EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NKWnR.png)
Forward:
A couple of weeks ago while posting in a thread about a recent popular game (that shall remain nameless), I found myself getting very frustrated with the lack of perspective that many have on the current state of the PC gaming industry and certain older games. I’m not going to be so elitist to say that games used to be better, that’s entirely subjective. But there is a real lack of understanding concerning some issues. Over the past 15 years there has been a dramatic shift in this industry and the status of the game developers. To understand that change, you need context. And it was in this thought that I came to a terrifying realization: for anyone who was born after 1995 or only got into PC gaming within the last 6 years, they likely have little or no knowledge of a vast array of truly incredible games that shaped this industry and set standards for game design that remain today. Nor do they have a sense of what PC gaming was before WoW and before cross platform development became standard practice.
And with that, I realized it was up to me to educate you all with an epic multi part blog series. I’ve dug my 70 something back issues of PC gamer out of the closet, reached back into my memory, and even gone back and replayed some of these games. I want everyone to understand where this industry came from, the truly unrivaled games that it produced, and I’d like to try to explain a little something about how the industry has changed. This is not a chronological history, nor will it be about developers or technology. Rather, the first parts of this blog series will focus only on the games. They are after all the only thing that really matters.
But I don’t just want to tell you about the games. I want you to play these games. As such, I’ve included links to steam game pages where applicable as well as legal downloads for some games and listed some as Abandonware where applicable. If just one person goes back and plays one of these classic games because of this blog, all the work will be worthwhile. There are so many amazing games out there that have been completely forgotten, and they deserve to see the light of day again. Many of the screenshots featured here are from my own play-throughs, and while I haven’t played every game featured here, you better believe that every single one is on my personal list of games I need to get to. This series will be highly opinionated and editorialized in some parts, thus is why it’s a blog but consider yourself warned.
Now, with that out of the way sit back, get a mug of something tasty, and let’s take a ride into the past….
Table of Contents
The Early Days: 1991-1996 Part 1
Introduction
Wait, There’s Four X’s Now?
Sid Meier’s Civilization
Civilization II
Master of Orion
The id Revolution
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom & Doom II
Quake
The Duke
Duke Nukem 3D
FPSs Get Real
Star Wars: Dark Forces
MechWarrior II
Myst
The Modern RPG
The Ultima Series
The Elder Scrolls Series
+ Show Spoiler [Part 2 Contents] +
Seeing Sims
Sim City 2000
Sim Tower
Caesar II
The Real Time Strategy Game is Born
Dune II
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
Warcraft II
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
The Age of the Space Combat Sim
Wing Commander Series
Star Wars: Tie Fighter
Turn Based Strategy Gets Awesome
X-Com
Heroes of Might and MagicI
Honorable Mention
Dawn of a Golden Age: 1997-1999 Part 1
Coming Eventually!!!!
Coming Eventually!!!!
Introduction
Throughout the 90s, my family was not an internet family. We had a single computer hooked up with a very slow dialup connection; one of those deals where you only get X amount of bandwidth per month. And our bandwidth was very low. I wasn’t allowed to browse the internet, and I certainly wasn’t allowed to play games online. The only connections to the PC gaming world I had came either in the form of demo discs sent through the mail, word of mouth, or from game advertisements.
But at some point in the year 2000, I picked up my first copy of PC Gamer. I don’t remember why I bought it nor exactly when, but I am so grateful that I did. I opened that very first issue to find a magazine filled to the brim with great looking screenshots, articles, reviews, previews, opinion columns, tech articles, and everything in between. I was floored. Never before had I been connected to so many other people who shared the deep passion I had for PC gaming. The discs that came with the mag were even better; they gave me access to dozens of mods, features, demos, desktop wallpapers, and every other kind of goodie in between. The magazine prompted me to build my own PC, get into dozens of new games and genres, and entertained me to no end. I would develop an even bigger passion for this hobby, and that is above all else what I want to share with you all.
But PC gaming stretches back into the late 80s, even further if you consider the Commodore 64 a PC. So why start in 1991? Simple: it’s the year the first Civilization game came out. The first few years of the 90s saw some key games released that would permanently define major elements of their genre. Civilization in 1991 was one the very first games to accomplish this; it codified many elements of the 4x series that are still considered essential to modern games of the genre. It would be followed by Dune II and Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 which would do the same thing for the RTS and FPS genre, respectively. In many ways, modern PC gaming began in 1991, and so that’s where I’ve chosen to begin this series.
I didn’t know it in 2000, but I walked into what I now refer to as the Golden Age of PC gaming. A period roughly between 1997 and 2004 where everything in the industry went right and the result was some of the greatest games of all time. Technology, competition, brilliant game designers, and a deluge of developers who were still independent from publishers gave us some truly amazing games. But following 2004 something began to go wrong in the industry. The pages of PC gamer became thinner, the game review scores got drastically lower, and eventually the magazine went out of business altogether for a number of years. It was endemic of a larger issue with the industry.
Major game series crashed and burned due to god awful releases, major developers went under, and the MMO “revolution” didn’t turn out quite the way the industry expected. Today there are complaints that Blizzard’s games aren’t as good as their previous releases, general theories of recent “noobification” in gaming, and other rumblings about poor releases in the age of cross platform development. In the fifth and final segment of this blog series, I will explore the issue of what exactly happened to the gaming industry, why the “golden age” collapsed, and share some of my thoughts one what’s happened since 2004.
