OurDecay's Home Page, Version 2.0 Beta

I don't know how many times I have read a review (especially user reviews) where I said: "you've gotta be KIDDING me! They think THIS is a good game?!?! I've always considered writing in to IGN, GamePro, etc. and dropping a serious history lesson about what games we've experienced. Our generation has a unique distinction - you and I are literally the first kids to grow up with computer games. Indeed, COMPUTERS themselves have grown up with us. We have run the gamut from C-64/Apple IIc all the way to today's machines, and played games on them all along the way. I am definitely part of a unique generation. A couple years older, and I would've settled for PONG, and been a teenager before Pac-Man and Space Invaders. A couple of years younger, and Iwould have grown up with Nintendo and started with IBM PCs. So I find my situation a very good position for reviewing games.

I will include a brief summary for now of each game. A key:

* = Actually defeated the game.

+ = Played an extreme amount.

$ = Noteworthy or groundbreaking.

# = STILL played on occasion.

(x.x) = IGN/PSM game rating if available, out of 10. PSM was very harsh towards games.

PLATFORM: Commodore-64

DESCRIPTION: A one-piece PC, featured 64 KB of memory and was used with televisions as the monitor. Required an external power supply and floppy (5-1/4") disk drive. Had a port in back for cartridge games. Only external user input device was joystick, limited to two-buttons. Predated the mouse. Primary advantage over competitors was that it was the first system to allow for COLOR graphics. To operate programs off floppy disks (it had no hard drive), required user to type LOAD "*", 8, 1 and press enter. Eventually evolved into the VIC-128 (twice the memory) and became the Amiga line of computers, which managed to survive for another five or so years. I actually STILL have the box for it. It was $99.99 at K-Mart where we got it. Heh.

GAMES (In no particular order):

1) Gauntlet* - This game was prone to freeze-ups and other technical difficulties, but I can assure you...this game can be beaten.

2) Rampage* - Rare two-player C64 game. Enormously fun.

3) AD&D: Pool of Radiance*+$ - The original "goldbox" game, produced by SSI. Was the first game to feature AD&D rules on a computer. Your view was a large map view for wilderness, a gridded first person view for dungeons, and an isometric view for battles. Holding very true to it's pencil-and-paper namesake, you were only level 6 when you beat the game. Allowed six people in your party.

4) Bard's Tale II* (1986) - Equally popular early RPG. Graphics were substandard to the game above, and battle sequences were text-based. Had some unique features. A difficult game, with some ridiculous maze-like dungeons.

5) Dr. J vs. Larry Bird* - One-on-one basketball, with a simple black background. Highlight of the game was when you dunked and broke the backboard, and a grumbling pixelated janitor would come out and sweep up the glass. The gameplay was all about driving past your guy and dunking - thus Dr. J was the player of choice.

6) 4th & Inches*+$ (1987) - This was a great football game by Accolade. Vastly superior to any other one on the market (perhaps until the introduction of Tecmo-Bowl for the Nintendo), it even had an extra disk that allowed you to customize your team and player names. Was a total blast, 11 on 11 football. The "Post" was an all-but-unstoppable play. When my C64's power supply blew up (literally) after three years, I was STILL playing this game.

7) Double Dribble* - Popular basketball game, which I didn't care for. Broke to a quasi-animated scene when you went up for dunks. Mediocre.

8) AD&D: Curse of the Azure Bonds* –

9) AD&D: Secret of the Silver Blades* -

10) Test Drive*+$ (1987) - By Accolade, who later was bought by Electronic Arts (EA). First game to attempt to simulate real cars. First game featured five cars (Porsche 911, Ferrari Testarossa, Lamborghini Countach, Lotus Esprit, and Chevy Corvette). Racing was done on open road, with cops and other traffic being your biggest worry.

11) Test Drive 2: The Duel* (1989) - The sequel only featured two cars, the Porsche 959 and Ferrari F40. Both are crazy fast. Graphics were slightly better than the first. Wasn't as good as the original.

