VW's Top 1000 Games

[Desi Rascal]

Mortal Kombat Is Not A Tournament

[biggytitbo]

Broken Sword
Year: 1996
Genre: Adventure
Format: PC, PS1, Iphone, Wii, DS

I've played all the great classic adventures, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones etc, this is the best by a mile. It is the pinnacle of the entire genre. It has the best plot ever written for a video game, the best characters and most importantly the best level of player interaction in the development of the plot. This isn't one of those adventure games full of tedious and convoluted nonsensical puzzles(well, mostly anyway - the stupid goat puzzle is apparently rectified in the new directors cut version ). It's a game which, for the first time ever has genuinely real characters, characters that talk and think like real people. It has puzzles and situations that really feel like you're in the middle of an adventure movie and playing a crucial part in the outcome of the story. Certain moments are so well choreographed and your role in them so well defined that you get that little rush when you are part of something completely *perfect*.  It has beautiful atmospheric graphics, incredibly orchestral music and an array of exotic locations that rival the best Bond film. Its the masterpiece of the adventure genre and everything before and since, even its own sequels are pale imitations of its brilliance. Which is presumably why the revived and improved directors cut version is proving so incredibly popular even in 2010 (the iphone version is one of the top iphone games ever released).

It's essentially the DaVinci code but with a good story and characters.

If you haven't played it you haven't experienced what an adventure game can be.
Broken Sword 1: A Fateful Meeting

[buntyman]

I completely agree with this, I love Broken Sword and have played it through on the PC a couple of times, PS1 and on the DS too. Its the sort of game that's still far superior on PC than on a console and I wish they'd make more of the same. I'm very grateful to the person on here that recommended Machinarium to me which is similar (maybe better) in gameplay without the interesting storyline and characters -if anyone knows of any others they'd recommend I'd love to hear of them.

Kind regards

[biggytitbo]

The fan game broken sword 2.5 isn't bad. It's not a patch on the original but its probably better than its sequels and imitators.

[The Boston Crab]

Hey hey, titbro. I started BS:DC on DS recently but got bored near the start talking to the widow and sniffing around drawers. I know I'm an ignorant pig but when I had new Zelda/Professor Layton to play, BS seemed like 'B.S.' in comparison (lots of laughs).

Can you convince me to give it an extra half an hour's play? You have as many or as few words as you like.

[biggytitbo]

Hey hey, titbro. I started BS:DC on DS recently but got bored near the start talking to the widow and sniffing around drawers. I know I'm an ignorant pig but when I had new Zelda/Professor Layton to play, BS seemed like 'B.S.' in comparison (lots of laughs).

Can you convince me to give it an extra half an hour's play? You have as many or as few words as you like.

Well, its a game that gets progressively better (although I've not played the new version with added content) the more you play the more you get drawn into the plot. All the disparate strands start to converge into a fantastic conclusion about 4/5ths of the way through.

[Little Hoover]

#909

Final Fantasy VII

Genre: RPG
Format Playstation
Year 1997
Pulisher/Developer: Squaresoft




I don't think any game world has appealed to me more the more, the combination of fantasy elements, in a dystopian near-future setting. It has dragons, swords and magic, but it also has power plants, guns and brothels, so you get the best of both worlds. The structure of the game works beautifully so for approximately the first 8 hours of the game, you're confined to the bleak urban metropolis of Midgar, a city policed with an iron fist by the Shinra Company whose mako reactors are sucking the planet's energy resources dry - A multinational corporation becoming corrupt with power and destroying the environment - Now those are some themes I hadn't seen in a game at my age. Throughout this first part of the game you're introduced to many characters, you build empathy for them, some of them die it goes through various emotional peaks, there's exciting fights, actions sequences and puzzles, and yet really it's all just a prologue before the real adventure begins. No other game I've played has felt quite so epic and quite achieves the same sense of scale. It also allows itself the time to properly explore all its characters, something other Final Fantasy games didn't always bother to do. The plot gets very complicated over the course of the game, but then why shouldn't it? It is 60 hours long, it gets a little messy, and indeed there's some important bits of back-story that are hidden away so it certainly could have done with making itself clearer, and the occasionally bad translation lets itself down a bit, but I don't think it ruined anything crucial.