But we can’t jump into any of that without first giving it some context. So with that, let’s get started on the History of PC Gaming.
***A quick note about Abandonware: Abandonware is essentially a game for which the copy write is no longer actively enforced. In some cases this is because the copy write holder is no longer in business, or in other cases it’s because dozens of corporate mergers and splits have made it unclear who owns the copy write. In some cases, companies just no longer care as the game is not commercially viable. In any case, it’s a real legal grey area, and as such I won’t be linking to any downloads. You should be able to find some good sites out there dedicated to distribution of Abandonware; if not PM me and I can nudge you in the right direction.***
Wait, There’s Four X’s Now?
The Rise of the 4x Genre
The Rise of the 4x Genre
Sid Meier’s Civilization
Release: 1991 Developer: MicroProse Publisher: MicroProse Where to get it: Abandonware
It seems appropriate that we should start out with the inception of one of the longest lived and most popular PC series of all time. The Civilization series is responsible for millions of hours of lost sleep all, unfinished homework, and the collapse of social lives all over the globe. When this game first came out, gamers became engrossed in its amazing depth, it launched a revolution in the 4x genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) and its impact is still felt today.
Civilization was the work of now the infamous lead designer, Sid Meier and the game development studio that he co-founded, MicroProse. The game is actually a PC adaptation of a board game of the same name, and originally borrowed quite heavily from it. Meier even later admitted to copying much of the tech tree from the board game; ironic considering there are now several board games based on the video game. Anyway, PC technology at the time really held this game back unfortunately. The 16 color standard of EGA display standard meant the game would be capped at 16 civilizations, and cities and armies were little more than colored squares moving around a very low resolution world map.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pomVM.png)
From humble beginnings….
But it was in gameplay the Civilization really excelled, bringing a level of strategic depth to gaming that really hadn’t been seen before. Games could play out in any number of ways; the tech tree forced you to make difficult decisions about the direction of your civ. Would you go for a science victory or invest in military technology? You had to choose between building new cities and or military units, being friendly to your neighbors or crushing them with your might. This depth is what would propel Civilization to become one of the most beloved series in PC gaming history, and make Sid Meier a genius in the minds of his fans.
Interestingly, Civilization was the last game in the series in which Sid Meier was actually involved in development, despite the fact that every subsequent game bears his name in the title. But enough about this game, let’s talk about the real gem:
Civilization II
Release: 1996 Developer: MicroProse Publisher: MicroProse Where to get it: Abandonware
Civilization II is really where the Civ series came into its own, and some still argue that it’s the best game in the series. There are probably tens of millions of collective man hours sunk into this game over the years, and with good reason. Civ got a massive facelift with this sequel, and so did the gameplay. Often ranked in the top 10 PC games of all time, Civ II combined a great format with perfect execution to deliver a fun game with infinite dept.
Civ II changed the game perspective from top down to isometric, and greatly improved unit models. City and army models actually appear on the world map instead of the colored markers of the previous game. Civ II included a number of new gameplay mechanics such as hit points and unit strength which dramatically changed combat and added additional strategic depth. It also included seven new civilizations and new units such as the stealth bomber. Though the ultimate aim of the game remained the same; send a ship to colonize Alpha Centari, the science victory, or crush your enemies for a military victory (sorry, no diplomatic victory yet). Though most importantly, all the same strategic depth of that made first game is still here.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eygDX.png)
Civ II would get major graphical upgrades in addition
to game play changes.
Civ II was actually one of the very first big games to be designed for Windows and not DOS, which was something that was thought to be a big risk at the time. But the taking advantage of the capabilities of Windows proved to be a brilliant move, one of many the development team would make. Bryan Reynolds would later recount some of the difficulties the dev team faced making a sequel to such an iconic game. “The trick was to [innovate] without spoiling the things that make Civ cool”. “Management was baffled by it because you couldn’t point your finger to one key feature and say ‘this is the new cool thing that will make this game successful’: it was lots of little things working together.”
Civ II, was rereleased in 1997 with an included a multiplayer feature, up to seven players online which, as with other games at the time which offered online multiplayer, would add an entire new dimension to the games success. There would also be two additional expansion packs which added a number of new scenarios and a scenario editor.
In all, Civilization 2 was a brilliantly designed game that consumed endless hours of so many lives. It set a new standard for the 4X genre, and will forever be remember as on the greatest PC games of all time. Though there has been unending controversy over subsequent Civ games and some of the changes they have made, the truth is that this whole series is fantastic. Whether you like the gameplay changes in 3 through 5 or not, Fraxis has done a wonderful job keeping Civilization close to what made the original game so awesome.
Master of Orion
Release: 1993 Developer: Simtex Publisher: MicroProse Where to get it: Abandonware
Master of Orion took the Civ concept, launched it into space, and kicked it into overdrive. The game is often considered the most influential 4x game of all time that served to really popularize the genre. After the third game in the series flopped due to terrible design flaws, this series has been all but forgotten, which is a huge tragedy. MOO (yes that’s what people call it) modernized the strategy game scene and brought a level of depth to the 4x genre that would inspire the design of so many games including Civ II.
