What PC/console game provided the most bang for your buck? Which was the worse?

[AgPete]

Which games did you spend so long playing that they gave you the biggest bang for the buck? How about games you spent money on but rarely played?

For me,

THE WINNERS:

Ultima Online - Still my favorite MMOG of all-time just because it was the first one. It was so unique for its time and I spent months on that game. I played it so often that my girlfriend at the time angrily referred to it as "that game!"

FOF2001 - My first FOF game and my introduction to the sports sim genre. I guess I spent $25-$30 on it, don't remember the price. I played it so often though, every penny that went to EA was worth it. Just like MMORPGs, the first one is usually your favorite, and FOF2K1 was my first sports sim and the one I spent the most time with.

Madden2003 - My introduction to the Madden series and I've played at least 200 games online with EASO as well as my own games against the PC.

Asheron's Call - The only MMOG besides Ultima Online that I've renewed my subscription for after the free trial month ended. Eventually I called it quits because the game became a little boring and I didn't have a lot of free time when I played it but even with a $10 monthly fee, I still got a lot of value out of that game.

Civilization 2 - I still own that game and pull it out every now and then. One of the greatest turn-based strategy concepts ever! :)

THE LOSERS:

Pool of Radiance II - I LOVED the old SSI turn-based D&D games and I was so looking forward to the modern-day sequel that I bought it the day it was released. I took it home, started the installation, and CRASH! I checked the internet and found that people were losing their OS during POR2 installation. :eek: Finally got it to work and was utterly disappointed from minute one. I spent maybe two hours messing around with it but then decided to uninstall it, put everything back in the box and it's been laying on a shelf ever since.

[Marmel]

Winners:

FOF2001
GTA: Vice City
HOMM III
Civ 2


Losers:

Warcraft 3
Baldur's Gate

[Airhog]

Only one game was worth the money I spent on it...

Quake 3. I played that game nearly every day for a year :D

[Butter]

World Series Baseball for the Sega Genesis. Played that regularly for nearly 2 years.

I second Civ 2. Awesome.

Ones not worth it:
The 7th Guest, even at $10, that game sucked.

Any NBA Live game I ever bought (at least 2 of 'em).

[cthomer5000]

<font size=3>Winners:</font>
Tecmo Super Bowl
FOF2001
the two biggest bargains of all time for me.

NHLPA 93 (Genesis)
Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition (Super NES)
thos two were played every day (during the same time period) for at least 6 months.


<font size=3>Losers:</font>
Shenmue (dreamcast) not really the games fault, I just never gave it the time it needed.
FOF4 (as of right now I still play 2001 more, the game is simply TOO SLOW)
Pole Position (Commodore 64) 14 years later I still regret trading one of my favorite games ever (B.C.'s Quest for Tires) for this shitty racing game.

[Maple Leafs]

Winner: Earl Weaver Baseball was the all-time king. I bought it twice (the second time was after my disk died) and played it off-and-on for about ten years. That's good value.

Honorable mention: Tecmo, old NHL games, some of the Maddens (although not this years' for some reason)

Loser: I usually rent anything on a platform before I buy it, so I don't get burned often. I remember paying about $100 CDN for NHL 97 and returning it after a week, and haven't bought an NHL game since (although I've tried most of them).

[bamcgee]

A few games that I played for more than a year after purchase:

NFL Challenge, the old x's and o's game from XOR
Sid Meier's Gettysburg - underappreciated, I think.
Civ 2
Tecmo Super Bowl - played it for years. Basketball wasn't bad either.
FOF original - innovative for its time
Sierra's FPS Football.

games I sold within a week:
Shenmue, what the hell was that all about.
Dark Reign - awful RTS, ruined the genre for me.
Operation Flashpoint - damn mission where you're on foot alone made me want to blow up my computer.
Outpost

[Craptacular]

One of my problems is that I'd play one game in a series to death, then buy the next version and almost never play it.

Good value:
* TCY
* SimCity 2000 (great way to kill time during office hours as a TA, especially when the class is Transportation Engineering & Planning)
* High Heat Baseball 2000(?)
* FPS Football Pro ??
* Jack Nicklaus Signature Edition
* Tecmo (Super) Bowl
* Minesweeper and Solitare

Bad value (not bad games, just haven't played them much)
* FOF4
* Sim City 3000
* High Heat Baseball 2001(?)
* Jack Nicklaus 5 and/or 6
* S.W.A.T. collection (don't know if I ever even installed it)

[KWhit]

Winners:
Morrowind
Alpha Centauri
OOTP4 & 5
NCAA Football for XBox
Mario Kart for SNES
Myst
Half Life

Losers:
Ghost Recon
Warcraft 3
TCY
Jedi Knight 2

[VPI97]

Winners:
Axis & Allies: Iron Blitz
Medal of Honor
Battlefield 1942
Mafia
Freelancer
Civilization II
Colonization

Losers:
Jedi Knight II
Operation Flashpoint
High Heat 2003
Sudden Strike
Civilization III

[Franklinnoble]

What was so bad about Jedi Knight 2 (that's the most recent one, right?)... I was thinking of getting it for my son for his birthday (he's a star wars nut)

[Anrhydeddu]

A most/least favorite list?

