
\
For me it would be Tempest 3000 for the Nuon, or T2K for the Jag if I feel like slumming. They have that zen shmup quality that lets you turn your brain off and get in the zone.
Lately when I get that angsty "I have all these games and I don't want to play any of them" feeling I play Robotron 2084 on XBLA. It shares some of the same positive qualities as Tempest, but I don't have to get up from my computer chair to play it because I have the 360 hooked up to my monitor.
5> Falcon 4.0 -- The Flight Sim's Flight Sim. I'll just buzz around South Korea for hours.
4> Unreal Original -- If I need a fix of violence, a quick match on DMFith always helps.
3> Quake 1 w/Gooseman's Navy SEALs mod. Auto shotguns are soothing.
2> Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds -- It's always installed on my laptop, perfect for those unrelentingly frustrating manager's meetings.
1> Half-Life 1 -- I have actually lost track on how many times I have completed it, but it entertains the heck out of me and on a bad day, that's all you can really ask for.
They'd have to be six, I can't get any of them out of the list.
In no particular order:
Starcraft
Mario Kart
Super Mario 3
Angband
Civilization, yes, that's it, the first one.
Tetris for the Gameboy
Besides these, most Zelda and some Megaman are real close to top 5.
As well as all Bomberman (that I know of) for the Turbografx and Colonization for the PC.
-- SouNerd.com
Total Annihilation/TA Spring
Guild Wars
Homeworld/Homeworld2
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising
Freespace/Freespace2
Total Annihilation tops the list because even after allo this time it is still the greatest real time strategy game of all time (blizzard's games are tactics games.)
GENERATION 667: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation
Nethack
Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit
Plain old windows solitaire
Doom
Adventure
Because new games are: "a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".
In order of preference:
Honorable Mention: Shadow Of The Colossus (Can't believe no one's mentioned it yet) would be in the top five if the environment was even more expansive and you could just get lost riding your horse.
I wish I could filter out the annoying Pickens articles...
1) UT 2004 (or whatever FPS is currently tops in my book) - A great stress reliever when life is stressing me out.
2) Alpha Centauri - Few things are more satisfying than taking over the world. It feeds my inner Overlord. With a Sci-fi twist to boot.
3) Secret of Mana - The good old days of 2D games.
4) Sexy Beach 3 - Self-explanatory
5) Phantasy Star Online (soon to be Phantasy Star Universe) - MMORPG's, for when for when you want to do something truly mindless
1. Super Mario Brothers 3
2. Unreal Tournament (The original)
3. NFL Blitz
4. Super Mario RPG
5. Chrono Trigger
- Rygar (arcade version, not the crappy "quest" NES version)
- Slapfight, aka "A.L.C.O.N." (arcade)
- Diablo 2 (Mac)
- Starcraft (Mac)
- Einhänder (Playstation 1)
My top 5:
Arctic Thunder (xbox) - Great anytime, lots of secrets to find and ways to make yourself better. At the same time -- you hold down the gas and do nothing else, you're still only a few seconds back from the leader. (so even when you're bad, you don't look that bad)
Mr. Do (mame) - old school addiction from my youth
Online Euchre - Old school addiction from college
Rise of Nations - build up an army and crush the computer (in easy mode, of course, to make sure I win)
Star Wars Battlefront - quick fun in the Star Wars universe, also easy to win in easy mode
1. Capcom vs. SNK 2
2. Street Fighter III Third Strike
3. Street Fighter Alpha III
4. Street Fighter II for matching service
5. Marvel vs. Capcom
Playing as Ryu, Gouki and Guile where possible.
All on Dreamcast of course.
http://row1.info
wacking off to porn
1. Dopewars
2. Unreal Tournament
3. Solitaire (ooooo yeah.)
4. F-16 FIGHTING FALCON (by Digital Interactive) - A good mid-point between accurate simulation (Falcon 4), and arcade-style play.
5. Duke 3D
The Leasure Suit Larry series provides me with everything I need...
my top five comfort games 1. Super Mario (all types, Mario vs. DK, any Mario 2-D GBA game, really) 2. Super Smash Brothers (I llove that game.) 3. Chess (always fun) 4. Solitare (passes the time) 5. Yahoo! pool (fun)
my name should have been mooN_man, lol use mozilla firefox/seamonkey/camino/thunderbird
No particular order (is there any need? ;P)
Stepmania or SMOnline. 'tis catchy! ;D
Quake 3 TDM or DM with loads of bots.
GTA San Andreas - Riding round, blowing stuff up, quite easy to waste half hour here.
OpenTTD
Need for Speed U2 - Yeah, unrealistic racing game, it's still easy to kill an hour or so with..
My "bad gaming session" is likely to be due to World of Warcraft. A quick three-game match of Bomberman on the DS is a good pick-me-up. Now I just have to get seven DS-enabled friends together in the one place to really take advantage of the DS version.
My list:
Solitaire (Pysol)
Galaga (arcade machine)
Half-Life (I am still playing single-player mods for the original, haven't upgraded my video card for HL2 yet)
Quake Mega TF (although there don't seem to be many servers out there anymore)
Frozen Bubble
But I don't get to play many games anymore. I am just really grateful that I grew up in the age of arcades. Such fantastic memories.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
That and the fact that "spawns" or multiplayer-only installs allow multiple people to legally play off one copy of the game... Starcraft rocks.
DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy III, MegaMan X, Super Mario World. Growing up with these games has made them the most comforting i've ever found. just the music from final fantasy iii cheers me up if i'm feeling down.
now is the winter of our discotheque
Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship for the Sega Dreamcast. Cancelled but leaked, lots of fun, great soundtrack, very high replay value.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Couldnt help but going a little bit overboard.
Of the Classic Era:
1. Mike Tysons Punch-out
2. Super Mario Bros 1 / SMB 3
3. Skate Or Die 2
4. Contra
5. Commander Keen/Monster Bash
6. Legend of Zelda
7. Double Dragon 2
8. Leisure Suit Larry
9. Death Rally
Of The "Silver" Age
1. Starcraft
2. Warcraft
3. Street Fighter 2
4. Mortal Kombat
5. Grand Theft Auto
6. Interstate 76
7. TMNT 2: The Arcade Game
8. Out Of This World
Of The "New" Age:
1. Legend of Zelda Windwaker
2. Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy
3. Rogue Spear
4. Xmen Legends
5. Need For Speed Underground/Hot Pursuit
6. Star Trek Armada
7. GUN
Bitch you KNOW the side.. WORLD MAFUCKIN WIDE..
If we are talking about a way to relax, what better way than to obtain your preferred beverage and kick back while the machine does the work? Given that premise, here are some of my favorite MAME replays:
.INPs gone?
(1) 6 million+ point Mr. Do!
(2) Any 9,999,999 point game of Bubble Bobble
(3) 7 million+ point Rygar
(4) Any complete game of OutRun with the music turned up
(5) Any complete game of R-Type (ver. 1, 2 or 3)
With an honorable mention for any 7 million+ poing Raiden replay.
BTW, where have the mame.retrogames.com
I come here for the love
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Not in a particular order: -Digger => runs on Windows just fine -Pango => awesome game, you go around and kick blocks and kill some bees that hunt you -Counter-Strike =>that's the only shooter game I play, after Doom2 became too old.. -Pang => now there is a Java version -(prefer not to give the name, for free publicity, but it is a soccer manager online game..)