One of the things I do love by the end of the story, is that despite all you've done, your characters are still kind of helpless, it's not just a case of "stop this bad person from doing something" the setup for the end of the game is pretty much "Ok we've taken down the Shinra, now we have to go and fight the insanely powerful Sephiroth, and if we manage to beat him, well we still might be fucked, because there's a meteor heading for the earth, we just have to hope some dead woman's prayer will cause it stop" I'm not quite sure why, but the sheer hopelessness of that and the realisation that  your characters are still only human and can't do a thing to save the world, despite all they've done is just very touching.



All this of course is helped by the score, which despite using a slightly evolved form of midi sounds, adds so much excitement, drama and emotion to the game, somehow the combination of old school  music technology, but with orchestral and prog-rock influences works incredibly well. And nothing since has been anywhere near as memorable.

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

You missed out the bit where you get to dress Cloud up like a hooker and sneak him into a dodgy love-hotel to be shagged by oily musclemen.

[Little Hoover]

Well yes that too, that bit alone makes it far better than any other FF game since.

[Wilbur]

Broken Sword
Year: 1996
Genre: Adventure
Format: PC, PS1, Iphone, Wii, DS

I've played all the great classic adventures, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones etc, this is the best by a mile. It is the pinnacle of the entire genre. It has the best plot ever written for a video game, the best characters and most importantly the best level of player interaction in the development of the plot. This isn't one of those adventure games full of tedious and convoluted nonsensical puzzles(well, mostly anyway - the stupid goat puzzle is apparently rectified in the new directors cut version ). It's a game which, for the first time ever has genuinely real characters, characters that talk and think like real people. It has puzzles and situations that really feel like you're in the middle of an adventure movie and playing a crucial part in the outcome of the story. Certain moments are so well choreographed and your role in them so well defined that you get that little rush when you are part of something completely *perfect*.  It has beautiful atmospheric graphics, incredibly orchestral music and an array of exotic locations that rival the best Bond film. Its the masterpiece of the adventure genre and everything before and since, even its own sequels are pale imitations of its brilliance. Which is presumably why the revived and improved directors cut version is proving so incredibly popular even in 2010 (the iphone version is one of the top iphone games ever released).

It's essentially the DaVinci code but with a good story and characters.

If you haven't played it you haven't experienced what an adventure game can be.
Broken Sword 1: A Fateful Meeting

This had better be true. I have just spent 5 of my hard earned pounds  buying a copy (I checked the library first but someone must have tipped them off that I'd be looking for this).

I am holding you pesonally responsible if it's rubbish.

[Garfield And Friends]

#908: SNIPER ELITE

Genre: 3D stealth shooter
Format: PlayStation 2 / XBox / Windows
Publisher: MC2 France
Year: 2005
Developer: Rebellion



Who doesn't like money shots, eh? Sniper Elite is full of them, albeit of the brains-evacuating-from-someone's-head kind. Where other World War 2 shooting games are all about gung-ho charges into enemy territory, Sniper Elite is a game where considered use of your rifle from afar yields better results.

That's not to say the game is 100% looking through a zoomed scope all the time. It's not. There are numerous parts where you've got to resort to close-range sub-machine gunning (in third-person camera view) in order to save your miserable hide, as your character is indeed most vulnerable to bullets as you might expect.

But the meat of the game are the first-person sniper bits. You've got goggles and they prove most useful in figuring out how to cross sections of the enviroment without being spotted, and of course in spotting enemies for eventual elimination. Being the meat of the game, you'd hope that it's done well, and it is!

Successfully sniping from a distance is not a straightforward arcade-y task. You've got to manage your breath (hold it at the right moment to steady your aim), account for gravitational bullet drop, predict where a moving target will be when the projectile passes, and adjust your pinpointing for any crosswinds. Phew! But man oh man when you get it right... money shot! Literally. When a successful enemy-killing bullet has been fired from afar, the camera changes to that of a tracking shot of the bullet from behind as it spins towards its victim until it blows a hole in their doomed body. Aaaaaargh!