Winners:

Civ2
Pirates!Gold
Pharaoh
Imperialism II ($5 through ebay)
Gothic
OOTP4 and OOTP5
Jack Nicklaus 6

Losers:

Civ3
FOF4
1602
Morrowind

[VPI97]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
What was so bad about Jedi Knight 2 (that's the most recent one, right?)... I was thinking of getting it for my son for his birthday (he's a star wars nut) I don't know if I just stunk at the game or what, but I found it to be horribly frustrating to die every 5 minutes. I've have fun with other FPS games like Doom/GTA/Max Payne, etc...but for some reason I couldn't make it two steps without getting shot up in JKII. And the game really didn't seem interesting enough for me to keep trying.

[AgPete]

Interesting to see that I'm not the only person that was disappointed with Civ3 and FOF4. For me they weren't bad games, it's just like Craptacular said, I overplayed the game before them and there wasn't enough in the sequel to make it interesting for me.

[Franklinnoble]

I actually LIKED Civ3 and FOF4... and I played the shit out of the predecessors...

[AgPete]

I can't speak for others franklinnoble, but for me, it wasn't that I disliked Civ3 and FOF4, they just didn't hold my attention for a long time. Sometimes I look at sequels the same way I do real-time strategy games, you play one, you've played them all. Some of the changes in Civ3 were nice but after I played the game for a week and learned the few new rules, everything from Civ2 came back to me and it was the same thing.

I play FOF (and all sims) without an in-game sim so I didn't even experience many of the new features in FOF4. A lot of the stuff in FOF4 seemed cosmetic: some new stat and record trackers which were nice, that horoscope system (that I never used), voidable years on contracts, etc. I didn't feel like much had been changed from the game itself which isn't bad and I'm sure it's what fans demand but it's not enough to keep my attention for more than a few weeks if I played the hell out of the version before it. :)

[Craptacular]

Oh yeah, this FOFC game has been a great bang for the buck.

[Franklinnoble]

See, I felt that way about SimCity 4... It added nothing for me compared to the previous versions...

[Anrhydeddu]

I am in the minority apparently in believing and experiencing that Civ3 and FOF4 were a significant step backwards from Civ2 and FOF2001, respectively. They should not have been given where their predecessors were.

[AgPete]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
See, I felt that way about SimCity 4... It added nothing for me compared to the previous versions...

Agree 100%. Someone pointed out that they felt that way with SimCity 3000 and I couldn't agree more. I was very disappointed with how SimCity 3000 was almost a carbon copy of the previous game. I haven't bothered to buy SimCity 4 because I read the reviews and it looks like it's the same game with better graphics. It looks like most companies consider graphics the top priority for any update or sequel but that's always been at the bottom of my priorities list. I guess when you start out with an Atari 2600 and TRS-80 you look at computer games differently. :D Seriously though, I'm amazed at what kids bitch about today when it comes to computer games. "Dude! No organs or pieces of skull go flying when I shoot him! Man! This game has 2-D characters instead of 3-D! This game sucks!" :p

[Vince]

Winners:
Super Mario Kart (SNES)
Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
FOF: TCY (PC)
Civilization (PC)
Civilization II (PC)
Super Tennis (SNES...best...tennis...game...ever)
Final Fantasy II (SNES)
Silent Service (NES)

Losers:
Treasure Hunter (NES...don't ask)
The Bouncer (PS2...actually returned it less than an hour after I bought it because I had already completed the game...it wasn't bad, just definitely not worth $50 dollars)
Warcraft 3 (PC)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)

[vex]

Winners:

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
TCY
Civ 2
Simcity 2000
Simcity 3000
Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001


Losers:

Civ 3
MechWarrior 3
Shogun (Or something like that.) Worse game I've ever played.

[Ragone]

Likes
Championship Manager(from 99 on.. a great value..)

Metal Gear from nes to ps2(i love the series)

Ncaa Football 2003(A quantum leap in College football gaming)

Pirates!(omg.. i remember playing this on C-64, i never actually found my entire family.. but i was close once, but man did i love raiding the spanish gold fleet)

Neutral
Madden 2003(Online play keeps it from being dislike)

Dislikes
Master of Orion 3(a total letdown)
Civ 3(again a letdown)
Shadowbane(i was level 30 in under 2 days.. wtf?)

[mckerney]

Warcraft III
High Heat 2001

The two PC games I probably play the most right now, despite what was previously said about them.

Though the greatest game ever: Halo
I just can't wait for the sequal.

