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So, after much deliberation, thought, and trawling back through the memory banks away back to the dark and murky days of my childhood, I've managed to come up with my ten favourite computer / video games of all time. Of course, having only recently purchased a PS2 this list might well change considerably in the not-so-distant future, but this is the way things stand at the moment. And so, in reverse order, we have:-
++++++++++++++++++++
10: FLYING SHARK
Platform: Amstrad CPC464
I didn't own an Amstrad computer, my mate did, and many an hour was spent playing this seminal vertical-scroller. My all-time favourite type of game is the vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up; you know, 1942, SWIV, 1943, Dragon Spirit, Xenon etc, and in my opinion Flying Shark was the best of the lot. Nothing spectacular here, just a straight forward "fly around and kill the bad guys" type of thing. Quite a long and extensive game for its time, FS didn't suffer from the age-old problem of "invisible bullet syndrome" that plagued many a game in the mid-80s. A hideously addictive game that didn't get the credit it deserved.
9: HOSTILE ALL-TERRAIN ENCOUNTER (H.A.T.E.)
Platform: Spectrum
An unsung hero of the basic yet brilliant games machine that was the humble Speccy (I owned a +2). HATE was a diagonally-scrolling shoot-em-up (anyone sense a recurring theme here?) where in alternate levels you piloted a plane or a tank along a narrow strip of terrain, shooting all kinds of baddies in the process. It had a unique system of progressing through the 30 levels; you had to collect nuclear reactor cores along the way. You lost a core for every time you were hit, and the number of cores you carried into the next level was the number of lives you have there. After losing all your lives on any particular level, you would be sent back to the last level where you had some lives remaining to try again. This meant that one game of HATE could literally last for hours without you getting anywhere in particular, which made for a frustratingly addictive experience. If the concept of this game could be successfully transported onto one of the ultra-powerful consoles around today, then it would be responsible for the break-up of innumerable relationships nationwide. A belter.
8: The TEKKEN series
Platform: PlayStation
Again, I've never owned a PSone, but I've played the Tekken games so often on my friends' machines that I'm in a good position to comment on them. Starting with (the now dated) Tekken, this series of games took the one-on-one beat-em-up formula and breathed all kinds of new life into it. Foregoing complicated combos for simpler and more effective special moves, the Tekken games saw you fight against a mate or a computer until your thumbs were raw and your fingers refused to bend properly. With the introduction of special-move-via-shoulder-button in the second game, the Tekken games took on even more speed and mind-blowing agility so that your poor, over-worked brain would struggle to keep up with. I'm currently waiting for Tekken 4 to arrive on the PS2, and I'm getting more impatient by the second. Yoshimitsu is still just the coolest guy ever.......
7: FORSAKEN
Platform: N64
An absolute beauty this one, and a bargain to boot I got it for a tenner, and you can find it for the princely sum of 5 Scottish pounds in a games store near you these days. A first or third person shooter, Forsaken has you piloting a hoverbike around a deserted Earth fortress, shooting robot defence thingies as you go. Might not sound like much, but this game is utterly compelling and addictive you just can't stop going back to that ultra-hard level just to see what was around the next corner. The weapons created for this game are the best selection I've ever come across in computer gaming (and I include Doom and Quake in that statement), and the graphics are astounding. Perhaps a little too hard in places, but once you've got the cheat modes enabled, you're laughing. A quality blast.
6: PAC-MAN
Platform: Atari
I'm going back a bit now! Yes, it was basic, but at the time it was magic. Addictive beyond belief and just downright fun, the Atari console version of PacMan is still the best ever made with changing maps, smarter ghosts as you progressed, and that chinese-water-torture-like sound effect burrowing into your brain, you just couldn't get enough of it. Again, I never owned an Atari, but I played this game every chance I got when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and it retains a place in gaming folklore for all who first picked up a joystick to play it.
