Been born at the very beginning of the 90?s my life has followed the later part of the evolution of gaming. This story starts with the Sega Mega Drive, finishes with the 360 and has a whole variety of consoles and gaming pc?s in between.
The Sega months
My family is originally from New Zealand so when I was a young wart hog we used to holiday there for a few months at a time. It was during the second home coming that I popped my gaming cherry (creepy metaphor for a six year old I know). Golden Axe and Streets of Rage were the two favourites. Honestly at the time Golden Axe went straight over my head. I remember having a massive beard and wielding an axe. Great fun for a six year old. Streets of Rage on the other hand was a little less confusing. The premise was punch bad guys in the face until they flickered out of existence. Sometimes a big bad guy would come along and you would punch and kick him four times as much until he followed his underlings into digital hell.
The PC strikes back
The next time I played anything seriously was on the Personal Computer. An older game called Master of Orion II: Battle for Atreus. Although I didn?t have my own pc a good friend of mine did. We ploughed a scary amount of hours into the game. Mainly because it was a turn based space strategy and the matches could last for 10?s of hours. If you haven?t played MoO yet get a copy. Days of fun.
Another PC game that stole hours of my early life was Civilisation II. Again at the time I did not have a computer but family friend did. Whenever we visited I would seize the chance to play. My favourite thing to do was go the Aztecs and then bully the French into submission. Damn French.
Dawn of the N64
Christmas time is always special but one of my most memorable Jesus?s birthdays was when I was given an N64. The two games which came with it was some Star Wars game and Diddy Kong Racing. I was still a little young to fully digest the Star Wars title. Unfortunately this left little Diddy. The time I spent trying to 100% that game still makes me sad.
Luckily my parents were kind enough to buy a few more titles for the Nintendo. The three games I spent the most time on were Zelda, Golden Eye and Banjo Kazooie. Most people born pre millennium will be more than familiar with Link?s flute adventure. Golden Eye was the poster child for local death match. A lot of days after school me and three friends would grab some proxy mines and have at it. Banjo Kazooie stared a bear thing called Banjo and his creepy bird buddy Kazooie. Great platform adventure game. You also kill an old green witch so it?s a win win.
I Would Keep her Dungeon
Quickly returning to the PC to highlight a small game called Dungeon Keeper 2. The title was is an RTS set in, unsurprisingly, a dungeon. The player takes the role of an evil overlord hell bent on destroying the knights that live above ground. The reason Dungeon Keeper stuck in my mind was its use of humour. The game never took itself seriously but still managed to be compelling enough for me to finish it more than once. It was also the first game I played over the internet (this was back in dial up days). At the time this was mind blowing. Now we take it for granted.
Modern History
I could go on about the games that influenced me but the more recent ones you?ve probably played yourself. A quick list would be Fall Out 3, Oblivion, ME 1, 2, Gears, Skyrim and Battlefield. In fact the later list gets pretty boring.
If there?s anything I should try just comment below.