Author Topic: Games that wowed you  (Read 23070 times)

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Offline Wobble73

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Re: Games that wowed you
Prince of Persia. I mean the original, yes I'm showing my age but...............the first time I played that game I was like "Wow, he actually moves like a human being!!!!!". Before then I was used sprites in computer games, blocky polygon based characters in games, but the Prince's movement in that games opened my eyes. Around the same time period, Castle Wolfenstein 3D. First 3D game FPS I ever laid my eyes on, was in love with FPS games from then on, followed quickly by DOOM! Boy these are old games!

Shortly afterwards I got into Carmageddon and then Carmageddon 2.

But these are all PC games, older games that wowed me, Attic Attac (on the Spectrum), Manic Miner (on the Spectrum) and Knightmare (IIR the name C, on the Commodore 64). I just loved the challenge of Manic Miner and the music. Attic Attac and Knightmare were fairly cool isometric games with a pretty cool atmosphere.

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Offline Rodo

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Re: Games that wowed you
Oh... deux ex... I think I have that cd around here somewhere... tnks for remainding me! :D
el hombre vicio...

 
Re: Games that wowed you
Hmmm...

Need for Speed 1 demo: That was the first video game I ever played. I remember back when I was like 5, sitting there going around that little figure 8 circuit, watching the other cars fall behind. I grew up playing need for speed, probably my favorite gaming series ever (until EA ****ed it up with all that sreeet racing ****).

Freespace 2: Came with my joystick. I remember, the first time I played, I didn't even know the story or what the hell I was doing. I just flew around, shot stuff, and managed to crash into the boadicea before my framerate dropped to about 2 and my computer crashed a couple minutes later. About a year later, I came back to it, got obsessed. Played the campaign about 20 times, then started playing the multiplayer missions. In the middle of the summer, my dad surprised me. I walked into the computer room, and there, in all it's glory, is an illegally (or whatever, everything else he gets that way is illegal) downloaded version, installing on the computer. I started playing around 6:30 PM, by the time I when to bed at 9, I had gotten halway through the chess missions. I snuck back downstairs at about 10:00, when up about an hour later to change my pants, and finished the campaign by midnight. Good times. That december, I joined HLP. Right after the next school year began, I got SCP. Damn, I wanna replay the campaign now. Currently stuck on A Game of TAG.

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator: The original. I used to play that for so long. I remember, getting the high score in dogfight mode, me in a P51 against a pair of respawning JU-87s. Would just wait for them to appear, then open up at range with my guns. Watch them fall a minute later.

Close Combat demos and Age of Empires II demo: They came packed with a bunch of other demos and the CFS game mentioned above. Once I got bored with CFS, I checked these out. Loved them.

Star Wars Galactic Battleground: my neighbours showed this game to me. I played that one demo mission for months, doing everything I could, even single handedly using darth vader to convert then entire rebel force from the first two bases and using it against the big one. My dad even played a bunch of multiplayer rounds with me. I asked my mom for it, gave her a month's worth of allowance, and one day I get home from school, she shows me this little, plain, gray box with a hole in the cover. Through that I could see the coverart for the edition that included the original and the expansion. That game is probably a close second for longest lasting game, with FS the first.
Sig nuked! New one coming soon!

 
Re: Games that wowed you
Freespace...ugh. Of course I loved it, but it's a shame how miserable my life was playing multiplayer. :rolleyes:
I remember this one time I shook off my friend in a one-on-one deathmatch using a corkscrew maneuver, which is essentially turning in one direction and then rolling in that direction at the same time. He kept following me and desperately trying to hit me for about 5-10 minutes straight, before finally hitting me with some Tempests and killing me. Me, being 10 years old, spent the next hour in the game *****ing to him about how bad of a player I was. :rolleyes:
Naturally the single player completely blew away a little kid like me at the time, and it's the only game in my life I ever drew pictures about (Except for maybe the mechwarrior 3 demo in like, grade 2). And I never draw. People can't even read my printing.
I mean, I had the freespace theme installed in my computer, a desktop, all the music playing constantly (as I didn't listen to any music at the time), the screensaver, even though it didn't work...if there was Freespace merchandise, I'd own it all. :P
Speaking of which...what happened to the HLP store??
Fun while it lasted.