5: GOLDENEYE 007
Platform: N64
The best first-person shooter ever made for a console, Goldeneye was one of the earliest releases for the N64, and is still the best that I've played. Based quite tightly on the film of the same name, you play Jimmy Bond as he tries to stop 006 using the Goldeneye satellite for his own criminal purposes. No words I can write do the game justice the missions are well-created, the gameplay flawless, the sniper mode hilarious, the multi-player option the best created for the platform, the addictiveness being almost narcotic it's so high I could go on. You really didn't own a Nintendo 64 until you had Goldeneye in your games collection, and I certainly felt like a REAL gamesplayer once I owned it. A magnificent piece of licence-use by Rare.
4: The WIPEOUT series
Platform: PlayStaion/N64
The best driving games ever. I'm not a big fan of racing games it can get a bit monotonous driving around in circles. So when I saw the first WipeOut game on my mate Billy's PSone I was blown away. Fast beyond belief, smooth running, pretty to look at and with WEAPONS! The first edition of the game is now a bit dated, but at the time it was one of the first games that showed the capabilities of the PSone. When the sequel, WipeOut2097 was released, the upgrades were plentiful and spectacular. Your little anti-grav racer could now graze the sides of the track or a competitor without grinding to a halt, and as for the SPEED it was FRIGHTENING. I own Wip3out and WipeOut64 for the PS and the N64 (although I play Wip3out on my PS2), and these two games enhanced the franchise even further, if it was possible. Can't wait for WipeOut Fusion to come out for the PS2 a game of this quality on the most powerful console around is an enticing prospect.
3: R-TYPE
Platform: Spectrum
Another blast from the past, and the finest game ever made for a home computer (80s vintage, that is). In R-Type you piloted a little spaceship from left to right, blasting baddies as you went. Doesn't sound like much does it? Pretty formulaic, by the sound of things.
HELL NO!
It might not have been much to look at, but this game just had something about it that made it stick head and shoulders (in fact, down to it's nipples) above it's contemporaries. Insanely hard, maddeningly addictive, frighteningly rewarding, stupefyingly well-designed. Various re-makes have been attempted for newer consoles, but the best version of this game (even compared to the original arcade machine version) was on the Speccy. And to think, a year after it was released, you could buy it for £3.99!!!! Possibly the biggest bargain ever seen (until Forsaken became available for a blueser). This game was worth owning one of Sir Clive's beermats for all on it's own. Sublime gaming.
2: ALIENS VS PREDATOR
Platform: PC
The most terrifying game ever made, bar none. As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of the Alien films huge in fact. I'm an even bigger fan of the "expanded universe" of literature, comics and games that have been developed from the original storyline of the movies. So when I found this game resting quietly within my mates PC, I just HAD to fire it up and have a go.
And nearly shat myself.
Actually, it's 3 games in one, as you can play as a bug (alien), a Predator, or a Colonial Marine. While being one of the beasties is a fun way to play the game, the best is obviously if you play the hapless soldier who is desperately trying to avoid becoming bug food. The visuals in this game are deliberately dark, so you have to use an image intensifier for walking around except sometimes there are infra-red lights on in the corridors, and you have to revert to normal vision. Using flares. And your motion tracker. Which has started beeping.......
If you're a fan of the movies, you?ll love this. If you're not a fan of the movies, you'll love this. Either way, you will be scared S***LESS if you play as the marine. Superb.
And now (drum roll please), my favourite game of all-time. And you might be a wee bit surprised.....
1: SENSIBLE SOCCER
Platform: Sega MegaDrive
For being a football fanatic, I'm not a huge fan of football games they tend to be horrifically over-complicated, far too easy or far too hard in single-player mode, and just a bit dull. Not so with Sensi. Instead of going for the ultra-realistic style of FIFA or ISS, Sensi is best described as arcade football, with tiny little players running up and down the screen. Graphically the game is dismal compared with today's efforts, but the graphics were sacrificed for gameplay and controllability, which counts for a hell of a lot more in my book than pure eye-candy. You could edit the teams, make your own teams up, edit the strips, even change the colour of the players hair and take hours doing so without noticing. Some of the tournaments me and my muckers had playing this game got very intense, with much shouting, screaming of OFFSIDE, and eventual despair when I lost. Again. A quality game, the likes of which has yet to be surpassed in sheer enjoyment of playing.
