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. P R O M I N E N C E .
. PEEKABOOM's Q1 DEATHMATCH MAP ARCHIVE . |
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.Peek's Gaming Adventures.
| 3-9-99 |
It is me again, with a little rant/wrap-up of my entire gaming career. Yes, you heard me correctly. I'm going to, without searching for old game boxes and manuals, attempt to re-create my expericnce with PC games. What I've seen, what I've done, who I've fragged, and WTF I've done it. My-Life: Day One The first PC game which I ever purchased was the first Space Quest game from Sierra, running on an old Compaq SOB which I still have somewhere. Heh, to think, the hard drive upgrade I got for it was like 10 megs. Prior to that, it was floppy's all the way. Damn . . . what was a while ago. I remember I got a EGA card or something (with like an amazing 16 colors), and I loaded up Space Quest. I think I actually ran around the first spaceship getting killed by these alien dudes for about 6 months, before I realized what the hell the I could do (like type in commands). Pretty amazing stuff really. I think I must've played through that sucker about 100 times. It's 'THE' classic as far as I'm concerned. Well, I suppose it would make sense to continue with my Sierra track now . . . So I bought all the Space Quest games (well, up through five before they starting sucking). And in similar suit, all the King's Quest games (up to 6 or so before they started smelling like bad cheese), and ALL the Quest for Glory Games (err . . . Hero's Quest) including the recent 5th, which I'm still working on. Heh. Think about that. About 8-10 years of consistent story lines. Whow. I think that Quest For Glory IV is my favorite game to this day. It wasn't only the best of the series, but it had all the best elements of a good game; mystery, action, WTF, heroes, swords, lame humor and puns, quests, adventures, half-naked women, people named Igor, and even some scary voodoo gypsy vampire stuff. Damn, what a cool game . . . If you looking for the best series ever made, go find the Quest for Glory anthology or something. You can mail order them for like $10. Other kick ass adventure style games I've played have been the recent Blade Runner (which has a plot better than movie, go figure), the original Sierra "Gold Rush", and a bunch of others . . .
- What Peek's Playing now for the 'Adventurer' in him: Quest for Glory V! I also, throughout my career, had a foray into flight sims. I think the original Jet Fighter was the first, followed up by a F-19 Stealth sim, Gunship 2000, Falcon 3.0, and eventually ATF. I don't think I ever actually learned how to fly one of them. I never started a campaign, I only played the quick flights, and frankly I didn't really enjoy them.
Now Flying: Absolutely nothing exsisting on this planet. . . . I did play the hell out of the Wing Commander games (before they started sucking . . . and even when they did). The first game was awesome because it was a cool-ass (that's an official term BTW), flight sim in space. It was simple, had a great story, and was all around a solid game. The second actually out-did the first. It was the first game I played with digitized voices (when they worked), and it was stunning. The graphics were on the top of the advancement curve, and it was an excellent follow up. The third game (starring Mark 'skywalker' Hammell) was a cool game. It was a hog though. Four CD's and too much viedo. The gameplay was decent, but it lost the flair of the originals. So to was the fourth game, although it had even more repetive bad acting and less repetitive bad gameplay. Wing Commander became a lost cause after this. The Privateer games stunk, multi-player support never happened, and numerous other stupid game spin-offs caused me to leave the series behind. However, something I happened to buy on a whim turned into another one of my favorite games of all time as well . . . Descent: Freespace. I admit, I never played any of the descent games prior to this one (unless you count playing the original in a best buy as playing a game), as they never held my interest. Freespace was, and still is, an amazing game. The game is incredibly simple (once you get past all the controls) but there is an amazing well of depth to it. The mission variety is massive, and it managed to have a compelling story with out using excessive movies and 'choices'. The game plot came down to your performance during the missions, which were damn fun. Another thing about freespace, is that I've had the single most enjoyable multiplayer game of all time. I'm not talking about total multiplayer enjoyment across the board, but rather from one single game. I had a game with like 12 people in it, 6 on a side in vicious space combat. It was nuts! And I won it all for my team! Muah haha aha . . . there is an 'I' in tieam after all. Man . . . . quality game.
Now Playing: Freespace (still) I suppose I'll cover the 'real time strategy' games now. I've actually avoided the bulk of them, and limited myself to only the best. There are to many bad ones (actually to many in general) to waste more time with them. I suppose my general feeling to strategy games (well acutally only StarCraft) is that they are pansy games. WarCraft had a mission called "Quell the Peseant Uprising" which was a pinnacle point in my life. Man, Warcraft was a brutal and funny game . . . I got Command and Conquer and Red Alert (both of which stunk) and played them too much. I then came upon another favorite of mine . . . Total Annihilation (or T.A.). This game is where it is at. TA is not really a 'game' but rather a real-time strategy simulation. The scope and vastness of the game is incredible. Not to mention the level of destruction involved with a simple little battle. Nothing like building cloaked long rang cannon installations, bombarding shore lines with fleets of cruisers, or launching horrendeous arial strikes. This is a true mans game, and is frankly the only Real Time game I can handle anymore. StarCraft annoys the hell out of me . . . as do most people who avidly discuss and play that crap game. Yeah . . . I bought it. And yes I'll never forgive myself for wasting $50 bucks. Damn. On a final note, I think the most evil and sickeningly vile games of all time was the fabled Dungeon Keeper. This game is pure chaos and mayhem. It is madly funny, and just an excellent game all around. Go find it.
Now Causing Global Destruction with: Total Annihilation. And finnaly we come down to the only 'actual' worthy games out there. 3D Shooters. Let's see . . . Wolf 3D, Doom, Doom2, Quake, Quake2, Quake. Any questions? Seriously, I went right down the id route, playing multiplayer the entire way. I started mapping and doing level reviews when Doom2 was in full swing, and haven't stoped since. Along the way I've played Duke (which I didn't like), Shogo (flawed as hell), Unreal (sucked the phat one) and Half-Life (all that and more). Half-Life was an awesome game, but it won't last. There isn't the community basis that Quake has. The SP game was of course excellent, and I'm actually very fond of Deathmatch play. Half-Life DM has a nice quality to it. You can get really evil with trip bombs and charges, and the weapons are really great. The only requirement for a good Half-Life game is to increase the player move speed. Quake 2 was a bad game even though we all admit playing the hell out of it. The only thing I use it for is play Action Quake like a madman. On the other hand . . . Quake is perhaps the greatest game of all time in my book. It is the most manly game IMHO, and frankly nothing has topped it.
Now Fraggin Everyone In: Quake What else have I played? I think I was frustrated with all the MechWarrior games even though I really liked them. Oh, the first turn bassed game I've played is Alpha Centauri, and I really love that one. So without further adue . . . peek's gaming top 10 (current games mainly)
1) Quake ONE – 'Cause it is the best ever Well, I can't imagine how much I missed . . . but I'm sick of writing . . . so I'm going to leave you all now . . . I'll be seeing you on Qboard about this topic perhaps . . . Peekaboom
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