12) Test Drive 3 to be continued

13) Zork: The Great Underground Empire (1982)* - The oldest old-school game. Completely text-based adventure game. One of the first computer games ever, it's contemporaries were M.U.L.E. and other very, very early games. This is the first game I ever played.

14) F-15 Strike Eagle -

15) Gunship –

16) Aztec Challenge –

17) Choplifter (1982) –

18) Commando –

19) Dig Dug (1982) –

20) Jet-Boys –

21) Jungle Hunt –

22) Ninja* –

23) Paper Boy –

24) Raid Over Moscow (1984)* –

25) Rambo First Blood Part II* -

26) Summer Games (1984)* -

27) Fast Break*+ (1988) – Accolade’s basketball offering. Very good stuff.

28) Pole Position (1984) – Had the CARTRIDGE. Very old-school.

PLATFORM: Apple II-series (C,E,GS)

DESCRIPTION: by Stephen

GAMES (in no particular order):

by Stephen S (Wings of Fury, Ultima I, II, III, IV, V, Phantasie, etc.)

PLATFORM: Nintendo (8-bit)

DESCRIPTION: The original home console system, which shipped with the wildly popular Super Mario Brothers. This game was part of our culture, and kids ate it up. Had several innovative accessories like the light gun (Duck Hunt), the robot, and pressure sensitive floor pads. This is the mother of all console systems.

GAMES (in no particular order):

1) Super Mario Brothers – Obviously. It would be simply impossible to have NEVER played this game, even once.

2) Metroid*+$ - I’ll let you describe this, Stephen. J

3) Legend of Zelda

4) Ikari Warriors –

5) Bionic Commando - Totally underrated game. The only time I ever played it was over a vacation to my aunt and uncle's in South Carolina a LONG time ago. I beat it while staying there. A whole bunch of fun.

PLATFORM: Sega Genesis (16-bit)

DESCRIPTION: Direct competitor to the 16-bit, or “Super” Nintendo. Focused on different, more mature, titles and sports game series. The most popular thing in college dorms in it’s day. Packaged with Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega’s answer to Mario. A little more cool and hip than the Nintendo.

GAMES (in no particular order):

1) Sonic the Hedgehog* –

2) Sonic the Hedgehog 2* –

3) Sonic the Hedgehog 3* -

4) Sonic Spinball* –

5) Bill Walsh College Football (1994) (EA Sports)* -

6) Bill Walsh NCAA Football 95 (EA Sports)* -

7) College Football USA ‘96 (EA Sports)* -

8) College Football USA ‘97 (EA Sports)* -

9) NBA Live 95 (EA Sports)* -

10) NBA Live 96 (EA Sports)* -

11) NBA Live 97 (EA Sports)* -

12) Street Fighter 2 Turbo* –

13) Mortal Kombat* –

14) Battle Toads* –

15) Clay Fighter –

16) Ecco the Dolphin* –

17) Ecco the Dolphin 2: Tides of Time* –

PLATFORM: Sega CD (16-bit)

DESCRIPTION: Along with the ill-fated 3DO, the first generation of systems which utilized CD format. It physically plugged into the bottom of the Sega Genesis system, and had a slide-out CD tray. Shipped with the spectacular Sewer Shark. It was the only game worth having for the system. Good thing I got it for free. (was $150 when it came out).

GAMES (in no particular order):

1) Sewer Shark* (1992) – One of the best games the system had to offer. Gameplay was literally FMV. Not sure how they did that.

2) Dragon’s Lair CD* (1993) – As beautiful and frustrating as the arcade original. No save game feature. Very frustrating to beat.

3) Rise of the Dragon* (1992) - Interactive film noir, had cursing, was rated “R”. Stylistically a precursor to Max Payne. A branching adventure game.

4) Bram Stoker’s Dracula* (1993) – Pretty but terrible game. Incredibly poor gameplay.

5) Ecco: The Tides of Time* (1994) – Essentially the same game as the Genesis title, with slightly better graphics. Okay.

6) Jurassic Park (1994) - Terribly hard game. Not worth the pretty graphics.

