I have fixed quite a few bugs within the project, including some long-term bugs. I have mostly been working with the AI system. This is one of the most complex systems in the project, since the AI has to be able to navigate and move on rotating ships, at any angle, etc. There are still some issues to fix here, but I am making progress.
I have improved the navmesh that the AI uses to navigate around the ship, removing some problem areas where the AI was getting stuck.
I have completed two more retests of the first campaign, and fixed almost all of the issues discovered in each one. There should be very few major issues left now, hopefully.
I should be able to finish the next step of the project this month.
I have made improvements to the driving mechanics in the game. In particular, I have added a new smoothed camera system, to fix the issue of the camera jumping around too much when the player drives over rough ground. I have also improved the driving mechanics, and fixed some bugs, as well as disabled collision between vehicles and small objects in the world, to prevent the player getting stuck on objects that they can’t see properly.
I have also fixed an issue I was having with resetting the players position correctly after loading the game in a specific part of the second campaign.
I have made some improvements to the dialog system and text display in the project, to improve readability.
Campaign 2 is basically done for the moment, and I have started testing Campaign 1.
Several runs have already been completed, and some bugs have been discovered, including some slightly more serious ones.
However, most of these have already been fixed, with just a few issues left, which I will hopefully fix next week.
All of the trophies/achievements within the game have been tested, and work correctly, and I have fixed a lot of issues and made quite a few improvements to the first campaign.
The main issues left now are related to moving and rotating the players capital ship while AI Crew members are walking aboard it. Under some circumstances, the navigation of the AI can break while the ship is rotating.
I have completely retested the second campaign. This is a simpler campaign technically, so there were fewer issues with it than with Campaign 3, however, I did discover some bugs.
Almost all of these were very minor, and were fixed quickly.
There were only two slightly more worring ones, one involving placing of navigation objects at long range, and one involving travelling to planets over long distances.
I have fixed both, but there are still some issues with the second bug. When the player saves after travelling to a particular zone, but before travelling to the planet, the position of the players ship when they land is off slightly. This is likely a floating point precision bug, but I haven’t quite tracked it down yet.
Other than that, there were some minor issues with campaign triggers, and I added some new features and quality-of-life improvements to the crafting system.
The next major goals are to try to fix the above issue with the floating point precision, and spend some time improving the driving mechanics. The ground vehicles have some annoying issues, such as the camera shaking when the player drives over rough ground, etc. In addition, ground vehicles come to a sudden stop when they hit any obstacle, even something that it should be able to pass through or drive over.
Hopefully I can take a look at these issues next week, and then I can work on retesting Campaign 1.
As an avid, life-long gamer, I decided to honour my hobby by creating a list of my all time favourite games. Originally, the list was supposed to be a top-10, but I simply couldn’t pick just 10, there are too many games that needed to be on the list.
So, I cheated a little, and picked the top 20.
I am a little disappointed that there are no truly surprising entries on this list. Most of my favourite games are games that were widely recognised at the time as being exceptional, winning multiple awards, and earning their place in gaming history.
However, the titles span decades of gaming and many genres, and showcases some of the best titles of their respective decades.
I am well aware that there are many games that deserve to be on this list but aren’t, however, I am only including games that I personally played and have fond memories of, if I haven’t played a game myself, it won’t make the list. Halo, for example, certainly would get a place on this list, but my first experience with it was very recently when I played the Master Chief Collection on PC, so it doesn’t get an entry.
All images are considered to be “fair use” and are property of their respective owners.
10: Duke Nukem 3D 1996: 3D Realms / FormGen
“Always Bet on Duke”
Nothing defines 90’s gaming culture more than Duke Nukem 3D. It’s violent, crude, offensive, in your face, and it doesn’t care.
Its graphics were powerful for its time: Combining 3D backgrounds with 2D sprites for enemies and weapons resulted in a game that felt like an immersive 3D shooter but had the performance to run on the limited hardware of the day.
The infamous Duke himself became more infamous than the game, and Duke Nukem, along with games like Carmageddon and Blood, often found themselves the object of controversy before GTA ever burst onto the scene.
