I am an avid gamer. My favorite games are generally strategy games. But as you will see I have played all kinds of games. Each has a particular appeal and certain games just seem to grab me from time to time. You will note that I did not include flight simulations since I have a separate page for that. While I talk about MS Flight Simulator and Orbiter Space Flight Simulator on my simulators page; I do have other flight simulation games such as Wings Over Vietnam and the Battle Of Britain II. I just do not find many flight simulations that live up to the legacy of Falcon 4.0 and Tornado.
This section lists the games that I have purchased and played over the years. I hope that you might find some of this information useful.
I was talking to a friends son and he recommended this game. This game period is set during 1600's and 1700's. You get to play as a number of powers available during that time such as the Dutch, English, French, Ottoman's, etc. It also lets you play in the American War of Independence. You can research technology which lets you recruit better military units. These units are generally in the old style where men lined up and shot at each other. I really enjoyed this and it lead me to purchase the games in the series Rome Total War and Napoleon Total War.
This is a World War II game that is an updated version of the original Hearts of Iron game. You can play as any country in the world at that time. One of the major enhancements is the ability to build a command structure and give commands to the HQ and it will the units assigned to it to attempt to carry out your commands. It has had a bit of a rough start and has been through several updates. It is likely to go though several more since the changes to the game were quite dramatic.
I downloaded this game as soon as it was released. It is quite fun but it did not really live up to the high expectations everyone had for it. It allows you to evolve from a micro-organism to land animal, develop into civilization then expand into space. The ability to create very different creatures, vehicles and building is the strong suit of this game. However, most of the abilities of the creature are cosmetic and don't actually contribute much to the game. The same can be said of the buildings and vehicles. It will be a great game for kids to help stimulate their imagination. But the more mature gamers will play it for awhile then move on from what I can see.
Serious hardware is needed for this game since the graphics are state of the art. The plot places you on an island rescuing some people from the North Koreans. You wind up fighting aliens who have landed there and it is a real tough exercise to get though some of the missions. Your specialized body armor has several modes that are designed to help you through your missions. This is a great game and the sequel is being anxiously awaited.
This game brings the Call Of Duty series to the modern battlefield. It is a 1st person shooter that has updated graphics that are amazing. The AI is outstanding and you really need to use some reasonable tactics to keep from getting your butt shot off.
Real-time strategy is the name of the game. You need real hardware to play this game using full graphics options. You will command groups of vehicles and men in order to accomplish the missions in this game. The indirect assets from aircraft and ships are even used. One of the better games I have played in awhile.
This was a follow-on to a game I have not played called Silent Hunter. This game put you into one of the World War II submarines to fight Japan. This game has a campaign mode that lets you start at the beginning of the war and be assigned missions that let you advance. There are several different mission types and it takes a bit of work to get through this successfully. It is fun and reminds me of the days when I played Silent Service
Developed by Bohemia Interactive it is similar to Operation Flashpoint I have just started the game and have noticed the graphics appear to have been improved. It is an updated version that takes us away from the cold war to today, roughly.
The follow-on to Morrowind this game is a real leap forward. The graphics are incredible and require some serious hardware to experience them in their full glory. The AI is also amazing. You can play as any one of several races and types. You can collect ingredients to make potions and are able to construct weapons with various enchantments. I am still playing this game and love it. Just amazing!
You play the part of a Hollywood mogul just when Hollywood is starting to produce movies. The thing that makes this game unique is the ability to create your own scripts and shoot your movies with costumes and sets that you want. You can even add music and edit the movie as you wish. The Premier Edition adds some costumes and some how-to videos to help you get started. The add-on Stunts & Effects adds stunts with stuntmen to the game. This adds a new dimension to your movies. This is also a great little program.
This is nice little game that lets you setup a restaurant and try to build a restaurant empire. There is a complete story line to play through as well as open sandbox games you can experiment with. I very nice diversion with some interesting recipes
This is a World War II game that is an updated version of the original Hearts of Iron game. You can play as any country in the world at that time. It allows you to research various things that lead to better weapons and aircraft. Trade is essential since no one country has all the resources it requires. Naval support is generally essential to support your trade routes. The update makes it a better game. I enjoy firing this up for a weekend of fun from time to time.