In MOO, players start out with a single home system, and from there begin to explore the galaxy; colonizing new planets, meeting alien races, and even fights wars. There’s a rather complex tech tree, economic system, and a wide array of diplomatic options. Though there are only two victory conditions: conquer the galaxy or be elected the supreme leader of the galaxy.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/LN7ls.png)
Master of Orion
The first and second Master of Orion games were the product of Microprose, the developer behind the first two Civ games. MOO shared many characteristics with the Civ games, but added immense depth. It stands today as a shining example of a 4x game done perfectly, and has become something of an icon for the genre.
Two follow up games were released, the second, added even more depth and micromanagement options that some fans of the first game have come to enjoy, though others argue that the original game provided the better balance. The third game in the series was considered by most to be a confusing failure.
I wish I had more time and space to go into this game further, it really does have an incredible depth to it. I may just need to do a follow up blog dedicated specifically to Master of Orion, it certainly deserves it.
The id Revolution
How id Software Permanently Changed the FPS World
How id Software Permanently Changed the FPS World
Wolfenstein 3D
Release: 1992 Developer: id Software Publisher: Apogee Software Where to get it: Click Here, Free Browser Version!!
Wolfenstein 3D was not the first FPS game, though it was arguable the first modern one. Wolfenstein 3D established the basic “shoot and run” style that would become the staple of the genre for years to come, and would inspire countless legendary games. Though overshadowed by its younger brother Doom, the Doom series owes everything it was and is to Wolfenstein 3D. This game was an important milestone for PC gaming, and would set the stage for a decade of amazing titles.
Wolfenstein 3D was by no means id’s first game; in fact it wasn’t even their first FPS. Wolfenstein 3D was a first person remake of an earlier id game, Castle Wolfenstein, which was a typical arcade style side scrolling shooter/platforming game. Id decided to remake Wolfenstein as a ‘3D’ FPS using a revamped version of an engine from one of their earlier games, Catacomb 3D. The engine had some major limitations, including lacking the ability to texture the floor and ceiling of levels and a requirement that all walls were perfectly straight. The technology was primitive, but it managed to accomplish something profound.
Wolfenstein was divided into 3 Episodes, each with multiple levels. Episode 1 starts with protagonist character B.J. Blazkowicz breaking out of a Nazi dungeon in a German castle called Wolfenstein. You fight your way through SS troops and Nazi regulars, slowly making your way up through the castle to ultimately fight the boss prison guard and make your way to freedom. The subsequent Episodes follow the progress of B.J. as he discovers and destroys and army of undead Nazis in Episode 2, and eventually even fights and kills Hitler at the end of episode 3.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/G69nx.png)
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Left: Nazi’s about to die!! Right: Undead Nazi Zombie from episode 2. Yes, that’s a gun in his chest. These guys suck/
Despite the game being 20 years old, it has all the aspects of a modern FPS; a HUD, a health bar, and four different weapons that can be easily switched between in combat. Health is restored via pickups, and ammo is found stashed throughout the game; often times both can be found in dozens of secrets areas through each episode. There are also ‘treasure’ pickups which grant points, and every 40,000 points grants a 1-up. At the end of each level, the game reveals the percentage of secrets and Nazi treasure found, challenging you to go back and find it all. The core gameplay was pretty simple, find your way through each maze-like level, shootin’ Nazis as you go, which as it turns out is wicked fun. The AI isn’t bad either, enemies will follow you, take alternate paths, and even come running when they hear gun fire. The graphics may be old, but this game’s basic format is indistinguishable from the modern FPS; an amazing testament to the influence id software had in developing the genre.
At some point in the mid-90s my mother’s work place was upgrading their computers and offered the old ones to their employees for free, which got me my first PC that I could truly call my own. It was a POS: no graphics accelerator, something like 10k RAM, and 10MB hard drive. It couldn’t do much, but it could run DOS games, which was enough for me. I remember playing through the first episode of this game; the first time getting the submachine gun was like Christmas come early. The POS PC had no audio device, so all of the games sounds routed through the PC speaker as a myriad of beeps—but I didn’t care. I was playing a sweet game on my very own PC, how could I not love it? The game’s design was great. As if shooting Nazi’s wasn’t fun enough by itself, id went the extra step to create a number of tactically unique situations that actually required some thought to tackle. Hidden caches of ammo and health also meant you were always on the lookout for secret panels and doors. This game will always have a spot in my heart, it’s just too damn awesome not to.
Wolfenstein suffered mostly from limitations of the game engine and technology. The entire game used the same textures repetitively and almost every enemy looked the same. By the end of even Episode 1 this game is begins to get terribly repetitive. There was only so much id could do with the same handful of textures and cubic rooms the engine allowed. But id should be lauded for doing such an amazing job with what they did have. It took real ingenuity to make such a great game out of the Catacomb 3D engine, and id certainly made one hell of a game.
Wolfenstein’s legacy will forever be tied to Doom, but its influence goes so much further than that. Virtually every FPS ever made owes its core design elements to this game: it codified a genre. While it wasn’t the first to use elements like the HUD, it certainly standardized them. The run and gun style and use of tactics would become a model that would propel the FPS genre to amazing heights. Doom may get the credit, but it all started with Wolfenstein.
