Gaming nostalgia, a look back at the most memorable games I’ve played (part 4)

Ever since I pumped a quarter into my first pinball machine I’ve been a gamer. To help kick off the new year I’ve decided to have a look back at my gaming past…

PART FOUR: THE NEXT GEN

Xbox 360

So bongo, bongo, bongo I don’t want to leave the congo. Oh no no no no no. Bingle, bangle, bungle I’m so happy in the jungle I refuse to go. Don’t want no bright lights, false teeth, doorbells, landlords. I make it clear. That no matter how they coax him. I’ll stay right here. ~ Civilization, Danny Kay with the Andrews Sisters

Fallout 3 is a game I will remember playing on my deathbed. It’s a masterpiece. I had the previous iterations of the series on PC way back when, but I never got into them. Fallout 3 had me entranced for hours, days, months even. I’ve always had an obsession with apocalyptic settings and this is a well crafted story surrounded by a living and breathing virtual world. I’ll never forget that moment in a burnt out supermarket when a Raider announced over the speaker system that he and his pals were gunning for me. Or the pang of guilt I felt when I realized I wouldn’t be able to save the sheriff and a little virtual boy would have to spend the rest of his virtual existence without a father. If you don’t like this game there is something intrinsically wrong with you.

Of course, you know, I have to mention the Bioshock games here, that wonderful and immersive voice acting will stick with me for a long, long time and be the yard stick I measure all future games to. But I’ve bantered enough about them on this blog, so let’s move on.

And the last game I’ll mention is Batman: Arkham Asylum. It’s the gameplay mechanics that stand out the most and the talented Mark Hamil voicing the Joker is a bonus. This is the first superhero based game that I feel really lived up to its namesake. Taking down the bad guys in this game was just as fun as killing Nazis. Hang one from a gargoyle, wait for his buddies to come investigate, swoop down and BAM! Two for one. This too was another well voiced and immersive game.

An honorable mention should be extended to Rock Band. More so for personal reasons. It was this game that helped me get over the grief of losing two dogs. Creating a band based on my pets, calling it Graham and the GUNKS (I spent a lot of time grooming Graham, specially his ears which always had gunk in them) and playing bass as Oliver Twisted (our wheaten terrier that passed away a year before we adopted Graham) was a good healing process for me. Even if the game has worn thin on me now I will always remember the GUNKS.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

Let’s hope the Mayans were wrong…

Gaming nostalgia, a look back at the most memorable games I’ve played (part 3)

Ever since I pumped a quarter into my first pinball machine I’ve been a gamer. To help kick off the new year I’ve decided to have a look back at my gaming past…

PART THREE: THE REIGN OF SONY

Playstation 2
The only games that stood out for me on this console were GTA Vice City, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Dynasty Warriors 4. Vice City provided me with much needed stress relief at the time, there was nothing like the mayhem a floating smiley face would allow you to wreak on the pixelated denizens of Vice City. This game saved quite a few of my co-workers lives back then (I’m not a violent person by nature, believe me, these guys were assholes.) Metal Gear Solid 2 was a great game and the first–and last–stealth title I’ve played all the way through. I think it was the political and social aspects of the story line (information is power, the control of the flow of information) that made it most memorable for me. Then there was Dynasty Warriors 4. I had a bang up time playing this button masher. I remember having so much fun playing this game that I’ve tried various iterations of it on the 360 to no avail. I recall the gameplay and graphics being far superior on the Ps2 than what I’ve experienced in the various versions available for the 360. Maybe it’s because when I played DW4 I was still smoking weed and had access to Humboldt quality dope but after viewing the gameplay video on YouTube I’m convinced the graphics and gameplay of DW4 for the PS2 are far superior.

Xbox
Another GTA title, San Andreas, will dominate my memories here. Wasting time exercising your virtual toon with virtual weights on a virtual beach was oddly, quite fun. Mercenaries was hella fun too. Blowing shit up in North Korea was a satisfying experience. Not that I really have anything against North Korea, I just liked blowing shit up. Fable was another standout here though Fable 2 would disappoint me (don’t promise an open world and then put me on rails.) And I shouldn’t forget Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2. Wielding dual light sabers was great.

I nearly forgot about Spider-Man 2. I’ve always been a HUGE Spidey fan, even back before being a Spidey fan was cool. The best thing about this one was the web slinging. I must have spent hours just web slinging across Manhattan… A guy has to have his hobbies, right?

