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The Unsung Heroes of PC Gaming History
An anonymous reader writes "The history of PC gaming is littered with many well-known and highly regarded titles, but what about the titles you mightn't have heard of? This list of the top games in the history of the PC includes the usual suspects, such as Half-Life and Doom, but also some often overlooked PC games including such classics as Elite, the space trading RPG developed in 1984 by two college friends from Cambridge for the Acorn and BB Micro systems. The game used a truly elegant programming hack to create over 200 different worlds to explore while using 32kb of memory, all with 3D wireframes. Also in the list is Robot War, which required players to actually code the participants, and one of the first online multiplayer RPGs, Neverwinter Nights, which introduced many of the developer and user behaviors, such as custom guilds, that have made modern RPGs so popular."
What's your favorite classic game that always gets overlooked in these kinds of lists? My vote goes for Star Control 2.
They're talking about the original NWN, the AOL game. Which had a very large following and was one of the first graphical MMORPGs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
NO CLAMDIGGER!
It wasn't until mass effect/dragon age that Bioware really got back on track to making good games again.
You forgot KOTOR, but yeah... NWN's campaign really bit. I enjoyed the gameplay, but the plot was mind-numbingly stupid.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
First person real time dungeon crawl on a TRS-80 with sound! At least five years ahead of its time in 1982, which is like a lifetime in the gaming industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_of_Daggorath
Actually, STALKER: SoC has sold over 2 million copies. It also has 82% on Metacritic for both user and critic reviews.
It was truly the WOW of it's day...I remember burning hours upon hours of modem time on that game.
Actions per Minute.
Basically how many times you can click the mouse and/or a hotkey in a minute.
Pro starcraft players have 200+ APM.
and Mario Bros. came in 1983 before they ever thought of being "super". Super Mario Bros. is the first game that actually made me want a home console however. Its the reason I begged my parents for a Nintendo Entertainment System and forever made me the gaming geek I am today. Oh, and yes, I realize how that statement dates me..., and you're all quite welcome. Without us wannabe game geeks at home in the mid 80s, the Playstation 3, Wii, and XBox may not have become the systems they are today. According to Wikipedia, Frog is the earliest ancestor of the platform genre. It was produced in 1978 by Gremlin. While I was old enough to appreciate a game like that in 1978, I never actually saw it in the wild. Space Invaders and Pac Man are all I really remember from the late 70s up until Donkey Kong in 1981. By the way I agree the the last line of the article author, "My vote goes for Star Control 2." Star Control 2 is one of my favorite games ever made. I loved it.
Elite actually evolved into Elite on the NES (same game but expanded missions), then Elite II, Elite Frontier, and a few other 90s-era sequels. I've also noticed that the PS1 had an Elite style game (in 4 parts), with identical view and controls, but the goal was to follow a pre-plotted script. It was not open-ended like the original.
As for the list:
- The Sims should be replaced with Little Computer People by Activision. That was the genesis of the genre - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Computer_People
- Haunted House by Atari should be mentioned as the first survival-horror game.
- Starship and Star Raiders were the 1st first-person-viewpoint shooters.
- Also:
--- Zork or Dungeon
--- Last Ninja
--- Donkey Kong
--- Turrican (like Metroid before metroid existed)
--- M.U.L.E. for the C64 (with cool music besides)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Ditto for Commander Keen! That game was so wacky and yet so much fun - I have a fondness for 2D side-scrollers to this day.
No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
The Ur-Quan Masters is a native linux port of Star Control 2, and I've found it largely indistinguishable from the real thing. It's awesome.
Rational thought is the only true freedom
You can play it now for free.
http://www.forgottenworld.com/
A complete cross-platform redesign is getting started here: http://goldchest.sourceforge.net/
Actually as a loooong time Freelancer player I would say you have to consider the retail game more of a demo really. if you want to enjoy the real Freelancer you need to go to one of the many Freelancer mods sites, as the mods if what makes Freelancer, both single player and MMO. Thanks to the modders there are still tons of places and things I haven't done in a game released in 2003, new ships, systems, factions...it is fricking huge! Just pick up the excellent Freelancer Mod Manager and you are good to go. Works in Windows 7 x64 BTW.
As for games not on the list? I would go with Starflight because that game was so huge and different for the time. Both the PC and later Sega Genesis games gave you so much to do, explore and a pretty long mystery to solve. All in all a great game and one I would love to see done on a PC with today's tech.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
There was a game with (IIRC) Harrier in the title that gave you control over the invasion of a small island nation. I can't recall whether you actually got to dispatch the ground forces or whether they arrived on a time table, but you definitely did have control of a few Harrier aircraft, which you could launch from your carrier with an autopilot or fly on your own. You planned out your (or the AI pilot's) objectives before hand, setting waypoints and targets.
It's pretty obscure, and a bit hard to find as there are several more-well-known games with Harrier in the title. I'm pretty sure it's this one:
AV8B Harrier Assault
Sounds a bit like EF2000, so assuming you can get it to run and can tolerate the old graphics, you might enjoy it.
You should check out FreeFalcon. It's 4.0 sourcecode that has been updated and tweaked to provide a more realistic experience. The full game is now free and you can find it over at http://www.freefalcon.com/
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.