Sniper Elite - My Best Shot
Sniper Elite 1164 Meters Headshot - Unbelievable !!!

[Garfield And Friends]

NO. NAME ____________ PUB, DATE

#1000: Cannon Fodder ____________ Sensible Software, 1993
#999: Theme Hospital ____________ Electronic Arts, 1997
#998: Spider-Man 2 ____________ Activision, 2004
#997: Net Yaroze Mah Jongg ____________ Sony, 1998
#996: Thrust ____________ Superior Software, 1986
#995: Floor 13 ____________ Virgin Interactive, 1992
#994: Conker's Bad Fur Day ____________ THQ, 2001
#993: WWF Superstars ____________ Technos Japan Corp, 1989
#992: SWIV ____________ The Sales Curve, 1991
#991: The Punisher ____________ THQ, 2005
#990: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse ____________ Sega, 1990
#989: Blagger ____________ Alligata, 1983
#988: Trashman ____________ New Generation Software, 1984
#987: Mike Tyson's Punch Out ____________ Nintendo, 1987
#986: Chaos The Battle of Wizards ____________ Games Workshop, 1985
#985: Shinobi ____________ Sega, 1987
#984: Mashed Fully Loaded ____________ Empire Interactive, 2005
#983: Shadow of the Colossus ____________ Sony, 2005
#982: Alter Ego ____________ Activision, 1986
#981: The Elder Scrolls 2 Daggerfall ____________ Bethesda Softworks, 1996
#980: Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk ____________ Codemasters, 1991
#979: Little Big Adventure 2 ____________ Electronic Arts, 1997
#978: Panorama Cotton ____________ Sunsoft, 1994
#977: Pushover ____________ Ocean, 1992
#976: Hard Drivin' ____________ Atari, 1988
#975: Chuckie Egg ____________ A&F Software, 1983
#974: Aerobiz Supersonic ____________ Koei, 1994
#973: Super Mario Bros ____________ Nintendo, 1985
#972: Stunt Car Racer ____________ Microprose, 1989
#971: Night Driver ____________ Atari, 1976
#970: Portal ____________ Valve, 2007
#969: Formula One ____________ CRL Group, 1985
#968: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas ____________ Rockstar, 2004
#967: Bill's Tomato Game ____________ Psygnosis, 1992
#966: Arnie ____________ Zeppelin, 1992
#965: Exile ____________ Superior Software, 1988
#964: Toonstruck ____________ Virgin Interactive, 1996
#963: Kissin' Kousins ____________ English Software, 1985
#962: Krusty's Super Fun House ____________ Acclaim, 1992
#961: Planescape Torment ____________ Interplay, 1999
#960: Lemmings ____________ Psygnosis, 1991
#959: Mirror's Edge ____________ Electronic Arts, 2008
#958: Deflektor ____________ Gremlin Graphics, 1987
#957: Bird Strike ____________ Firebird, 1985
#956: Gitaroo Man ____________ Koei, 2001
#955: Tetris ____________ Nintendo, 1989
#954: Jungle Hunt ____________ Taito, 1982
#953: Paratrooper ____________ Orion Software, 1982
#952: Crazy Taxi ____________ Sega, 1999
#951: Rainbow Islands ____________ Taito, 1987
#950: Demon's Souls ____________ Sony, 2009
#949: Caverns of Khafka ____________ Cosmi, 1984
#948: The Sentinel ____________ Firebird, 1986
#947: Chiller ____________ Exidy, 1986
#946: The Incredible Machine ____________ Sierra, 1992
#945: Turok 2 Seeds of Evil ____________ Acclaim, 1998
#944: Emperor of the Fading Suns ____________ SegaSoft, 1997
#943: It Came from the Desert ____________ Mirrorsoft, 1989
#942: North & South ____________ Infogrames, 1989
#941: The Nomad Soul ____________ Eidos, 1999
#940: Supreme Commander ____________ THQ, 2007
#939: Juno First ____________ Konami, 1983
#938: Head Over Heels ____________ Ocean, 1987
#937: Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition ____________ Capcom, 1992
#936: Personal Nightmare ____________ Horrorsoft, 1989
#935: Nosferatu ____________ Seta Corporation, 1995
#934: Commandos Behind Enemy Lines ____________ Eidos, 1998
#933: Qwak ____________ Superior Software, 1989
#932: Raiden Fighters ____________ Fabtek, 1996
#931: WWF Wrestlefest ____________ Technos Japan Corp, 1991
#930: Timesplitters Future Perfect ____________ Electronic Arts, 2005
#929: FIFA Road to World Cup 98 ____________ Electronic Arts, 1997
#928: Syndicate ____________ Electronic Arts, 1993
#927: Silent Hill 2 ____________ Konami, 2001
#926: Klax ____________ Atari, 1989
#925: By Fair Means or Foul ____________ Superior Software, 1988
#924: Persian Gulf Inferno ____________ Magic Bytes, 1989
#923: High Noon ____________ Ocean, 1984
#922: UFC 2009 Undisputed ____________ THQ, 2009
#921: Thief The Dark Project ____________ Eidos, 1998
#920: Ninja ____________ Mastertronic, 1986
#919: Outlaws ____________ LucasArts, 1997
#918: Die Hard Arcade ____________ Sega, 1996
#917: Jet Set Radio Future ____________ Sega, 2002
#916: Prince of Persia ____________ Broderbund, 1989
#915: LittleBigPlanet ____________ Sony, 2008
#914: Riven ____________ Broderbund, 1997
#913: Defcon ____________ Introversion Software, 2006
#912: Pitfall 2 Lost Caverns ____________ Activision, 1984
#911: Mortal Kombat ____________ Midway, 1992
#910: Broken Sword ____________ Virgin Interactive, 1996
#909: Final Fantasy 7 ____________ Square, 1997
#908: Sniper Elite ____________ MC2 France, 2005