Wolfenstein 3D was followed up with an expansion pack shortly after released called "The Nocturnal Missions", which added a few new enemies and environments in three additional episodes. Id would also release a prequel called Spear of Destiny in the same year, though it was essentially yet more episodes of Wolfenstein, it provided more content for anyone who couldn’t get enough. Wolfenstein was also remade in 2001 by id as Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which sought to give a modern update to the series. The game was well designed and great fun, though never had the type of influence that the original game did; though I’m not sure any game ever will again.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MYiWV.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6TjSM.png)
Left: Blastin’ Nazi Zombies with a Gatling gun, aw yea Right: New Unit model and different textures from the expansion
Wolfenstein 3D has actually been released as a free to play game. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the game Bethesda, who now owns id, even released a browser based version of the game which you can play for free HereGogo do it now!!!!! Actually, read the rest of my blog then play it
It actually manages to pretty faithfully recreate the original game. Id also released both the original game and the Nocturnal Missions expansion for free in 2001, so if you feel like getting DosBox running, that’s a sure download to track down as well.There’s also a number of fan made remakes including a project that has recreated the original Wolfenstein with voxels called Voxelstein 3D, and a complete conversion called Wolfenstein Reloaded. But of course, neither will ever be as good as the original game!
Doom & Doom II
What’s there to say about the Doom Series which hasn’t already been said a thousand times? There aren’t words in the English language to accurately describe what Doom did for PC gaming, nor for the extreme fun of blasting demons with a rocket launcher. It is without a doubt, the most influential and important PC game ever. Period. Doom wasn’t just supremely fun; its engine represented a technological breakthrough that would bring the FPS genre out of the middle ages and into the modern era. There was no complex story line, no complex puzzles, just you, a bunch of demons, and lots of guns. I find myself entirely inadequate to write about this game and neither is there enough space here to say everything that ought to be said about Doom; but I’m going to try nonetheless.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wUnuB.png)
Doom Baby!
The original Doom game was set on one of the moons of Mars; the main character is a Space Marine working for the Union Aerospace Corporation. They’re a mining company who’s experimenting with teleportation technology, until one day it all goes horribly bad and big nasties start pouring out of the portals. (Sounds vaguely similar to another popular FPS, doesn’t it? hmmmm…) Your Marine buddies end up dead, and you are the last man standing, literally. Being a badass, you are tasked with killing the demons and cleaning up the mess.
The gameplay at its core was very similar to Wolfenstein 3D--but on steroids. The basic run and gun style and search for hidden goodies maintained the same, but Id’s new Doom engine allowed the designers to do so much more: height differences, full surface texturing, and varying light levels. No one had seen an FPS as advanced as Doom, and mixed with a vivid art the visuals blew people away in 1993. The game also had stereo sound and a dynamic moving environment that added to the dynamic gameplay.
Perhaps even more importantly Doom included a multiplayer feature, large games via LAN or 1v1 over modem or null modem cable. Doom was not the first game with a multiplayer deathmatch feature (in fact that was done in the 70s) but the selection of weapons and the advanced game engine made for a potent combination. Doom really popularized multiplayer for the first time, and laid the groundwork for an entire online subculture. Doom multiplayer became so popular, that many companies and universities had to institute “no doom” policies as their networks began being cluttered by traffic from Doom deathmatches. Though in some cases this policy had the opposite effect. As PC Gamer’s Chuck Osbourn wrote in 2004 that seeing “No Doom” written on the University library’s chalk board only encouraged him to play the game. “What’s Doom? I thought to myself. If they don’t want me playing it, I’ve gotta find a copy”.
The Doom engine made use of some clever tricks to run on the sluggish home and corporate computers of the early 90s. Doom’s levels aren’t true 3D, but rather 2 dimensional environments with height data stored separately, which by some magic of computer science that I don’t really understand, allowed environments to be rendered much quicker. It’s a great example of how innovative Doom really was. In addition, the game used modular data files which made modding the game much simpler. And mod the fans did, dozens of them; everything from new monsters to complete transformations, adding a ton of replayability to an already great game. While mods were available for previous games such as Wolfenstein, it was Doom that give permanent rise the PC gaming mod community; yet another reason why this game is so damn important.
The original Doom was not sold in stores. Rather a number of levels were released as shareware (similar to today’s demos) and players could purchase the full game through mail order. Though after the runway success of the first, Doom II would be sold via retail stores when it was released the following year. The Ultimate Doom was released in 1995; it was essentially the retail version of Doom which added a fourth episode and Master Levels for Doom II in 1995 and Final Doom in 1996 were expansion packs that added additional levels and episodes to the Doom series. (Though both could run standalone, without the original games) In addition to this, literally dozens of community made Doom mods (known as WADs) were released, even more after the Doom source code was released in 1997.