So that's it then. A fairly eclectic bunch, but crackers all nonetheless.
Thanks for Reading, post your top 10 here if you want.
++++++++++++++++++++
10: FLYING SHARK
Platform: Amstrad CPC464
I didn't own an Amstrad computer, my mate did, and many an hour was spent playing this seminal vertical-scroller. My all-time favourite type of game is the vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up; you know, 1942, SWIV, 1943, Dragon Spirit, Xenon etc, and in my opinion Flying Shark was the best of the lot. Nothing spectacular here, just a straight forward "fly around and kill the bad guys" type of thing. Quite a long and extensive game for its time, FS didn't suffer from the age-old problem of "invisible bullet syndrome" that plagued many a game in the mid-80s. A hideously addictive game that didn't get the credit it deserved.
9: HOSTILE ALL-TERRAIN ENCOUNTER (H.A.T.E.)
Platform: Spectrum
An unsung hero of the basic yet brilliant games machine that was the humble Speccy (I owned a +2). HATE was a diagonally-scrolling shoot-em-up (anyone sense a recurring theme here?) where in alternate levels you piloted a plane or a tank along a narrow strip of terrain, shooting all kinds of baddies in the process. It had a unique system of progressing through the 30 levels; you had to collect nuclear reactor cores along the way. You lost a core for every time you were hit, and the number of cores you carried into the next level was the number of lives you have there. After losing all your lives on any particular level, you would be sent back to the last level where you had some lives remaining to try again. This meant that one game of HATE could literally last for hours without you getting anywhere in particular, which made for a frustratingly addictive experience. If the concept of this game could be successfully transported onto one of the ultra-powerful consoles around today, then it would be responsible for the break-up of innumerable relationships nationwide. A belter.
8: The TEKKEN series
Platform: PlayStation
Again, I've never owned a PSone, but I've played the Tekken games so often on my friends' machines that I'm in a good position to comment on them. Starting with (the now dated) Tekken, this series of games took the one-on-one beat-em-up formula and breathed all kinds of new life into it. Foregoing complicated combos for simpler and more effective special moves, the Tekken games saw you fight against a mate or a computer until your thumbs were raw and your fingers refused to bend properly. With the introduction of special-move-via-shoulder-button in the second game, the Tekken games took on even more speed and mind-blowing agility so that your poor, over-worked brain would struggle to keep up with. I'm currently waiting for Tekken 4 to arrive on the PS2, and I'm getting more impatient by the second. Yoshimitsu is still just the coolest guy ever.......
7: FORSAKEN
Platform: N64
An absolute beauty this one, and a bargain to boot I got it for a tenner, and you can find it for the princely sum of 5 Scottish pounds in a games store near you these days. A first or third person shooter, Forsaken has you piloting a hoverbike around a deserted Earth fortress, shooting robot defence thingies as you go. Might not sound like much, but this game is utterly compelling and addictive you just can't stop going back to that ultra-hard level just to see what was around the next corner. The weapons created for this game are the best selection I've ever come across in computer gaming (and I include Doom and Quake in that statement), and the graphics are astounding. Perhaps a little too hard in places, but once you've got the cheat modes enabled, you're laughing. A quality blast.
6: PAC-MAN
Platform: Atari
I'm going back a bit now! Yes, it was basic, but at the time it was magic. Addictive beyond belief and just downright fun, the Atari console version of PacMan is still the best ever made with changing maps, smarter ghosts as you progressed, and that chinese-water-torture-like sound effect burrowing into your brain, you just couldn't get enough of it. Again, I never owned an Atari, but I played this game every chance I got when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and it retains a place in gaming folklore for all who first picked up a joystick to play it.
5: GOLDENEYE 007
Platform: N64
The best first-person shooter ever made for a console, Goldeneye was one of the earliest releases for the N64, and is still the best that I've played. Based quite tightly on the film of the same name, you play Jimmy Bond as he tries to stop 006 using the Goldeneye satellite for his own criminal purposes. No words I can write do the game justice the missions are well-created, the gameplay flawless, the sniper mode hilarious, the multi-player option the best created for the platform, the addictiveness being almost narcotic it's so high I could go on. You really didn't own a Nintendo 64 until you had Goldeneye in your games collection, and I certainly felt like a REAL gamesplayer once I owned it. A magnificent piece of licence-use by Rare.