[TroyF]

Winners:

Top Value of All time: Championship Manager
Close Behind: FOF Series.
Not to be left out: GTA and GTA VC, NHL 93 (Genesis), Tecmo Bowl, Baseball Stars, Earl Weaver Baseball and NCAA Football, System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever.

Losers:

Top Loser of All Time: Earl Weaver Baseball 2
Close Behind: Sim Golf. Never could get into the game.
Not to be left out: The Sims (same as Sim Golf reason), Triple Play 97 (My first and last venture into EA baseball), The one 989 sports game I ever purchased. . . THE HORROR.

TroyF

[bamcgee]

I bought and finished Jedi Knight 2. Nothing really wrong with it. Most of the game is pretty routine stuff, but the lightsaber fights are fun, especially after your guy is all juiced up with force powers. Unfortunately, it takes a while to get there. Why they designed it that way I have no idea.

Forgot about Halo. Great game obviously. Might have to pop that one in tonight...

[samifan24]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
What was so bad about Jedi Knight 2 (that's the most recent one, right?)... I was thinking of getting it for my son for his birthday (he's a star wars nut)

Nothing. I played the first one to death and my brother (a huge Star Wars nut) and I beat the second one in a much shorter time but it was still very enjoyable. I highly recommend it for any Star Wars fan.

[Fritz]

best value: V for Victory: Gold, Sword, Juno
worst value: Pool of Radiance 2

[Fidatelo]

Best bang for buck? EHM. $0 for TONNES of gaming time.

Runner up would have to be the original NHL game for genesis ('92). My brother and I played about 1000 games, all of which were logged and tracked in the form of 7-game series'. We would keep track of 3 stars, sometimes points, and we would have little write-ups about each series. Oh to be 13 again...

Worst? Icewind Dale 2. I got it used for $20, but I literally played it for no more than 3 hours.

[mckerney]

I also enjoyed Jedi Knight 2, though I didn't think it was quite as good as the first (or second one in the series, it confuses me in how they went from Dark Forces 2 to Jedi Knight 2). The final boss became fairly easy when I was able to get rid of his lightsaber with extreeme luck.

A good game if your a starwars fan and you're patient enough to get through some of the harder parts (mainly where you're going up against snipers), but I have no huge complaints about it.

[Swaggs]

Good thread...here are mine:

Good:
Wizardry Gold (PC)--the first really good RPG I played on PC, around '97. I still have a save file on a zip disk.
Realm (PC)--MMORPG. Before Ultima Online and Everquest, this great little game came out. More community based than quest oriented, but I played it a ton of hours and still have an account.
FOF2 (PC)--The football game I had been waiting for. Probably tied for second with Hollwyood Mogul for hours players behind only Realm.
Leisure Suit Larry Games (PC)--Good, fun games made by Sierra. Never buggy, always hilarious. Too bad Sierra dumped the designer (Al Lowe), but will not give up his character rights.
Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)--Lots of hours of fun here.
Hollywood Mogul (PC)--A great game, that could have been even better. I have played many, many games to the end.
Dragon Warrior and FF Games (Multiplatform)--These are the bad boys that got me hooked on RPGs.
Suikoden Games (PSX)--the best RPGs I have ever played. 106 characters to find in each game w/ a great story.
Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)--Awesome.
Baseball Stars (NES)--The first dynasty mode game that I played. Also, had cool player pictures.


Bad:
Black and White (PC)--All hype. After watching the amazing intro, I proceded to play for 10 minutes.
Everquest (PC)--Some asshole killed me early in the game. How early? When I called to cancel a month later, the customer service rep said, "Let's see, you played a total of....(giggles)...three minutes. We will give you a full refund."
Masters of Orion (PC)--A new entry. Nothing I do seems to affect the outcome of the game, although I did actually play it for several hours.
Total Control Football (PC)--Awesome potential. Played it just prior to finding out that FOF2 would be out in a few months. Displayed trophies in a trophy cabinet which was cool, but the draft class repeated every year or two and there was a show stopping bug that ended my careers after three seasons each time.
Front Page Sport Football '98 (PC)--Not positive it was '98--it was the one with Marino on the cover. First copy I bought had one readme.txt files in it...and that was all! Took it back to EB and switched it and quickly realized that I probably had the better copy to begin with.
Baseball Stars II (NES)--Long awaited sequel to Baseball Stars. Was actually worse. Notable in that it had black player portraits, though. *shrugs*
Street Fighter II (SNES)--A good game, but since this about bang for your buck...my best friend bought it for $93.00 at EB! Still the most expensive computer/video game I have ever seen.