[biggytitbo]

What we should really do is nominate a 1000 games then have a big vote at the end for the top 10.

[Garfield And Friends]

Or maybe Channel 4 to do a top 50 videogames TV programme from this. The #1 has to be from the last three years, must be shown by way of grainy footage mistakenly gotten from its sequel, with the overtrack supplied by Robbie Williams' "Angels". Russell Howard and Paul Tonkinson to lightheartedly wax lyrical (and inaccurate).

[HappyTree]

One of my all-time favourite games and a challenger to Broken Sword for best adventure:

# 907 The Longest Journey
Developer: Funcom
Release date UK: April 20, 2000

Wiki says:

• The game takes place in the parallel universes of Arcadia, a world of magic, and Stark, a world of science  and technology. The protagonist, April  Ryan, is an 18-year-old art student living in Stark. She learns that  the line between the two worlds is growing thin, causing chaos on both  sides. April also learns that she is a Shifter, one who is capable  of walking between these worlds, and is then tasked with restoring the  Balance between the dimensions before it is too late.

I say it's brilliant. I loved every moment of this game and it's one of the few I actually finished. Dreamfall, its sequel, was excellent too but there was less game and more story. I can't wait for the sequel to Dreamfall, adventures are my favourite genre.

The Longest Journey Chapter 1 - Penumbra 1/9

[Still Not George]

I've only played 32 of those, I have some catching up to do.

[Consignia]

# 906 Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
Developer: iNiS
Release date: July 28, 2005



Probably one of my favourite games ever, and one of the best uses of DS in general, I present Ouendan. Like many of the best games, the premise is simple, you tap circles to a J-Pop or J-Rock song, and score based on your accuracy.

However, the real love of the game comes from it's presentation. The reason you are tapping is to cheer on someone who is in trouble through a squad of male cheerleaders (the eponymous Ouendan). The issues range from small things like doing well on a test, to helping a Salaryman save Tokyo from a giant rat. All this told through highly stylised comic panels, each one exuding humour. Depending on how well you cheer to the song, the outcome is different so it's sometimes worth failing a song to see the what happens.


