what would you vote most important computer game in the history of gaming?

Back in the day it was Jet Set Willy then Gorf.

I think the first Tomb Raider (as already mentioned) reignited my interest in gaming.

I reckon

Because they got it so right first time! I remember playing it on the SNES in 1993, yet nearly 20 years later my kids are loving it on the Wii. The graphics are better but the game is exactly the same as it was. Perfect!

Quake…was that the one with the “Shambler”…classic.
I’d have to pick two though, PC & console.
Console would be the GTA series. I was online last night in fact, Niko Belic still running amock.
PC…Unreal Tournament. Still play it now. For those of us that want a quck 20min bit of carnage its spot on. Its just so playable. I couldnt believe how many people still play it online…
They banned it on our work LAN. 🙁

Ooh, I know. What about Chaos? That was one of the first mainstream turn-based strategy titles (if we ignore Gollup’s earlier Rebelstar Raiders), you can trace the current XCOM game’s pedigree right back to it.

command & conquer.

Yes Dune came before it but C&C was miles better

Knight Lore as mentioned above was a real landmark game of that 80s spectrum generation. Didn’t ultimate have to delay its launch because it was so far in advance of their other games that were ready to release?

For the lefties, how about monty mole and technician ted – for introducing the politics of the day into computer games? Can’t have been too many games that were doing that in 1994.

[beware the sound on that clip will do your head in]

Tomb Raider took me FOREVER to complete !!! it was truly an Epic !

Didn’t ultimate have to delay its launch because it was so far in advance of their other games that were ready to release?

I don’t know about “had to” but yes, IIRC it was completed before Sabre Wulf, and they chose to release them out of order so as not to steal SW’s thunder.

Operation Flashpoint/Arma/Arma 2/Arma 3.
The game engine is used to train troops.
Footage taken from the game was mistaken for actual world footage of a 1988 IRA attack and used in a documentary.
It’s banned in Iran!
This big cross-over between the virtual and the real world makes it a contender in my eyes, sets a tone for the future.

For the lefties, how about monty mole and technician ted – for introducing the politics of the day into computer games? Can’t have been too many games that were doing that in 19941984.

TFTFY 🙂

BTW, I’ve had a go at Monty Mole in recent years and it’s bl00dy hard. Given the fact you only have 3 lives or so and no “save”, it’s an example of how much patience/perseverance we had as kids back in the day 🙂

For the lefties, how about monty mole and technician ted

Tech Ted was evil, one of the hardest games ever. Not content with making a tricky platformer, they made it so that all the tasks were co-dependent and impossible unless done in a certain order, and then to add insult to injury stuck a time limit on the sod. Oh, and if you’re really masochistic, there’s the 128K version with more rooms.

It’s landmark for another reason, too. It’s the first Speccy game with a (truly) animated loading screen. (We can discount Manic Miner here, which cheated)

For me personally, it’d be things that weren’t just extensions of previous ones – which would rule out Doom or counter-strike – Doom was very similar in mechanic to Wolfenstein, just had a much much better graphical engine, counter-strike was just another multiplayer fps, that happened to be jolly good.

Spacewar, I played a DOS port of it a lot, but it was one of the original games, and I’m so has to be up there.

GTA 1 – first really large scale explory game with a real narrative that I was aware of, and absolutely brilliant multiplayer to boot – just building such a big game, without railroading you into a particular story at every point was a brilliant thing. (Elite I guess was larger scale, but then the large scaleness of Elite was largely repetition and automatic generation, and the narrative wasn’t really there in Elite)

Tetris (Gameboy version obviously – way better than the first PC version). The first computer game I can remember ever being a real sensation outside the world of people who played computer games.

Oh, and not really important, but kind of meaningful for me – that skiing game where you had to stay within the lines (that I typed in from somewhere in Basic on a Casio PB-something pocket computer), and that game at the Science museum’s computer gallery where you have to shoot something (or maybe it is golf, can’t remember), using an old vector graphics computer system controlled by a jog wheel. Oh, and Donkey Kong handheld (game + watch). And Arcade Volleyball, what a game!

If anyone knows if you can buy Elite these days for XBOX / PC / Mac, then feel free to let me know that I can indeed waste any precious little time I have left.

