Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra :: Jumpman, Quake 3, Mario 64, ADOM, Nethack, M.U.L.E.

[quote name="mark"]There are few strategy games that I return to, aside from M.U.L.E.-- I tend to come back to action games more often. I think strategy games are more often imperfect, and constantly made obsolete or overtaken by the follow up in the series. I think Alpha Centauri and CIV 4 are my exceptions to this, but I haven't played AC in at least 5 years now. CIV 4 I still play from time-to-time, but the late game slog is exhausting. Francis Tresham's original board game was right to end in the late iron age. The best parts are over. Anyway: Jumpman for the C64 just feels right. The sounds are perfect, the collision detection is perfect, the game is incredibly fast. Quake 3/Quake Zero are incredibly good at what they set out to do. Every gun is balanced and needed for a specific problem. The level designs range between pretty good to excellent. The Team Arena expansion was pretty good, but not amazing. The Quake Zero web thing they did was really good as well. This is my favourite id game bar none. Mario 64 (DS version). I have collected every star a few times. The DS version is better, even with the non-analog control stick. ADOM is still probably the deepest, fairest of the big Roguelikes and I played it when it was very beta and half the dungeons hadn't been put in yet. Nethack isn't even a game that I think is very good anymore. But I've played this many many times, I understand it quite deeply, and I doubt more than half a dozen months ever go by before I play it again. Omega was actually my favourite RL, but it wasn't updated for years and has kind of a goofy endgame. M.U.L.E. -- my friends and I play this once a year. It holds up in how the different elements are balanced against each-other. The market system is a little primitive, but it rewards different strategies. In non-videogames: Chess is a game I suck at, but it is deep and engrossing. And everyone can at least play it. The 18xx railroad games. Hard economic games that you can play with 4 other people and find that 6 hours or so disappear. I love these. Advanced Squad Leader. I've played over a hundred scenarios. Crazy, immersive, storytelling combined with a deep tactical engine that rewards real skill and risk management.[/quote]