Something I posted in the Starcraft 2 thread got me thinking, what are your best memories or favourite things that you used to do in games? Im not talking about just playing a game lots, but specific bits of a game, or an arcade style quick game over and over.

Thinking back on it theres not much in terms of recent games, but things I did/played a lot:

Total Annihilation Skirmish - Levels which allowed for total domination of the map and other players so you could then turtle and amass an armada of nukes/planes/ships/mechs etc. That or build a bank of long range artillery.
Ski-Free - I used to love the game so much
Minesweeper - Bit of an addiction a while back, got a bit OCD and would on occasion refuse to stop playing till I beat expert etc.

The closest thing that comes close in recent times is Fallout 3, exploring the waste land. Bit of a past time, but not any more.

My favourite overriding memory of gaming is Star Wars Galaxies. The guild I was a part of was a very closely knit community and it really felt quite enjoyable.

I have some great memories of losing whole weekends playing Civilisation II many years ago when I was in high school. You would start playing and the next thing you knew it was Monday morning and time to go.

I actually really enjoyed playing Bioshock through recently, in the few days before Christmas last year. I took a couple of days and really worked through it being sure to enjoy the atmosphere.

There are a load of Amiga games that conjure up some fantastic memories. Settlers, Desert Strike, Gunship 2000, Zeewolf to name but a few.

For me, age of empires and Red Alert 2, but only because I still play them occasionally now!

6 months or so in Star Wars Galaxies were very good.

World of Warcraft when we cleared Blackwing lair for the first time after many weeks of effort back when WoW was hard!  To be fair it was not the most hardcore guild I was in, but had a good community spirit and the joy expressed on Vent and guild chat that night still sticks in my mind.

Single player games pale into insignificance if I'm honest, scaring the sh*t out off my 8 year old nephew (and me) when the dog jumps threw the window near the beginning in the first Resident Evil does stand out! lol

Personal achievements: I spent over a month trying to do the Star Road on Super Mario, this was long before you could pop online to get tips and no cheats, I did ring a couple of people I know who were trying to do the same to tell them!

Doing the endurance races on the original Gran Turismo do stick in the mind! ..but that might be because of stupidity!

Commander keen, side view platform adventure game quite fun although I never played all of it. Shareware, the first third was free, the rest you had to pay for.

Duke Nukem, another side view platform adventure, early versions were shareware until 3D came out.

I ended up quite good at Tie Fighter, I could take out all of the large ships single handedly, which was useful as your support tended to suicide quickly. Killing the shuttles was difficult with the early tie fighters. Spent many happy hours playing X-wing too.

Wing Commander, similar to X-wing. Really fun taking out the kitties capital ships.

I found Doom really good, although some of the latter games were a bit too tough at the end. Eventually I was able to take out the two end bosses fairly easily by starting with the pistol, using it till it was empty, then moving to shotgun

The first Tomb Raider game, the graphics were definitely impressive and the game play incredible. I finished this too. Unfortunately later games were mainly intended for consoles, with resultant control issues for PC play.

I doubt if anyone hasnt played and enjoyed the Command and Conquer series. Used to set up loads of defence then let the computer run out of resources trying to smash its way through.

World of Warcraft

Farming & Selling.

Sense of achievement at the start of WOTLK when i was making 5K Gold a day and the GM of the servers chinese guild posted the screenshot of my achievement on their forums with the title "So you think you can farm!" aimed at his guildies.

am I the only one still playing wow?

Quote from: SeriousI found Doom really good, although some of the latter games were a bit too tough at the end. Eventually I was able to take out the two end bosses fairly easily by starting with the pistol, using it till it was empty, then moving to shotgun

I used to play this a lot, just as at the time there wasnt much else out that had that level of violence and the ability to load a level up and within 3 secs start shooting. Mind you I used to use the cheats a hell of a lot...enough that I still remember my "mantra" that I used to use at the start of each level....IDKFA IDDQD (and if I was rushed for time and wanted to skip to the end part or was lost) IDSPISPOPD

Quote from: SeriousI doubt if anyone hasnt played and enjoyed the Command and Conquer series. Used to set up loads of defence then let the computer run out of resources trying to smash its way through.

Never played it all the way through, tried to get back into it the other week but its just *too* old now. I did used to play a demo a heck of a lot that had the 1st GDI level, and then there was one with choppers in it. I used to play that over and over again, using sandbags to stop the NOD getting me whilst building a fleet of choppers.

Quoteam I the only one still playing wow?

Probably? I kind of regret not getting to level 60 or 80 or whatever it is now and not getting into it as much as other people, it would have been good to be a part of the bigger WoW experience, but MMORPGs, however enticing they start out as, always end up getting too tedious for me as I dont like the online element with other people. WAR was promising, but the few times I managed to take part in attacks on keeps it was a joke as it was a lag fest, it pretty much ended up being a case of "run in a big group to the castle and spam buttons, and hope that the defenders drop their connections from lag before we do" ><

I wonder if my computer could handle it now...no, must resist...!

Quote from: Eggtasticoam I the only one still playing wow?

I tried it but I could never get into it. It wasnt very immersive and when it first launched it just felt like Everquest-lite or something, max level in a few weeks and not much to do after that. Im sure its changed now but from what I understand endgame seems to be all about the loot and spending hours grinding/questing/raiding for a vorpal sword with +20 to smiting isnt my cup of tea.

Quote from: Eggtasticoam I the only one still playing wow?

I logged back on in July, didnt see you online though, and 99% of my old guildies on the other server had quit or moved on, so i logged out again lol

Quote from: Bacon

Quote from: Eggtasticoam I the only one still playing wow?

I logged back on in July, didnt see you online though, and 99% of my old guildies on the other server had quit or moved on, so i logged out again lol

I was prob on an alt o)

rolled a paladin, levelled alchemy & its a proper money maker. Make 10k a week

Chainsaw + God Mode

I preferred Beserk and God Mode.

I also remember the white/black negative effect of invulnerability being so awesome, I reckoned it almost looked real ><

Missed out Guild Wars, spent most of the last two years playing this. Finally killing Duncan, an elite boss, in hard mode, was good.

Ive managed to do 26 or 7 titles on one character. Did Legendary survivor and to prove you could use my technique on most Primary Professions I did it again, and again. Now got 5 Legendary Survivors, 3 more en-route if I decide to finish them off.

Wow Serious you brought back a couple of memories! Wing Commander was excelent, I remember playing it on my 286 waaaaay back.

I had to learn to play without the radar though because said 286s monitor was shagged and the red gun didnt work, so anything which should be red came out black, including bad guys on the radar screen and the missile lock icons!

Dune II was another favourite of mine, it was to Command and Conquer as Castle Wolfenstien was to Doom.


As for gaming passtimes as such, my only foray into massively multiplayer online gaming probably counts. I played a few rounds of Planetarion back in ~2000. I was a member of a not-quite-an-alliance called AOOA (for All for One and One for All). We used to meet in a chat room on IRC and specialised in giving a particular alliance called Legion a bloody nose whenever we could manage it. That was the first place I used the nick Mongoose.