Development of Doom actually began while Wolfenstein: Spear of Destiny was still in production. John Carmack began working on a new 3D engine that would surpass everything that had been done before. But the revolutionary game didn’t yet have a name. Though a lot of ideas were thrown around, nothing stuck. The story goes that one lead programmer John Carmack was watching the movie The Color of Money. There’s a scene where Tom Cruise places his pool cue case on the table and begins to open it, someone asks him “What’s in the case?” Tom Cruise responds “Doom”. John Carmack saw the scene and thought it would be cool to open a laptop and have someone say, what’s in that, and be able to respond “Doom”. Either way, id’s new game had its name.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/mblaF.png)
Shootin’ Demons is all in a day’s work for an ass kicking space marine
It’s hard to summarize the legacy of Doom. People have literally written entire books about the game’s impact on PC gaming. It’s hard to play the game today and understand what it meant for the fledgling industry in 1993. It’s been estimated that in 1995 Doom was installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft’s new Windows 95 operating system; something that prompted Bill Gates to do a video of himself superimposed into a game of Doom to promote Windows as a gaming platform. PC Gamer’s very first issue contained an article from then editor in chief Matt Firme’s entitled “Doom, Why it Took Over My Life”; something that was reflected in the sentiments of hundreds of thousands.
Today we have our choice of any number of online FPSs such as Counter Strike, UT, Quake, etc. etc. But in 1993, there was only Doom. And Doom was the first game to really put together all the elements of the modern FPS including the critical multiplayer component. Doom would be the major influence in the development of Quake, UT, Half-Life, and countless others. Doom popularized PC gaming beyond anything that had been seen before; people who had never played a PC game were suddenly addicted to Doom. For years after Doom’s release, all FPSs were generally colloquially referred to as “doom clones”. Simply put, Doom is responsible for everything that would follow, and is the single most important PC game ever.
Quake
Release: 1996 Developer: id Software Publisher: GT Interactive Where to get it: Steam
After Doom, id wasn’t quite done revolutionizing the FPS genre. They would have one last big revelation for the PC gaming world: Quake. Quake represented the FPS in its final form, the form we know today. It has great graphics, great game play, and a legacy that has shaken the foundations of the PC gaming world.
I have to admit, I have a terrible, horrible, dark secret to share with all of you. I’ve never played any of the Quake games. I know, I know, how is it that someone as passionate about PC gaming never played the Quake games? Well, in the years following Doom the industry quickly was overwhelmed with amazing FPSs, I got caught up in the Unreal series and Half-Life and a half a dozen other amazing games. It pains me to no end that this game box isn’t among the other legendary titles on my shelf, and is definitely on my crazy long lists of games to play at some point.
Having never played it, I haven’t got a ton to say about the game. But it was hugely influential at the time. Whereas Doom only offered 1v1 deathmatches over the internet, Quake would allow full-fledged FPS multiplayer via the internet for the first time. Something that would not only make the game wildly popular, but damn near break the internet. Quake created the first truly competitive FPS multiplayer, and would help create a professional scene for the genre, and was also responsible for the emergence of machinima.
The Quake Engine would also have a huge impact on the gaming world. Being one of the most powerful FPS engines ever made, it would allow id to do things no other game had done before, and create some truly stunning visuals. The quake engine source code was also released as open source in 1999, leading to dozens upon dozens of derivative engines based on the quake engine being made. This was is influential piece of software.
Simply put, Quake was hugely important to the development of the FPS genre and PC gaming. So be like me, and put it on your list of games to play (eventually).
Quake Gameplay
The Duke
”Come get some!”
”Come get some!”
Duke Nukem 3D
Release: 1996 Developer: 3D Realms Publisher: GT Interactive Where to get it: GOG
This game definitely gets its own category. Duke Nuken 3D took a genre of mindless shoot ‘em ups and added a sharp wit, great attitude, and loads of inappropriate humor. But it also had great action, tons of alien blasting fun, and featured expansive and gritty urban environments that hadn’t really been seen before. DN does just about everything right, and has become an industry icon for a good reason.
When this game was released in 1996, I was a mere 8 years old, meaning that there was exactly zero chance my parents were going to let me play it. Oh to have been born a few years earlier! Though somehow I think I wasn’t the only one to miss out on the game the first time around. Boobalishish chicks and inappropriate humor are everywhere in this game, which stirred some pretty serious controversy at the time. Wal-Mart even began to start selling a censored version of the game in the US , and both Germany and Brazil placed permanent bans on the game. Of course as with all controversy, the furor just made people even more curious about the game; something I think probably excelled this game’s popularity even further beyond what it otherwise would have been. Government regulators never seem to be able to figure that one out. Then again, censorship is and has always been about making people feel better while accomplishing absolutely nothing.
The premise of the game is pretty simple. Aliens are attacking Earth and stealing its women and you, as Duke Nukem, need to save the world… and its hot women. So off you go, blasting away aliens throughout Los Angeles and aboard Alien ships, occasionally encountering bosses and blasting them away too. Hell, just blast everyone, you’re friggin’ Duke Nukem! All the while Duke is of course saying hilarious and awesome quips.
Despite looking like a standard Doom clone, Duke Nukem actually offered some pretty unique gameplay. Fighting through sprawling urban levels was something that unparalleled in an FPS game before, and served to give DN a great gritty feel. And of course, you just happen to be fighting through Los Angeles’s red light district. Blasting aliens in strip clubs and porno stores, can a game get much more awesome? Levels also featured plentiful secret areas and shortcuts for the avid explorer, giving the game a wonderful non-linear setup that really served to differential DN from games like Doom and Wolfenstein. There were also plenty of strippers, because, well shouldn’t every game should have more strippers? But its Duke’s ass kicking attitude and tendency for awesome quips is really what makes this game great.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wYfwW.png)
Duke shootin’ aliens in a porno theater because… well that’s what Duke does!