_Osu!

Core to the game is the music. It's unrelentingly Japanese in nature, but the 15 songs included covers quite a range within that. From the classic punk The Blue Hearts, to the girl pop group Morning Musume, to recent popular J-Rock bands like Orange Range, the music and scenarios blend it to something that is wonderful to behold.

The game starts off exceedingly easily, but later levels can  become devilishly hard. It took me a year to beat the last song on hard, and a further 2 years on/off to beat the last song on ultra hard. It's frustrating, but never anything but a joy to play.

The game has a more polished but less rounded soundtrack in it's sequel, "Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2". It also has the Westernised reimaging in Elite Beat Agents, which itself comes across exceedingly well, being a Japanese take on they think Americans want, which ends up itself being just as weird and Japanese as Ouendan.

Recommended for all hot-blooded men and women, who feel rhythm based games don't have enough passion.

[hpmons]

# 907 The Longest Journey
Developer: Funcom
Release date UK: April 20, 2000

I say it's brilliant. I loved every moment of this game and it's one of the few I actually finished. Dreamfall, its sequel, was excellent too but there was less game and more story. I can't wait for the sequel to Dreamfall, adventures are my favourite genre.

Damn you, you b*stard! That was my next one! In fact I had to check on that list up there to make sure I hadn't already written it, I couldn't decide whether to mention Riven or TLJ first.

It is really awesome, in a way that's a little hard to describe.  On paper, I find the plot to be a little tedious, "gather x, y, z, fulfil a prophecy", and yet the game is incredible.  I think its the characters - not just April Ryan herself (who is an excellent female protagonist), but the more minor characters.  Every character, large or small, has a personality.

Like Burns Flipper - The "Flipster", who lost his legs  - corporate agents cut them off - and replaced them with a hover board.  He's rather manic and a little slimy.
"Well, then, you lookin' for some thrills es imaginato? Some leisure time with a hot bot? I have cubes from Lebanon, China, even Norway, man. The hottest guys and gals, time of your life, yeah? Time of your freakin' life! If you don't like sex, how about death? You into death? I got death, man. I got fifteen-thousand cubes. If there's something that gets you hot, it's here."
"Are you in the market for a neutronium bomb, by the by? Got a hot one sitting in storage, give it to you for a cool one hundred million, hah, bargain! Interested?"

Or Roper Klacks, an evil maniac wizard, about whom April says "Who was that? Wait, don't tell me, evil wizard. They all sound like Richard III on crack to me.".  He agrees to negotiate with April if she manages to beat him in a subject of her choice.  Except it just so turns out that as a child he was the neighbourhood hopscotch champion 3 years running, a member of the tic-tac-toe club, and he excels at cooking and spelling.

All of it is voice-acted, and very well too.  There's humour to be found everywhere:



On the whole the puzzles are satisfying and consistent (if there's one thing I hate, its games where you have to do something illogically complicated, which really brings you out of the moment).  On the downside I would say most of the puzzles are a little too easy.  There are times when it feels more like an interactive story - the sequel suffers from this a little as well. 

In some ways I prefer the sequel (from what I recall, you tend to be in Stark more than this game, and I much prefer Stark to Arcadia), but over all this game is better and more...self-contained.  The plot to the sequel seems a little convoluted at times, and there are also several cliffhangers which were never resolved (I imagine they were planning another sequel, which is still a possibility).

EDIT: Ooh, and Ive played 12 on the list.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

I've only played 32 of those, I have some catching up to do.

I've only played 3 - and I can hardly count "Daggerfall" as I didn't get out of the first bit!

[Garfield And Friends]

#905: KARATE COMBAT

Genre: 2D versus fighting
Format: BBC Micro / BBC Master
Publisher: Superior Software
Year: 1986
Developer: Martin Sykes



A chop-socky game set in Japan (oriental buildings can be seen in the slowly changing background). It is up to you, the unnamed protagonist in the yellow gi, to defeat about a dozen opponents in this karate tournament. Beat the rest, then face The Master! Fortunately things aren't all against you, because you get four chances (lives) in which to win the game.