4: The WIPEOUT series
Platform: PlayStaion/N64
The best driving games ever. I'm not a big fan of racing games it can get a bit monotonous driving around in circles. So when I saw the first WipeOut game on my mate Billy's PSone I was blown away. Fast beyond belief, smooth running, pretty to look at and with WEAPONS! The first edition of the game is now a bit dated, but at the time it was one of the first games that showed the capabilities of the PSone. When the sequel, WipeOut2097 was released, the upgrades were plentiful and spectacular. Your little anti-grav racer could now graze the sides of the track or a competitor without grinding to a halt, and as for the SPEED it was FRIGHTENING. I own Wip3out and WipeOut64 for the PS and the N64 (although I play Wip3out on my PS2), and these two games enhanced the franchise even further, if it was possible. Can't wait for WipeOut Fusion to come out for the PS2 a game of this quality on the most powerful console around is an enticing prospect.
3: R-TYPE
Platform: Spectrum
Another blast from the past, and the finest game ever made for a home computer (80s vintage, that is). In R-Type you piloted a little spaceship from left to right, blasting baddies as you went. Doesn't sound like much does it? Pretty formulaic, by the sound of things.
HELL NO!
It might not have been much to look at, but this game just had something about it that made it stick head and shoulders (in fact, down to it's nipples) above it's contemporaries. Insanely hard, maddeningly addictive, frighteningly rewarding, stupefyingly well-designed. Various re-makes have been attempted for newer consoles, but the best version of this game (even compared to the original arcade machine version) was on the Speccy. And to think, a year after it was released, you could buy it for £3.99!!!! Possibly the biggest bargain ever seen (until Forsaken became available for a blueser). This game was worth owning one of Sir Clive's beermats for all on it's own. Sublime gaming.
2: ALIENS VS PREDATOR
Platform: PC
The most terrifying game ever made, bar none. As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of the Alien films huge in fact. I'm an even bigger fan of the "expanded universe" of literature, comics and games that have been developed from the original storyline of the movies. So when I found this game resting quietly within my mates PC, I just HAD to fire it up and have a go.
And nearly shat myself.
Actually, it's 3 games in one, as you can play as a bug (alien), a Predator, or a Colonial Marine. While being one of the beasties is a fun way to play the game, the best is obviously if you play the hapless soldier who is desperately trying to avoid becoming bug food. The visuals in this game are deliberately dark, so you have to use an image intensifier for walking around except sometimes there are infra-red lights on in the corridors, and you have to revert to normal vision. Using flares. And your motion tracker. Which has started beeping.......
If you're a fan of the movies, you?ll love this. If you're not a fan of the movies, you'll love this. Either way, you will be scared S***LESS if you play as the marine. Superb.
And now (drum roll please), my favourite game of all-time. And you might be a wee bit surprised.....
1: SENSIBLE SOCCER
Platform: Sega MegaDrive
For being a football fanatic, I'm not a huge fan of football games they tend to be horrifically over-complicated, far too easy or far too hard in single-player mode, and just a bit dull. Not so with Sensi. Instead of going for the ultra-realistic style of FIFA or ISS, Sensi is best described as arcade football, with tiny little players running up and down the screen. Graphically the game is dismal compared with today's efforts, but the graphics were sacrificed for gameplay and controllability, which counts for a hell of a lot more in my book than pure eye-candy. You could edit the teams, make your own teams up, edit the strips, even change the colour of the players hair and take hours doing so without noticing. Some of the tournaments me and my muckers had playing this game got very intense, with much shouting, screaming of OFFSIDE, and eventual despair when I lost. Again. A quality game, the likes of which has yet to be surpassed in sheer enjoyment of playing.
So that's it then. A fairly eclectic bunch, but crackers all nonetheless.
Thanks for Reading, post your top 10 here if you want.