The legacy of DN 3D will always be mixed. On one hand, DN added a level of attitude and awesomeness that was severely lacking in the genre, and created a supremely fun game that would set new expectations for the fledgling FPS world. But on the other hand, the games over-the-top inappropriateness gave regulators and family-advocate groups grounds to attack the industry like never before--something they had been wringing their hands to do since Doom’s release. Though one could make the strong argument that DN would soften the impact of later games like GTA3, it’s hard to say. But for good or for worse, along with Doom, family advocacy groups would for a decade or more use it as an example to heavily regulate the content of the industry.
The story of the game’s direct sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, is a strange tale that most of us are now far too aware of. Duke Nukem Forever started development in 1996, just after release of DN 3D. But due to gross mismanagement by 3D realms, the titled ended up massively over budget and behind schedule; the project would go through at least 3 different game engines, multiple development teams, and several designs before finally being canceled after running up an estimated $20 million in costs. The project was eventually saved by a number of ex-3D Realms employees who together formed Triptych Games in 2010 and contracted with Gearbox. The game was finally released in 2011, after 15 years of development.
Unfortunately, the 15 year development cycle didn’t make the game any better. What fans received bared little resemblance to the ass kicking free form shoot ‘em up they had grown to love. DN Forever is a grossly linear game, bordering on having to be called a rail shooter. DN’s gameplay is uninspired, and the long driving sequences featuring the Duke truck sound just as boring as they really are. The game certainly looks like it was developed by 5 different dev teams and sewed together, and virtually everything that was great about the original Duke is gone or poorly executed.
There’s something more though: Duke’s attitude and wit falls decided flat in DN Forever. I don’t think this is fault of the devs, but rather a sign of the times. Duke just doesn’t work in 2012, his sexist and hardcore attitude were awesome when seen for the first time. But since 1996, the world has played games like Postal 2 and GTA 3 which have taken away virtually all of Duke’s shock, and reduced his inappropriateness from shrieking outrage to a tepid affront. Duke belongs in the 90s, the era of Wayne’s World, Weird Al, and late night TV that was actually funny. Let’s leave him there, where he can bask in his total and complete boob filled glory.
FPSs Get Real
FPS Games Go Mainstream
FPS Games Go Mainstream
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Release: 1996 Developer: Lucas Arts Publisher: Lucas Arts Where to get it: Steam
The Star Wars Dark Forces Series found itself in the #5 spot when PC gamer rated the 50 best PC games of all time in 2001, a spot it certainly deserved. Dark forces took the fledgling FPS genre from Nazi prisons and thrust it into the vast Star Wars universe, complete with a great story and smooth gameplay. It also had great sound and phenomenal graphics for the time. Dark forces would go on to be one of the highest selling PC games of the 90s with almost 1 million copies sold, and has more than secured itself a place in PC gaming history.
Dark Forces follows the actions of one Kyle Katarn, a mercenary who once worked for the Empire but is now in the employ of the Rebel Alliance. He (meaning you) is tasked with investigating the origin of a new type of imperial super soldier, known as the Dark Trooper. The dark troopers are the doing of one General Rom Mohc, who’s directly under the command of the evil Lord Vader himself. The game takes you all over the Star Wars universe to track down and destroy the dark trooper project, and by doing so ensuring the success of the rebellion. There is also a pretty involved sub plot about Kyle’s origins, his past, and his work for the empire. The game has some pretty inventive writing, and tells the story partly through some high quality cut scenes.
The gameplay is standard FPS fair, though the new Jedi engine, as it was called, had some big improvements over previous games. Chiefly among them was the player’s ability to look up and down (something missing from the doom series), as well as the ability to duck and jump. Things we may consider standards in the genre today, but the Jedi engine was one of the first that allowed players to really move about the game world. Enemies are a great mix of standard Star Wars villains including storm troopers and imperial soldiers and officers. Dark Forces also includes a number of larger puzzles that serve to mix up the gameplay from sheer action. Weapons range from blasters and laser rifles to thermal detonators (50,000, no less!) as well as melee options; though they all look and sound ‘star wars-y’, if that makes sense, and do a lot to really make you feel like you’re right in the middle of the Star Wars Universe.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MGK61.jpg)
Dark Forces
The graphics and sound in this game were fantastic; especially the sound. Blasters sounded like Star Wars blasters, and enemy voices and guns sounded great as well. The 3D rendered cut scenes were particularly good, considering the state of 3D rendering at the time. What was not great was the rather painful midi rendition of Star Wars music, which bizarrely persisted even during the pre-rendered cut scenes. It was even stranger when compared with the games rather incredible sound effects. I advise playing this game with the music off, it gets annoying fast.
Overall, Dark forces is a great FPS which contributed a lot the genre and just as much to the Star Wars universe. It was one of the first FPS games to feature a deep story line and back story, in sharp contrast to the mindless “shoot’em up” games that had come before it. Dark Forces definitely changed the genre and helped to bring it into the modern era. It would also lead to a critically acclaimed sequel, Star Wars: Jedi Knight, though we’ll save that one for another time.