Divine Divinity Balder's Gate Morrowind Oblivion Lands of Lore
Did I accidentally log into myspace? Who fucking cares?
Eat my karma. Seriously, who fucking cares?
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
Diablo 2! Okay, so its bascially clicking mastabation, but theres nothing better to do when your bored.
well, apart from the normal masterbate I suppose
It isn't (technically) the best fighter out there for tournament play or anything. Itstead you've got a grab bag of all your favorite avatars and silly special effects. Mash mash mash, drink some beer, mash mash mash, repeat, etc.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
1. Ikaruga 2. Giga Wing 3. Do Donpachi 4. Esp Ra.De. 5. Dangun Ferveron (without frame limiter, 300-400% on my setup) sometimes even Viewpoint... all to wind down from my shift at WoW pvp
- Mario Karts on my trusty 10 year old N64
- World of Warcraft on my new 24" iMac
- Wizardry - Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord on Virtual ][ on any of my macs
- Spaceward Ho! on my powerbook
- Golden Eye on the N64
I bought Doom 3 recently just to try out the graphoics card in my new iMac but it's not really a fave - yet...I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
Despite its may faults and its slow fall from grace as a fantastic and innovative game to a derivitive unoriginal and badly implemented immitation of World of Warcraft (without any of the polish), I still love SWG, mostly because I am a crafter 99% of the time there. The crafting, while also degenerated considerably, is still entertaining and I enjoy making things and selling them.
:)
I have worked my way up to a highpoint of 80m credits in my possession without ever a) buying any off of Ebay which smacks of cheating, or b) ever having a decent combat character who was capable of making a ton of money off of loot in the NGE (the current iteration of the game). I have played SWG off and on since day 2 (you couldn't log in on day 1 at all), and it continues to satisfy some itch.
Its a shame that they have reduced the game to its current state, but I still find it worth playing at least in my own small segment of the game. I have mastered 19 of the 32 original professions on my main character, and tried out every form of crafting to be had in game except the medical and bio-engineer crafting (now removed from the game in any case). Its all good
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
I only have time for "comfort games."
- The Legend of Zelda - Can beat it in about two hours, which isn't even close to the half hour records.
- Age of Mythology - this has got to be the best RTS ever, Age of Empires perfected. My wife loves it too, which is great.
- Super Mario World - Another family favorite.
- Lemmings - First got this on an Amiga. I didn't consider myself good until I beat the last SNES level, though. Whew!
- Final Fantasy - never liked any of the sequels, but I love this one. Try playing with 4 Black Belts. Around level 20 or so, they're practically invincible.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
1. Spaceward Ho!
2. Exile series
3. Maelstrom
4. Escape Velocity series
5. and the "new" one, Alpha Centauri.
I've been getting into Neverwinter Nights lately, but that required "bitching out" my ancient Mac with slightly less ancient hardware. 3D games just don't feel so snuggly to me, so this is not a comfort game.
How can you call WOW and Half-life 2 "old favorites", they are not that old.
Anyway, if i'm alone, my comfort game would be Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia 2 (the old DOS games, NOT the PS2 games).
If there are other people around, my comfort game would be Quake 3 deathmatch (and sometimes Rocket Arena 3).
Loban Amaan Rahman ==> Anagram of ==> Aha! An Abnormal Man!
I'll doubtless get mocked, but Animal Crossing: Wild World is a great way to relax for 20-30 minutes a day. The fact that it's a real time game means that you can check in for a few minutes and be in a familiar, friendly place, yet also know that things have probably changed and there will be new things to look at and explore. Add the whole online thing, and you have a very good casual game.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
StepMania - Hey, DDR-clones are addictive, especially when they run on your iBook so you can play on the train while commuting to the university. My WASDPLÖÄ keyboard setup is feared (by everyone who tries to use it and isn't me).
Final Fantasy Tactics - Not so much a comfort game as one where you sit down and spend three hours in one battle because you are a sick person and want to have a fully trained calculator before the end of the first chapter. Once you're in the zone you don't even mind spending hours just letting your soldiers beat the crap out of each other. You also stop caring aout everything else, including getting something to eat - after all those soldiers aren't going to indirectly gather 1200 monk JPs by themselves! Also, I love bitching about the sequel.
Excessive Quake - A pure bloodbath of flying gibs and ridiculously overpowered weapons. Load this sucker, set the bots to "Hurt Me Plenty" and spend the next five minutes mowing down everything that moves. It's like a killing spree on steroids and equally stress-relieving.
Occasionally played:
Perfect Cherry Blossom - I have no idea what the in-game text is saying, but gameplay-wise it's just as evil as Ikaruga. I mean, look at that screenshot!
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Star Control: When I was in year 8 (jnr high for all you americans) the year 12's used to play it exclusively. Until we cracked their ultra top secret password: qwerty
:P
:@ network card would play at LAN parties...
Quake Team Fortress:with openGL 3d mode! Gibbs galore for our TAFE class (technical college). we could install it to 16 computers off 2 floppy disks in 10 minutes.
Command and Conquer: Got caught playing this in the last week of high school - and my mate got busted for it. I got off scott free!
Star Craft: it was the only network game my crappy AMD K6-2 333 with realtek
Need for Speed: *sniff* the 1st game I ever owned legally...
Jesus Saves
Twisted Metal 2 on Playstation - 2 fixed the problems with one but kept the gameplay simple.
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 - nothing better than creating the most evil wicked coaster you can dream up
Grand Turismo 3 - A few hot laps and stress just goes away
Techmo Bowl on NES - gotta have a friend but it's always worth the effort to hook the system up
Gauntlet - my first real "favorite" game - wish I could have all the quarters I put in that machine back.........naaahhhhh, no I don't
Honorable mention - Kingdom of Loathing, Pole Position, Sonic, freeciv, Ratchet and Clank
that these games rock:
1) Katamari Damacy
2) Twisted Metal 4
3) Quake III Arena
4) Need For Speed Hot Pursuit II
5) MegaMan 3
Intelligent Qube gets an honorable mention.
1. Luigi's Mansion - Nintendo Game Cube
2. Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse - Sega Genesis
3. New Zealand Story - Sega Mega Drive
4. Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past - SNES
5. Addams Family - SNES
these are all fun to pick up and play for either a few minutes or for hours; they all have lots of depth and many secrets/levels to explore; and they all have charming music and graphics. great comfort games!
World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, God of War, Guilty Gear, and Marvel VS Capcom 2
Glad to see there are other people who love fallout as much as I do. Pity they cancelled #3 and never even got to do an online version. I have only three comfort games:
Fallout 2
Tropico
Wingnuts
Nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained -Tom Baker, Doctor Who
1) HL2 Deathmatch 2) LSL1 for the lonely nights 3) duke nukem for the kinky nights (shake 'em baby!) 4) strip poker that was warez 10 years ago 5) kq3
Ok, I will admit, DaiKatana would have been a revolutionary game if it had come out within 1 ~ 2 years of it's conception. It suffers from several major problems.
1. It was over hyped. 5 years of ads for this game.
2. The partner AI sucked. They often found interesting ways to die and screw up your game. They would sit in doors until they died, since the doors did damage. They would just head in guns blazing and kill the enemy, without any strategy. And when they died, the game was over.
3. The gameplay was very old fashion, especially compared to Quake II, Deus Ex and Half-life.(which came out before it)
4. The graphics were very old fashion, compared to Quake III, Half-life. and Unreal Tournament.(Again, released before DaiKatana)
5. The game, when released, contained horrible, game stopping bugs. The biggest examples include parts where you leave your partners behind to finish a section, only to return and find them gone, making you unable to finish the game. This was later fixed by patches.