Page:
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So, after much deliberation, thought, and trawling back through the memory banks away back to the dark and murky days of my childhood, I've managed to come up with my ten favourite computer / video games of all time. Of course, having only recently purchased a PS2 this list might well change considerably in the not-so-distant future, but this is the way things stand at the moment. And so, in reverse order, we have:-
++++++++++++++++++++
10: FLYING SHARK
Platform: Amstrad CPC464
I didn't own an Amstrad computer, my mate did, and many an hour was spent playing this seminal vertical-scroller. My all-time favourite type of game is the vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up; you know, 1942, SWIV, 1943, Dragon Spirit, Xenon etc, and in my opinion Flying Shark was the best of the lot. Nothing spectacular here, just a straight forward "fly around and kill the bad guys" type of thing. Quite a long and extensive game for its time, FS didn't suffer from the age-old problem of "invisible bullet syndrome" that plagued many a game in the mid-80s. A hideously addictive game that didn't get the credit it deserved.
9: HOSTILE ALL-TERRAIN ENCOUNTER (H.A.T.E.)
Platform: Spectrum
An unsung hero of the basic yet brilliant games machine that was the humble Speccy (I owned a +2). HATE was a diagonally-scrolling shoot-em-up (anyone sense a recurring theme here?) where in alternate levels you piloted a plane or a tank along a narrow strip of terrain, shooting all kinds of baddies in the process. It had a unique system of progressing through the 30 levels; you had to collect nuclear reactor cores along the way. You lost a core for every time you were hit, and the number of cores you carried into the next level was the number of lives you have there. After losing all your lives on any particular level, you would be sent back to the last level where you had some lives remaining to try again. This meant that one game of HATE could literally last for hours without you getting anywhere in particular, which made for a frustratingly addictive experience. If the concept of this game could be successfully transported onto one of the ultra-powerful consoles around today, then it would be responsible for the break-up of innumerable relationships nationwide. A belter.
8: The TEKKEN series
Platform: PlayStation
Again, I've never owned a PSone, but I've played the Tekken games so often on my friends' machines that I'm in a good position to comment on them. Starting with (the now dated) Tekken, this series of games took the one-on-one beat-em-up formula and breathed all kinds of new life into it. Foregoing complicated combos for simpler and more effective special moves, the Tekken games saw you fight against a mate or a computer until your thumbs were raw and your fingers refused to bend properly. With the introduction of special-move-via-shoulder-button in the second game, the Tekken games took on even more speed and mind-blowing agility so that your poor, over-worked brain would struggle to keep up with. I'm currently waiting for Tekken 4 to arrive on the PS2, and I'm getting more impatient by the second. Yoshimitsu is still just the coolest guy ever.......
7: FORSAKEN
Platform: N64
An absolute beauty this one, and a bargain to boot I got it for a tenner, and you can find it for the princely sum of 5 Scottish pounds in a games store near you these days. A first or third person shooter, Forsaken has you piloting a hoverbike around a deserted Earth fortress, shooting robot defence thingies as you go. Might not sound like much, but this game is utterly compelling and addictive you just can't stop going back to that ultra-hard level just to see what was around the next corner. The weapons created for this game are the best selection I've ever come across in computer gaming (and I include Doom and Quake in that statement), and the graphics are astounding. Perhaps a little too hard in places, but once you've got the cheat modes enabled, you're laughing. A quality blast.
6: PAC-MAN
Platform: Atari
I'm going back a bit now! Yes, it was basic, but at the time it was magic. Addictive beyond belief and just downright fun, the Atari console version of PacMan is still the best ever made with changing maps, smarter ghosts as you progressed, and that chinese-water-torture-like sound effect burrowing into your brain, you just couldn't get enough of it. Again, I never owned an Atari, but I played this game every chance I got when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and it retains a place in gaming folklore for all who first picked up a joystick to play it.