It is vital that you mix up your kicks and punches, because three or more of the same move in a row depletes your life meter! Not only that but your life meter is INVISIBLE! That being the case, you've really got to make your strikes count and stay ahead of your CPU foe. Both characters have the same set of moves, so it is who uses them the wisest that progresses.

I generally come unstuck around the seventh or eighth opponent. I fluff too many hits, while the computer starts playing more incisively. Maybe one day I'll reach Fling Lo Chop, but for now my level is against guys like Haku Chop Fuey!

[Garfield And Friends]

#904: PERPLEXITY

Genre: 2D orthographic-projection action puzzler
Format: BBC Micro / BBC Master / Acorn Electron
Publisher: Superior Software
Year: 1989
Developer: Ian Collinson



Perplexity is like a cross between Sokoban and Pac-Mania (without the jumping). Each level you face is against the clock as you try to figure out how to escape the maze. Luckily in the corner of the screen you have a mini-map to aid your little yellow personified sphere's plan of escape.

The elements of the game that hark back to Pac-Man are the enemy characters, whose patterns must be avoided at all cost (or you'll lose a life), and the balls scattered around the maze that can be eaten once they've been bashed against similar balls (and sometimes yielding bonuses like extra time potions; other times it may yield detrimental pick-ups such as reversed controls).

The Sokoban-like aspect of the Perplexity is figuring out how to move the keys into their appropriate locks (thus opening routes up), without trapping the keys against walls (and thereby rendering them immovable and useless). Later levels can get really taxing, especially when you have to figure out how to move a key to a lock from a long distance away, as the time gets tighter and tighter!

[Garfield And Friends]

#903: NBA JAM

Genre: 2D sports
Format: Coin-op Arcade / SNES / Mega Drive / and more
Publisher: Midway
Year: 1993
Developer: Midway / Mark Turmell



NBA Jam was not the first rough 'n tumble basketball game with a reduced set of players, but its smoother laws-of-physics-breaking gameplay surpassed its predecessors. Given its title, it is not surprising that the videogame featured a rake of officially licenced teams and players.

"From downtown!"

The game turns a blind eye to virtually every foul in the real thing, so it is up to you to elbow and push your way towards victory. The speech samples for the commentator are classics, and the action is very quick. Generally if I have the choice between a serious simulation game and a quickplaying arcade game, I'll choose the latter. Case in point here, NBA Jam keeps it simple and fun as an arcade game should, although the rubberbanding AI can get a bit annoying at times.

"He's heating up!"

Of course some of the coolest things in the game are the crazy slam sunks you can perform. For example, your player might jump way up into the rafters, windmilling his arm as he comes down before crashing the ball through the net. It looks cool!

"He's on fire!"

aznpikachu215 (Me) playing NBA Jam

[Garfield And Friends]

#902: DEAD SPACE

Genre: 3D horror third-person shooter
Format: PS3 / XBox 360 / Windows
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Year: 2008
Developer: EA Redwood Shores



I don't jump out of my skin at supposed horror creatures in entertainment media. Dead Space is no different in that regard, but it does do the next best thing which is to create an unsettling atmosphere! At times scrotum-tighteningly suspenseful (particularly when you are temporarily locked in an enclosed area with a hideous zombie creature out for your blood), the monsters in Dead Space are excellent. The nice thing about them is that most cannot be offed with shots to the head. It is their limbs that need to be severed pronto. Even when you've downed some of the baddies, they're prone to getting back up unexpectedly. Never before has a heavy-duty stomp been so important!

The integration of orthodox gameplay parameters (your character's current health; his armour level) and useful items (save points; stray ammunition) into the industrial space station environment is fantastic. Save points are log stations aboard the ship, your health is represented by segmented colours on the back of your spacesuit, and most other significant gameplay variables can be seen by way of the holographic projections from the spacesuit. All clever stuff. Dead Space takes a cue from Resident Evil 4's camera angle, which is third-person over-the-shoulder, and that's a good view for seeing your character while still being able to blast nasties accurately.