6. The game's acting borders on racism.
7. Multiplayer was getting popular, with CounterStrike being released as a mod at the time, and DaiKatana's multiplayer was lackluster and laggy. I'm not sure if they fixed this with patches.
Like I said before, if DaiKatana was released a year or two after the start of development, maybe it would have been a revolutionary FPS. It does have some good points, including a large number of weapons and some memberable maps but compared to the different games at it's time, it was a penny short and a day late.
~~~
Click here, you know you wanna!
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
I'm going to be short on this.
:)
My five favorites are:
1: Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (PC)
2: Mule (Atari 800)
3: Adventure (Atari 2600)
4: Elder Scrolls: Morrowind (PC)
5: Civilization 4 (PC)
There are others but since I can only list the top 5 there they are.
I'm getting bothered by the proliferation on /. of these blatant market research phishing expeditions masquerading as innocent user-submitted questions.
Either the editorial team is snoozing and not checking the source thoroughly enough, or else they are aware of it and must be receiving some sort of benefit. Either way it makes me uneasy and I am offended by such deceptive misuse of the community.
For anyone who doubts my conclusions, just read one or two day's worth of fark.com. You will see links with very similar wording and tone, asking about very similar subjects that are aimed at the same demographic.
Stop lying, and just SAY you're doing market research. I wonder if it's wire fraud to not do so.
Most of the time, the family PC is in various states of brokenness. After a day of fixing stuff for other people, I don't want to spend yet one more evening clearing shit off of C:\.
1) Mario Kart Double Dash. (With the kids.)
2) Gauntlet or Gauntlet II on the GameCube. (Four players.)
3) Bosconian on the P&P. (With my son.)
4) Nethack on the PC. (Taking turns with the spouse.)
5) Halo on the PC. (If my brother is willing to play from his place.)
I'm a social gamer.
River City Ransom Mario Zelda 1 Snood GTA 2
Suck a lemon?
I'm surprised to see strategy games on the list of comfort games. How can a game like Civ IV or Warcraft be relaxing? To me, those games are a huge investment in time and energy, and if you're playing at a high enough level, a way to lose a game after several hours of work, when all I want to do is get my mind off of stuff for 15 minutes.
How about:
Windows Pinball
Sudoku
Yahoo Pool
Spider Solitaire
a short Adventure Game Studio game
on PC:
Syndicate
Crusader: No Remorse ( we'll count the sequel No Regret as the same game)
Doom
Castle of the Winds
Deus Ex
On Console:
Crono Trigger
Super Mario RPG
Shadowrun
Zelda: LTTP
Final Fantasy VI
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Super Bust-A-Move, the SNES port, is the perfect comfort game. It helps that I can beat the game without using a continue. When I get to around level 80 with all my lives, it kind of ceases to be comforting, and when I lose on level 100 it jumps straight to infuriatingl
Otherwise, Master of Magic. Microprose used to release some pretty hot games, and I've been playing this game consistently since 1994.
New Star Soccer 3, so much fun to guide my character through years and years of professional soccer in Europe. This is an independently released game that everyone should really check out if they like games that feature old school gameplay.
Katamari Damacy. Kind of obvious. It's built for this kind of thing.
Capcom vs. SNK 2. Woohoo.
My top five are:
XJump - This is a clone of Falling Tower. It is available (AFAIK) only as a Debian package (http://packages.debian.org/stable/games/xjump.)
Tetris - I don't care which version too much, but since I use GNOME, I usually go with GNOMETris
Age of Empires II - Some may disagree, but I think that this is one of Microsoft's good products
Armagetron - The Tron clone
Unreal Tournament GOTY - Usually multiplayer with my friend
The best comfort game, without question, is Super Mario World. The replay value of that game is just ridiculous. You can zip through it in a reasonably short time, or explore everything fully over a couple hours. Sometimes, back when I actually had the time, I would fire Super Mario World up and just play straight through it without getting up. I mean come on! Who hasn't loaded up with Blue Yoshi and a pair of Feathers? Nothing can beat that! Though I still have nightmares about that one stage in the secret star level. You know the one I'm talking about. Super Mario 64 has a similar feel to it, but it's not as straightforward (adding another dimension takes away from its fluidity) and is a much longer game.
I can't believe no one has mentioned the Konami games on the NES? (uu--dd-lr-lr start!)
If I just want to kill some time, I'll just fire up Contra or my favorite, Life Force.
But, man, the NES had so many good games. Castlevania, Zelda, Metroid, the list goes on and on.
Or, if you want to go even older than the NES, how about some Intellivision games?
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Astrosmash, Triple Action, Pinball or Sea Battle.
Man, I wish I never let my parents sell that console.
I wish I was lucky enough to have a Galaga machine.
I'd get on it and never ever get off. I love Galaga.
"CHALLENGING STAGE"
-b-
One of my faves is the ORIGINAL Unreal Tornament, which has many things on the more recent games. One was, those rellics that give you speed, armor and what not just rock. To relieve stress, do this:
a) play a game against bots
b) slow the game down to 50% speed (yes, I said SLOW)
c) get the Relic of Strength, a permanent quad damage basically
d) get lots of weapons
e) add 100 bots so that there are 130 or so running around
f) kill slowly and deliciously, with many headshots
Playing it slow lets you get beauty kills that are fun. I haven't enjoyed the more recent UT games as much as the original. Happily for Mac users, it runs with no issues at full speed, even with 100 bits while running Windows/Parallels in the background, on Intel Macs.
You've got a friend in Japan: http://www.jlist.com
Day of Defeat
Civ4
UT2004
NFS: Most Wanted
GTA San Andreas
Is RC Tycoon based on the retarded, defective 3D interface of Zoo Tycoon 2, or the beautiful, 2D realistic interface of Zoo Tycoon/Marine Mania/Dinosaur Digs? (If you have kids, ***get*** the original Zoo Tycoon, making playgrounds for Chimpanzees is so much funl amost as much fun as trapping all your zookeepers in a cage and making a zoo with only zookeepers)..
I've seen this game trashed in magazine reviews many times, which pisses me off since it's one of the best games I've played in the past ten yeras. Remember, the original Zoo Tycoon, not the inferior sequel with the bad CG.
You've got a friend in Japan: http://www.jlist.com
Programming: Its not just a job - its an indenture.
At first I thought it would be hard to come up with five, then I had trouble pairing it down.
X-Com
Masters of Magic
Masters of Orion II
Fallout Tactics
ADOM
- KT
1. Montezuma's Revenge (Atari 5200)
2. Galaga (Arcade)
3. Addams Family Pinball (Arcade)
4. Lunar 2 (Sega CD)
5. Atelier Iris (PS2)
Honorable mentions:
Wishbringer (Z-machine)
Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)
Tempest 2000 (Jaguar)
He was asking for old games! I guess that means at least 10 years old.
So here is my list:
i've been playing the classic games lately. got dosbox and been playing:
1. pinball (dreams, fantasy, illusions)
2. descent
3. doom1/2
also got the emulator for nes, supernes and have been playing the legacy games.
the window games that i like:
1. freecell/minesweeper/solitaire/hearts (for those times when you need a quickie!)
2. diablo
3. red alert
i wouldn't want to burn money in changing hardware every 3 months just to play the top of the line games (sometimes just put it in for graphics but the user experience fails!)