5: GOLDENEYE 007
Platform: N64
The best first-person shooter ever made for a console, Goldeneye was one of the earliest releases for the N64, and is still the best that I've played. Based quite tightly on the film of the same name, you play Jimmy Bond as he tries to stop 006 using the Goldeneye satellite for his own criminal purposes. No words I can write do the game justice the missions are well-created, the gameplay flawless, the sniper mode hilarious, the multi-player option the best created for the platform, the addictiveness being almost narcotic it's so high I could go on. You really didn't own a Nintendo 64 until you had Goldeneye in your games collection, and I certainly felt like a REAL gamesplayer once I owned it. A magnificent piece of licence-use by Rare.
4: The WIPEOUT series
Platform: PlayStaion/N64
The best driving games ever. I'm not a big fan of racing games it can get a bit monotonous driving around in circles. So when I saw the first WipeOut game on my mate Billy's PSone I was blown away. Fast beyond belief, smooth running, pretty to look at and with WEAPONS! The first edition of the game is now a bit dated, but at the time it was one of the first games that showed the capabilities of the PSone. When the sequel, WipeOut2097 was released, the upgrades were plentiful and spectacular. Your little anti-grav racer could now graze the sides of the track or a competitor without grinding to a halt, and as for the SPEED it was FRIGHTENING. I own Wip3out and WipeOut64 for the PS and the N64 (although I play Wip3out on my PS2), and these two games enhanced the franchise even further, if it was possible. Can't wait for WipeOut Fusion to come out for the PS2 a game of this quality on the most powerful console around is an enticing prospect.
3: R-TYPE
Platform: Spectrum
Another blast from the past, and the finest game ever made for a home computer (80s vintage, that is). In R-Type you piloted a little spaceship from left to right, blasting baddies as you went. Doesn't sound like much does it? Pretty formulaic, by the sound of things.
HELL NO!
It might not have been much to look at, but this game just had something about it that made it stick head and shoulders (in fact, down to it's nipples) above it's contemporaries. Insanely hard, maddeningly addictive, frighteningly rewarding, stupefyingly well-designed. Various re-makes have been attempted for newer consoles, but the best version of this game (even compared to the original arcade machine version) was on the Speccy. And to think, a year after it was released, you could buy it for £3.99!!!! Possibly the biggest bargain ever seen (until Forsaken became available for a blueser). This game was worth owning one of Sir Clive's beermats for all on it's own. Sublime gaming.
2: ALIENS VS PREDATOR
Platform: PC
The most terrifying game ever made, bar none. As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of the Alien films huge in fact. I'm an even bigger fan of the "expanded universe" of literature, comics and games that have been developed from the original storyline of the movies. So when I found this game resting quietly within my mates PC, I just HAD to fire it up and have a go.
And nearly shat myself.
Actually, it's 3 games in one, as you can play as a bug (alien), a Predator, or a Colonial Marine. While being one of the beasties is a fun way to play the game, the best is obviously if you play the hapless soldier who is desperately trying to avoid becoming bug food. The visuals in this game are deliberately dark, so you have to use an image intensifier for walking around except sometimes there are infra-red lights on in the corridors, and you have to revert to normal vision. Using flares. And your motion tracker. Which has started beeping.......
If you're a fan of the movies, you?ll love this. If you're not a fan of the movies, you'll love this. Either way, you will be scared S***LESS if you play as the marine. Superb.
And now (drum roll please), my favourite game of all-time. And you might be a wee bit surprised.....
1: SENSIBLE SOCCER
Platform: Sega MegaDrive
For being a football fanatic, I'm not a huge fan of football games they tend to be horrifically over-complicated, far too easy or far too hard in single-player mode, and just a bit dull. Not so with Sensi. Instead of going for the ultra-realistic style of FIFA or ISS, Sensi is best described as arcade football, with tiny little players running up and down the screen. Graphically the game is dismal compared with today's efforts, but the graphics were sacrificed for gameplay and controllability, which counts for a hell of a lot more in my book than pure eye-candy. You could edit the teams, make your own teams up, edit the strips, even change the colour of the players hair and take hours doing so without noticing. Some of the tournaments me and my muckers had playing this game got very intense, with much shouting, screaming of OFFSIDE, and eventual despair when I lost. Again. A quality game, the likes of which has yet to be surpassed in sheer enjoyment of playing.
