Mike’s Games Page

 

Here is a list of some of my favorite compuer/video games together with my comments on them. The list is not exhaustive, as there are some games whose names I no longer know. In particular, there are a couple of MUDS that I played extensively but whose names I no longer remember.

 

 

3D Pinball

This is one of the free games that came with Windows. It’s a fun little game, and the only pinball game whose ‘objective’ I ever figured out (beyond not losing the ball, that is).

 

7 Kingdoms (including Ancient Adversaries) and 7 Kingdoms 2

7 Kingdoms, together with its expansion, Ancient Adversaries, is a surprisingly good game from Trevor Chan. The sequel had more bells and whistles, and proper campaigns, but I felt that much of the charm of the original game was lost.

 

Adventure

This is the original text-based adventure game leading to many hours of wailing and gnashing with teeth, as my Aunt Kathy can attest to… My secondary school had a number of Amstrads which had this game, together with a couple of sequels. I only completed one of the sequels.

 

Alpha Centauri (including Alien Crossfire)

This is a turn based strategy game. It is very similar to the Civilization games, created by the same people, and arguably the best of those games. The storyline was cool, but the most fascinating features were the quotes that took place every time something significant happened. The quotes were a mixture of real-life quotes and in-game character quotes. I liked these quotes so much, that I started to write them on the board at the start of my classes. My favorite quote from AC is the “Habitation Dome” quote. “I sit in my cubicle here on the mother world. When I die, they will place my body in a box and dispose of it in the cold ground. And in all the million ages to come, I will never breathe or laugh or twitch again. So won’t you run and play with me here among the teeming mass of humanity? The universe has spared us this moment.” The in game movies are fabulous, although not really on a par with Blizzard in-game movies. My favorite faction: The Peacekeepers.

 

Bust-a-Move

This is the last arcade game that I completed. It’s a puzzle game, with lots of pretty colors.

 

Caesar III

This is an historical city building game. Although somewhat time consuming, there is a pretty good (if highly implausible) story line, and it is a lot of fun watching your city come to life. There is a Caesar II and a Caesar available, but they’re fairly hard to find now. I’ve never had an overwhelming desire to play them, but maybe one day I will for a sense of history.

 

Civilization, Civilization II, and Civilization III

I got hooked on Civilization while an undergraduate at Bath. I got in trouble once for playing Civ because I was wasting limited resources (there weren’t enough computers, and they were meant to be used for work). My prime motivation for getting a PC was so that I could play CivII. Sadly, CivIII just doesn’t seem to be as good. There are some cool aspects, but ultimately the game fails for me. Perhaps this is sour grapes, since I’ve singularly failed to master it. The Civ games have various scenarios in addition to the regular turn-based empire building game, but they’ve never done much for me.

 

Commander Keen: Episodes 1-6 and Keen Dreams

This is the best set of children’s games that I have ever come across. It is one of the few games that both my wife and I enjoy. Like many of the games on this list, I have played this one to death, and made extensive notes on it. I’ve only played the PC Commander Keen Games. I understand that there is a Sega Game but I’ve never played it. Episode 4 was probably the best in this series. Keens 4 through 6 also feature the game of Pong. I was able to beat the computer 21-0, so I guess I don’t really need to play Pong anymore.

 

Diablo and Diablo II (including Lord of Destruction)

A couple of great games from my favorite game company, Blizzard. I have never beaten Diablo II on Hell difficulty. This is also an incredibly time consuming game. My wife hates it because it is very loud. Favorite Character: Probably the Sorceress.

 

Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper II

I’ve completed, at least in some form, most of the PC games on this list. Dungeon Keeper is an exception, since I don’t own it, and hence I’ve never had a chance to get very far. Dungeon Keeper II, which I do own is a lot of fun. It’s nice to play the villains for a change. Evil is Good!

 

Ecco the Dolphin

This is a cute role-playing adventure for the Sega Genesis. Ecco must rescue his family. I never finished it. There was one level that was really frustrating and I eventually gave up. For that reason, I never started Ecco 2.

 

Ed Hunter

This is a game featuring the adventures of Eddie, the Iron Maiden mascot. It’s basically a first person shooter, one of my least favorite types of games, and this is a bad example of that particular genre. The best feature is the music, but sadly on any given level you pick one background track which then plays over and over again. This is particularly annoying if you pick Wrathchild since you will then get to hear Wrathchild at least five times in a row. I list this game since I have given it a chance, and since Maiden is my all time favorite band. However, this is definitely not one of my favorite games.

 

Freecell

This is a mindless game of solitaire, free with Windows. It keeps track of your winning percentage. As a professional mathematician, I feel that my long-term winning percentage should be in the nineties, but sadly it is only in the seventies.

 

Hearts

I was never much of a bridge player, so I had to settle for Hearts. This game is available free with Windows.

 

Heroes of Might and Magic IV (including the Gathering Storm and the Winds of War)

This game is a time consuming turn-based strategy game. I’ve completed the original campaigns and the Gathering Storm, but Winds of War is turning out to be pretty tough. There are a lot of problems with this game, notably its instability and the fact that there is little support for it since 3DO went bust. There are a number of Might and Magic Games out there of varying degrees of quality. I am most interested in the rest of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, notably III and its expansions. However, I’d like to finish IV first. I understand that HOMM V has come out. I think I’d rather finish the earlier games before I get to that one.