[BFleming]

Best value:

Baseball Stars (NES)
Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
Super Play Action Football (SNES(Only game I've ever seen where you could play HS, College, and Pro on one cart))
Mutant League Football (Genesis)
Diablo II (PC)
FOF2
CM Series

Best buried in the same dump as the thousands of ET's for Atari:

Bill Laimbeer(sp?)'s Combat Basketball(SNES)
NBA Live '01 (PS2-- what a steaming pile of crap.. Rebounds? What rebounds??)
Minority Report (PS2-- got it when I worked for EB for nothing-- still felt like I was cheated)
Stuntman(PS2-- another freebee-- almost tossed my $200 PS2 out the window in disgust)
Kabuki Warriors (Xbox-- quite possibly the worst game ever)

I'm sure there's more, but realizing I spent my money on such crap has made me severely depressed....lol

[BFleming]

Originally posted by Swaggs
[B]Good thread...here are mine:

Bad:
Black and White (PC)--All hype. After watching the amazing intro, I proceded to play for 10 minutes.


God I forgot about B&W...Had it pre-ordered for months in advance, picked it up as soon as the box arrived, drove home...played it....boy did it suck...got so irritated at the stupid rock throwing I returned it the next day

[Mega]

Best Value:
Civ, Civ 2 (I was fairly lucky to be turned on to the Civ franchise very early. I may have played Civ even more than Civ 2, which is incredably sad. These two games probably burned up a year of my lifespan. Of course that time was coming out of the 1/3 of my life I was supposed to be sleeping. :) )

Super Mario Bros. (I played this game for years on end. I still get audial hallucinations with SMB sound effects.)

Jet Grind Radio: (I was one of the few people who payed $50 for this when it came out, as opposed to waiting a few weeks for it to end up in the bargain bin. I've played through it at least 15 times and it is awesome every time.)

Dig Dug: (This may be a sentimental favorate, but it is also my all-time favorate. Who knows how many Namco Museums I've bought for this game, never mind a 2600 cart back in the day and quarter after quarter (well, token after token) at the arcade.)

Tetris: (Need I say more?)

Mario Golf GBC: (Just when I thought I was out, Mario pulls me back in. I hadn't bought a GB game in over a year when I bought Mario Golf on a whim. By now it is practically fused to my Game Boy.)

Worst Value:
Civ 3 (I'm glad to see that others agree with me that somwhere along the line Civ 3 lost the magic. I probably played this anout .001% as long as I played either of the other two.)

Morrowind (I likes me some RPG, I likes me some non-linear gameplay. Yet for some reason.... *yawn*. A couple of days of my life I'll never get back. I don't think I've bought an RPG since.)

Black and White (I was so hyped up for this game, I stayed up for about 72 hours pre-release. Then I got it and it turned out to be nothing that was promised. I sold it on eBay for $6 the week of release. What a pile.)

What strikes me about this exercise is that I know for every great game I've gotten, I've been burned at least twice but I guess I'm an optomist, because I seem to be having trouble remembering very many burns. And all the ones I do remember off the top of my head are recent.

[Vince]

Originally posted by BFleming
Stuntman(PS2-- another freebee-- almost tossed my $200 PS2 out the window in disgust)


Man, I thought that was a pretty decent game, actually. What didn't you like about it (aside from everything :))?

I'm also a little surprised at the number of people who are listing Black & White as a tremendous waste of money...I didn't think it lived up to expectations, but I definitely think it's not worthy of a 'worst video game buy ever' mention.

[Scholes]

Winners:
NCAA Football 2003 (PS2): I played 12 years, switching teams in the middle, and loved every minute.

CM Series Have played this more than any other game ever.

GoldenEye 007 (N64) : I had more fun with my friends playing this game than any other.

FPS Baseball 98 : I still occasionally will play my Kansas City Royals career... 6 years in the making... playing out almost every game.

NHL 2K3 (PS2) Restored my faith in console hockey gaming. To quote David Spade "Tons of Fun"


Losers:
FPS Football 99 : I think that the problems with this game are well documented.

Every Console Baseball Game after Baseball Stars I just never found another good one... although I haven't played any on my PS2, so maybe advancements have been made.

The FIFA Soccer Series So much potential.... never yet realized.

[Honolulu Blue]

Best value: Pirates! (C64). Paid $28 for it - near full price at the time - but got hundreds of hours of gameplay out of it.

Special mention: Imperialism II. You've probably heard me mention this game a time or two. :) Got this one for free for being an outside beta tester. Not the reason I think it's a great game, and no I didn't help much.

Most of the other games that I like/liked I paid retail, or close to it. I can't think of any other great values in my games library. With books it's another story - I can tell you all kinds of stories about great ones I bought for $2 or less. Maybe another time.

Biggest disappointments: Alpha Centauri, Civ III, Industry Giant.

[Airhog]

Originally posted by VPI97
I don't know if I just stunk at the game or what, but I found it to be horribly frustrating to die every 5 minutes. I've have fun with other FPS games like Doom/GTA/Max Payne, etc...but for some reason I couldn't make it two steps without getting shot up in JKII. And the game really didn't seem interesting enough for me to keep trying.

I enjoyed the game, even though I quit playing it before finishing it. Its just slow to evolve. It takes 4 levels or so before you get the lightsabre, and any powers...