So that's it then. A fairly eclectic bunch, but crackers all nonetheless.
Thanks for Reading, post your top 10 here if you want.
++++++++++++++++++++
10: FLYING SHARK
Platform: Amstrad CPC464
I didn't own an Amstrad computer, my mate did, and many an hour was spent playing this seminal vertical-scroller. My all-time favourite type of game is the vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up; you know, 1942, SWIV, 1943, Dragon Spirit, Xenon etc, and in my opinion Flying Shark was the best of the lot. Nothing spectacular here, just a straight forward "fly around and kill the bad guys" type of thing. Quite a long and extensive game for its time, FS didn't suffer from the age-old problem of "invisible bullet syndrome" that plagued many a game in the mid-80s. A hideously addictive game that didn't get the credit it deserved.
9: HOSTILE ALL-TERRAIN ENCOUNTER (H.A.T.E.)
Platform: Spectrum
An unsung hero of the basic yet brilliant games machine that was the humble Speccy (I owned a +2). HATE was a diagonally-scrolling shoot-em-up (anyone sense a recurring theme here?) where in alternate levels you piloted a plane or a tank along a narrow strip of terrain, shooting all kinds of baddies in the process. It had a unique system of progressing through the 30 levels; you had to collect nuclear reactor cores along the way. You lost a core for every time you were hit, and the number of cores you carried into the next level was the number of lives you have there. After losing all your lives on any particular level, you would be sent back to the last level where you had some lives remaining to try again. This meant that one game of HATE could literally last for hours without you getting anywhere in particular, which made for a frustratingly addictive experience. If the concept of this game could be successfully transported onto one of the ultra-powerful consoles around today, then it would be responsible for the break-up of innumerable relationships nationwide. A belter.
8: The TEKKEN series
Platform: PlayStation
Again, I've never owned a PSone, but I've played the Tekken games so often on my friends' machines that I'm in a good position to comment on them. Starting with (the now dated) Tekken, this series of games took the one-on-one beat-em-up formula and breathed all kinds of new life into it. Foregoing complicated combos for simpler and more effective special moves, the Tekken games saw you fight against a mate or a computer until your thumbs were raw and your fingers refused to bend properly. With the introduction of special-move-via-shoulder-button in the second game, the Tekken games took on even more speed and mind-blowing agility so that your poor, over-worked brain would struggle to keep up with. I'm currently waiting for Tekken 4 to arrive on the PS2, and I'm getting more impatient by the second. Yoshimitsu is still just the coolest guy ever.......
7: FORSAKEN
Platform: N64
An absolute beauty this one, and a bargain to boot I got it for a tenner, and you can find it for the princely sum of 5 Scottish pounds in a games store near you these days. A first or third person shooter, Forsaken has you piloting a hoverbike around a deserted Earth fortress, shooting robot defence thingies as you go. Might not sound like much, but this game is utterly compelling and addictive you just can't stop going back to that ultra-hard level just to see what was around the next corner. The weapons created for this game are the best selection I've ever come across in computer gaming (and I include Doom and Quake in that statement), and the graphics are astounding. Perhaps a little too hard in places, but once you've got the cheat modes enabled, you're laughing. A quality blast.
6: PAC-MAN
Platform: Atari
I'm going back a bit now! Yes, it was basic, but at the time it was magic. Addictive beyond belief and just downright fun, the Atari console version of PacMan is still the best ever made with changing maps, smarter ghosts as you progressed, and that chinese-water-torture-like sound effect burrowing into your brain, you just couldn't get enough of it. Again, I never owned an Atari, but I played this game every chance I got when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and it retains a place in gaming folklore for all who first picked up a joystick to play it.
5: GOLDENEYE 007
Platform: N64
The best first-person shooter ever made for a console, Goldeneye was one of the earliest releases for the N64, and is still the best that I've played. Based quite tightly on the film of the same name, you play Jimmy Bond as he tries to stop 006 using the Goldeneye satellite for his own criminal purposes. No words I can write do the game justice the missions are well-created, the gameplay flawless, the sniper mode hilarious, the multi-player option the best created for the platform, the addictiveness being almost narcotic it's so high I could go on. You really didn't own a Nintendo 64 until you had Goldeneye in your games collection, and I certainly felt like a REAL gamesplayer once I owned it. A magnificent piece of licence-use by Rare.