Live your life each day as if it was your last.
Lazy Jones, for the C64.
Marble Madness
Pac Man
Galaga
Amadar
Strange, they're all very old, I wonder what that says for modern games.
Keeping in mind that we're talking about games we return to for comfort, not those that we necessarily go to for maximum excitement, I'd have to say Katamari Damacy and the sequel We Love Katamari top my list. I may spend more time raid-healing during intense boss fights in World of Warcraft, or popping holes in my roommates and neighbors in UT 2004, but when I've had a tough day, no game makes me feel quite as good as Katamari.
The story and dialogue is quirky and funny, and the gameplay is simple and satisfying (rolling through a forest of trees and picking all of them up in rapid succession just feels great). Above all, the art direction and the upbeat music make Katamari seem like an artifact from the sunny, rainbows-and-unicorns world of early childhood. I've played a few games in my life that have made me laugh, but only Katamari Damacy and its sequel have made me giggle with giddy joy.
After telling an old girlfriend (a fellow lover of Japanese pop culture) about Katamari, I bought the games for her as a Valentine's Day gift. All that winter, when she'd come home from a stressful day of class, miserable from the gray, dreary Michigan winter, we'd share a pint of ice cream and pop the disc in the PlayStation 2, taking turns rolling up our stress and unhappiness, leaving just a shimering star in the sky.
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
1. CSS (Counter Strike Source) 2. Gmod9 (Garry's Mod) 3. LOTR Battle For Middle Earth 2 4. Silkroad Online 5. Worms 4 just cuz i recently acquired it
1. Golf (it's just you vs. a little damn ball)
2. Baseball (as in go outside and enjoy the sunshine, and one of the best team sports)
3. Galaga (best game ever ".")
4. Gran Turismo (any of them) (only reason I ever bought a playstation)
5. MS Solitaire (it's available on most every computer, and if the power is out, all you need is 52 cards)
I don't game much anymore, but the games I used to play to the point where I knew them inside and out and would just play them to, well, think about something else... were mainly sports games:
:)
- Super Tennis
- NES Open
- Bases Loaded 2
- One Must Fall 2049
- Blades of Steel
And the oddball:
- Pool Of Radiance, the original C64 version. I still know where hidden treasures are!
and lately, College Hoops 2k5 and ESPN NFL 2k5.
And, of course, SPIDER SOLITARE!
Games like Civ4 I play because they're hard for me, I would hardly call them relaxing
- --
"I Hate Quotes" -- Samuel L. Clemens
When I really want to pussy out and just win I play anything Madden.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
My current top five would have to be Super Mario World, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft would be the cause of a bad day.
TeamFortress - My progression from capture the flag to teamfortress was the hand of something greater that changed my life. I wasted the best hours of my life away on this game. Probably the reason I didn't have sex until after high school. Also the reason for my good ACT's, and 2.666 GPA. I saw the TeamFortress 2 trailer the other day, and I got a proud father moment. I seriously got a little teary-eyed and said, "Ahh, my boys all grown up." I will always remember those nights of 300 ping and learning to lead for lag. I still remember the envy of those with high speed cable, and those at college. Probably one of the primary reasons I went to college. Low Ping. Faxanadu - I have no idea why I always come back to this game. My brother rented it so many years ago, and admittedly... I didn't get to play it much that weekend. But no other game has had me download emulators for it... track down roms through porno popup infested roms sites... and spent as many hours playing around with winged boots. I've still never beat it, and really wish that there was a way that I could at least see the end of the game... Heroes of the might and magic 2&3 - I only listed both of them because the second doesn't really run within windows xp. I remember playing this for hours on end, and in fact my roomie and I still play the third in late night sessions every couple of months. I will play this game for three days straight, and then remember every reason I hate it and gave it up. Then I give it a couple of months. Privateer 2. I remember my cousin chris playing this and thinking it was the coolest game ever. My first introduction to a game that was open ended. I remember him buying and trading things, and traveling to jump points... and thinking, "This is what Wing Commander should have been." X-Wing, Tie Fighter, - Both of these games had me in a galaxy far far away. I remember the insanely hard missions, and how much fun they were. It was my chance to make the death star run, and I enjoyed it way too much. I'm very grateful for these games, and if the creators ever read this page, I would like to personally thank you for the great memories. -Thank You.
John Walsh once found me while looking for some other kid. He was not amused.
1. Guitar Hero - Doesn't demand a huge time commitment and trigger the "gotta just finish one more level..." obsession.
2. Quake 3 Arena - Sometimes you just gotta shoot stuff.
3. Diablo II - Good for a few hours of playing (FSVO "a few" approaching 11)
4. TIE Fighter - Sadly, nothing like it has been seen since.
5. Nethack - No explaination needed.
In no real order:
Super Mario World
Super Mario Kart
GoldenEye
Unreal Tournament
Secret of Mana
for the old 2600.
Q3A
AvP for Jaguar
M.U.L.E (we really need up to date versions of this)
Asteroids
Blogging because I can...
5. Epic Pinball - The demo level is the only one you will ever need. Can you activate the Android? Can you get it to run smoothly under windows with all it's splitscreen vga trickery?!
4. Commander Keen 6 : Aliens ate my Babysitter - Sidescroller with 16 colors, adlib music and bloogs. Really any of the old shareware sidescrollers (Duke Nukem, Jill of the Jungle, etc.) will satisfy.
3. Dune II - The Building of a Dynasty So maybe you can't group select units, or set waypoints, or queue up builds. Just enjoy the perfect adlib soundtrack as you micromanage your way to victory. This game is so full of awesomeness: Spice Blooms, Harvesters, Carryalls, Ornithopters, Rocket Trucks, Sonic Tanks, Deviators, Devastators, Spice Worms! But to me, there is nothing better than that last stage of a level when you have overwhelmed your enemy and all that is left is to slowy destroy all their buildings.
2. Metroid - 8bit NES Sidescroller (Thank god for emulators). I have always assumed the boss "Ridley" was named after "Alien" director Ridley Scott. Anyone know? The music and graphics are brilliant. Super Metroid on the SNES is pretty nice too.
1. Unreal Tournament 2004 - Onlaught Mode - Fast twitch FPS with vehicles. It's so easy to get online and play for just a few minutes. If you have no attention span then this is the game for you. Some people hardly ever stray from the demo level "Torlans".
Hmmm, most of mine are really old and I seem to like anything with nifty FM synthesis music.
Sometimes at night I imagine the darkness is filled with horrible things with too many teeth, like Julia Roberts.
1. Everquest for Mac
2. Everquest for Mac
3. Everquest for Mac
4. Everquest for Mac
and finally
5. Everquest for Mac
saint's row (xb360)
and
day of defeat or counterstrike source (PC)
i have been known to find solace in BF2, but i haven't played lately, not really sure why. bored i guess.
i've played the BF 2142 demo recently, but i'm really tired of the only map and i'm not impressed with the basic weapons. unfortunately, i bought the game impulsively assuming it would be great. hopefully the other maps and unlocks are better.
i also preordered might and magic: dark messiah, and i can't wait to play it. the demo rocked!
Civ3, Angband (some variant, anyhow), Tetrinet, Chrono Trigger (yay emulators), Puzzle Bobble (or some clone like frozen bubble)
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
One hour of multi-player FPS would bring my spirits up :)
I think it's the team-work which makes the difference.
