My Favorite Things: Classic PC Games
Not long ago, I posted a list of my favorite tabletop RPG's and it was honestly a lot of fun to write. It was quite neat to look back over my gaming career to pick my favorites among all of the systems that I've played in the last 30+ years. So, I thought it would be fun to look back and do the same with old-school PC games. So sit back and enjoy as we head into my C;/games directory as we look at my favorite classic PC games (in no particular order).
** Note: Since the word "classic" is a relative term, I've limited my selections to games made in the 80s and 90s.
Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mentions
- Rogue: How could I not include the game that inspired an entire genre, which is still going strong today. Despite the simplicity of the ASCII graphics, the game manages to suck you in with its procedurally-generated dungeons.
- Front Page Sports Baseball Pro '98: I'm a huge baseball fan and I'm particularly drawn to baseball games that lean more towards simulation than arcade (see below). This game fits that bill to a tee and was fairly accurate given the hardware limitations of the time.
- Blood: While I wasn't particularly interested in the big FPS games of the 90s (Doom, Wolfenstein, Unreal), I loved Blood. It was mostly due to its irreverent sense of humor and its very bloody graphics. Also, shooting defenceless mimes is a blast.
- TIE Fighter: I'm not really a fan of flight sims but I loooove Star Wars, so Lucas Arts' first foray into Star Wars games was a definite attraction to me. I suck at it but it's such a fun game to play.
- Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge: This game offers and expansive story along with providing players with oodles of choice in character generation. The magic system is also quite good and the game offers a ton of items and spells for the characters to acquire during their quest.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (BioWare/Black Isle Studios)
As has already been established by the previous list, I'm a big fan of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Over the past 40+ years there have been a number of licensed video games for D&D and all its editions and I've played a large percentage of them. The Baldur's Gate series without a doubt sits squarely at the top of the list, particularly the second instalment. That's not just me saying this, as the game has been ranked at the top of many Top games lists and is still regarded as one of the best CRPGs ever made. So, why is it so lauded? Well, it has a solid story (which was a rarity in CRPGs in those days) but it also was such an expansive game. I wasn't really an open world game as we know it today, although after the opening dungeon, players were free to travel wherever they chose, creating their own tales along the way.
The game also had a ton of characters that a player could recruit into their party, each of which had their own personalities and could either get along splendidly with each other or could clash, providing endless replay opportunities. The other main draw for me was how closely the game held to the rules of AD&D Second Edition. To this day, the game, along with BioWare's other Infinity Engine games, are about as close to the actual pen and paper game as you can get on a computer screen. The game and its Infinity Engine cousins have been remastered recently and are all available on a variety of platforms including Steam, GOG and the Nintendo Switch. I highly recommend you give them a try if RPGs are your jam.
Tony LaRussa's Ultimate Baseball (Beyond Software/SSI)
As stated above, I love baseball. The problem is that when I was a kid, most baseball games were not terribly accurate and were more arcade-y in nature, which I didn't care for all that much. Then along came this game, which promised to provide accurate simulations of baseball seasons using real statistics. The game didn't have the MLBPA's license, so it couldn't use current players but that didn't matter because it allowed you to enter in the stats of whatever player you'd like and it would create rating for that player. It also didn't have the ability to simulate multiple seasons over a career but that didn't matter either because we could keep track of all of that stuff ourselves. I remember my friend Shaun and I created an entire league using current stats and even came up without own salary system. That still remains one of my favorite memories involving a baseball video game.
The other thing I loved about this games was that it provided me the opportunity to learn about the history of baseball. while the game itself didn't really provide any of that, the teams in the game were populated with their all-time greats and Hall of Famers. Of course I'd heard of legends like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron but it also had me looking up lesser known players (to me anyway) such as Ernie Lombardi, Paul Waner and Smoky Joe Wood. It fuelled a passion not just for the game of baseball but also its history which still burns strong to this day. Unlike most of the games on my list, I don't play this game anymore but that's only because I play games that have picked up its mantle like the outstanding Out of the Park Baseball series.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (Sierra On-Line)
I've already done a post about my love for the classic adventure game developer but I didn't really get the opportunity to discuss my favorite game from its catalog. Gabriel Knight hit shelves at just the right moment in my life. I was 17 years old full of the stereotypical teenage angst and much too cool for Mario or Sonic. Even the classic Sierra titles of the past that I had loved as a kid were starting seem lame (they weren't, I was just dumb back then). Then I saw this game at my local EB games, the cover depicted a man hanging by a noose and I thought it seemed appropriately edgy and "adult." I happened to have some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, so I purchased it on a whim and I was not disappointed.