Computer games are something that I really enjoy. While I routinely use MS Flight Simulator and Orbiter, I enjoy other types of games as well. I first became interested in games when I had my TRS-80 computer. Games were somewhat limited but chess and some others were available. While preparing this page I thought it would be fun to go back and more or less document the games and sims I have owned and those that stand out in my mind. Most of the games that I like are simulation or games that require planning. I do play a few other types of games but generally stick to simulation and strategy games. I am using a very rough chronological order that may or may not be accurate since I have not checked the dates.
This was one of the games that got me started in gaming. It was not only a game but a rough simulation that gave you an appreciation for those submariners in WWII. I hunted many a Japanese convoy in the evenings on a PC at work.
When I got this game I loaded it up on the computer at work on Friday and did not go home until Saturday evening to get some sleep. I returned and played all Sunday. I was not going to quit until I had conquered at least one planet. Empire Deluxe added some new units and features and is still available today.
I had a chance to play this on one of the bulky portable PC's that were available back in the mid 1980's. Learning to fly stealthy missions was fun and challenging.
This game began one of the best flight simulation series ever to grace the PC. It was fun but still more like an arcade game than a flight sim. Falcon AT added better graphics and but was still more of an arcade type game. Falcon 3.0 was the beginning of the change from arcade game to combat flight simulation. It had some issues, like SA-7's that could go Mach 5 for 20 miles which were fixed by the great add-on Strategic Falcon by Ed White. Add-on's for the MIG-29 and F/A-18 were also released. This simulation made you learn to use the radar and plan missions with different type of aircraft to perform specific tasks. The planning and logistics had to be taken into account as well. Flying this sim was a real joy and a challenge. Falcon 4.0 expanded the flight model and capability substantially. It was going to be part of the series of simulations for various aircraft and ground vehicles like tanks. It was going to provide for a virtual battlefield. It was outstanding and to my mind the last great combat flight sim to be produced. Perhaps Gilman Louie will try again after he has made enough money as a venture capitalist.
Tornado is in the Falcon 3.0 and Falcon 4.0 class of combat flight simulations. It provided an incredibly realistic flight model for the Tornado and complex mission planning. I remember having to fly missions where I would drop 4 laser guided bombs in 15 to 20 second increments to hit 4 targets one after another. It was incredibly fun to plan out a mission with 4 Tornados using 4 routes to attack a target from 4 different directions. You would check your estimated time on target and adjust your speed to be sure you arrived and dropped your ordinance at the specified time. Within seconds you would cross paths with the other aircraft taking out the target. Learning to recover from an inverted spin was a real exercise in this swing-wing aircraft. It was a great combat flight sim.
This was one of those games that changed PC gaming. The addition of diplomacy and economics along with multiple paths to winning the game made this game complex and fun. It would sometimes take me a week or so to find out that I was going to loose. It has some educational aspects as well. The follow-on games Civilization II, Civilization III and Civilization IV added many new civilizations, Wonders and military units. It is still fun to fire the game up now and then and play. I class the Alpha Centuari with these games since it is also by Sid Meier and the game style and play is so similar.
I spent many hours fighting off waves of Soviet tanks. It was imperative that you learn to use terrain and cover to move and defend. You also had to learn to use artillery and helicopters to support your defense and offense. M1 Tank Platoon II expanded this game with somewhat better graphics and more updated vehicles and fire support.
I preordered this game since I had read that Tom Clancy and Larry Bond used scenario of Larry Bond's Harpoon board game as the basis for Red Storm Rising. This was a fantastic game that rewarded your study of the opponent's capabilities. I never seemed to win the first engagement and since the computer AI was rather single minded I was always able to win the next engagement since I knew how it would react. The follow-on game Harpoon II was a dramatic improvement. The performance was increased and the simulation more realistic since the power plants and weapons systems were running simultaneously. Harpoon III expanded on the game yet again with updated weapons systems, power plants, aircraft and ships. It is still for available online today. This game requires you to plan substantially. Because of the online availability of the unclassified capabilities of weapons, radars and power plants for ships, subs and aircraft the game was purchased by many different countries just for that information alone.
This game caught me by surprise. As a Tom Clancy fan I was interested in the subject and decided to get the game. What surprised me was the amount of planning that you really needed to do in order to be successful. It is great to be a shooter but it works much better when you coordinate your actions with other teams. There was an add-on Eagle Watch and follow-on game Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear with all of its add-ons. The SWAT games are very similar to this and followed Rainbow Six. They are also good games. The main think I like is the strategy and planning needed.
This game was one of my favorites. It has all the planning and strategy of other games with a unique story line to boot. The follow-on Operation Flashpoint: Resistance added few more missions with an additional story line. You got to use a number of different weapons, drive vehicles and use tanks, helicopters and aircraft. You are also able to command groups of troops and vehicles as you progress.
