The End Of Games (part 1)
At last. At long, long, last. The end of games.
But first, a brief history and fond memoir. I've played through many, many games. Most of which deserve no mention at all; however, some do. There is a little, sadness, at having only experienced primarily pc and ps2 platforms though, so this epitaph can only highlight a few of those platforms achievements. And by the way, if you're still playing either of these platforms, the following might prove to be highly interesting...
It all started with the original Civilization. I wouldn't put it on the list of greats but it does deserve credit for what it started. By the time I met Civ II, I knew the ropes. The rest, is history. In order to hold to the promise of "brief", I'm going to use a somewhat chronological list of the best games I've ever encountered, with short additions.
Civ 2. (in which I mastered deity difficulty, for all you civ players out there)
Of course all the civ games are pretty good, but civ 2 had a few things that appealed to me, namely, terraforming. Huge cities and paradise empires became a reality with engineer power. And, played smartly, money matters weren't such a kriffing headache. When the middle ages came around in civ 3, my perfectly irrigated, mined, and roaded wonderland always succumbed to the fateful dark ages. No matter what I did, the middle ages slogged. Yuck. Some might have appreciated the realism, but as far as I experienced, the game-pace virtually crashed. After beating many civ 2 deity games, I'd used it all up and it was time to move on. Civ 5 almost sucked me back on to the civ bandwagon, but it was to late by that time. This was only a couple months ago. Therefore, Civ, being the first and pretty much last game in my history, seems fitting to start my list.
Hm. Although not an amazing game itself, Empire Earth had one strong winning point.... LAN parties. I remember playing huge maps with my brothers, epic fights against the AI constantly cheating. Of course, that's what made it fun to fight it. Get eight players, stick to one age, and go at it. Forever. Until our inevitable win via trench warfare with walls and towers. Good times.
Early on, I went through some DOS gems too, such as Liero and Cdogs, Duke Nukem (the sidescrolling one, the very first, all-time best, Duke game, they all went downhill after that) and Triplane Turmoil. Wow. If you want a giggles fit inducing, gaming high experience, squish four pairs of hands onto a keyboard for hotseat Triplane Turmoil. Ridiculously fun. And fyi, my personal high for planes killed in one sitting is 250. :-)
Of course we got a ps2 slim sometime, I think it was around 2003 or 4 or 5. For the most part, we boys made very wise buys (from a gaming perspective that is), so I'm just going to mention some titles without description. Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, Shadow of Rome, Mercenaries, Freedom Fighters, God Of War, Sly 3. ( all had super awesome singleplayer) Battlefront, Fight Night Round 3, Champions Of Norrath: Return To Arms, Twisted Metal Black. ( all had super awesome multiplayer)
So enough boring listing... it's funner to write commentary. There was Jedi Outcast, which although I played the original Jedi Knight which was good too, Jedi Outcast did one thing that deserves special mention. 3rd person, customizable force power keys. Okay, so two things. The point is, once you got the lightsaber and mapped out force abilities to easily memorized and accessible keys, you could truly run into a room of stormtroopers and bounce off of walls using whatever force move you wanted at the same time. It was rad.
Then there was games like King's Bounty: The Legend, Demigod, Sins Of A Solar Empire: Trinity, and Mount & Blade: With Fire And Sword. All of which took me through blissful all-nighters. Each of these games easily deserves their own paragraph, but suffice it to say, give them a try if you're a gamer. They are decidedly different genres, so there's probably one you'll find amazing.
Honorable mentions include Sid Meier's Pirates, Dead Space, Soldat, and Minecraft (which isn't even out yet, I just have the beta). And I can't forget Portal and Portal 2, which are absolutely phenomenal. Don't play the second one if you haven't played the first, btw.
And finally, my all time favorite game that always entrances and delights me whenever I return to it, Space Rangers 2: Reboot. Oh what a game. I remember spending an entire day painting a building and Space Rangers talk ended up coming out of my mouth for a couple of hours straight. It was ridiculous.
That pretty much wraps up the games that I fondly remember. There are dozens of others... but they never stood out from the crowd like the aforementioned.
So why quit playing?
Well.... there isn't really any one reason that I cease. Part two will share my thoughts on the matter, but pinned down to using only one short sentence, I'd have to say:
It's not with regret or remorse that I cease, but that a stronger desire replaces the previous hunger.