The game introduced me to a lot of things that I'd never experienced before. It was the first game I ever played that had an adult-oriented story, which included curses, voodoo cults and secret societies. While this is fairly common nowadays, back them it was fairly unheard of. Speaking of the story, it was also quite gripping and kept me engrossed. Gabriel Knight was also the first game I'd ever played that had legitimate voice acting. It had actual television and movie actors in the cast, such as Michael Dorn, Leah Remini and the original Pennywise himself, Tim Curry. I can't stress enough how uncommon this was back then as most developers would just do the voice overs themselves more often than not. I still regularly play through this game and thanks to service like GOG, I can play it on modern systems. The game was also recently remastered for its 25th anniversary but sadly, it didn't include the original voice work, so if you're thinking of playing, stick with the 1993 version.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (Bethesda)
I've already touched on my love for this game, warts and all, in my Bethesda post but I'll expand a bit here. This game is one of the buggiest video game experiences I've ever played (what?!? a buggy Bethesda game?!?! that's unheard of!!!) but it's also one of the most complete CRPGs around. The game offers you so much choice in both gameplay and in story. The game had a plethora of options to choose from when making a character but it also had the added bonus of letting the player make their own class if they wanted to.
The story, likewise, offered so many options, including six different endings depending on the choices made by the character. Not only that, but the main story was also optional in that the player could choose to ignore his orders from the king and forge his own path. Again, that kind of player agency was unheard of back in 1996. Not to mention the game offered players the ability to buy houses, horses and even ships. It was even possible for the player to contract lycanthropy or vampirism and not have it end the game. I still frequently revisit Daggerfall and every time I play it, I have a blast.
The Secret of Monkey Island (Lucasfilm Games)
This game is probably my favorite adventure game of all-time. It just checks off so many boxes for me. Great sense of humor: check. Awesome story: check. Good game play: check. Rubber chickens with pulleys in them: check. Prior to playing this game, pretty much the entirety of my adventure game experience was through Sierra titles but this game opened my eyes to a whole other world. It also introduced me to Lucasfilm Games (later Lucas Arts) as a developer, which opened the door for so many other titles that I've enjoyed playing over the years.
As for the game itself, Monkey Island is absolutely ridiculous and that's what makes it fantastic. The story was, I think, pinched a bit from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride (it wasn't a movie yet) but with way more goofball humor added in. There are very few games that make me laugh out loud and this is one of them. From Guybrush's failed attempt at testing a circus cannon to the rather oddly shaped key he uses to open a secret passage hidden in a giant monkey statue there are so many gut-busting moments. I also have to mention the vegetarian cannibal tribe and the insult sword fighting as bright spots as well. At this point, the game has reached icon status among adventure games and was remastered for modern systems during the previous console generation. That's a testament to games enduring appeal. If you want to give it a try, the original version is available on GOG.
So, that's my list. Have I left something out? Disagree with one of my selections? Sound off in the comments below.
As has already been established by the previous list, I'm a big fan of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Over the past 40+ years there have been a number of licensed video games for D&D and all its editions and I've played a large percentage of them. The Baldur's Gate series without a doubt sits squarely at the top of the list, particularly the second instalment. That's not just me saying this, as the game has been ranked at the top of many Top games lists and is still regarded as one of the best CRPGs ever made. So, why is it so lauded? Well, it has a solid story (which was a rarity in CRPGs in those days) but it also was such an expansive game. I wasn't really an open world game as we know it today, although after the opening dungeon, players were free to travel wherever they chose, creating their own tales along the way.
The game also had a ton of characters that a player could recruit into their party, each of which had their own personalities and could either get along splendidly with each other or could clash, providing endless replay opportunities. The other main draw for me was how closely the game held to the rules of AD&D Second Edition. To this day, the game, along with BioWare's other Infinity Engine games, are about as close to the actual pen and paper game as you can get on a computer screen. The game and its Infinity Engine cousins have been remastered recently and are all available on a variety of platforms including Steam, GOG and the Nintendo Switch. I highly recommend you give them a try if RPGs are your jam.