 

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

This is a wonderful text game based on the book of the same game. I needed a walkthrough for virtually the entire game, but since then I’ve really done my best not to ‘cheat’ on other games that I play.

 

Kingdom of Loathing

This is what I am currently playing. It’s a little online role-playing game available at www.kingdomofloathing.com. It tends to be a send-up of popular culture in general, and many role-playing games in particular. One gets a limited number of turns per day, which increases the addiction and the frustration. I have been a Turtle Tamer, a Seal Clubber, and now a Pastamancer.

 

King’s Quest

This is a little adventure game that I played for the PC with the assistance of my Mother. I recently finished it after having downloaded a free remake from Tierra. They also have a remake of Kings Quest 2 which I’ve also finished. Their remake of KQ2 is apparently quite different from the original. It has an expanded storyline and puzzles. I hugely enjoyed playing it. I've also played and finished a remake of KQ3.

 

Krusty’s Super Fun House

This is a Sega Genesis puzzle game featuring Krusty the Klown (from the Simpsons) getting some exercise. It’s quite fun and challenging. This came out back when the Simpsons were actually good. I note that the reviewers on Gamefaqs found it really hard. I guess it was, but I don’t think it was insurmountable. My wife also likes this game.

 

Lemmings

I only played this game over a couple of weeks while staying at a friend of my mother’s in Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany. However, I managed to finish it in that time. It’s a great game. I don’t remember which version I played.

 

Minesweeper

This is another free Windows game, and one that I spent a lot of time playing when my dock receiving work was slow. Current employers will be relieved to know that I no longer waste company time with this game.

 

Mortal Kombat 1, 2, and 3 (including Ultimate MK3)

This series was one of my better attempts at mastering a genuine video game. I was especially good at 2. This series was unaffectionately known as Mortal Wombat by its detractors, most of whom were Street Fighter players. I freely admit that Street Fighter required significantly more skill and had better game play. On the other hand, Mortal Kombat had a better (though still lame) storyline and cooler bells and whistles. My favorite MK character: Raiden. I did not get into MK4 because by the time it came out, I had a home computer and so I stopped going to arcades with any regularity.

 

Pang, Superpang, and Pang 3

The first video game that I ever completed was Superpang. It was a silly bubble bursting game. After Superpang I played Pang to death. I did not play Pang 3 as much for the same reason that I did not play MK4 as much. It was an arcade game, and I by and large had stopped playing arcade games by the time it came out.

 

Pharaoh (including Cleopatra)

This game is in some sense a sequel to Caesar III, although the story takes place earlier. The story is also rather more plausible. It fixed a lot of the issues that made game play irritating in Caesar III, notably roadblocks, and also introduced monument building. There was one map in Pharaoh, Iunet, which had a huge bug associated with it which made it a very difficult level to beat. Some people even thought it was impossible. I as unaware of the bug, since these days I strive very hard to figure out the levels by themselves, and so I spent a long time beating the level with the bug, only to find out afterwards that I should have downloaded a patch that would have fixed the bug. As a result, one of my few significant contributions to the gaming community was a walkthrough of Iunet with the bug. That walkthrough has been on GraniteQ’s website for several years now.

 

Prince of Persia

This is one of the first PC games that I finished. I think I played it at my Aunt Kathy’s house.

Riven

Ah- the game for non-gamers. My Uncle Bob and family bought me this game one year. The graphics are gorgeous and I have to admit that that alone makes it fun to play. However, the puzzles drive me mad. Please don’t get me Myst.

 

Shining in the Darkness

This is a Sega Genesis game owned by my wife. She never got into it, but it is probably my favorite of her Genesis games. It’s a cool turn-based role playing adventure.

 

Soldiers of Fortune

This is one of my wife’s better Sega Genesis games and one of the very few games that we both liked. You get to play mercenaries who can dodge bullets. The single player game is really a multi-player game with the computer always playing your partner. The Navvie was the easiest character to play with. Your NPC partner should probably be the Scientist.

 

Starcraft (including Brood War, Insurrection and Retribution)

This is yet another fabulous game from Blizzard. Insurrection and Retribution were authorized expansions which were created by non-Blizzard people. The contrast in quality is striking. Moreover, trying to shoehorn the Retribution plot into the main Starcraft storyline is an exercise in creative temporality. Starcraft is one of the very few multiplayer games that I’ve gained any proficiency in. My favorite race: The Protoss.

 

Tetris

I played a lot of the arcade version of this. As a mathematician, I should probably be a lot better at it than I am.

 

Warcraft, Warcraft II (including the Dark Portal), and Warcraft III (including the Frozen Throne)

This is probably my favorite series of games of all time. W2 and W3 are especially brilliant. One thing that Blizzard does well is tell stories with their games, both with the background and in game. Consistency is of course a recurring problem, but not as bad as in some other games. Moreover, the story line is very rich, and so it is easy for me to get immersed in the game world. It is my hope that Blizzard will come out with additional campaigns for W3 which use some of the new Heroes. My favorite character is probably Thrall. One day I will start playing World of Warcraft.

 

Zeus

Another city building game in the vain of Pharaoh and Caeser III. It's really fun. I've got one more campaign to go before I start to worry about the expansion.

Games Wish list

Poseidon (expansion for Zeus)

Heroes of Might and Magic III and its expansions Armageddon’s Blade and Shadow of Death

Caesar and Caesar II (?)