Then bitter.

 

Offline colecampbell666

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Re: Games that wowed you
Still there. We need a link.
Gettin' back to dodgin' lasers.

 

Offline Roanoke

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Re: Games that wowed you
I suppose the intro from Quake 2 was my first actual pc wow moment. It had always been SNES, PS1 etc untill then.

  

Offline MP-Ryan

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Re: Games that wowed you
I have four:
1.  System Shock 2.  Still the bar by which I measure all FPS-RPG hybrids.
2.  Deus Ex, a close second.
3.  Oblivion.
4.  Half-Life 2

Those four were truly innovative and made you sit back and simply marvel at the game.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2009, 09:17:27 am by MP-Ryan »
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Offline mxlm

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Re: Games that wowed you
Half-Life 1/2: I don't really need to explain, do I?

Planescape: Torment: Best RPG evah? Probably.

Fallout 1/2: Atmosphere, man. Atmosphere.

Vampire: Bloodlines: See above.

KOTOR 2: First deconstruction of Star Wars I encountered. Frickin' great.

Wing Commander IV: Yeah, yeah, III was better. I didn't play three until a couple years later. So.

Jagged Alliance 2: Still break this out every couple years. Think I actually like it more than X-Com.

X-Com 1/3: Yes, they're great.

Alpha Centauri: Screw Civ, this is where it's at. Planet busters, man. Planet busters. Also sea colonies and proper social engineering and so on.

Call of Duty: Immersion, thy name is WW2 shooter. I played the demo alone a dozen times.

Warcraft II/Starcraft: Duh

Il-2: The high water mark of WW2 flight sims

Crimson Skies: dude, you get to shoot down zepplins. And fly through the Hollywood sign! And pick people up from speeding trains! It's great!
I will ask that you explain yourself. Please do so with the clear understanding that I may decide I am angry enough to destroy all of you and raze this sickening mausoleum of fraud down to the naked rock it stands on.

 
Re: Games that wowed you
The WIng Commander series. I actually bought 3 and 4 on the flea market for €1 a piece, and they are in a quite original state. Those movie's are awesome, and I haven't played WC4 yet, whose movies are.... even more awesome.

Almost everything from Valve... Do I need to explain myself?

Freespace 2, obviously.

NFS3.
Airfix Dogfighter
Age of Empires (2). Most played computer games in the family for over 6 years.

Fallout.

Mass effect.

 

Offline Cyker

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Re: Games that wowed you
Mmm...

Old sk00l (C64, Amiga): Creatures 2 and Mayhem in Monsterland, Ikari Warriors, Operation Wolf, UN Squadron, Shining Force 2, Stormlord, Hawkeye, R-Type, Armalyte, ?Iridium? Alpha, Blood Money, Forgotten Worlds, Xenon 2 Megablast.

PeeCee: Every LEC adventure game, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, XvT, XWA, Dark Forces, Mechwarrior 2 and 3, Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Diablo 1, Raptor, Jets'n'Guns, Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone, System Shock 1 & 2, Deus Ex 1, WH40k: DoW.


Just off the top of my head ;)

 
Re: Games that wowed you
Operation Wolf... I remember playing that, back when we had MAME working. That's the one about like the secret commando insertion, and you swing through the trees and stuff, right?
Sig nuked! New one coming soon!

 

Offline Vidmaster

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Re: Games that wowed you
the biggest whoa!!!! ever is still Call of Duty 4 for me. Those first moments when we approach the ship, the nuke scene, the Chernobyl field scene (I remember holding my breath during this one), ...    :)
Shortly followed by God of War, holy crap what a game. Or Resistance. First game I played on my Playstation 3 and it has one of the best introduction levels ever.
Crysis is another one. Mass Effect. Day of the Tentacle.
Nexus and Homeworld 2. Half-Life 2. Crimson Skies on PC. Man, everybody who played my FortuneHunters campaigns probably knows that those are a huge love letter to that game.
Riddick. The dream tutorial level just kicks so much ass.


Best game I have ever played is still very very difficult to determine. It's between Uncharted, Freespace 2 and Beyond Good & Evil.  If you just count time spend with it (replays  :lol:) it's of course Freespace 2. Although a very hard contender would be Freedom Force then.