Tony LaRussa's Ultimate Baseball (Beyond Software/SSI)
As stated above, I love baseball. The problem is that when I was a kid, most baseball games were not terribly accurate and were more arcade-y in nature, which I didn't care for all that much. Then along came this game, which promised to provide accurate simulations of baseball seasons using real statistics. The game didn't have the MLBPA's license, so it couldn't use current players but that didn't matter because it allowed you to enter in the stats of whatever player you'd like and it would create rating for that player. It also didn't have the ability to simulate multiple seasons over a career but that didn't matter either because we could keep track of all of that stuff ourselves. I remember my friend Shaun and I created an entire league using current stats and even came up without own salary system. That still remains one of my favorite memories involving a baseball video game.
The other thing I loved about this games was that it provided me the opportunity to learn about the history of baseball. while the game itself didn't really provide any of that, the teams in the game were populated with their all-time greats and Hall of Famers. Of course I'd heard of legends like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron but it also had me looking up lesser known players (to me anyway) such as Ernie Lombardi, Paul Waner and Smoky Joe Wood. It fuelled a passion not just for the game of baseball but also its history which still burns strong to this day. Unlike most of the games on my list, I don't play this game anymore but that's only because I play games that have picked up its mantle like the outstanding Out of the Park Baseball series.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (Sierra On-Line)
I've already done a post about my love for the classic adventure game developer but I didn't really get the opportunity to discuss my favorite game from its catalog. Gabriel Knight hit shelves at just the right moment in my life. I was 17 years old full of the stereotypical teenage angst and much too cool for Mario or Sonic. Even the classic Sierra titles of the past that I had loved as a kid were starting seem lame (they weren't, I was just dumb back then). Then I saw this game at my local EB games, the cover depicted a man hanging by a noose and I thought it seemed appropriately edgy and "adult." I happened to have some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, so I purchased it on a whim and I was not disappointed.
The game introduced me to a lot of things that I'd never experienced before. It was the first game I ever played that had an adult-oriented story, which included curses, voodoo cults and secret societies. While this is fairly common nowadays, back them it was fairly unheard of. Speaking of the story, it was also quite gripping and kept me engrossed. Gabriel Knight was also the first game I'd ever played that had legitimate voice acting. It had actual television and movie actors in the cast, such as Michael Dorn, Leah Remini and the original Pennywise himself, Tim Curry. I can't stress enough how uncommon this was back then as most developers would just do the voice overs themselves more often than not. I still regularly play through this game and thanks to service like GOG, I can play it on modern systems. The game was also recently remastered for its 25th anniversary but sadly, it didn't include the original voice work, so if you're thinking of playing, stick with the 1993 version.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (Bethesda)
I've already touched on my love for this game, warts and all, in my Bethesda post but I'll expand a bit here. This game is one of the buggiest video game experiences I've ever played (what?!? a buggy Bethesda game?!?! that's unheard of!!!) but it's also one of the most complete CRPGs around. The game offers you so much choice in both gameplay and in story. The game had a plethora of options to choose from when making a character but it also had the added bonus of letting the player make their own class if they wanted to.
The story, likewise, offered so many options, including six different endings depending on the choices made by the character. Not only that, but the main story was also optional in that the player could choose to ignore his orders from the king and forge his own path. Again, that kind of player agency was unheard of back in 1996. Not to mention the game offered players the ability to buy houses, horses and even ships. It was even possible for the player to contract lycanthropy or vampirism and not have it end the game. I still frequently revisit Daggerfall and every time I play it, I have a blast.
The Secret of Monkey Island (Lucasfilm Games)
This game is probably my favorite adventure game of all-time. It just checks off so many boxes for me. Great sense of humor: check. Awesome story: check. Good game play: check. Rubber chickens with pulleys in them: check. Prior to playing this game, pretty much the entirety of my adventure game experience was through Sierra titles but this game opened my eyes to a whole other world. It also introduced me to Lucasfilm Games (later Lucas Arts) as a developer, which opened the door for so many other titles that I've enjoyed playing over the years.
As for the game itself, Monkey Island is absolutely ridiculous and that's what makes it fantastic. The story was, I think, pinched a bit from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride (it wasn't a movie yet) but with way more goofball humor added in. There are very few games that make me laugh out loud and this is one of them. From Guybrush's failed attempt at testing a circus cannon to the rather oddly shaped key he uses to open a secret passage hidden in a giant monkey statue there are so many gut-busting moments. I also have to mention the vegetarian cannibal tribe and the insult sword fighting as bright spots as well. At this point, the game has reached icon status among adventure games and was remastered for modern systems during the previous console generation. That's a testament to games enduring appeal. If you want to give it a try, the original version is available on GOG.
So, that's my list. Have I left something out? Disagree with one of my selections? Sound off in the comments below.
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