Isaac's guns also fit the industrial mining tone, being as they are various cutting and blasting tools being put to more deadly uses. It shows good attention to the central theme.

The audio is very well done too. This can be well appreciated on the rare sections where Isaac has to venture outside the spaceship, into the cold oxygenless blackness. Suddenly, all you can really hear is Isaac's breathing inside the suit while all around is silent. Couple that with zero gravity (with gruesome debris 'floating' in the nothingness) where all sense of up and down orientation is lost, and it all adds up to a very immersive unsettling shooter.

Dead Space - Mission 1 - Part 3

[Big Jack McBastard]

#901: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Genre: 3D 1st/3rd person RPG
Format: PC / Xbox
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks/ZeniMax, Ubisoft
Year: 2002
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios



Being built on the behemoths that were Daggerfall and Arena, Morrowind had a large roomy pair of shoes to fill. It did so with a smaller world albeit filled to the brim with daunting problems.

Fresh off the prison boat you're sent to the census office, identified and subsequently let loose to scrape together a life by whatever means available in a mostly hostile and blight afflicted island of Vvardenfell with only a note in your pocket from a man in a nearby town who may be able to aid you, from here the world is yours to explore, but to have any chance of survival you better train and hard, just wandering out of town and down the first road you see could end in death in minutes and you cursing the game for it's unforgiving environment. In time the richness in possibility and personality blossoms forth as the races, factions, religions and even demi-gods all vie for power and influence and you are the instrument of their success, failure or doom.

The main plot line which could take months to fully explore and appreciate or (as below) scam your way through in minutes, can be put on hold for as long as you wish, to you build your character, go on a rampage or simply explore the weird, wonderful and dangerous land. However you are here for a reason, though your purpose is not immediately clear great things are expected of you.   

Upgradeable with the expansion packs Bloodmoon and Tribunal it made for one of the most memorable and dense gaming experiences I have ever played and while the learning curve can be a bitch at first the sense of advancement and achievement in passing the milestones in your path are very satisfying, not to mention the wealth of literature and metaphor present throughout the whole game, it truly feels like another world you've been dropped into and figuring out the nuances and seeking different methods to complete the challenges ahead is what gaming is all about, throw in the impressive mod community and it makes for a stonker of a game.

Morrowind in 9 minutes

[HappyTree]

I loved flying around in Morrowind. Oblivion was crap because you couldn't fly in it.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Yeah a lot of people were pissed off about the lack of Levitation spells, thing is in Oblivion if you mod it in there's a way to finish the game in about 5 minutes because you can jump straight into the palace and relight the fires as the building has no tangible roof. I suppose once they decided to not implement it that they could cut corners on that sort of stuff, but there are some highly wonky clipping moments you can exploit with tasty jump spells regardless. Leaping into unloaded cells so you end up falling through the world or ending up trapped inside invisible walls and so on.

Glitches galore in that bloody thing, an easy favourite was to drop a dead body halfway through a doorway and close the door, the physics on the bodies goes utterly mental and they spazz out in all manner of unnatural angles, ahh happy days.

Can't wait to see what they do for the 5th one though.

[Big Jack McBastard]

I want to like it, and someone keeps insisting its brilliant, but I can't quite gather enough enthusiasm for it, so I never got past the first couple of missions.  I am however inventing a PERSUADATRON.

Give it's sequel Syndicate Wars a punt, upgraded in all respects and a good old romp on either side of the morally dubious coin as you can play either side.

[torz77]

#900: Mega Lo Mania



Genre: Real Time Strategy / God Sim
Format: Amiga, Atari ST, PC, MegaDrive, SNES
Publisher: Image Works
Year: 1991
Developer Sensible Software

Ergonomically Terrific!