Has anyone had luck running HW2 on Windows 7or Vista?

Perfectly working on Vista for me, although I heared some people had problems with the copy protection.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2009, 07:24:57 am by Vidmaster »
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Offline Sushi

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Re: Games that wowed you
One more huge one I missed:

Falcon 3.0. I breathed that game as a kid.

 

Offline Rodo

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Re: Games that wowed you
Bioshock? another one hehe.. so twisted and unexpected that I just wowed when I played it.
el hombre vicio...

 

Offline Angelus

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Re: Games that wowed you
I forgot to mention two games that wowed me bigtime:

GP2 - for me one of the best F1 simulations.
The game was awesome, although you needed a high-end system to run it with all details.
GP3 and 4 had only graphic improvements and different circuits.


Gothic - great story, cool quests, a large world, the freedom to explore it, the AI doesn't stand around and waits 'till you ask them something, they work, they eat, they fight, they sleep...and they have a plan :P...

The graphic isn't the best, but frak it, the game puts you under its spell and doesn't release you 'till the end.
Only KOTOR 1 was able to shove it from the throne of the best RPG ever, at least imo.

Gothic 2 was like KOTOR 2 in many aspects, Gothic 3 had good graphics but the rest...

I also have to say that all parts of Gothic are buggy as hell ( it's kinda a trademark of the developers  :P ), although Gothic 1 was perfectly playable with version 1.07.


If you have the chance, buy Gothic 1, it's totally worth it.

 

Offline Vidmaster

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Re: Games that wowed you
hey Ang, try the new Gothic 3 Enchanced Editon Community Patch. Now with new combat AI and complete rebalancing  :)
Really a playable, fun game now.

While Gothic 1 and 2 were great, both suffered from bad pacing and a general lack of tension. Also, the later chapters range from boring to terrible.
Gothic 1 still has a special place in my heart, especially it's first two chapters.


And I still think Kotor2 is superior to the first one, because this actually makes you care a lot more and raises so many ethical and philosophical questions AND it features Kreia, the most brilliant video game character to date.
Soon, the TSLRP will be finished and we can finally play this game the way it was meant to be.
Devoted member of the Official Karajorma Fan Club (Founded and Led by Mobius).

Does crazy Software Engineering for a living, until he finally musters the courage to start building games for real. Might never happen.

 
Re: Games that wowed you
Soon, the TSLRP will be finished and we can finally play this game the way it was meant to be.
Is that ST:R soon or Duke Nukem Forever soon?
17:37:02   Quanto: I want to have sexual intercourse with every space elf in existence
17:37:11   SpardaSon21: even the males?
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[21:51] <@Droid803> I now realize
[21:51] <@Droid803> this will be SLIIIIIGHTLY awkward
[21:51] <@Droid803> as this rich psychic girl will now be tsundere for a loli.
[21:51] <@Droid803> OH WELLL.

See what you're missing in #WoD and #Fsquest?

[07:57:32] <Caiaphas> inspired by HerraTohtori i built a supermaneuverable plane in ksp
[07:57:43] <Caiaphas> i just killed my pilots with a high-g maneuver
[07:58:19] <Caiaphas> apparently people can't take 20 gees for 5 continuous seconds
[08:00:11] <Caiaphas> the plane however performed admirably, and only crashed because it no longer had any guidance systems

 

Offline Angelus

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Re: Games that wowed you
hey Ang, try the new Gothic 3 Enchanced Editon Community Patch. Now with new combat AI and complete rebalancing  :)
Really a playable, fun game now.

While Gothic 1 and 2 were great, both suffered from bad pacing and a general lack of tension. Also, the later chapters range from boring to terrible.
Gothic 1 still has a special place in my heart, especially it's first two chapters.

I have to check out that patch, but i have only around 1GB of free diskspace atm, and G3 needs a tad bit more :sigh:

I never had the feeling that Gothic 1 suffered from bad pacing and lack of tension, unlike 2 and 3.
The only "boring" part is, imo, the first quests for the Sect, but towards the end it gets better again.
TES: Morrowind is a game that had a lot to offer, theoretically, but was boring. I played it only halfway through. I have both expansions, but never had the time to find out if they are better.