[Vince]

I almost forgot my all-time favorite RPG: Chrono Trigger (SNES).

[Radii]

Winners:

Everquest (yes, even with the monthly fee it was a great value for me based on time played. Sad,huh?)

CM3+CM01/02

FOF: TCY

Civ 2

High Heat 2001

Tony LArussa Baseball 3 on Atari 800

Hardball 2 or 3 I forget, on Atari 800



Too many losers to count, I'm very impulsive.

[Fritz]

another "value game" was fallout 2

[CamEdwards]

Great value:

Civ 2
TCY
Sim City 3000 (got it free, played it for three years off and on)
Baldur's Gate II
OOTP4

Not so great value:

FOF4 (I've played it maybe four times)
The Sims (although my wife and daughter still like it)
Gettysburg!
Star Wars Rebellion (played it for ten minutes. hated it)

[sabotai]

I liked Sim City 4....the landscape was SO much better than in previous versions. What killed it for me was that the only way for me to make money as a city was to do everything a specific way. There was no variety to it. I tried to make a large country community of farms, houses and just a few commercial zones and other things...and my money went into the red quickly.

So Sim City 4 is definatly not a winner for me.

Jedi Knight 2 was a blast for me. I highly reccomend it.

But the winners are.....

Final Fantasy 3 for the SNES. I played through this game about 4 times. One time i ttook me 70 hours because I tried to do everything and get my characters as high as I could. Easily over 150 hours of play. (Even more now that I play it in ROM form)

NHL 94 for SEGA Genesis. Played this CONSTANTLY. I even created my own schedule and recorded my stats and played through several "seasons"

Genghis Khan for NES. My first exposure to Mongal history, and obviously not the last (my nick name...)

Half-Life for PC. I played through and beat it twice. But if that wasn't enough, the free mods have easily made this #1 as overall value. I've played some counter-strike and day of defeat, but Team Fortress Classic has put it at the top. I have been in several clans and guilds and played in at least 50 'matches' (each lasting an hour.) Not to mention the amount of time I played pubbing. The hours I have spent, and continue to spend, playing this game (and the mods created for it) is uncountable.

Everquest for the PC. I never got TOO into it. None of my characters went over level 20 (got bored with them). But so far it has been the best MMORPG experience (admittibly not an extensive one.)

Shogun for C64. Based on Clavell's classic novel. I spent so much of my youth playing this game.

Mail Order Monsters for C64. Same as before. Much of my lost youth is attributed to this game.

And the ones that failed:

Any of the second rate Tycoon games that cost $10 that I never spent more than 1 hour playing...

That's about it. I'm not impulsive about games I buy, mainly because I can't afford to just go buy a game. So when I make a pruchase, I do enough research to ensure that I'll get some value out of it, unless of course it is a $10 piece of shit, then I don't care...

[thesloppy]

For bestest personal value, my Grand Prize goes to ADOM, which I've managed to play steadily for 5 years or so, and doesn't cost a cent.

Other winners by platform:

PC:

Civ 2
FPS Football
Freespace
Jagged Alliance
FOF TCY

PS1:

Tekken 3
Tony Hawk
Super Puzzle Fighter Turbo

PS2:

GTA
Gallop Racer
SSX Tricky

DC:

NFL 2K
Tony Hawk 2

GBA:

Tactics Ogre
Advance Wars

The Losers:

Black and White (PC) - Like others, the disappointment factor was huge.
The Sims (PC) - Likewise.
FPS '99 (PC) - A tragedy.
Gran Turismo 3 (PS2) - The allure of racing an '88 CRX a thousnd times over was non-existant.
Tekken 4 (PS2) - Must've played all of 5 minutes before growing bored.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Good ones off the top of my head (hours of fun/cost), in somewhat of descending order:

X-COM 1 (PC)
Championship Manager Series (PC)
Baseball Mogul (PC)
FOF 2 & FOF 2001 (PC)
Civ II (PC)
Front Page Sports Series (Baseball and Football) (PC)
Civ I (Mac)
Red Baron I
Master of Orion I
Gallop Racer (Playstation)
Medal of Honor (PC)
The original Pools of Radiance (the Gold Box series one)
The original Falcon (Mac)
Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons (SNES)
Outlaws (PC)
Railroad Tycoon I
Sim City I

The games that I really consider to be bad value are not that ones that I bought and never played, but the games that—instead of adding enjoyment to my life—just made me unhappy.

My worst gaming value ever:
Sid Meier’s Colonization (Mac): Back when I only had a Mac, I bought this game with high expectations for $50. The Mac version was an unplayable, buggy, piece of crap, but teased you with just enough potential to trick you into putting up with all the bugs for about ten hours of agonizing hell. I hung onto the game waiting for a promised patch that never came (Microprose ended up denying there was anything wrong with the game, then dumping their Mac division altogether). By that time it was too late to take it back to the store. Spent $50, spent 10 hours in frustrating gameplay, and spent another ten hours fighting with Microprose customer “support”. Basically I blew $50 for 20 hours of being pissed off. What a waste.