However, unlike a lot of similar titles, Duke Nukem’s fame is earned, and not just derived from shock value alone. It’s gameplay is solid, with top notch graphics and sound. Enemies are powerful, and the player’s weapons even more so. The RPG, Devastator, Shrink Ray, and Ripper Chaingun eviscerate the games many enemies, often tearing them apart (Called “gibbing”).
Technically, it is an achievement, with complex effects such as remote cameras, and real-time modification of the level geometry.
Duke Nukem 3D also features one of the most memorable theme song in video gaming history “Grabbag” by Lee Jackson, as well as fully voiced one liners by the great Jon St John.
Duke Nukem 3D defines an era of gaming that is lost forever, but man, was it ever fun while it lasted.
9: Deus Ex 2000: Ion Storm / Eidos Interactive
An epic sci fi adventure that asks the question: What if all of the conspiracy theories you heard were true?
The player is JC Denton a “nano-augmented agent” or “Nano-Aug”, working for a government agency called UNATCO, tasked with defeating the terrorist organisation known as the NSF.
Along the way, the player will travel the world and meet many strange and well-crafted characters, uncovering a vast conspiracy that will make even the most skeptical of players don their tinfoil hat.
Much more than just a shooter, charging into a room all guns blazing will likely get you killed here. Deus Ex is a first person RPG, allowing the player to spend points as well as find upgrade canisters to improve their skills in certain areas, from combat, to special abilities, to computer hacking.
If your skills are good enough, you can hack into computer terminals and disable security cameras, or even turn gun turrets against your enemies, clearing a room without ever firing a shot.
The level design also offers a varied and infinitely replayable experience: There are many ways to approach each objective, from direct assault, to stealth, along with many hidden items and weapons that can easily be missed on a casual playthrough.
The game features extensive dialog and a complex branching storyline where choices matter: in many cases, the player’s actions and choices change how NPCs react to you, as well as influence whether important characters live or die in a way that is fundamental to the game’s plot.
Deus Ex features a beautifully crafted world that feels real, with everything from the food and drink items that the player can pick up to the texture and environment art fitting the dark sci-fi aesthetic.
Modern adaptations of the series, such as Eidos’s Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, while exceptionally good games, don’t quite match the sheer scope and impact of the original.
8: FEAR 2005: Monolith Productions / Vivendi Universal Games
Very few games have the ability to make a player truly afraid of a little girl, but 2005’s FEAR is that game.
FEAR’s horror relies on much more than simple jump scares. It’s dark, foreboding atmosphere combined with an adult-oriented and, at times, quite macabre story set the scene for one of the most frightening games of all time.
The player plays as an unnamed “Point man” for First Encounter Assault Recon, a team sent in to investigate reports of paranormal occurrences in the fictional city of Fairport.
Along the way they meet Alma, a mysterious and terrifying young girl with psychic powers and a secret past.
Well crafted visual storytelling and Did-Something-Just-Move moments create a powerful sense of suspense and apprehension that makes the horror moments even more frightening when they appear.
Not only that, but FEAR’s combat system is extremely strong, with not only a slow motion ability but smart and aggressive AI that actively hunt the player. Enemies will communicate with each other, flank around the player to attack from unexpected angles, and throw grenades. Enemies can even spot the player’s flashlight, alerting them to the Point Man’s presence.
This also makes each of the games many gun battles feel unique: Every fight plays out differently, depending on the player’s weapons and tactics. Get in close and gib enemies with the shotgun, or remain at a distance and pin them to a wall with a nailgun, the choice is yours.
FEAR’s graphics and special effects were state of the art for its time, and still hold up quite well today. The slow motion effects are some of the most fun elements of the game, and the violence, gore, and horror scenes are genuinely frightening and disturbing.
A shooter lives and dies by its weapon loadout, and FEAR does not disappoint. The old favourites are all there, duel-wielded pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, but there are also some more unique choices such as the awesome Particle Laser and the Repeating Cannon.
A must-play for any FPS or horror fan.
7: Rome: Total War 2004: Creative Assembly / Activision / Sega
Rome was the first game that I sank over 100 hours into, trying to conquer the world as the house of Julii.
Technically innovative, Rome was one of the first games to allow the player to control truly massive armies of thousands of men, in full 3D and realtime, unlike other contemporary games that would max out at maybe a few hundred units on screen at the most.
Rome made the player feel like they were controlling a vast army, and allowed them to use real life tactics, terrain, and strategies in order to succeed.
