Defining PC Games

Darran@Retro Gamer · Post by **Darran@Retro Gamer** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:23 am

What PC games defined the system, gaming and genres for you?

Must be original PC games, so not things like Prince Of Persia or Elite.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:34 am

Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Dark Forces, X-Wing/TIE Fighter, Day of the Tentacle, Alone in the Dark.

morcar · Post by **morcar** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:37 am

For me it was Doom and Wing Commander both games dared to push the limts of PC's back then and it worked.

I think the next big game for me was Quake when i saw the monsters in full 3D. Nothing even came close to it when it came out and it looked better than anything the PS1 and other consoles could do for a longtime.

A few other FPS games really impressed me like Decent and Duke Nukem 3D and in fact PC gaming over all was by far better than any console and still is.

koopa42 · Post by **koopa42** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:37 am

Doom above all else

Vyothric · Post by **Vyothric** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:41 am

Digger (not Dig Dug), Commander Keen 4, Commander Keen 5, Jazz Jackrabbit, Monuments of Mars, Crystal Caves, Galactix, Screamer, Hellbender......

slacey1070 · Post by **slacey1070** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:54 am

Doom, Commander Keen (the whole series), Duke Nukem (platform games) and Links golf....

All have a special place in my heart, showing me that the PC could actually game, at a time I was neck deep in AutoCad.

I'd probably chuck in Mean 18 golf too...

quantum · Post by **quantum** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:01 am

Early 90s shareware games like Wolf 3D, Doom, Zone 66, and Epic Pinball. Also the amazing track building, car crashing, instant replay chaos that was Stunts!

slacey1070 · Post by **slacey1070** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:10 am

I rekcon shareware generally defines the PC... or certainly the early 90s... took the PC from Wordstar 2000 and Supercalc to real, playable games...

Katzkatz · Post by **Katzkatz** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:31 am

Tie Fighter and X-Wing for taking the Star Wars inspired gaming experience to a whole new level. They also made good use of the PC's analogue joystick. Don't forget that Tie Fighter used Gourand shading and also the AWE 32 soundcard(if you had one).

I would also add Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max for their use of speech in an adventure game.

I think that both Doom and Quake should be included. Doom for taking the FPS to another level with its user generated maps and deathmatch gameplay. Quake for its use of 3D.

I think that Descent was also a defining game for the PC. It took the FPS environment and made it more innovative with the 6 degrees of movement.

Dune 2 for moving the RTS game up a level.

Civilization for establishing its game series.

Raptor and Tyrain for proving that the PC could do a shoot 'em up.

Operation Carnage for giving the PC some Robotron inspired action.

Jazz Jackrabbit for providing the PC with a platform game.

Falcon 3 for using a maths co-processor and bringing multiplayer into a flight simulator.

koopa42 · Post by **koopa42** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:53 am

Half Life later on I suppose

Fishsta · Post by **Fishsta** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:57 am

The "Making a Boot Disk or a menu system in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that you can start up with more EMS Memory then you normally would for certain games" game.

Played it far too often, lost hours of my time to it.

markopoloman · Post by **markopoloman** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:40 am

RTS games - not Dune 2 as this was Amiga also...

But the first Command & Conquer was just amazing and instantly addictive. Then C&C Red Alert expanded on this but was WAY better, almost stealing the crown for the best RTS ever... until Total Annihilation arrived. This was quite simply the best RTS ever created and I believe defined what RTS was all about and has never been bettered on the PC or any other system.

Grand Prix 4 by Geoff Crammond added to the already brilliant GP2 & GP3 and was the cream of the crop when it came to racing sims. On the other hand though were the arcade racers and nothing arrived with a bang quite as big as Screamer

This blew the consoles out of the water and showed that PC gaming was truly the place to be.

Obviously when it comes to FPS games, it has to be Doom/Doom II and Quake but for my defining moment it's going to be Unreal for its atmosphere and awesome graphics with a great story AND Unreal Tournament for getting everything right for online multiplayer heaven.

pforson · Post by **pforson** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:39 am

Fishsta wrote:The "Making a Boot Disk or a menu system in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that you can start up with more EMS Memory then you normally would for certain games" game.

Played it far too often, lost hours of my time to it.

I still have a disk entitled: Awesome boot disk - use when all else fails.
It was indeed awesome. It worked for everything

the_hawk · Post by **the_hawk** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:57 am

Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - Still to my mind the greatest Football management sim that gets the balance just right. Everything before or since has been either too simplistic or too unnecessarily overbearing.

Civilization II - This game devoured all my time, back when I had the time to actually enjoy long long uninterrupted gaming sessions.

Matt_B · Post by **Matt_B** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:59 am

markopoloman wrote:RTS games - not Dune 2 as this was Amiga also...

Why not? The PC version came first and is usually regarded as the definitive one.

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