After playing online (Enemy Territory/CS etc), it's kinda boring to play single player games.
Sent from my desktop computer
Recently, I've played a lot of WoW. But, if I were to think about a game to play for "relaxation" it'd probably have to be Final Fantasy. The original. I know it almost as well as the poster up above me (somewhere) knows ADventure. =D Now if I ever get the CD back for FF Origins, I'll be able to try and finish my game with 4 mages .... (Wafflestomped everything in the game up to the end dungeon ... and then found that the marathon that is the temple of Chaos is nearly impossible. No way to recover spells, so I have to use cheap $spell 2 items and pray that I don't run into quad groups of Zombie dragons. O_o
The horrors. I think the 1 black belt challenge may be easier at this stage, lol!
I've only played the demo of F.E.A.R. on the 360 and found it to be reasonably creepy. The creepiest game I've ever played, though, was Condemned on the 360. I played it on a big screen in a dark room with surround sound and on some levels I just couldn't play it alone. I had to have my dog with me in the room. Pathetic, eh?
1. Lumines
This game validates my purchase of a PSP. It's also is one of the few games to put me in a trance where I actually lose track of time.
2. Katamari Damacy
Nothing like rolling over a bunch of mindless people to take your thoughts off the mindless idiots you work with/for.
3. Painkiller
Hordes of undead + stakegun = melting the stress away.
4. Dead Rising
See above, but replace stakegun with anything else you can think of that isn't a gun.
5. Okami
Yes, it's new, but I'll be damned if it doesn't take me back (via Delorean style time travel) to the days of my N64 and LoZ: The Ocarina of Time. I mean, it's practically the same damn game... not that it's a bad thing.
- Last Few Years anyway - lets call it post Counter Strike addiction..
:)
In no particular order
1) StarCraft
Always loved warcraft - maybe even more than starcraft, but the engine is better on SC and it runs on my old libretto 100CT , so its great at the beachhouse.
2) GTA - Vice City
What can I say? - I love that dirty old town.
3) Stronghold
Has a little more building than Med/Rome Total War, and not as picky CIV IV. Also its good to have a game that can be completed in less than 200 hours.
4) Unreal Tournament 2004
If only I had spent more time playing this instead of battlefield 2. This is more fun and having different types of games other than "hold the flag".
Graphics are insanely good and looks fine even on a Geforce 4mx card itll run well.
5) Half-Life - Counter Strike and TFC
Paid for my house. By spending the weekends not out clubbing, I saved about an extra $500 per week. 2 years of that - hey presto! - somehow I managed to keep my friends as well !!
Move along... there is no sig here.
My top five??
:)
DOOM
DOOM
DOOM
DOOM
DOOM
And with 3500 PWADs and the SLIGE map generator, I never run out of DOOM.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Does the term "comfort games" imply that people also play games that make them uncomfortable?
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Only five? Hm... Some I keep coming back to are:
Sim City (the original version), Tetris, Puyo Puyo (or variations of it), Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World.
And of course, five multi-player classics which I keep in active duty on all consoles they appear on: Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Monkey Ball, Bomberman, Donkey Konga.
Sonic (the first), Zelda: Link's Awakening.
1. Jardinains
2. Jardinains
3. GTA2
4. Solitaire
5. NFS
Buncing the jardinains is really the stress buster for me
My Blog | Badsh
1. Civ3 Conquests
2. Alpha Centauri
3. X-Wing
4. Whatever
5. Whatever
These are the only games I play over and over again. The first two reflect my preference for turn-based strategy and X-Wing is equal parts fun and nostalgia. Other games simply don't cut it in the long run...
Black holes are where God divided by zero
My top 5:
Sonic 3 [Megadrive] - One of the few games I can complete to order, about 45-60 minutes for the whole game with all chaos emeralds. If a game came out these days you could complete in that time, it'd be slated. :-P I now have it on my GP32 so I can be "comforted" on the train etc...
Transport Tycoon Deluxe [PC] - Ok, it needs heavy patching to work on XP (hopefully, someone will work out how to use it with Vista) but it's a classic. I normally only play it on the "West Country 90210" map when in "comfort" mode, as it's flat and pretty easy to make a profit on.
The Sims 2 [PC] - Yes, it's playing dolls-houses. But I like it. I tend to cheat, build huge houses and stick as many slightly psycho sims in as possible, then sit back and watch the fights start.
Links LS 2000 etc [PC] - It's golf. Without the walking or physical effort. Which basically makes it akin to a full-frontal lobotomy whilst drunk and on valium. Unless you try putting, in which case it's a complete pain in the backside.
SimCity 3000 [PC] - I'm not sure why people say SC 2000 is better than 3000. SC 3000 always had a lot more character to it, what with its traffic and sarcastic advisors. Anyway, I spent most of the start of my second year at Uni playing on one city in SC 3000. I still haven't filled the entire map either. It's a bitch to start a successful city, and it seems a little linear if you want to make any profits within a reasonable time, but once you've paid off your loans and you're raking the cash in, the world is your shellfish of choice.
Any Tony Hawk game, so I can watch the char. fall down and get hurt and laugh knowing its not real... COD 1 or 2/UT/CSCZ so I can blow something up after a long day.... Qbert to boggle my mind abit...or Mahjongg Any racing game on PS2 if Im feeling that lethargic...
DARTH MACINTOSH LIVES! Give yourself to the Mac side. Bwahaha!
I checked The Article, and it didn't put any limits on *type* of games, so here we go!
Set 1: NON-Computer games:
1. Chess. Forget Topalov's Manager. This is the OldSchool game that's changing a little, but still top of my heap.
2. Magic the Gathering. This brilliant invention of Richard Garfield might be nearing the end of it's run, but isn't this post the place to relive glory days? The new Time Spiral game just came out, *reprinting* some Legendary cards (pun intended), the ultimate Comfort experience.
3. Spider class Solitaire games. (You know, the one Micro$oft copied.) Two decks, stack in alternating colors until you can build vertically up in suit from the posted Aces above the Tableau. Head of Spider transfers permitted. (YES, Microsoft, you DO get to deal into the empty hole you worked so hard to create. If I wanted Touch-Move, I'd play Chess, see #1.)
Set 2: Computer Games
1. Mortal Kombat III, in arcades where it's down to a quarter.
2. Ataxx. Now included in MAME. Mushman, here's lookin' at you.
3. Ants. A much smaller second cousin to Magic, built as a software language demo.
4. L.O.R.D. Now implemented on the ICC (Internet Chess Club) as Print, and you don't have to wait until tomorrow after your 25 actions are done.
5. Rotating OldSchool game of the week.
Honorable Mention: When I was 13, I got my start on computers making maze games for the Commodore 128. Poke 53280,0 OldTimer. Maybe you were there.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Let me see:
:)
1) Solitaire
This one I play not only in Windows, but whenever I can get a clone. I've even installed a Solitaire addon in my World of Warcraft, for those long flight times.
2) Street Fighter II
This or any other fighter game similar to it, including almost all NeoGeo hits.
3) World of Warcraft
This is my main game so far, but I think of it as a comfort game when I'm bored and go to a capital city to trade in the AH or just chat.
4) Pangya
This golf MMO is nice for some fast games. You choose something between 3 and 18 holes, from 2 alternating to 20 simultaneous players, and have 15 to 30 minutes of fun.
5) Chrono Trigger
Now and then I simply HAVE TO replay this RPG.