MechWarrior II
Release: 1995 Developer: Activision Publisher: Activision Where to get it: Abandonware
I’ll try to keep this one short. MechWarrior 2 is a supremely awesome game that turned the FPS genre on its head by placing the player inside a giant walking battle tank. MechWarrior 2 brilliantly combined elements of the sim and RPG genre with great action, ground breaking polygon based graphics, and great music.
The MechWarror series is actually based on the Battle Tech board game, similar to Warhammer. The game drops you straight into the middle of a 31st century war between two warring clans. You pick one side, fire up your Mech and start blowing stuff up. The game includes some wonderful RPG elements, as you deck out your war machine with a custom set of weapons and gadgets before heading into battle. The missions themselves are is comprised of a great combination of tactics and action that force you to use strategy as well as skill. The game also featured great music, great missions, and tons and tons of explosions.
The game also broke a ton of new ground graphically. Before MechWarrior 2, most games used sprite based enemies. MW2 featured an entirely polygon based graphics engine, something extremely difficult to achieve in DOS due to the 640k memory limitations. In fact, DOS’s limitations nearly sunk MW2. At a late stage in the development, the programmers still couldn’t get the engine to function properly and, facing significant cost overruns, Activision was forced to cancel the project. Two programmers on the project, Tim Morten and John Clarke actually picked up work on the project in their own time, completely re-writing the game engine. After demonstrating that it could work, Activision quickly reactivated the project. The PC gaming world owes those two programmers a huge debt.
Not only is MW 2 a supremely awesome game, but it provided the world a glimpse of the future. PC gaming wasn’t just a niche alternative to its console cousin, it was going to leave the entire console scene in the dust and do things no one ever thought possible. The MechWarrior series would also get two more games and would even go on to spawn an RTS series; becoming a major staple of the PC gaming world for years to come.
Myst
Myst Needs No Introduction
Myst Needs No Introduction
Myst
Release: 1993 Developer: Cyan Publisher: Brøderbund Where to get it: Steam
Myst was one of the very first PC games I ever played, and still stands today as one of my absolute favorites of all time. If you weren’t paying attention to PC gaming in the early 90s, it’s hard to understand just how much of an impact this game had on the industry. No one had ever seen graphics like this in a game before; in fact most people had never seen CG like this before. Myst shattered preconceptions about what a video game was, with surreal visuals of strange, impossible worlds. For anyone who played Myst back then, the images of the iconic island are forever engraved in their memories.
Myst also brought an immersive game play experience that really hadn’t been seen in a game before. All the elements came together to create a truly memorable gaming experience and an incredible atmosphere. The appeal transcended devoted gamers to casual PC users, something that was reflected in the sales figures. Myst sold some 6 million copies in its day, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time until The Sims was released in 2002, over 9 years later. Myst still stands today in the top 20 of the best-selling PC games of all time: a testament to the impact of this incredible game.
The premise of Myst revolves around a small island of the same name. Myst plays as a traditional first person adventure game, but with a freeform style that allowed the player to explore the world on their terms. No missions, no time limits, no directions; just a strange mystery that begs for further investigation. You start the game on the island’s docks, with little explanation of how you got there or where you are. The only clue is a small scrap of paper on the ground with a letter from someone named Atrus to his wife, which eventually leads you to a library filled with burned shelves and two strange books that contain two psychopaths who implore you to help them. The game consists of traveling through four different worlds—known as ages—to uncover the truth behind the books in the library and the nature of Myst Island. The plot is complicated, but rewarding if one pays attention to it; something that plays a key role in developing the immersive atmosphere of this game.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zB5hX.png)
Starting out on the docks.
The story behind the game’s stunning visuals is just as interesting. In 1993, no home computer had the capability to render the level of graphics in Myst. So Cyan co-founders Robyn and Rand Miller came up with a novel solution: pre-render absolutely everything. Every single visual is simply a static image being displayed to the player, and the game contains over 2,500 hundred of them. The areas in the game were originally modeled in 3D using a program called StrataVision 3D, rendered, then touched up in Photoshop 1.0. The few animations the game did have were done by seamlessly layering Quick Time video directly into the game; again meaning that the player’s computer had very little real processing to do. The result was a spectacular looking game which was a bit more than a little static, leading some critics to brand the game as little more than a glorified slide-show.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/03VJg.jpg)
The Iconic Myst Library
But Myst’s amazing atmosphere was more than enough to distract the player from the lack of interactivity. The music in this game is incredible. Gone was the age of 8-bit sounds, this was orchestral quality music in a video game; and in 1993 that was a big deal. It perfectly reflects the mood, whether hundreds of feet above a swamp in an ancient treetop village or exploring first-hand the deeds of two genocidal maniacs the music always fit the occasion perfectly, and in some ways may be just as important as the graphics in making this game a hit. I love the music in this game so much, I had a hard time picking just two to share here but these are two of my favorites:
In all, the legacy of Myst is hard to pin down. It broke a lot of barriers in terms of music and graphics that going forward would set PC gaming apart from it’s pathetic console counterpart for years to come. Not to mention the fact that it greatly increased the CD-ROM drive and within a year spelt the death of the floppy drive game. Something, mind you, that would greatly accelerate the growth of the PC gaming industry. Though while it had a massive influence on future games, it should be noted that besides Myst’s sequels, there would never again be an adventure game that would reach anywhere near the heights that Myst did. Maybe Myst set the bar too high, or maybe adventure games just became lost in a world that would be changed by 3D accelerators and physics engines. I’m not sure anyone can say for sure.
