I have enjoyed electronic games for pretty much as long as they've existed. I played Pong when it came out as often as I could. My father owned an arcade in the 80s and I spent a lot of time there. I've had an Atari 2600, an Intellivision, Colecovision, NES, SuperNES, Playstation 2 and I am currently babysitting my brother's Xbox while he is overseas. Some of my greatest game playing occurred on the Commodore 64 that my brother and I shared as kids. Of course I've owned various PC's over the years and they remain the gold standard of video gaming. Game graphics have become spectacular and while there are many great games around today, I still look back on some old titles with fondness. Graphics are great, but ideas are just as important. Engaging game concepts tend to get copied to death. And of course certain genres and game types appeal to certain people. Most role playing games seem like accounting under another name to me. I have tried the Sims a couple of times but it always seemed like a more complicated Jones in the Fast Lane. There are many games I have not played that are probably great. There is only so much time in the day. I hope to cover many of the games I have enjoyed but let me start with what I consider to be two of the greatest games of the last 10 years.
Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - I loved the first two GTA’s, but these two titles were revelations. The open-ended environment with hidden secrets lends itself to just roaming around exploring and causing trouble. Missions are fun too. There is a real craftsmanship and attention to detail in these games. The Commodore homage at the beginning of Vice City is one of the best things done in a video intro I have ever seen. The radio stuff is done so well, with music and commentary adding to the sharp satire of the games. For the obsessive compulsive, there are so many facets to complete a person could put hundreds of hours into playing it. Eugene Jarvis, a great video game designer, once mentioned how important it is to create a thrill for players with situations that are out of control and you can barely escape. GTA delivers plenty of these moments. But there is also a puzzle aspect to many missions that is also equally engaging. Sometimes going in guns blazing is smart; other times using a unique vehicle, weapon or approach can make all the difference. The controversy surrounding this game is considerable. The main characters of these games are criminals and the missions tend to involve committing serious crimes. Many of the most popular games today center on creating mayhem and doing socially unacceptable things. Much popular music, television and movie entertainment falls in a similar category. The harsh and cynical satire that imbues this game might make Swift uncomfortable. But it makes for entertaining gaming. Rockstar has created one of those games that establishes a new type of game genre, like early id software first person shooters or the Streetfighter series fighting games. Its influence is already tremendous and cheap imitations abound. I will always take the real deal over the ersatz and I eagerly await Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
I will always be indebted to you Larry for showing me the game emulators that I could download and play my beloved original "Asteroids".
By the way, I somehow lost the links. Can you help me again?
Posted by: Arjun Singh | August 07, 2004 at 12:16 PM