What was the last game that you loved so much you couldn’t stop playing? I don’t mean as in “come home from work and go straight to the computer”. More like “stay up all night, call in sick the next day, and not shower/eat so you can keep playing”. The serious gamers will know what I’m talking about.
I think the last game to have that effect on me was online Quake 3 during its peak. Starcraft came close but nothing had as much of a hold on me as Quake 3. I remember I started hearing the sound effects in my sleep. It’s probably for the best that I don’t have a cable modem anymore.
X-Com, Tie Fighter, Betrayal at Krondor, and Civilization 2. These have been the only ones that I’ve been obsessed with to the point of playing till I passed out from exhaustion.
The original X-Wing (and both add-ons to it) Tie Fighter (And the add on to that, and X-Wing: Alliance really ruined my sleep patterns for a while.
X-Com: Ufo Defense kept me at the keyboard for long hours, waiting to see what the latest research would turn up.
Thief and its sequel made for some long-ass nights, but then I could only play them after dark, with our PC where it is. Even on maximum gamma (which ruins the picture anyway) it was too damned bright in the computer room/den/office/storage dump* to play during the day.
*[sub]Why is it that if you’ve actually got a seperate room for your desk, PC, what-have-you, it always ends up as the dumping ground for all that stuff your wife can’t figure out what to do with in the rest of the house? Is this just me?[/sub]
I was a TFC junkie for a while, then moved to Natural Selection. I got Halo PC last weekend, so now I’m discoving the time-warping properties of that game. ("3:30? It can’t be!’)
Ah, good old Doom. I remember playing through the entire game in nightmare, including the 2 bonus levels. I don’t think I could do it today though. I’ve grown accustomed to using a mouse to look around. I recently tried playing the Doom demo. I didn’t get very far.
X-Com, a game I just discovered, had a similar hold on me. I loved the battle system to much to quit. Right now I have the sequel sitting here waiting for me. I’m not sure if I want to play it or not.
The most recent game I’ve been playing obsessively is ADOM. However, I haven’t fallen into the old habits of staying up all night and playing for 14 hours at a time like I use to. I guess I’m starting to grow out of it (hopefully). We’ll see once Half Life 2 comes out.
BTW Stonebow, I can’t seem to get Betrayal at Krondor to work. I think it’s because I’m running Win XP which isn’t very friendly toward old dos games. How did you get it to run?
not married, but I HAVE seen this phenomenon in one of my married gamer friends. Now I know who to blame when I can’t move around the stacks of paper in the room
re: Topic? hmmm, haven’t played a game thru the night rather than work/school since Civ I, but I did buy a new computer primarily to play MechWarrior online…does that count?
Duke Nukem (why is this game so great?)… I also used to play with a friend over the modem… we had our own sound effects he made from one of his movies.
The Sims. I don’t even like this game that much, but you play, and then suddenly six hours have gone by and it’s dark outside.
Final Fantasy X: My S.O played for 24 hours straight (he was unemployed at the time).
Ratchet and Clank: for PS2. I don’t know why.
Myst: played late into the night more than once in high school.
Bust a Move (PS1). Once played for 14 hours. Doesn’t seem possible to shoot bubbles at other bubbles for that long, but I did.