PLATFORM: Sony Playstation

DESCRIPTION: The most successful console system of all time. Perfected the CD format for consoles, and added the use of memory cards to save game files. The life span of this system is remarkable, particularly in techno-years. I first played the Playstation in 1994, and continued to buy and play games for it until 2001. Unbelievable. Home for some of the best games of all time - on any system.

GAMES (in no particular order):

1) Kileak: The DNA Imperative* (3.0) – First game released for the Playstation. First FPS for the system.

2) Battle Arena Toshinden*+$ (7.0) - Very early game that had TRUE 3D fighting. Gorgeous to look at (for the time), and addictive to play. Outstanding game.

3) Bust-a-Move 2: Arcade Edition*+$# (8.0) - Possibly one of the most addictive games of all time. Wasted a lot of hours in college playing it. Two player version was too cool.

4) Loaded* (7.5) – Extremely bloody and violent top-down shoot em’ up. Not the greatest game in the world.

5) Need for Speed* (7.0) -

6) Need for Speed II* (6.0) -

7) Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit* (8.0) -

8) Need for Speed IV* -

9) Gran Turismo* (9.5) -

10) Gran Turismo 2* -

11) Tomb Raider*+$ (9.3) -

12) Tomb Raider II* (8.0) -

13) Tomb Raider III* (8.0) -

14) Tomb Raider IV -

15) NCAA Football 98 (EA Sports)* (7.0) -

16) NCAA Football 99 (EA Sports)* (7.8) -

17) NCAA Football 2000 (EA Sports)* -

18) NCAA Football 2001 (EA Sports)* -

19) Destruction Derby (x.x) -

20) Destruction Derby 2 (7.2) -

21) Soul Blade (8.3) -

22) Tekken 2* (9.0) -

23) Tekken 3* (9.3) -

24) NBA Shootout 97 (EA Sports)* (9.0) -

25) NBA Shootout 98 (EA Sports)* (8.8) -

26) NBA Live 99 (EA Sports)* (9.0) -

27) Tobal No. 1* (8.7) -

28) Colony Wars (9.3) –

29) One* (5.0) –

30) Super Puzzle Fighter 2: Turbo* (9.0) -

31) Tetris Plus (6.0) –

32) Battle Arena Toshinden 2 (6.0) –

33) Contra: Legacy of War (x.x) –

34) Cyber-Sled (5.0) –

35) ESPN Extreme Games (5.0) –

36) Grand Tour Racing 98 (6.0) –

37) NFL Madden 98 (EA Sports) (7.0) –

38) Micro-Machines V3 (8.7) –

39) Motor Toon Grand Prix (x.x) –

40) NASCAR 98 (EA Sports) (8.0) -

41) NBA: In the Zone (5.0) –

42) Need for Speed: V-Rally (8.0) –

43) NFL Quarterback Club 97 (5.0) –

44) Parappa the Rapper (9.0) –

45) Resident Evil (8.7) –

46) Ridge Racer (7.5) –

47) Spider (6.0) –

48) Twisted Metal (7.0) –

49) WipeOut (8.0) –

50) Resident Evil: Director’s Cut (8.9) –

PLATFORM: Sega Dreamcast

DESCRIPTION: Ill-fated 32-bit system that preceded it’s competitors, the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube, by over a year. Had innovative dual-analog controllers that actually held your memory cards. The memory cards themselves were actually miniature games with liquid crystal displays, and displayed game information while you played a game on the system.

GAMES (in no particular order):

1) Sonic Adventure*+$ - Crazy-good graphics, extremely FAST action.

2) Soul Calibur*+$ - I miss this game.

3) NFL 2K1 (Sega Sports)*+$ - Hella-dope.

4) NBA 2K1 (Sega Sports)*+$ -

5) …

PLATFORM: Sony Playstation 2

DESCRIPTION: Successful sequel to the original Playstation. Has 32-bit processor. Currently most popular console system.

GAMES (in no particular order):

1) Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec*+$# - Technological bench-mark for industry. Graphics border on photo-realistic. Flagship game for the system.

2) NCAA Football 2002 (EA Sports)*+$# - The ultimate college football simulation. Probably logged more hours on this game than any other on this list.