6) Anything randomly choosen in a SNES or Arcade emulator.
For when I'm REALLY bored.
Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
Ahh the classic 2d games it what we all miss. My Top 5 Comfort Games: 1. Natural Selection (HL Mod) 2. Zelda III: A Link To The Past 3. Super Mario Brothers III 4. Bonk's Adventure (Turbo Grafx 16) 5. Final Fantasy IX
Live Free
about once a year I end up playing through this classic, and it's sibling monkey island 2. And everytime I have to upgrade my dosbox, or whatever emulator is working at the time. bit of a learming experience in it's own right, but I am still waiting for anyone else to create a truly well-written comedy adventure. When that day comes, I will be there with cash in hand and purchase your new-fangled consoles.
-- violence is the last resort of the incompetent --
In the order that I thought of 'em:
- Dominoes, particularly "42"
- Dart games like "501", etc.
- Hackey Sack
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Sunday Afternoon Softball With Plenty of Beer
- Gin Rummy
- Spades
- Kings-on-the-Corner
- Chess
- Hide the sausage
In the course of every project, it will become necessary to shoot the scientists and begin production.
I'd have to say my top five are: 1. Super Smash Brothers/ Melee 2. Any SMB game, except SMB2 3. World of Warcraft 4. Pokemon Blue (wanna fight about it?) 5. Tetris The list isn't in any particular order, except for I enjoy SSBM the most when I'm stressed out and need to beat something to a pulp.
I love: :D ;)
1. Warcraft (2, 3 and 3x) -- the story and continuity are fantastic
2. Age of Empires -- for the ancient history aspects and because it's strategy
3. Transport Tycoon -- it has good chillout music as well!
4. Star Wars Pod Racer -- nothing more calming than speed
5. ZX Spectrum games (see http://www.worldofspectrum.org/, for instance) which I play via an emulator for the sake of the good old times
SIG SEGV
Super Mario World - Colorful, fun game without the restrictive controls of the old SMBs, that and flying is better in this game
Mike Tyson's Punch-out - Knowing all the players' weaknesses, making it up to Bald Bull (2nd time) before giving up, attempting Tyson himself (007 373 5963, I don't remember this password by number, but by how to input it, strangely enough)
Amplitude - I prefer this over Guitar Hero mainly because it uses the actual songs instead of renditions, which, to be honest, were poorly done
Final Fantasy IX - The one FF that's always left out. Everyone's a fanboy for FF7, everyone HATES FF8, and then everyone loves FFX. I love picking up this game on a random save I have. Excellent story, excellent music, graphics of classic RPGs, Square(-Enix)'s way of saying sorry for FF8.
(Runner up) Lumines - I can't pick up this game without spending at least an hour of unstressful entertainment.
1. We Love Katamari PS2 -- because I can customize the look of my character. Personal preference: riding on a horse with a crown on my head. 2. Katamari Damacy PS2 -- because it's crucial to the understanding of the story of We Love Katamari. 3. Me and my Katamary PSP -- because it's a portable Katamari game. 4. LocoRoco PSP -- because it's a portable Katamari in 2D. 5. Gish -- because it's a portable Katamari in 2D for my Mac.
What can I say blizzards owned my soul since Starcraft. Half-Life is the best shooter ever made. Nothing is more fun then ending someone with a sink.
" I think that freedom is Americas biggest export. Atleast untill China can stamp it out for 20 cents a unit."
Easy enough...
Starcraft
Diablo II
Team Fortress Classic
GTA:Vice City - I just jump in a car and turn up the radio and start racking up wanted levels.
Nethack goes with my on my USB drive, so I can play just about anywhere.
I am NOT a man!
I am a free number!
1) Bolo! I know there is a PC version. It rocked as a RTS multiplayer game. Could play with colorblind friends too.
2) Original Pirates! on Mac.
3) C&C:Generals
4) CS:Source
5) Super Mario Kart. Good party game.
I prefer the term stress reliever, as there are some old games lying around that I use to blow off steam, when things are are difficult in the real world.
M.U.G.E.N, and old 2D fighting games engine used to reproduce characters from fighting games, or making new ones from scratch, Evil Ken Rocks!!
Alien Soldier, from Treasure for the Mega drive, and old school, contra-like very hard shooter, the use of counter force to nullify enemy bulletes and turn them into health power ups gives a sense of revenge and fair play unmatched by any other similar game
Quake 3 arena, low harwdware requirements, easy to catch up play mechanics, and the rocket launcher is you friend, nuff said...
emulators..., specially Nester DC for the good old dead Dremcast, need I to say more??
1. Ultima 7 2. Ultima 7: Serpent Isle 3. XCOM 4. Samba De Amigo 5. Worms World Party
I find laziness to be an excellent motivator.
I am surprised I haven't seen this one yet. Along with Civ x, Diablo, and Baldurs Gate it is one of my fave.
Anyone who finds Tetris comforting is sick.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
Going by the notion that "comfort games" are ones that don't require alot of thought or alot of time per session to actually do anything in, here's my top 5 in no particular order:
1. Mario Tennis (N64)
2. Mario Golf: Advance Tour (GBA)
3. Mario Kart DS (best of the series IMO, ton of tracks old and new, perfect driving mechanics, and wifi support, doesnt get much better than that)
4. Battlefield 1942 (all-time fav online FPS)
5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (the cause behind many missed classes and sleepless nights in college)
no text
Real men play Angband (originally Mines of Moria). ;)
All I can say is...
Quake 3
Just my favorite game.
Lets see... i guess some others would be
some of the Zelda games
Rome Total War
Contra
-d
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Super Mario: When I'm stressed out, I like simple, and in terms of games it's hard to get more simple than 8 buttons and side scrolling. When I want a bit of a challenge, I go Mario 1 as the game doesn't respond how I expect and that ups the difficulty for me. the US version of Mario 2 didn't make it because that game is much more of a novelty for me. It's fun, enough, just too different from Mario 1, the REAL Mario 2, and mario 3.
If I'm looking for a little less challenge, I go Mario 3 and I'll warp to the levels I have the most fun with like the pipe and giant worlds. Plus, you've got to love that little boot you can hop around in.
Worms World Party: This is just a silly game. It's hard to play it and not laugh at least once. I was introduced to one of the older versions of this game by one of my college buddies. We'd turn on all weapons, up the move time to the maximum and ninja rope or super sheep for hours.
C&C Red Alert II: This is the second RTS I ever played and talk about a great one. The acting might be cheesy as hell, but troops respond just the way I want and how I tell them. Setting up a solid defense that takes care of itself is no problem at all which I like because it allows me to focus on my offense and saves me a lot of jumping around on the map.
Star Trek Armada: This is one of those games that never took off because there wasn't any driving force behind it to get it to take off; no new movie, TV Show, etc. The story line was compelling and shifted you through all the 4 avail. races. I first started playing this game as the demo and immediately wanted more. Sadly, my current computer has hardware compatibility issues with the game so I haven't played it in years, but there were a few interface options in this game that are missing in other RTS games. Unlike many RTSs, Strategy matters a lot more than just having a huge attack force. To destroy an enemy base, you really do have to find the weakest point, create a weak point with a first wave attack, or attack from multiple directions and have a diversity of ships or having a huge force won't make much of a difference.
Battle For Middle Earth: One of my co-workers selected this as a game to play at our monthly LAN parties as no one had played it before and we'd all be on the same learning curve. We all loved the game immediately. It's very well conceived and the limitations imposed force you to think strategy, not overwhelming force. The biggest problem we've had with the game is that when we play against each other, we stalemate, and when we play against the computer, we get bored.
