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?

Comments

My Top 5 Games

[celardore]

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.

Re:My Top 5 Games

[Chosen Reject]

My top 5 in no particular order are

1. UT 2004 - nothing like a fast paced shoot to kill with no goals. I especially like to play Capture the Flag or Bombing Run in the CarPark map with as many bots as possible. Nothing but fragging there.

2. Minesweeper - If I have just a few minutes, this is my standby.

3. Warcraft III - I can do single player, against bots, or online and all of them are just fun. Plus, my wife loves this game. The DotA allstars mod is really fun as well.

4. Half-Life 2 - If I just want a good shooter with a good story this is where I go.

5. Jedi Outcast - This game is my favorite. This game alone caused me to switch from Bio-Chem to Computer Science in College. Sometimes, it's good to get back to your roots.

Another fun game I love is the Trackmania series. I still think the original is better than Sunrise or Nations. Unfortunately, it has Star Force copy protection and after a year my DVD drive went nearly useless. I loved playing it, but I'm not too sure I ever will again. Do you hear that Nadeo? It was your DRM that made me not play the game. You had a big fan, and when I found out what was happening, you lost me.

Re:My Top 5 Games

[PatrickThomson]

if you loved Transport Tycoon, check out openttd, at http://www.openttd.com/. The usual random spraffing of OSS patches, multiplayer, etc.

Re:My Top 5 Games

[Lazerf4rt]

Mine are:

• Guitar Hero
• Super Mario Bros.
• Bubble Bobble
• Tetris
• Deathmatch Quake

I like games where you actually develop a motor skill by virtue of playing it. Those are the most satisfying. In each of those 5 games, I remember starting the game as an inept clod, then gradually having my fingers learn what to do, and finally becoming good at it.

I suppose that's what a lot of gamers mean when they say they play games for 'gameplay', as opposed to some of the other commonly cited reasons, like graphics or story.

Re:My Top 5 Games

[malilo]

My comfort game is scrabble. Followed by bridge, hearts, rummy, and slapjack. oldies but goodies. who needs technology. :)

Re:My Top 5 Games

[cheater512]

OpenTTD is great. Its easy enough to find a copy of the original files on the net.

My 5 favourites would have to be something like this:

1. UT GOTY
2. Wolfenstein 3d
3. Quake 3
4. Age of Empires II
5. Duke Nukem (1, 2 and 3d)

Re:My Top 5 Games

[ShieldW0lf]

1) Quake MegaTF - I used to be one of the top ranked pyros in the game back in the day, and it feels some good to dust off the old skills. Nothing like sealing all the exits from a full room with napalm grenades and burning the entire enemy team to a crisp to get those frustruations out.

2) Baldurs Gate Series - One of the finest games to play across a home network with your girlfriend ever made.

3) Sid Meyers Pirates - You can rest one hand on the keypad, sit like a slug without moving at all and have an engrossing adventure for hours. A very lazy game to play.

4) Neverwinter Nights - Another fine game to play across the network with your girlfriend. Fiendish laughter as the two rogues disappear into the shadows leaving death in their wake.

5) Street Fighter vs X-Men running in MAME - Memories of high school. Wireless gamepads, beer a few buddies and an endless supply of credits.

away from my job

[theMerovingian]

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.

Re:away from my job

[Sarkoon]

You may have modded the parent funny, but if he's a chinese gold farmer he's telling the truth!

New Vs Old

[eldavojohn]

So I'm sure there's a huge argument as to whether or not new or old games function better as comfort games. Honestly, I don't see how a racing game/destruction game could be a comfort game but to each their own. I would have to say that my comfort 'games' are

• 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 Games

[Quaoar]

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!"

Balder's Gate

[nickgrieve]

The Balder's Gate series. It is a HUGE game. And it runs great on old hardware,..

Re:Balder's Gate

[GreatBunzinni]

Personally I prefer Ballmer's Gate. It's somewhat of a cheap clone of Donkey Kong, where you play a poor developer trying to climb the corporate ladder and you have to avoid the chairs a big monkey at the top throws at you.

Nethack

[arivanov]

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.

Re:Nethack

[Anonymous Coward]

You sit down, play and lose. You get up...

You've done it! It's the holy grail of Nethack addicts everywhere! Please tell us how you manage to get up!

Yours faithfully,
Vladimir

P.S. I think you're lying.

Be seeing you...

Adventure for the Atari 2600

[buckhead_buddy]

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. :-/

Re:Adventure for the Atari 2600

[garethw]

when we were young and not concerned about... relationships

Livin' the dream, baby!

Aww, damn.

Minesweeper

[Animats]

Turned up to the biggest board size. It takes about 200 seconds to clear the board, and it's so mindless.

Re:Minesweeper

[DoubleRing]

No, no. Minesweeper on 8x8 with 63 mines. Thats mindless.

Re:Top 5 Games for "Comfort"

[gEvil (beta)]

4. Lierati

I'm assuming you played off of someone else's 'T'...

Cloud

[DyslexicLegume]

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/

One of the most relaxing games ever.

Here goes...

[Masa]

My comfort games:

• 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.

Re:my top five (in no particular order)

[LindseyJ]

1. Alpha Centauri

I must warn you, my scientists have just completed a 1/1/1 Missile Rover prototype, rendering my forces practically invincible.

StarCraft!!!

[XMilkProject]

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.

More Hot Pockets (TM)!

[Dobeln]

Mom! More Hot Pockets!

Open Transport Tycoon is your friend!

[FinchWorld]

Go here. Its even been improved (well, i think so).

Don't go. The drones need you. (n/t)

[Hausenwulf]

no text