Gaming nostalgia, a look back at the most memorable games I’ve played (part 2)

Ever since I pumped a quarter into my first pinball machine I’ve been a gamer. To help kick off the new year I’ve decided to have a look back at my gaming past…

PART TWO: THE ERA OF PERPETUAL UPGRADING

PC Gaming
Enter the mid 90′s and my obsession with building the perfect computer to play the perfect game, NHL 97. The moment I saw the 3d graphics on the back cover of this game I had to have it. I spent about $300 that day, for the game and the necessary upgrades so my PC would run it. Then there was Interstate ’76, give me disco on its own back then and I’d puke, feign a headache and ask you to turn it off. But add in cars with machine gun and rocket launcher attachments that could spill oil slicks from their rears and throw in some fantastic game play mechanics and suddenly the name Groove Champion didn’t sound the least bit cheesy. This game made me respect Disco. Maybe that’s why I’ve been listening to Abba lately…

And then there were the WW2 games, like Medal of Honor Allied Assault, a game I’ve played through more than once on a few different systems. There’s something about killing Nazis that never gets old. I also remember, in great detail, the hours I spent playing Red Baron 3D, probably one of the greatest flight sims ever. I can still hear the the creaks and moans of my wooden plane as it strained against the tight turns of combat. I can still see no man’s land as I flew over it. And how could I ever forget the one game in which I didn’t mind playing as a Nazi, Aces of the Deep. Patrolling the Atlantic for supply convoys was so much fun, despite the guilt I felt because my Grandfather had been a merchant marine in the war.

Then there was EverCrack, I mean Everquest. I have vivid, vivid  memories of playing this game, memories that often leave me feeling like I was actually in it. Most of them involved sitting around a safe area with a group of people, chatting and waiting for our health and mana to replenish so the puller can pull another beast for us to slay. Or sitting around the Freeport gate yelling for a group. And then there was that whole losing a level and two days worth of experience because some idiot trained a Sand Giant on you while you were resting in the Desert of Ro. Not sure how many keyboards and mice I broke in fits of rage due to this game but it was quite a few. Evercrack was definitely designed with the sole purpose of keeping you playing and paying monthly. The quintessential classic skinner box. Then came Asheron’s Call, I think I remember this one mostly because I got to play it a lot with my brother, Bowin. It was a great game and a lot more forgiving than Evercrack, though not as diverse in character building. But the fact that you didn’t have to rely on a group all the time was a huge bonus.

Gaming nostalgia, a look back at the most memorable games I’ve played (part 1)

Ever since I pumped a quarter into my first pinball machine I’ve been a gamer. To help kick off the new year I’ve decided to have a look back at my gaming past…

PART ONE: THE EARLY YEARS

ATARI 2600
I was a latecomer to the Atari scene. By the time it became affordable for my working class parents the ColecoVision was the latest and greatest thing. Regardless, I was happier than a pig in mud the day I got it. The only games that I really remember vividly playing for hours on end were the arcade classics; Asteroids, Pac-Man, Missile Command and Defender. I also remember the painful blister I got on the crook of my thumb after playing for 3 days straight. No, it didn’t stop me from playing.

ColecoVision
My parents picked this one up for me when they saw it at Odd Lots for dirt cheap. I was never a big fan of this system, I always thought the controllers were perfect examples of human engineering skills gone horribly wrong. It was as though they designed them with the sole purpose of fitting them neatly into the system’s casing, any case for the practical use of them was abandoned for the sake of aesthetics. The only games I remember playing on it were Venture, Donkey Kong and oddly, Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle… I was heavy into Dungeons & Dragons so computer gaming was taking a back seat at the time.

Nintendo Entertainment System
I started working full time at the age of 16 to help my mom out. Nintendo was the first system I bought with my own money and the only game that really stands out in my memories is Zelda. Was it the gold covered cartridge or the fact that you could save the game? I don’t know, I just remember playing it.

Sega Genesis
The moment I purchased the 32X for this system its life span was finished, this near turned me off consoles forever. Still there were a few good titles for it. I’ve never been much of a fighting game person (I hated Mortal Combat) but I played the hell out of Eternal Champions. My first basketball sim was on the Genesis, I can’t find record of it on Wikipedia, the earliest one they show from EA is Live 95 but I know I had one as early as 1990 or 1991, this was also the last basketball game I would enjoy playing. The Genesis also introduced me to my life long obsession with hockey sims. NHL Hockey is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played and, back then at least, each new year’s iteration got significantly better and better. NHL games had me feeding the EA corporate machine money with every new release for years to come. I even tried out EA Sports Rugby on this system, but only being able to pass the ball backwards when I needed it to go forwards was a little too much for my logical brain to handle!