Runners up:
Othello: You either squish your opponent, or get squished. There's no middle ground and as a result, the game has lost its novelty.
World of Warcraft: Really, it's just too new to me and I don't yet know if it really falls under 'comfort' although I do have a lot of fun with this game and it's nice to have something that my girlfriend will play as well.
Max Payne: Simply put, I overplayed the fist one and by that I mean that not enough bathroom, food and sleep breaks occurred. That, combined with the fact that playing on a laptop on my lap, did weird things with my body temprature and I ended up feeling a little ill when playing the game. There is still a little hint of that memory, however, I don't use a laptop anymore and I think if I played again, there would be some question as to BFME or Max Payne.
I don't know if I have a top five. Regardless of how long the list is, Alpha Centauri is at the top. I haven't played Civ IV yet, but AlphaC has so much more depth than any other turn-based empire-building game that I've ever played that I keep coming back to it, over and over and OVER again.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Spamassassin is a really fun game. You see, there is this world-wide bot net run by the bad guys, and they try to send you "messages". You get to defend against their attacks. 1 points for every blocked spam, -1 points for each spam that makes a successful attack, -10 points for every blocked good mail. Lots of fun, and you really get to know your regular expressions as a bonus. The game never gets old because there is always a new twist to what is being sent. Send me your email address, and I'll sign you up to play.
Jesus, I have underwear stains older than you people.
1. On-line Chess (freechess.org)
2. Ogame (ogame.org)
3. Rise of Nations
4. Diablo II
5. Nethack
- Super Mario 3
- Tetris Attack
- Yahoo! Pyramids
- Animal Crossing
- And to a certain extent Mario 1, 2, & Super Mario World, but for some reason I have the details of Mario 3 much more deeply ingrained in my fingers.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Space Quest, Nethack, Uplink, Tetris, Doom
UT2004 and Bust-A-Move cover all grounds for my comfort. I'm either in a running-around-shooting-everything mood or a puzzle-with-bubbles mood. If I am in any other mood then I'm not in the mood for a video game anyways.
1. Beatmania IIDX
:( ) introducing me to the neat world of sim racing. Tourist Trophy 1-upped that by making a beautifully detailed simulation of modern sportbikes. I still love taking a random bike out on the Nurburgring and seeing how it fares, where doing the same with a car is a hellish gauntlet of deathtraps.
The greater state of zen you can achieve, the better you'll play - there is no room for "waugh! This is too hard!", you simply interpret the note patterns and enact them.
2. Gran Turismo 4 / Tourist Trophy
I always hated the Turismo games because they claimed to be sims, but the physics would do bizarre things like spin your car 1000+ degrees when you were going 30mph. GT4 was redesigned, and eliminated that quite nicely, seeming real on tarmac, grass, AND sand (sadly not rally courses
3. Dead or Alive 2: LE / Hardcore
A lot of people seem to hate this game... on any other game it's always "but I've been blocking for the last 2 minutes! Why didn't my guy block once?!" or "Oh! So it was down, away to down, forward down to back, forward up diagonal, HP LK MP HK!" Those games are great fun too, but they're not fighting games... it's more of a magic battle at that point. In DoA2, you actually fight with the fighting style your character uses, you can REVERSE moves like pretty much any real martial art, and the characters are responsive like SNK fighters. It also doesn't hurt that I've played this game with my friends something like five years after it came out, and we were still seeing new moves under rare conditions.
4. Wipeout XL / 2097
This got it right where so many futuristic racers have failed. A soundtrack made up of mostly big-name techno artists' hits, tight responsive controls, awesome tracks, an arsenal of crazy weapons. AI that won't use the most devastating weapons, but bands together in a hive mind, pelting you with barrages from multiple opponent cars. Top it off with futuristic graphics and menu design from the Designer's Republic, and you have a cult classic.
5. Idol Janshi Suuchi Pai: Idol Janshi wo Tsukucchaou!
An anime-styled non-hentai mahjong game for Dreamcast (boy... I could do a "comfort games" list for Dreamcast alone!) Character designs by Ken'ichi Sonoda of Gunsmith Cats fame, good pro voice acting throughout, and tons of funny scenarios with each character, depending on what mode you play. A few classic cheats from the Suuchi Pai series are used by the AI, and earnable by the player in a panel-matching minigame between rounds. After beating story mode, you can enter "making mode," and make your own character, then (mahjong) fight for new parts for them. It's a niche game, especially considering no one in North America plays mahjong... but for fans of these games, and the series, they've jam-packed it with replayability and unlockables.
I remember them well - I was a Nintendo maniac. I just don't have any of those games on my list... I kinda played them to death throughout the 80s/90s.
Comfort means comfortable. Go way back to easy to uderstand interfaces, and no-thought gameplay, even add a little "I'm damn good" talk-to-yourself action to let you know you need to start playign it again.
My list:
CivII MPG
C&C
StartCarft II
AoE I
Tribes (no numeral needed, that second one blew donkey balls)
I know a lot of you may have included one or two, but not the whole list. These games are timeless, and many -- like Tribes are still running after almost a decade.
-heybiff (now new and improved in un-employed mode)
Even the Sun goes down.
I never set up a computer without installing a copy of Subspace. There's just something comforting about knowing you can log in anytime and fly around whatever they are calling Alpha Zone now; firing with abandon.
[q6]Quiet in Subspace.
Saw a few that nobody mentioned. So I decided to add my list.
Skies of Arcadia Legend - Sure the game's plot is quite cliche, but its well executed, and playing it just makes me feel happy. One of the reasons I got a Dreamcast in the first place.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII - Like the newer styles of ROTK that mix strategy with rpg elements. Play as an officer, working against and with 100s of other computer controlled officers with the goal of conquering/uniting ancient China.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - Final Fantasy Tactics spiritual ancestor, but a bit simpler mechanics-wise and with a more comphrensible plot.
Misadventures Of Tron Bonne - "Horses can't be astronauts, Miss Tron." Cute and funny. I need to play this again.
Mario Kart(All Platforms) - "I'ma Wario! I'ma gonna win!"
Well, Tranquility is a really relaxing game too (and free or 6$ for extreme gamers).
Animoog.org
Advance Wars Series Pokemon Series Katamari Series SSX Series Wipeout Series
Garou: Mark Of the Wolves (A Fatal Fury Game)
I can't think of any other fighting game this smoothly animated and well balanced.
And I can beat everyone I know to a pulp with Kim Jae Hoon even though he sort of sucks in all the other games.
Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer (PC or Emulated N-64)
Killer Instinct (Emulated Full Arcade Version)
Games like KI and more recently Zuma had lots of little often overlooked elements that purely represent what it means to be 'Arcade'.
Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Tukobetuhen
you know how the 'cinematics' of many NES games looked a hell of a lot better than the actual gameplay?
In this, the gameplay is in all cinematics!
TIE: Quake3:Arena and Star Wars: Republic Commando
Runners Up:
GUNSTAR HEROES
Dungeon Seige 2
Chrono Trigger
Harvest Moon
GTA: 3
Power Instinct
Castlevania III
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Quake 1
Quake Rally
UT:2k4 Bombing Run or Deathball
Beetle Adventure Racing
WaveRace64
I would have to say (in no particular order):
Sad, isn't it?