For me Elite defined gaming, and Doom defined 1st person gaming. This is a personal thing but as much as I love COD/Battlefield/MOH, I can’t get enough Far Cry for its multi directional gameplay / ability to be able wander all over the map and act almost as if YOU decided the outcome, rather than being led down a path.

I’m hoping Far Cry 3 is on my XMAS list.

BTW, I’ve had a go at Monty Mole in recent years and it’s bl00dy hard. Given the fact you only have 3 lives or so and no “save”, it’s an example of how much patience/perseverance we had as kids back in the day

It doesn’t help that it was deliberately designed to trick you, too. Mole squashers that you’ve to time your run past, that go tap… tap… tap… tap… taptap *argh*! Curse you, Peter Harrap.

I did have a version of Elite II that worked on a fairly recent laptop run from a boot disk which switched into a more generic mode.

For £100 you could buy an Amiga and Elite II to play it on…. i wonder if the wife would go with this plan lol.

– Wolfenstein
– Quake
– Goldeneye N64

Kryton57 – you should get Far Cry 3 ASAP, it’s a definite contender for Game Of The Year.

Well I’m an old skool gamer from the golden age 😉

as above impossible to answer but genre wise i think the shift from spectrum up to amiga was immense, games like shadow of the beast for graphics and colour were mental.

since then all consoles etc we have been spoilt and in some cases i dont think the gameplay is still there…

agree with many above, Tomb raider on the PS1 WOW!!

but for me it had to be (contradicting myself i know)…

the move to 3rd person view and the whole OPEN WORLD gameplay was amazing.

SamB – Member
Kryton57 – you should get Far Cry 3 ASAP, it’s a definite contender for Game Of The Year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAAshXrIhE

Woahh!!! If it doesn’t arrive with Father Christmas, I’ll be ordering it on boxing day!

“You move EAST
Thorin Enters”

Can’t argue with Doom.
I can’t see the Wolfenstein argument. It wasn’t visceral, it wasn’t multiplayer, it didn’t sell PCs, I never even wanted to play it.

Donkey Kong

Space invaders (in the arcade)
Doom (on the 486) although I did prefer Dark Forces
Tomb Raider (on the PS1)

oh…

Gauntlet!

Xenon Megablast

Renegade and Target Renegade

LOL quick google, download of ‘dosbox 7.40’ and i’m now running a full version of Elite II on my laptop !!!!

Colossal Cave Adventure

i think the shift from spectrum up to amiga was immense

First time I saw a 16-bit machine, it was an ST running Starglider. I -had- to have one.

“You move EAST
Thorin Enters”

Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.

> KILL THORIN

Settlers on the Amiga

I’d also include early stuff like the ancient Star Trek game (used to load that off paper tape!) and dungeon crawling games like Adventure/Hack/Rogue – games that could be played on the BIG computers of the time.

Pong – the first one for the home.

Or the early Playstation titles. Playstation turned console gaming from a kids’ thing to a grownups thing, which obviously had huge implications for the industry.

3 pages in and I’m the first to mention Civilization I spent hours playing it, even used to take a laptop round a mates to compete against each other would start a new map copy it to the others PC and see who could advance furthest fastest.

For me it had to be Arcadia. That was the first game available that made it look like you had an amusement arcade machine in your house.

God, yes. Rogue / Nethack.

what would you vote most important computer game in the history of gaming?

a few people seem to be confusing “most important” with “your favourite”

But no idea myself TBH, wasn’t in on the early stuff as I wasn’t bought a computer/console/whatever as a kid.

Elite and GTA3 (didn’t like 1&2) for their enormous game space/sandbox.
resident evil was the first horror game I played, did it start the (small) genre?
quake 3 was first multiplayer I played, loved it but way too down the line of FPS shooters to be “important”
There’s other games that 3d-ified existing stuff and generally made them a lot more fun to play, morrowind, FF7 etc but dunno if they count either.

resident evil was the first horror game I played, did it start the (small) genre?

There were earlier survival horror games. Alone In The Dark jumps to mind.

The first time I saw a first person game was on the ZX81 with the T-Rex in the maze. This was a real eye opener for me.

Doom
UT / Quake
Half Life.

I reckon Doom takes the title of most important though.. if only by going off the replies here.

Alone In The Dark jumps to mind.

didn’t know about that (tho had vaguely heard of the series) first 3d one according to wiki – can’t imagine a 2d game being as immersive and scary tho

Anyone suggesting half life needs to give themselves a stern talking to!