And I still think Kotor2 is superior to the first one, because this actually makes you care a lot more and raises so many ethical and philosophical questions...


I think that's one of the reasons why i don't like it that much.
For me, Star Wars was always good vs. bad, light vs. dark, not how many levels of grey life, the force or whatever has.
I don't mind philosophical/ ethical questions in games, but i don't want to much of 'em in a Star Wars title.

Imo, KOTOR 2 lacks the Star Wars "feeling", with all the bla-bla it reminds me more of a Trek game then Star Wars, i also have sometimes the feeling that parts of it are missing.
Like you watch a show on TV, and after the last commercial, the last few minutes are replaced with the beginning of the next episode. :wtf:

It's technically ( the different saber styles, the fact that it runs smoother on my PC then the first one - the Dantooine Level for instance )  better then the first one, but the story wents downhill really fast, although i have to admit that there are some good story-bits and quests.
The game had huge potential but it feels uncomplete AND much too philosophical, for a Star Wars game, IMO.


...AND it features Kreia, the most brilliant video game character to date.

I'm not sure what to think of her, she is a intruiging character, but still...

Soon, the TSLRP will be finished and we can finally play this game the way it was meant to be.

I'll definitively will check that out, it's not the first time a mod team turns a halfway decent game into a good/ great one.
Let's see how things turn out... :)

« Last Edit: June 04, 2009, 03:33:56 pm by Angelus »

 
Re: Games that wowed you
Kudos on the great thread. There's two games that come to mind immediately. I'll post more later! I love talking about my favorite games.

1) Wing Commander. The original. Oh glory! I was 9 years old, it was about 1996, I picked this up for the SNES. So inferior to the DOS version but I didn't know that. Man what an amazing game, immersive in ways that modern gaming has just utterly forgotten. The manual with its timeline, biographies, warship specs, dogfight tactics. The rec room where you meet your shipmates and ol' Shotglass, the briefing room with that music and the badass Colonel Halycon, and then those crazy dogfights with the amazing and beautiful graphics. Yes they're not technically impressive by 2009 standards but the graphics in the original two Wing Commander games hold up today for their aesthetic appeal. Those were some pretty, pretty games. Especially WC2 is pretty, I still enjoy looking at the explosions. The graphics in later games, ironically, don't hold up nearly as well bc they went for a more "realistic" look instead of hand drawn prettiness.

2) Final Fantasy VII. Graphics hold up really well, with the exception of the ugly character models but that can be overlooked. The soundtrack, characters, story... it was my first JRPG and I fondly remember it. FF7 is the reason why Tales of Vesperia is sitting in my 360 console right now, it started me off on RPGs. It's a really great game.

3) Nobody's mentioned Okami. Shame on all of you! Okami is so magical. As much as I love games it's so refreshing to play one that doesn't revolve around killing people or war or etc. I'm about 15 hours in last I left off and I just love this game. And it's GORGEOUS.

4) Rowan's Battle of Britain. OMFG has anyone else played this? Rowan was just the king of flight sims. IL-2 is cool and all but seriously. No, SERIOUSLY Rowan's Battle of Britain is the best WW2 flight sim ever made. It takes patience though because the flight model is brutally hard, I really had to spend freaking hours training myself to take off and land in those old planes. It's -so- hard to shoot anything down, as it should be, the AI is stunning. Not to mention the scale. During the latter stages of the campaign you're taking off with every fighter in the Royal Air Force behind you, 300+, and throwing yourselves into those massive formations of 1000+ Luftwaffe bombers and their fighter escorts that darken the skies. Oh if only this laptop could run the sequel... woe is me!



Kudos to the guy who mentioned T-72 Balkans on Fire. Amazing tank sim. Pretty much any game published by Battlefront is unrivaled in authenticity, immersion, and ridiculous fun. The Combat Mission series is my favorite series of strategy games of all time, bar none.

 

Offline Pred the Penguin

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Re: Games that wowed you
Age of Empired II: First game I played, definitely left an impression, and it's still very enjoyable

Freespace: That intro just did it for me.... "Wow"

Halo 1: First time I met the flood, I couldn't play for 2 weeks. XD

KotOR2: I have no idea how many times I played this game, very addicting. Shame that the end was just crap...