If I wrote a book about Video gaming and its history, I would most definitely have to be called “A Brief History of Time(played)” … Clever puns aside I would barely be able to scrape up a chapter anyway so here I bring you some of my Gaming highlights.
Some of my earliest and fondest memories of video gaming include such legends as Worms and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, oh yes that is not a typo. Games back then were much simpler as plot seemed to be a pretty tertiary point to them, unless based on a specific topic they generally never bothered making up reasons for you to be throwing sheep and one another or hilariously dancing criminals to death so you can rescue (and date?) the children you find. Needless to say, gaming was Good because things were so simple it was hard to make something that did not meet our expectations, unlike now … my expectations are like an Olympic Pole-vault set-up, without the pole.
I guess my expectations are really this high because of several things, first the earliest reason is Microprose, the legendary Microprose, who gave to me turn based strategy (not that Sid Meier rubbish) and simulation games – Think Transport Tycoon, which I still play – Microprose taught me that you needn’t be given plot and that simple is always the most effective. To my memory some of the best Microprose Games were ‘Master of Magic’ – Arguably my favourite game ever – ‘Colonization’, ‘X-com – UFO Enemy Unknown’, ‘Transport Tycoon (+Deluxe)’ and ‘Masters of Orion 1/2′. Truly a titan of classic gaming, its dissolution remains a scar on the industry.
The next is another company that requires far less explanation, the awesome Blizzard Entertainment, producers of legendary RPGs and RTSs for the best part of my gaming time, they concurrently push up the bar which (in my humble opinion) keeps the genres alive. Arguably there has not been a better Fantasy RTS than Warcraft 3 and Frozen Throne since it’s release although some would claim Battle for Middle Earth 2 came close, not in my books.
Last on my list, but certainly not the least is a company which repeatedly redefines the FPS category with every release. It is a particularly tough market with some of the biggest titles vying for power, but this company seems to top the list every time, guessed it? But of course you have, Valve the creator of the Half-Life series is possibly the single best creator of FPSs in History.
In a market like this, with such strong foundations, it’s no surprise we pick up video games and simply can not play them because of some fatal flaw. Games that otherwise aren’t terrible are relieved of their entertaining duty and discarded into the pile of cases that every gamer has. Staring at mine Act of War is a perfect example of a game with Potential and the budget to make it big, but instead it’s a pretty poor and dated game. For shame Atari.
Well that’s enough of my ranting for today; I’ll be back with more soon so you just keep on reading.