This is a shooter that is just pure fun. The spooky sound tracks and monsters make it all the more fun. The follow-on Doom II is more of the same with better graphics.
This is another shooter with what I consider a more interesting story line. There were add-ons for multiplayer capability and an additional story line from different perspective. Half-Life 2 was more of the same with improved graphics. For me these games have such smooth graphics that I tend to experience motion sickness when playing them. If I take some medication for the motion sickness then I can play for extended periods. I am just one of those people affected by that.
While I tend to gravitate toward other game genre this series was a fun and very interesting. I would have never been able to complete the games without the available how-to guides on the web back then. I have played all the games in this series and they are great.
I played a bit of Rogue and Hack on Unix systems and had a general interest the D&D games. The Diablo game was the game that made this more interesting and fun for me. The story line makes it something I wanted to play through. I picked up Diablo II when it came out and it added better graphics and a new story to play. These are enjoyable games.
This is a shooter that is just pure fun. The spooky sound tracks and monsters make it all the more fun. The follow-on Doom II is more of the same with better graphics.
This is another shooter with what I consider a more interesting story line. There were add-ons for multiplayer capability and an additional story line from different perspective. Half-Life 2 was more of the same with improved graphics. For me these games have such smooth graphics that I tend to experience motion sickness when playing them. If I take some medication for the motion sickness then I can play for extended periods. I am just one of those people affected by that.
I picked up XCOM: UFO Defense and enjoyed the plot as well as the strategy and economics that it had. The XCOM: Terror From The Deep follow-on was great fun and added better (spookier) soundtrack. The XCOM: Apocalypse was the last in the series I picked up and it was more of the same. As shown on the Wikipedia for this the spiritual follow-on is UFO: Aftermath. There are some follow-ons to that as well.
This game was a very nice change of pace for me. The add-ons really helped expand the play and the new version The Sims 2 is incredible. There are number of add-ons for this game that add objects and environments to interact in. I never seem to complete these games but they are sure fun to play.
This is another game that was spun off from a Tom Clancy series. It is actually quite fun and requires much more stealth to accomplish missions successfully. There are several follow-ons to this that keep it updated.
This is kind of a Sim City type game that takes place in ancient Egypt. It is actually quite fun and the process of building pyramids is quite interesting. I will actually fire it up from time to time. The graphics are a bit dated but not bad.
I picked this game up since there so many groups denouncing it. If it was bad to them then I wanted to be sure to support this company. This is an adult game that should not be played by kids. It is just fun to be the bad guy for a change. I also like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Again, an adult game that makes it fun to do some bad guy stuff.
This is a World War II game that lets you play as any country in the world at that time. It allows you to research various things that lead to better weapons and aircraft. Trade is essential since no one country has all the resources it requires. Naval support is generally essential to support your trade routes. A very complex game that I really enjoy.
Command & Conquer This is a classic game that I played occasionally. You are given units and must create base structures to support you in your mission. You can create more units as well as build defensive structures. There are a number of follow-ons to this series.This is a bit different in that this game you command various units to complete missions. You have different structures that you build that allow you create units to use in accomplishing your mission. Different structures allow you to create different units, repair units and support your units. I like this game and I liked the follow-on game called Act of War: High Treason
This is a real classic shooter where the tortured Max Payne seeks revenge against the druggies that killed his wife and child. It has film noir tone and introduces something called Bullet Time where time slows to the point where you can see the bullets. While you are also moving in slow motion you have greater speed than your opponent giving you an advantage. The follow-on Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne was also enjoyable.
I did not get the original Hitman game but I did get this one. It was a fun game with a unique story line that I liked. I only picked up the following Hitman: Blood Money and enjoyed this one more than the first. I especially liked operaesque music and dark tone to the game. I am not an opera fan but the music was well done and really added to the game. I will probably replay this again at some point as it was quite fun.
This is based on the true story of the 502nd PIR of the 101st Airborne Division. You area paratrooper dropped in Normandy on D-Day. This game does require you to use real tactics in order to do well. You are part of squad with 2 fire teams. You generally will use one team to fix the enemy with suppressing fire and use the other team to maneuver to flanking position to eliminate the opposition. The graphics are great and the developers worked with many of the original paratroopers for this game. It gives a lot of background on what these guys did. The follow-on Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood is different perspective and is worth playing.