Disappointments (didn’t piss me off, but the time spent with the game would have been better spent doing something else):
FOF4 (not dead yet, though; I’ll probably give it another try)
OOTP3 (too much messing with stuff, too little fun)

[AgPete]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz

My worst gaming value ever:
Sid Meier’s Colonization (Mac): Back when I only had a Mac, I bought this game with high expectations for $50. The Mac version was an unplayable, buggy, piece of crap, but teased you with just enough potential to trick you into putting up with all the bugs for about ten hours of agonizing hell. I hung onto the game waiting for a promised patch that never came (Microprose ended up denying there was anything wrong with the game, then dumping their Mac division altogether). By that time it was too late to take it back to the store. Spent $50, spent 10 hours in frustrating gameplay, and spent another ten hours fighting with Microprose customer “support”. Basically I blew $50 for 20 hours of being pissed off. What a waste.

Sorry to hear that GB. Colonization will always have a special place in my classic PC gaming collection. :) I bought it off of EBAY once for a few bucks because I missed it. Of course, while looking for a patch to make it work for newer Windows versions, I found out you can download it for free from many sites. You should give it another try. I wish Sid Meier would have developed the Colonization series more. I guess it was a poor seller.

[Godzilla Blitz]

AgPete: At some point, I got the Windows version from a friend as a present, but I don't think I ever loaded it up because I had such a bad experience with the Mac version. I may have to fire it up sometime, though. I've mentioned my experience to friends who have replied that they really liked the PC version too.

God, that Mac version was awful, though. I had a brand new, top-of-the-line Mac, and the game was so poorly ported that it basically ran in real-time. This was not a good thing for a game that spans about 200 years.

[Rich1033]

Winners:

GTA- Great game that I still turn on to get rid of stress. Vice City was a great followup.

SSX- good single player, but playing it with my friends was gold. We mastered every part of every course and could get 500 or 600K on one course. The sequel, Tricky, was good but they made it too easy to do the big tricks. It just didnt have the challenge of the original.

Tiger Woods- A great game to play with friends. We always throw this in when we have the time.

Rumble Racing- A decent little game that I got a lot more than I expected. Very fun, and I still play it from time to time.

Tetris- Classic. I love it. Especially the version that was on the N64.

Hattrick- Jeez, who would have thought I could get into a freakin soccer game?

Goldeneye/Perfect Dark- Great games. I cant even begin to count the hours my friends and I spent playing them.

Sim City 2000- For the same reasons already said.

Dragon Warrior 2- I downloaded this and a NES emulator a year or 2 ago and loved playing through it again.

Losers

OOTP4- Was a good game but had some problems. Being a huge baseball fan those things stuck out like a sore thumb and ruined it for me.

Metal Gear Solid- Also a good game but I just didnt get into it as much as some people.

Gran Turismo- It was Ok, but I was disappointed I didnt get into it more than I did.

Any Basketball game- Just not realistic. Sega Sports is getting close but I still cant get into it.

Sim City 3000- I just didnt get into it. Seems like the same as 2000 with nothing new to keep me interested.

Dark Cloud- Geat reviews and I might not have given it the chance it deserved. However it just wasnt doing it for me.

Super Mario 3- I liked 1 and 2, but I always hated 3 for some reason.

Im sure Im missing a lot of other losers but Im having a brain freeze at the moment. Or maybe I just blocked them out.

[condors]

the orginal fof i still play it just to remember, I spent so much time playing the game at one time i could name the 3 best free agent players at every postion at the start of the game. The first time i got the game over screen i felt abandoned

championship manager i go through withdraw if i don't play for at least 30 minutes a day

ootp-while not in the league with the other two i feel it has the best online league which when run properly adds unlimited replay value to the game

dissapointments:civ3 while the first two had me totally engrossed i never got the same feeling with the third

command and conquer(red alert) i guess rts isn't for me. I felt like its made for 10 year olds on a sugar rush

I am not saying either game isn't good but these were games i expected to be awsome and i got the feeling of i could have spent my money on something better.

[cuervo72]

Microleague Baseball (original), Maniac Mansion for the C64
Super Techmo
Civ I, Civ II

CircleMud (again, the original, I knew the programmer at Hopkins)...ok, it was on a terminal, but it was free :-)

[Butter]

Why oh why can't anybody make a decent college basketball game for any console?

I had such high hopes for Sega Sports' NCAA College Basketball 2K3 for XBox after reading the reviews. I've played it some, but the excitement is so lacking when playing the actual game, that I've only advanced halfway into one season with my beloved Dayton Flyers in 5 months of owning the game. There are virtually no fouls, even with frequency turned up all the way (unless you just try and steal relentlessly), the AI is ok, but I was able to hold the ball for the last 30 seconds of one game with a one point lead. WTF? The computer's end game strategies ruin 1 of every 2 games played. Recruiting was poorly done, and the camera angles aren't well done either, in that either I have one where I can barely distinguish my players from ants, or I have one where the court whips around on every possession, or I have one where I can't see any of my players in the frontcourt.

