I’d definitely agree with a bunch of games on these lists, lots of memorable games out there, and well personally, i try to forget about the terrible games (coughTrespassercough). Generally speaking though, i used to spend a majority of my time playing FPS games. Here are a few of my favorites:
Heretic - After being an avid doom fan, i tracked down a copy of this, very fun stuff in a different setting. Besides, at the time, there was nothing comparable to turning an opponent in deathmatch into a chicken. The sequel (Hexen) wasn’t too bad either, but suffered from too much “walking” across really large areas.
Strife - one of the earlier examples of a cross between a true adventure game and a FPS. Pretty underrated, but it had a decent story and the “missions” were pretty cool.
Skynet - the graphics were only so-so and it came out (if i remember correctly) around the time of Quake 1, so it was all but ignored, but the missions and enemies were cool. A good use of the “terminator” license.
R.O.T.T. (Rise of the Triad) - it seemed pretty groundbreaking graphically at the time (compared to doom). The levels weren’t as interesting as doom, but blowing enemies up sure was satisfying.
Blake Stone - I believe this came out around the time of Doom, the graphics were pretty crappy, but the setting was convincing and the enemies were fascinating.
Blood - One of the absolute best games to play in Co-op mode with another person, and deathmatch was pretty insane. It was really clear that the designers had a huge love for horror films, and I really enjoyed the numerous references (the sound clips/quotes and the levels). There was nothing more satisfying than actually being able to run around and kill monsters in the “Overlook(ed) Hotel”.
I can’t belive that it took that long for Star Control 2 to show up in someone’s list. This, of course, leads me to believe we’re talking to a bunch of mere whelps! SC2 was the game that made me think ‘maybe there is something to these computer thingies’. I was absolutely sucked into the game and frankly have pretty well spent the rest of my gaming life looking for a game that was that fulfilling again.
The shootem-up games have had moments of gosh-wizzary to them but nothing with as much of a profound impact on my consciousness.
Other noteworthy moments:
Civ 2: Civ One Plus but way more purdy…still playing it when I get bored.
The Thief’s: Atmospehere up the yin-yang and the number one reason to curse Eidos to Hades (for their apparent destruction of Looking Glass).
Alone in the Dark: The best translation of Lovecraftian creepiness ever dabbed onto a monitor. At 2 am on a dark and stormy night you will be freaked out.
Day of the Tentacle/Monkey Islands: I have not laughed at a game as frequently and as honestly as I did at DotT/MI. It is a sad indictment of Lucas that they are endlessly milking the Star Wars cow nowadays instead of encouraging new insanity.
Although there have been plenty of nice showy new things around the block lately I’ve noticed a distinct lack of Shine with many new titles. Alot of intriguing ideas with some nifty hooks but the complete package not quite there. Hopefully we’ll get past the point where so much of what we’re seeing is blasting the crud out of one another. Gimme a story any day.
And I almost forgot Return to Zork: It was an achievement of no small magnitude that the folks at Activision managed to make such a visual game ring utterly true to the feeling of the Zorks. I can still get a chuckle out of my friends by uttering the phrase “I need a new battery, d’yah hear? A new Battery!” or “Want some Rye? Course ya do!”. In my mind ‘Return’ was really the game that intimated to me where computers where going in terms of graphics, a definite milestone.
Just to qualify the following, I haven’t really played PC games since the beginning of high school, and again a slight bout with them sophmore year of college. I spent way to much time with the following (I’m not vouching for their quality in hindsight, only that I played them a lot ).
Test Drive (started on the apple II, then got Test Drive 5 or something for PC)
King’s Quest (had all of them, don’t know if I finished any)
Wing Commander (II, and something about a Prophecy and privateer)
Carmageddon II: Carpocolypse (gotta love that one)
Best:
CtP (much more playable than the trad-Civ branch, including II.)
Warcraft III.
Panzer General.
Worst:
Masters of Magic. Worst. AI. Ever.
And I’ll have to disagree with Rick about 3R, especially vis a vis some of his choices for best. For instance, I enjoyed 3R a lot more than SimCity for instance. On the other hand, Sol has a point in that what are the criteria for worst? If it is the comparison to potential, Third Reich is a shoo-in for worst 10 due to its suckitude in comparison to the board game.
Bear with me, this will take a bit but I tried to put a but of thought into it.
Best:
The massively underappreciated PC remake of Battlezone, circa 1998. Absolutely fantastic combo of Strategy and a FPS.
Carrier Command. I put hours into that game on my Amiga 500. I would kill for a modern version of this game. Anateus Rising was close, but not quite there.
Elite on the C64. Pushed that little PC to the max.
Unreal Tournament. An almost 4 year old FPS that still wipes the floor with most new ones. Singlehandedly made it OK to play against Bots.
5)** Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002**. Relatively “realistic” planet wide scenery with other aircraft going about their lives and semi-realistic ATC. Unrivaled by anyone else.
