Games I'm Thankful for

It's just about that time of the year when many of us Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by visiting family, eating way too much food, and (if you're like me) sticking olives on your fingertips.  So in the spirit of this old tradition, here's a list of games I'm thankful for:

Delta Force: My first "tactical" shooter.  I got the demo for this game almost a month before it came out.  The graphics weren't that great, and the demo only had one mission, but you could use three different firing stances (standing, kneeling and prone) and the damage system was more realistic than the other shooters I had played up until then.  I must have played that mission 200 times.  The Delta Force series was pretty decent, but it turned into a gateway for much harder stuff: Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, to name a couple.

Aliens: the Computer Game: Not AVP, not one of the many console or arcade variants, but an old game from 1986.  I had been a fan of the movie (one of the best action/sci-fi movies ever made, imho) and since I was too poor to own a computer at the time, I played it at the local electronics store until the staff told me to move on.  This game had almost no graphics, but it had sounds straight from the movies.  The levels were pulled right from the movie - I especially liked the landing sequence where you took the controls of the dropship to insert the colonial marines. 

Crimson Skies: I like the fun parts of flying, like looping, strafing and bombing.  I don't like the tough parts, like trying to take off while compensating for your propeller's torque and crashing every time.  Crimson Skies was the epitome of the action-based flying games - all the fun, none of the annoying details.  Even typing this paragraph makes me want to dust this old classic off!

Space Flight: As I've mentioned many times, my first PC was a Commodore Vic-20.  I got a book called "Stimulating Simulations" for my birthday one year, and it was stuffed with simulation games programmed in basic.  The catch was that since they were printed in a book, I had to type in the game myself, and if you made any typos the game wouldn't run.  After lots of trial and error (and a tape deck disk drive) I was able to run this little gem.  It had no graphics, just a readout each turn of your current location, your speed and your heading.  Your goal was to take your ship from point A to point B by deciding how much thrust to use and at what angle.  Sound like fun?  Probably not, but it had me hooked!  I had a pilot's log to log my flight hours, a map to track my position, and I had even made a laminated security pass - I win tons of geek contests with that little story.

So there's a few old games I'm thankful for - what games would you put on your list?

Comments

[PELO]

Great post, will check back often.

[Rudedog]

I also started my online "hobby" with Delta Force. Larger then life maps, auto download of user created content, some of the best MP in the early days, voxels for win.
Novalogic is working on the next Delta Force, entitled, Angel Falls.

[Ryan Miller]

Black Hawk Down was decent, but Team Sabre made me sad. I hope Angel Falls steps up!