I would almost be happy if someone would just slightly improve on the old SNES Final Four game where the court just seemed to be floating in a blue space. Coach K for the Genesis was alright, but when you only have 64 teams in a game, the tournament is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

[MizzouRah]

Tecmo Super Bowl (nes) - This game was played so much, I had to buy a second copy.

Wasteland (c64) - my introduction to a role-playing game.

Excitabike (nes) - the nes was truly a gem of a gaming machine and this motorcycle game is a classic.

10-Yard Fight (arcade, nes) - no stats or teams, but a great football game where breaking tackles requires a shaking of the joystick.

Madden 92 (genesis) - ahhhh. . the good ole Sega Genesis.

NHL 93 (?) (genesis) - EA becomes a household name.

FPS Football '97 (pc) - possibly my favorite sports game of all time.

FPS Baseball '96 (pc) - another Sierra classic.

High Heat 2000 (pc) - a great baseball game by Team .366 and 3do, basically my introduction into gaming forums, Dave Dial, etc... :)

FOF4 (pc) - the best of the series, imo - I'm still playing this version, which is more than I can say about FOF2.

OOTP5 (pc) - played countless games so far with this one.

Duke Nuke'em (pc) - Die!

Honorable Mention:

TDCB (pc)
Castle Wolfenstein (pc)
Medal of Honor (pc)
C&C Red Alert (pc)

NCAA 2003 (ps2) - the BEST college football game EVER, imo
SSX Tricky (ps2)
MVP Baseball (ps2) - next year's version should be the total package.
NCAA CBB 2k3 (ps2) - Sega owns basketball
Bird vs Dr J (c64) - what a fun game
4th and Inches (c64) - gridiron classic


Games that flat out sucked!

NHL 2002 (ps2)
FPS Football 99 (pc)
FPS Baseball 98 (pc)
High Heat 2003 (pc)
Black & White (pc)



Todd

[Maple Leafs]

Does anyone notice that a very high percentage of the "loser" games are sequels to very successful series? FOF4, Civ3, Earl Weaver 2, etc. Going back to read the list, virtually all the loser games are sequels with the exception of Black and White.

Conclusion? Either sequels are typically bad, or (more likely), creating a sequel to a well-loved game is a no-win proposition. If you make changes, everyone complains. If you keep it the same, everyone complains.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
Conclusion? Either sequels are typically bad, or (more likely), creating a sequel to a well-loved game is a no-win proposition.

Except for the TON of money they make.

[Butter]

My favorite memory of FPS Baseball '98 was the patch in of a colored cursor, green if the pitch was to be a strike, red if it was a ball. That's how bad their hitting interface was, it was virtually impossible to distinguish between balls and strikes.

I think looking back, I would also have to say that FPS Football '96 was up there as well. Loved that play editor.

[MJ4H]

Winners:

Master of Orion (PC) - Man I can remember playing this CONSTANTLY. I had a friend of mine that played it with me and he would actually go to my after hours job (when I was in college) and sit around while I worked and we would DISCUSS STRATEGY for our current game since we couldn't both be at the computer playing it. Then we would rush back to the dorm and put our plan in action. Man, good times.

NHL 95 and 96 (PC) - College. Man, we had seasons where someone in my dorm owned EVERY TEAM and they would come to my room to play every game of an 82 game season and full playoffs. I miss that stuff.

Metroid (NES) - I still play this. What a great game. So well designed.

Legend of Zelda (NES) - They don't make games like these anymore.

X-Wing (PC) - One of the first games I ever played on PC. So addicting.

NCAA Football 2003 (PS2) - Simply outstanding. The CPU team cheating is way down from 2002. Still there, though.

Gran Turismo 3 - I played this until I had every car and completed every race. 100% baby. Great fun with my PS2 steering wheel and pedals.

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast) - I debated whether to put this one in or not. It is SUCH an outstanding game, but there are way too many of those random monster attacks. Its highly annoying, but I think the fun of the game makes up for it.

Baseball Stars(NES) - What a game.

Losers:

Ascendancy(PC) - I still think Im on candid camera when I load this one up.

Star Wars Rebellion(PC) - Disappointment was huge.

NHL series 97 and after(PC) - YUCK. way to destroy a franchise.

FIFA series 96 and after(PC) - FIFA 96 was playable. Everything after that feels more like foozball than soccer.

Im sure there are others, but those are the biggest off the top of my head.