Mega lo Mania was a Real Time Strategy / God Sim with a slightly different slant. I have played both the PC and Amiga versions, which are nigh on identical, but I'd imagine that the console versions would suffer for lack of mouse support.

As with pretty much everything released by Sensible Software (including their excellent Sensible Soccer series, which I'm sure will appear in this list somewhere, and the previously reviewed Cannon Fodder) the emphasis is on FUN!! Nothing is to be taken too seriously and this makes for an extremely addictive game. (I started writing this review this morning, so I fired up UAE just to remind myself about some aspects of the game.... 6 hours later I have only just put it down again, and I am now determined to complete it again! This is how addictive it is)

You are one of 4 Gods. You must travel through 10 Epochs. Each Epoch contains 3 maps that you must conquer. Starting off as cavemen, researching such high-tech weapons as rocks and sticks to throw at your enemies, you will advance through time as you reach later Epochs, until ultimately you will be able to develop nukes and laser weapons in the later levels. Be careful though, you only get 100 men for each Epoch, so if you decide to start with 80 men for the first map, you will only have 20 left for the remaining 2 maps.... It's all about balance. It also leads to some of the more challenging aspects of the game. How few men is it possible to start with and still be able to beat the map?

The God Sim / RTS format is something which has been re-used and recycled many times through the years. You know the format: start with a very basic society, grow your population, research weapons, mine minerals, build armies, advance tech levels conquer the world! Except Mega lo Mania isn't the micro-managing snore-fest of a lot of other games in this genre. You can't spend hours and hours tinkering with every last detail to get it just so... well you can try, but you will be overrun and beaten pretty quickly. You can't pause to set everything just as you want it, if you're paused you can't act. The game is always moving forward. Spend time micro-managing mineral collection, and you can bet that your research will be neglected and you will be invaded before you have a chance to develop any meaningful weapons. Throw everything into weapon design? You can be sure that you won't be growing your population quickly enough. Again... it's all about the balance.

It is a race against time, so all levels feel like they are being played at breakneck pace. Generally each map will not last much longer than 10 minutes. The sampled speech is fun, the music haunting and beating your enemy immensely satisfying. I think this game could and should have a place today on some of the handheld platforms, especially since it would lend itself superbly to online multi-player modes. Something which is sadly (and obviously) lacking from the original.

If you plan to play this game then I recommend using the Amiga version, as it seems impossible to get the sound running on Dos Box.





Tribute to Mega-lo-Mania

[Little Hoover]

#899 Psychonauts
Genre: Platform/Puzzle/RPG
Format: PC, Xbox Playstation 2
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Double Fine Productions
Year 2005



Psychonauts is a wonderfully inventive Platform game with puzzle and RPG elements from Tim Schafer, one of the few game designers with a great enough track record to have his name be well known in the industry. You play Raz, a young kid who's run away to a summer camp for children to learn psychic abilities. The main thrust of the gameplay involves you using literally diving into people's minds, which forms the basis of the level, so the personality of the character will form the basis for the theme and design of the level. So the drill instructors  mind will look like a warzone. The glamorous female counsellors mind has a dance party theme, and best of all later on is the milkman conspiracy level, a twisted suburban street where FBI agents are posing as other workers. So it really goes beyond the traditional "fire level, Ice level, water level" clichés of other games.



As you progress through the game you gain more psychic abilities to get through the level, although thankfully, the level design is clever enough that you still might need to use your other abilities to get through the level, it doesn't simply abandon them and design the level entirely around the new ability. It also means you have a little it of choice in how you approach everything. What's also clever is how it takes the tradition of collectible items in platform games, and actually ties them to the games theme. You aren't just collecting fruit and coins for some reason, you collect up figments of people's imagination, dust up peoples emotional cobwebs, and collect tags for people's emotional baggage, and unlock peoples memory vaults, to get a quick slideshow, to show the character got be the way they are.

Psychonauts - Milkman Conspiracy level 5/5

All this is framed withing in a weird, funny off-beat pixar-esque story, with fantastic character designs and music.

[Garfield And Friends]

"Yes, we all work on the road crew. Our backs are killing us."