3) Twisted Metal: Black –

4) SSX*+$# - Incredible snowboarding game.

5) Gauntlet: Dark Legacy – Fun multiplayer for up to four people.

6) Demolition Racer – Terrible. Very bad.

7) NBA 2002 (Sega Sports) –

8) NCAA Football 2003 (EA Sports) - The best series for console games gets better.

9) NCAA Football 2004 (EA Sports) - One last time, before I retire from console games for good.

PLATFORM: IBM-compatable PC (now simply "PC")

DESCRIPTION: Originally DOS-based, this is pretty much our current operating system. Indeed, you can still got a DOS Prompt on today's computers. MSDOS was a competitor/spin-off/rip-off of IBM's OS (and subsequent OS2) platforms. These PCs brought with them the mouse and the hard drive, as well as modular or replaceable parts to handle video, audio, storage memory, random access memory, and were the first with internal floppy drives. Also was the home of the first 3-1/2" disk, which is still used on occasion today. A system that has served well and proven adaptable to new technology and platforms (i.e Windows, Linux, etc.)

GAMES (old school ones first, followed by more current ones):

1) Wing Commander*+$ - When you compare it to its peers, this game was unbelievably ambitious. Chris Roberts became the second celebrity game designer at Origin, following the footsteps of Richard Garriot (Ultima series). This game just totally blew the lid off of what you expected a game to do, and included the first real interactive story, with tons of extras and perhaps the best cheesy documentation ever. It set the standard for SCI-FI games ever since. Brilliant.

2) Descent* - (shareware)

3) Doom*+$ -

4) Doom II*+ -

5) AD&D: Pools of Darkness* –

6) Simlar*+ - (shareware) amazing that I even remember this game's name!

7) Castle Wolfenstein 3D*+$ - (shareware)

8) Scorched Earth*+ - What was the game that was home of the "lil' tiny baby nukes" according to your ex-girlfriend?

9) Monday Night Football* -

10) Barbarian* - P.O.S. game, but we made lots of fun of it for the noises the guy made.

11) Civilization*+$ - one of the best games of all time

12) Space Hulk *+$ - Whatever the name of that hard-ass first person Warhammer 40K game was. You had to control 5 guys in 1st person, in real time. Nasty and wrong.

13) Warcraft – Excellent RTS game; one of the very first of its kind. The whole idea of having two races, with completely different units, was revolutionary.

14) Warcraft II - Addition of towers (multiple types), air units, and more specialization for units made this a great addition to the Warcraft series. Graphics were good for the time.

15) Wing Commander II –

16) Privateer - The Wing Commander spin off with mercenaries?

17) Mechwarrior –

18) Battletech: blah blah blah of the Cresent Moon –

19) Ultima Underworld – One of the first FPS games with free-look ability. Excellent magic system, and the ability to move freely between levels. (Did not close off levels you completed.)

20) Ultima Underworld II –

21) Virtual Pool

22) Air Jordan

23) Populus

24) Populus II

25) Wing Commander III

26) SimCity

27) SimCity 2000

28) SimAnt – Fun game, with ability to play a “campaign” where you could take over a whole house/yard. Not quite as complicated as the other Sim games; a multitude of challenges (spiders, lawn mowers, rain, electrical outlets) kept the game interesting. If this game had a down side, it was the fact that the computer invariably handled contested areas (areas where you and the other ant colony were fighting for control) much better than a player ever could. Could be played as a mostly strategic game(change breeding percentages and other major functions while letting the computer handle the micromanagement) or as a tactical game (controlling and guiding ants to specific tasks).

29) Heretic* -

30) Heroes of Might & Magic* -

31) Links* -

32) MDK* -

33) Myst* -

34) Lemmings* -

35) Lemmings 2 The Tribes* –

36) Out of this World* -

37) Prince of Persia* -

38) Corncob 3D* - (shareware)

39) AD&D: Eye of the Beholder*+$ -

40) Mega-Race* - Gorgeous rendered racing game that came with our first PC. Crippled by bugs and freeze-ups though. Had a cheesy FMV game show host.

41) …

GAMES (latest era):

FPS:

1) Quake III