Games of the Past

I looked at the games I’m looking forward to recently, so I thought I’d take a look at those games that, despite the years, I still look upon fondly. Some of these I still play, if it’s possible. Some are series and I will often play the latest installment. Others have been lost to the sands of time and exist just as memory.

Starflight

Released: 1991

System: Sega Genesis

This classic space sim game was my first adventure into the ability to save a game. The cartridge was extra large and had a small amount of writable memory on it. Before this, all the games I played were arcade style; no save points, 3 lives, you’re out. I played the hell out of this game when I was a kid. I thought it was the height of awesomeness that you had a space ship, could fly where ever you wanted, could upgrade the ship, and fight (or talk to) lots of alien races.

For such an old game, it had a lot of things you could do. Many of which don’t exist in present day games. You had to go and explore a great big galaxy. Each system had a different planetary set up. Some were empty, some had aliens in them. Scattered around the galaxy were artifacts and clues to the location of said artifacts. It was a true exploration game.

No game has come close to it’s open universe. Since movement was completely open, you could go anywhere you wanted. But if you crossed into space controlled by an alien species, they would confront you. You might be able to talk your way out or you might have to fight your way through them. You also had a crew that you could level up. Some aliens hated each other, though they all got along on your ship. But if you had certain species on board, their enemies would blow you the fuck up, no questions asked.

This game is what Star Trek Online should have been.

Escape Velocity

Release: 1996

System: Macintosh

Escape Velocity, and it’s two successors Override and Nova, were my first space desk top game. Being on a computer, the interface was much easier to use than Starflight. The graphics were also several steps up. Using a series of jump points rather than open galaxy flying, it lost some of the exploration factor that Starflight had, but it’s galaxy was still big enough to explore.

Unlike, Starflight, you could change ships. There were a variety of ships you could buy, ranging from shuttles to transports to fighters to military cruisers. The upgrade options were more varied as well. I played this game for years on the Mac. It was one of the few Mac games available at the time.

Star Wars: Rebellion

Release: 1998

System: PC

I discovered this game at a friends house. I still didn’t have a PC so was unable to play it myself. When I did eventually get one, I immediately picked up this game. I would then challenge my friend to an online game. That was a very novel concept at the time, though it wasn’t my first experience (Chess, 1993 with a 1,200 bit/s modem).

The fact that it was Star Wars was an important element for the game. It had a horrible user interface. But there was a lot of things you could do. Building fleets of starships, naming them, deploying them so you could catch the enemy, using diplomacy on planets, building colonies, discovering and training Jedi all were cool features. Having people that you could recruit that were from the Expanded Universe was a great feature. Being able to send them on missions and some of them being discovered to be Jedi. Chewbacca was once a Jedi for me. Sadly, he died shortly after that.

The tactical combat feature was another great aspect. Getting a 3D tactical map and being able to deploy your ships, and determine the battle strategy was great fun. It could have used some more variety in ship abilities and stats (such as the weak small ships being able to make strafing runs on the big ISD’s) but you still had options. Overwhelmed? Take out the Interdictor and hope you can get away. Plus, you could build a Death Star.

This is one of those games I really wished they would make an updated version of. It is no longer compatible with modern computers. Empire at War never clicked for me. It didn’t seem to really be the true spiritual successor to Rebellion. It was to much RTS, and not enough strategy.

Civilization

Release: 1991-2010

System: Mac/PC

Ah, Civilization, how I’ve loved these games. I’ve played every version and every expansion on the PC (excluding World). Everyone has it’s own unique flavor, while borrowing from the Civ games that came before. The great thing about Civ is every map is different, every game different. You can build a massive army, play defensively, build an economic or cultural powerhouse. Each provides a slightly different style. Though, I almost always resort to some form of warfare.

The AI has always been pretty stupid over all, though that doesn’t mean they’re a push over. Playing against people is not something I’ve done much, games take such a long time it’s hard to coordinate. Civ 5, with the hex and one tile per square rule, has done the best job with actually giving the AI some combat intelligence. You can’t just attack a weaker unit and then be protected by a stronger unit.

Starting a new game, finding a great place to build your colonies, rushing to secure good land and defend yourself from barbarians, always brings me back. I would always start a Civ game just around the time school would get out, shortly after the AC would go on continuously for the next five months. I’ve continued that tradition almost every year for almost 20 years now. It’s a part of summer starting.

So there’s my favorite games of the past. If you know someone with LucasArts, tell them to take Rebellion and just update it. Better graphics, better user interface, some more tactical options and character options, but the same basic game.