One thing that is certain is the unbelievably lasting impact Myst had on those people who played it in the early 90s. It’s a short game with little replay value, yet here I am 19 years later, writing my ass off about it. This game is very near and dear to my heart, and no high resolution graphics engine could ever change that. And I’m not alone, there’s a reason legions of fans still cling to this series that has long since faded from its prime and even seen the original developer Cyan crash and burn due to gross mismanagement. Myst’s true legacy may lie with thousands of gamers just like me, who at the mere mention of the name Myst are back in 1993 on that mysterious island, searching for elusive answers.
There’s a great short documentary on the making of Myst that you really ought to watch if you never have, it’s a great example of how many developers were really flying by the seat of their pants in those early days of the industry:
+ Show Spoiler [The Making of Myst] +
The Modern RPG
The RPG Steps into the Modern Era
The RPG Steps into the Modern Era
The Ultima Series
Ultima VII: Release: 1992 Developer: Origin Systems Publisher: Origin Systems Where to get it: Abandonware
Ultima VIII: Release: 1994 Developer: Origin Systems Publisher: Origin Systems Where to get it: Abandonware
Ultima VIII: Release: 1994 Developer: Origin Systems Publisher: Origin Systems Where to get it: Abandonware
Despite the fact that only Ultima VII and VIII were released between ’91 and ’96, I think it’s necessary to talk a little about the Ultima series as a whole here. It’s one of the oldest series in PC gaming, with the first Ultima game being published in 1981. Despite the fact that it was released for the Apple II, the Ultima series helped create the modern RPG. From humble beginnings in 1981, the series would spawn 9 direct sequels, an FPS series (Ultima Underworld), a series of novels, and eventually even an MMO (Ultima Online).
These two games specifically developed the “point and click” mouse drive style of RPG that would later define the 90s and early 2000s and were the first to use the third person isometric view point now common. The Ultima series is even responsible for pioneered shipping games in a box with a manual, something which would define PC gaming for two decades until Steam killed it. It brought a massive story line with complex lore, offered complex character creation, and overall great gameplay.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WEYkH.png)
Ultima VIII
One could write three blogs this size just about the Ultima series and the games, but for reasons of space (and my sanity) I’ll make this short. The Ultima series is hugely important to the development of the modern RPG and set the basic format that was used by the greatest RPGs of all time (we’ll talk about those in Part 2). If you have some time, track down VII or VIII and give them a try; or read up on the series, the Codex of Ultima Wisdom seems to be a pretty complete wiki for the games.
I might revisit the Ultima games at some point in a future blog, we’ll see. It would be a massive undertaking, but also massively fun.
The Elder Scrolls Series
Elder Scrolls: Arena Release: 1994 Developer: Bethesda Softworks Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Where to get it: Free Legal Download
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Release: 1996 Developer: Bethesda Softworks Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Where to get it: Free Legal Download
Like the Ultima Series, one could literally write a small book on the Elder Scrolls games. Given the recent release off Skyrim, hopefully I don’t need to go on at great length about the incredible impact that this series had and continues to have on the PC gaming world. It was one of the earliest games made by Bethesda, and would launch a series that would make them the power house game company they are today.
The Elder Scrolls series took a new approach to the RPG format, a first person perspective with melee and magic weapons combined with a large open ended world; a stark contrast to the dungeon style “doom clones” of the time. The first game, Elder Scrolls: Arena was originally intended to be more action oriented, with focus on fighting in gladiator style tournaments with minor side quests. But during development the game was retooled, eventually the quests would become the main aim of the story line and the arena fighting gladiator concept was dropped. What was left was an amazingly inventive RPG format with a great storyline. Graphics weren’t great, most enemies were simple sprites. But that was a limitation of the technology more so than any flaw with the game; though it is incredible to look at the 1994 game, compare it to Skyrim and marvel at how far we’ve come.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Xn15O.png)
The Original Elder Scrolls Game
The other Elder Scrolls game that falls within the scope of this blog is Daggerfall. Daggerfall made use of randomly generated terrain which gave the game world a massive scale, the largest of any of the Elder Scrolls games and according to Bethesda is equal to twice the size of Great Britain. Daggerfall also gave the series an amazing graphical update, expanded on the brilliant game play of its predecessor, and offered multiple endings that gave the game great replay-ability.
There’s not enough room here to really touch on everything I’d like, but those of you who’ve played any of the Elder Scrolls games already fully understand how important these games are, and what they’ve done for the RPG genre as well as PC gaming as a whole. Maybe I’ll do a more in depth blog about them at some point, we’ll see
That’s the end of Part 1, stay tuned for Part 2 in a few days!!!
Part 2 will cover the rest of the major games from 1991-1996, including RTS, Sim games, and a few other cool ones!
![[image loading]](http://www.c64.com/games/screenshots/b/beach_head_2_01.gif)
![[image loading]](http://www.c64.com/games/screenshots/s/space_taxi_01.gif)
![[image loading]](http://www.c64.com/games/screenshots/g/gateway_to_apshai_01.gif)
![[image loading]](http://www.c64.com/games/screenshots/c/choplifter_01.gif)
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