4: The WIPEOUT series
Platform: PlayStaion/N64
The best driving games ever. I'm not a big fan of racing games it can get a bit monotonous driving around in circles. So when I saw the first WipeOut game on my mate Billy's PSone I was blown away. Fast beyond belief, smooth running, pretty to look at and with WEAPONS! The first edition of the game is now a bit dated, but at the time it was one of the first games that showed the capabilities of the PSone. When the sequel, WipeOut2097 was released, the upgrades were plentiful and spectacular. Your little anti-grav racer could now graze the sides of the track or a competitor without grinding to a halt, and as for the SPEED it was FRIGHTENING. I own Wip3out and WipeOut64 for the PS and the N64 (although I play Wip3out on my PS2), and these two games enhanced the franchise even further, if it was possible. Can't wait for WipeOut Fusion to come out for the PS2 a game of this quality on the most powerful console around is an enticing prospect.
3: R-TYPE
Platform: Spectrum
Another blast from the past, and the finest game ever made for a home computer (80s vintage, that is). In R-Type you piloted a little spaceship from left to right, blasting baddies as you went. Doesn't sound like much does it? Pretty formulaic, by the sound of things.
HELL NO!
It might not have been much to look at, but this game just had something about it that made it stick head and shoulders (in fact, down to it's nipples) above it's contemporaries. Insanely hard, maddeningly addictive, frighteningly rewarding, stupefyingly well-designed. Various re-makes have been attempted for newer consoles, but the best version of this game (even compared to the original arcade machine version) was on the Speccy. And to think, a year after it was released, you could buy it for £3.99!!!! Possibly the biggest bargain ever seen (until Forsaken became available for a blueser). This game was worth owning one of Sir Clive's beermats for all on it's own. Sublime gaming.
2: ALIENS VS PREDATOR
Platform: PC
The most terrifying game ever made, bar none. As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of the Alien films huge in fact. I'm an even bigger fan of the "expanded universe" of literature, comics and games that have been developed from the original storyline of the movies. So when I found this game resting quietly within my mates PC, I just HAD to fire it up and have a go.
And nearly shat myself.
Actually, it's 3 games in one, as you can play as a bug (alien), a Predator, or a Colonial Marine. While being one of the beasties is a fun way to play the game, the best is obviously if you play the hapless soldier who is desperately trying to avoid becoming bug food. The visuals in this game are deliberately dark, so you have to use an image intensifier for walking around except sometimes there are infra-red lights on in the corridors, and you have to revert to normal vision. Using flares. And your motion tracker. Which has started beeping.......
If you're a fan of the movies, you?ll love this. If you're not a fan of the movies, you'll love this. Either way, you will be scared S***LESS if you play as the marine. Superb.
And now (drum roll please), my favourite game of all-time. And you might be a wee bit surprised.....
1: SENSIBLE SOCCER
Platform: Sega MegaDrive
For being a football fanatic, I'm not a huge fan of football games they tend to be horrifically over-complicated, far too easy or far too hard in single-player mode, and just a bit dull. Not so with Sensi. Instead of going for the ultra-realistic style of FIFA or ISS, Sensi is best described as arcade football, with tiny little players running up and down the screen. Graphically the game is dismal compared with today's efforts, but the graphics were sacrificed for gameplay and controllability, which counts for a hell of a lot more in my book than pure eye-candy. You could edit the teams, make your own teams up, edit the strips, even change the colour of the players hair and take hours doing so without noticing. Some of the tournaments me and my muckers had playing this game got very intense, with much shouting, screaming of OFFSIDE, and eventual despair when I lost. Again. A quality game, the likes of which has yet to be surpassed in sheer enjoyment of playing.
So that's it then. A fairly eclectic bunch, but crackers all nonetheless.
Thanks for Reading, post your top 10 here if you want.
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