IL2 - Forgotten Battles. The new benchmark for WW2 flight sims. Mouth dropping graphics, killer flightmodels, dozens of different aircraft and a dynamic campaign to boot. Could use a patch for a couple of minor nagging problems, but for such a complex and ambitious title it is suprisingly clean of major bugs.
Caesar III. By this in the jewel case version for $10 if you can find it. It’s a keeper. Better yet, get the bundle of it, and three other Impressions games for $20.
8)** Operation: Flashpoint**. The thinking persons FPS. Get the Gold edition and the Resistance expansion pack. So “realistic” the US military is using a custom version for training its troops.
Homeworld. Virtually perfect.
Silent Service on the C64. I almost crapped my drawers on several occasions listening for the Destroyers closing on me and dropping depth charges. It felt like Das Boot was being played out in my bedroom when I was about 11 or 12.
Honorable Mentions:
The Rainbow 6/Rogue Spear series.
European Air War
Quake series
No One Lives Forever (II)
Worst Games:
There are several, but the one that jumps out at me right now is Microsoft’s Combat Flight Sim 3. Awful graphic anomolies and ineffecient coding make it a slide show at times on even 3Ghz PCs with 1GB of RAM. So bad, Microsoft released a patch. Something that is virtually unheard of with their flight sims. This should have stayed in the oven for another 6 months until done.
Pretty much any Sim created by Novalogic is virtually assured of being a steaming turd of a game. Scratch that. Pretty much anything created by that joke of a studio is a stinker. It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t tout everything the did as the Alpha and Omega of their respective genre.
I had some faves…some for which I went to great lengths… Doom
I went and bought two SMC network cards, some thin-net cable and Novell Lite so I could play head-to-head against my bud…this was before networking was built into the O/S folks, so this was a serious ca$h outlay!
Wing Commander III
Not so much great lenghts, as a great idea, IMHO…I mean, we had Big Name Actors ™ in this thing! Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, Ginger Lynn Allen (okay, GLA wasn’t exactly big on major productions, but what a NAME to have in a game!!)…and the demo played INCESSANTLY since I owned a small computer store…I can still hear ol’ Malcolm saying, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance…”
And I really thought this was the direction computer gaming was going…basically an interractive movie…(which WC1 and 2 were, but w/out the actors).
Unreal Tournament 2003
The only game where the demo made me: Build and entirely NEW PC with an NVidia 4600 card w/128mb, and 512mb System RAM…and buy the full retail version! Talk about serious investment!!
Sheesh…
Worst game? Not sure…never played that many, since I was too busy making a living…and I always researched well what I wanted to spend what little time/money I had on.
My all-time faves are Master of Magic, Civ II, Alpha Centauri, X-COM, Diablo 2, Jagged Alliance 2, and the old D&D Gold Box games.
My least faves? Most of them have been forgotten, which is probably for the best. BUT, the most recent one I bought, ahhh, there’s the jewel in the crown of absolute suckulence: Master of Orion 3. On the plus side, it doesn’t crash and runs very well. The negatives? Well, aside from clicking “end turn” you don’t really do anything, and the things you do do wind up being undone by the AI running your empire. Combat sucks. The graphics are ugly. The manual is out-of-date. The interface is horrible. Controls over research and production are awful. The opponent AI is inept. And, oh yeah, it takes the good name of a fine series and drags it through the mud.
**Quest for Glory I, III, [\b]and IV. I could have liked II if it had been edone like I was, but as such I got tired of not knowing exactly what to type. Privateer Civilization II Neverwinter Nights TIE Fighter Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 Age of Mythology
As for the worst game I have played: Civilization: Call to Power- Almost a good idea, but horrible execution. The interface was horendous, it ran slow, and certain micromanaging features were just plain bad.
But the question was “best” PC game, not “most influential.” If it were the latter, then there’s no question that DOOM would be on there. But I have a hard time calling it the “best”, because for every cool aspect of the gameplay there’s some cheesy, juvenile aspect that you can’t ignore. Great multiplayer, but stupid “find the red key” puzzles. Some sections with great atmosphere, but a cheesy high-schooler’s-vision-of- hell-via-metal-bands artistic design. It’d be kind of like saying “The Matrix is the best movie ever made.” It’s technically outstanding, and extremely entertaining, but it’s all mindless.
Closer to the “best” would be Half-Life, which got almost everything right with the engine AND the presentation. (And when you get right down to it, it’s basically the same story as DOOM, just told 1000 times better). It also was groundbreaking in that it, along with Jedi Knight to a lesser degree, proved that FPS’s can have well-told stories and still be fun games; shooters don’t necessarily need to be mindless. The only reason I didn’t include Half-Life on my list is because even with stories I don’t like FPS’s that much.
And Miller: The main reason I included Uninvited as one of the best was because it was the first graphic adventure that I played, and at the time it blew me away. There were some genuinely creepy moments in it, and the digitized sound FX were amazing at the time. And the way the interface perfectly incorporated the Mac interface really impressed me. I’ve no doubt that if I tried to play the game now, I’d be unimpressed or annoyed, but nostalgia goes a long way.
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