[WussGawd]

Originally posted by AgPete
Agree 100%. Someone pointed out that they felt that way with SimCity 3000 and I couldn't agree more. I was very disappointed with how SimCity 3000 was almost a carbon copy of the previous game. I haven't bothered to buy SimCity 4 because I read the reviews and it looks like it's the same game with better graphics. It looks like most companies consider graphics the top priority for any update or sequel but that's always been at the bottom of my priorities list. I guess when you start out with an Atari 2600 and TRS-80 you look at computer games differently. :D Seriously though, I'm amazed at what kids bitch about today when it comes to computer games. "Dude! No organs or pieces of skull go flying when I shoot him! Man! This game has 2-D characters instead of 3-D! This game sucks!" :p

I couldn't agree more with anything you said here. Then again, I play more text-based sims than anything.

[WussGawd]

dola.

My winners and losers:

Winners:
M.U.L.E. (C64)-Played this one to death, even registered a C-64 emulator to be able to play it again on the laptop. Dani Bunten was a great designer.

Civ I & II (Amiga/PC)-Played this one to death, loved the sequel even more.

FOF 1 & 2, 2001, TCY (PC)-Played these to death, so much so that FOF4 was a bit of a letdown to me.

The Sims (PC)- Others put this on their losers list, but I thought this one highly creative, and played it pretty heavily for a couple of years.

Master of Orion 2 (PC)-This game's been on my hard drive now for about five years.

Splinter Cell (XBox)-Got this used about a month ago, can't put it down.

CM4 (PC)-Haven't had this one long, and never played any other installment of the series, but I can't put this one down.

Doom (PC)-Loved the heck out of this game, even though I generally suck at FPS's.
Gabriel Knight I, II, & III (PC): Loved this series of adventure games, was very disappointed to realize there won't be a fourth (particularly since III had a very open-ended conclusion).

Steel Panthers I & II (PC): Stayed on my hard drive for 8 years...must have had something going for it.

Sam & Max Hit the Road (PC): The best adventure game I've ever played, period. Brought it up with the laptop a couple of years ago to a cabin up north, the kids and I played it through for two days.

Europa Universalis I & II: Love these games...particularly the latter.

Railroad Tycoon 2 (PC): Loved this game, can't wait to see the next version.

Losers:
Sim City 3000 Unlimited: Should have been named Crash City 3000...never had a more unstable game in my life. Finally threw up my hands in frustration and went back to 2000.

Front Page Sports Football Pro '99: A game so bug-riddled that it effectively killed Sierra's sports game line. Sierra was taking returns on the thing in the droves. What a sad way for my favorite PC Football series to end. IMO, even the latest iteration of the PC/Console Football games (EA & Sega) don't have the gameplay value this series did.

FOF4: The showstopping bugs of the release and first patched version turned me off, and I've never really got back into it. Still prefer FOF 2001.

Phantasmagoria (PC): Yes, it was stylishly done, with FMV, and the cut scenes were great...but once you got past it, you quickly realized the game was all sizzle and no steak.

Riddle of the Sphinx (PC): I have to admit I'm an adventure game freak, probably one of the last two people in America. However, that being said, this game was a complete steaming pile of poo. Bad graphics, boring gameplay, dull puzzles, awful acting, user-hostile interface. In baseball parlance, this game was a five-tool steaming pile of poo. What a waste of $15 at Costco.

NBA 98 (PC): I have to admit I bought this in a bargain bin a few years ago. What a bug-riddled piece of crap. Stupid AI, too many crashes. Yes the graphics and sound were great for the time, but at the core of it, if you dress up a pig in an Armani suit, you've still got a pig. I've also never bought an EA basketball game since.

American Civil War: From Sumter to Appomattox (PC): I've really wanted to like this game. I love the subject matter (I have 2 shelves of a book case devoted to Civil War history books). Obviously, the designer knows his subject. But the interface was so arcane and user-hostile that I couldn't get into it. Nonetheless, there's enough promise that I'm hoping to see his third iteration later this year.

The 7th Guest (PC): Will somebody wake me up when it's over? The most overhyped game I've ever seen from the early days of FMV adventure games, well, almost...the title of most overhyped game I've ever played has to be...

Myst (PC): I like the Myst CD. It makes a great coaster. Some people loved this to death, so much so that they were dumb enough to buy the two sequels. To me it was a dull game wrapped in an admittedly very pretty package.

[Katon]

Winners:

CM (PC) for obvious reasons. I've played every version since the original CM3 to death.
PES/PES2 (PS2) are by far the best soccer games I've ever played.
Hattrick is rather nice at the price.
Planescape:Torment (PC) cost less than £10 and was well worth it.
Warcraft II (Mac). I used to play this constantly with a friend. I'd make a level for him to play, then he'd make a level for me . . .

Losers:

Evergrace and Summoner (both PS2) are complete rubbish. I bought them when I was looking for a decent RPG on the system; I finally wound up waiting for FFX.
Not actually for me, but I bought Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2) for my sister and it's a perfect example of the rubbish sequel phenomenon.