1 @M T3H Ub3R PH@xx0rz!!11!1one!11 - http://www.rabidcentipede.com
Yes, I do consider all these different playstyles within WoW different games. It all depends on what you're in the mood for, and WoW can satisfy almost every mood I have.
1) Counter Strike - quick, dirty, & fun. I think part of the definition of a "comfort game" is a game that is easy to pick up and put down and still have a load of fun. This fits it to a 'T'. :)
2) All-Star Baseball 2004 - I love baseball. I've always had a baseball "comfort game", this just happens to be the latest one.
2) StarCraft - quick & fun. This game is like your old pair of shoes that you refuse to throw out because they fit so well.
3) Mario Kart: Double Dash - Just pure, quick fun. 150cc is just challenging enough to make winning still feel good.
4) Civilization 3 - not too quick, but very fun. Especially when you set to Chieften and roll modern armor over their chariots.
5) Unreal Tournament 2004 - quick, dirty, & fun w/ tanks. If this game were easier for me to play, it would be higher on the list.
1. wipeout xl
2. tetris
3. ratchet and clank 2
4. gta 3/san andreas
5. super mario kart
1. Nhl95 with dosbox is great fun though the comp never has a chance 2. Jagged alliance series with user mods 3. Total annihilation with 5000 units patch + different mods 4. Doom with all the frontends such as jdoom/zdoom 5. Alpha Centauri although towards the end it tends to get tedious Honorary mention to Warlords 2 Deluxe and Spindizzy
My top 5, so far:
Descent 1/2/3. Open levels, mass driver (rail gun) 5K zoom or even close quarters. whadda rush.
UT2004: buncha bots, friends or mix and steady mayhem with some cool weapons/combos.
Quake3: same as above, only more twitch/reflex. Granted, not playing either for a while put me back in the "n00bish" feeling.
Serious sam 1 or 1.5...2 is ok, but a lot of "Meh". SS2 lost the right "oh, shit" factor. The first two games
had it big time with "Oh, shit, look at all those critters. This is gonna hurt (but be fun)", SS2 was more of "Oh, shit, not this again!"
Max Payne2's "Dead Man Walking": Imagine ignoring this for a year, then giving it a try on the nagging
advice/insistance of a friend. Tried it, on the first level "Manor Yard" (iirc) it wasn't long after a
month or so I got a time-score of 40:57:54. Anyone who has played, knows that breaking 15mins is hard,
breaking 20 or so is very hard, 30 is seemingly impossible, if not downright astounding.
Imagine not playing for 6months and picking it back up, and seeing that score? Ouch.
Well, a little Az peach flavored ice tea, rum, and some warm-up go crazy rounds, I said "ok, one more, WTH".
Good decision, IMO, because after 43:41:18 of play, I'd hit a new record. Even better to hit the "construction site" and come within 20 seconds of my almost 14min score on the first try.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
Ole Timey Goodness: 1) M.U.L.E. 2) Wasteland 3) SSI's Pool of Radiance (In the gold box) 4) Anything from the Fallout series 5) Baldur's Gate. Any game that got my girlfriend to finally understand d20 jokes is gold.
Many old PC games wont run on my computer anymore (WinXP) and if they do its sub-optimal.
So my top 5:
1) AoE 2: Age of Kings - Definitely my favorite RTS game!
2) MAME - Many of the old 80s games are still very playable and enjoyable even compared to today's games. Rolling Thunder, Metrocross, Zookeeper, Joust, Cloak & Dagger, and Robotron 2084 are some I play a lot.
3) Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 - I bought a Dreamcast just for this game and Crazy Taxi
4) Crazy Taxi - I bought a Dreamcast just for this game and THPS2
5) Grand Theft Auto 3 - Great mindless fun!
It's good to see some people still play this classic! Of all the games I have ever played, Transport Tycoon has been the one that is most replayable! I would suggest having a look at OpenTTD, an open-source version of Transport Tycoon with many more useful enhancements than the orginal - http://www.openttd.com/
I rent game servers, see my homepage for more information
tetris
tetris
tetris
tetris
tetris
Civilization IV definitely. any of the Battlefield series, SimCity 4, pogo's High Stakes Pool, and EA's NHL or Madden games.
-Red orchestra: The games tops...esspecially if you like (simulated) WW2 games...They did a fantastic job on the effects..lighting and gameplay...Its very fluid...although it still needs work...What game doesn't?!
-Half-Life: Classic game...Nuff' Said...If it wasn't for HL1 and the mods that came out with it (DOD-CS(orig)-TFC-Firearms) most of the fsp games in the pc world wouldn't be what they are today...Due to HL...HL2 and Steam..as well as the games being put through steam..Just make everything sweeter.
-Operation Flashpoint: Classic! I was not a huge fan of the first person view...Reason: Its lame. haha. Other than that...the interface; as well as the modding was fantastic. Another game that helped push the limit of gaming...and due to that...I can't wait to see ArmA'.
-Battlefield 1942: First ever (successful- don't worry..WWIIOL doesn't deserve kudos') large scale FPS game released that sparked the addiction of the BF series...
-Ghost Recon: Classic- this game was mind-blowing....
------
Thats my 5 for shooters...I have a veriety of games that I play..but those were the innovative ones for online shooters...I would have added some others but I think these originals really sparked an addiction for most people; and as you can see...Many dev's have tried to remake all of their styles...I could also mention UT-Quake-ET-Rainbow 6-FEAR-etc...but I found these to be an ongoing...favorite for some.
(I dig more strategy games these days as well..and Flight Sims...IL2/HPS Sims.../CM)
-----
Katamari is my ultimate comfort game. Its easy on the eyes and just feels nice to play.
Final Fantasy (NES version) - I can't tell you how many times I've played this - I even emulated NES on my Pocket PC so I could play it again just last year. I don't even need the Strategy Guide to know where to find the good stuff anymore. Castlevania II (NES version) - Played and beaten multiple times, but only once got the full color ending with Simon Belmont as opposed to the black and white with just Simon's tombstone. DarkStone (PC) - Played non-stop for four continuous years, and still periodically reinstall it for some good old-fashioned puzzle solving combined with Diablo-esque dungeon crawling. The company released three excellent patch/updates that allow for custom-skins that update on the fly over the network while multi-playing, and also added unique weapons and the ability to customize your own quests. I am sorely disappointed that that Delphinesoft vanished before putting together a sequel (though apparently may have been in the works before that happened). Drakan: Order of the Flame (PC) - Dumb one-liners, weak plot, loosely followed storyline, but great graphics for its time that still fall under the category of early 3d-engine eye candy, fun gameplay, great puzzle-solving, and just loads of fun. Too bad they didn't develop the multi-player mode properly or it would have been absolutely perfect. Final Fantasy VII (PSX & PC) - After I gave my PSX to a friend for helping me move, I missed this game so much I went out and bought the PC version and played it again. Beaten four times now, still periodically get a hankering for it (though I was dumb and gave it to another friend about two weeks before Advent Children was released in the US...now I wanted it back! Oh well...)
2. Tetris on my cell phone when my three computers à work crash simultaneously
3. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, with its simple yet interesting storyline & action
4. Need For Speed Underground 2, for some slick racing, on my projector
5. Quake III, for some good ol' fraggin'
1. Rez
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
3. Gunstar (Super) Heroes
4. New Super Mario Bros.
5. Lumines
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
1) Pinball 2) Solitaire
minesweeper
spider
frozen bubble
solitare
jezzball