But first, a brief history and fond memoir. I've played through many, many games. Most of which deserve no mention at all; however, some do. There is a little, sadness, at having only experienced primarily pc and ps2 platforms though, so this epitaph can only highlight a few of those platforms achievements. And by the way, if you're still playing either of these platforms, the following might prove to be highly interesting...
It all started with the original Civilization. I wouldn't put it on the list of greats but it does deserve credit for what it started. By the time I met Civ II, I knew the ropes. The rest, is history. In order to hold to the promise of "brief", I'm going to use a somewhat chronological list of the best games I've ever encountered, with short additions.
Civ 2. (in which I mastered deity difficulty, for all you civ players out there)
Of course all the civ games are pretty good, but civ 2 had a few things that appealed to me, namely, terraforming. Huge cities and paradise empires became a reality with engineer power. And, played smartly, money matters weren't such a kriffing headache. When the middle ages came around in civ 3, my perfectly irrigated, mined, and roaded wonderland always succumbed to the fateful dark ages. No matter what I did, the middle ages slogged. Yuck. Some might have appreciated the realism, but as far as I experienced, the game-pace virtually crashed. After beating many civ 2 deity games, I'd used it all up and it was time to move on. Civ 5 almost sucked me back on to the civ bandwagon, but it was to late by that time. This was only a couple months ago. Therefore, Civ, being the first and pretty much last game in my history, seems fitting to start my list.
Hm. Although not an amazing game itself, Empire Earth had one strong winning point.... LAN parties. I remember playing huge maps with my brothers, epic fights against the AI constantly cheating. Of course, that's what made it fun to fight it. Get eight players, stick to one age, and go at it. Forever. Until our inevitable win via trench warfare with walls and towers. Good times.
Early on, I went through some DOS gems too, such as Liero and Cdogs, Duke Nukem (the sidescrolling one, the very first, all-time best, Duke game, they all went downhill after that) and Triplane Turmoil. Wow. If you want a giggles fit inducing, gaming high experience, squish four pairs of hands onto a keyboard for hotseat Triplane Turmoil. Ridiculously fun. And fyi, my personal high for planes killed in one sitting is 250. :-)
Of course we got a ps2 slim sometime, I think it was around 2003 or 4 or 5. For the most part, we boys made very wise buys (from a gaming perspective that is), so I'm just going to mention some titles without description. Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, Shadow of Rome, Mercenaries, Freedom Fighters, God Of War, Sly 3. ( all had super awesome singleplayer) Battlefront, Fight Night Round 3, Champions Of Norrath: Return To Arms, Twisted Metal Black. ( all had super awesome multiplayer)
So enough boring listing... it's funner to write commentary. There was Jedi Outcast, which although I played the original Jedi Knight which was good too, Jedi Outcast did one thing that deserves special mention. 3rd person, customizable force power keys. Okay, so two things. The point is, once you got the lightsaber and mapped out force abilities to easily memorized and accessible keys, you could truly run into a room of stormtroopers and bounce off of walls using whatever force move you wanted at the same time. It was rad.
Then there was games like King's Bounty: The Legend, Demigod, Sins Of A Solar Empire: Trinity, and Mount & Blade: With Fire And Sword. All of which took me through blissful all-nighters. Each of these games easily deserves their own paragraph, but suffice it to say, give them a try if you're a gamer. They are decidedly different genres, so there's probably one you'll find amazing.
Honorable mentions include Sid Meier's Pirates, Dead Space, Soldat, and Minecraft (which isn't even out yet, I just have the beta). And I can't forget Portal and Portal 2, which are absolutely phenomenal. Don't play the second one if you haven't played the first, btw.
And finally, my all time favorite game that always entrances and delights me whenever I return to it, Space Rangers 2: Reboot. Oh what a game. I remember spending an entire day painting a building and Space Rangers talk ended up coming out of my mouth for a couple of hours straight. It was ridiculous.
That pretty much wraps up the games that I fondly remember. There are dozens of others... but they never stood out from the crowd like the aforementioned.
So why quit playing?
Well.... there isn't really any one reason that I cease. Part two will share my thoughts on the matter, but pinned down to using only one short sentence, I'd have to say:
It's not with regret or remorse that I cease, but that a stronger desire replaces the previous hunger.
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