In addition to the titular Romans, the game also features ancient powers such as the Carthaginians, Macedonians, and Greeks, all playable without additional payment, and most with their own unique unit roster, from Legionaires to War Elephants, Archers to Cavalry, and without a single micro-transaction or paid DLC in sight!
In addition to the advanced battle system, Rome also features a complex campaign map, where players must engage in diplomacy, trade, and politics as they defend, expand, and administer their vast and ever-growing empire.
Trying out all of the factions, units, and army types takes hundreds of hours, and there is enough depth in the gameplay for each of the major factions to feel truly unique, rather than a simple re-skin.
I have been a big fan of the Total War series ever since. Napoleon was fantastic, and the Warhammer Total War games were a breath of fresh air for the series, but it is the original Rome game that stands out as the defining entry in what became a successful franchise.
6: Max Payne 2001: Remedy Entertainment / Gathering of Developers / Rockstar Games
Max Payne is another masterpiece of gaming history that has it all: Great graphics, an emotionally powerful, well executed story, fun, addictive gameplay, and a unique, instantly recognisable personality all of its own.
The game is a dark, gritty, noir detective novel told in gameplay form. Its story takes the form of a comic strip, with voice-overs by the gravelly voiced protagonist as well as the games many interesting side characters.
Probably its most famous gameplay mechanic is “bullet time”. Max Payne was one of the first video games to implement this mechanic after the Movie “The Matrix” popularised the concept, and it uses it flawlessly: players can dodge, shoot, and move, in slow-motion, clearing entire rooms of enemies before they even have a chance to draw their weapons.
Max Payne’s story is above and beyond for a simple shooter, and still stands out two decades later. Following the titular character’s discovery of his family murdered by a gang high on the effects of a new drug called “Valkyr”, he embarks on a quest for revenge. The game heavily leans into Norse mythology, combining it with gritty modern reality with a dark, depressing, somber tone that leaves its mark long after you stop playing.
The game’s sound effects, music, and voice acting add to the mood and complete the package. Max Payne is one of the titles that prove that the gaming industry is capable of producing powerful, adult-oriented stories, not just mindless shooters.
Max Payne 2 deserves a mention here as well, as being one of the few sequels that live up to the original, and both of these games are very playable today.
5: Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun 1999: Westwood Studios / Electronic Arts
A real-time strategy game by the renowned Westwood studios, Tiberian Sun is the second game in the Command and Conquer “Tiberium” saga, continuing the war between the GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod, led by the mysterious Kane.
Tiberian Sun features a stronger story, deeper world building and atmosphere, and a quasi-dystopian sci-fi setting that differentiates from 2000’s Red Alert 2.
The game features stellar sprite-based graphics, a strong sci-fi story, and unique units and missions.
Playing as the GDI and Nod feels completely different, with their unit rosters, while equally powerful, having completely different playstyles.
Maps are large and battles long, meaning tactics matter: Destroying bridges can cut off enemy reinforcements, and managing your Tiberium resources is vital.
The gameplay in Tiberian Sun is simple: Left click select right click move, but it feels solid and satisfying, the game can be complex, but the controls are effortless.
The game features good pacing, with missions not feeling too easy or too difficult, and new units being unlocked often enough to prevent gameplay getting stale but not so often as to be overwhelming.
Like Red Alert 2, Tiberian Sun boasted an engaging story told in the form of quite high-quality FMVs. The cast features recognisable Hollywood names, including James Earl Jones, and Michael Biehn with Joseph D. Kucan returning as Kane.
The story combines a futuristic sci-fi theme with references to terrorism, resource shortages and environmental disasters.
Tiberian Sun’s soundtrack, while possibly not quite as memorable as Red Alert’s, was much better than the vast majority of games of this time, and even today, which makes sense considering the awesome Frank Klepacki worked on both.
4: Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 2000: Westwood Pacific / EA Games
The best real-time strategy of all time, by the unforgettable Westwood studios. I debated with myself as to whether to include Tiberian Sun first on this list, or Red Alert 2. Both are spectacular games, going above and beyond with their addictive gameplay, great graphics, and immersive FMV sequences.
I chose Red Alert 2 first simply because it was the game that I remember playing the most out of the two. While Tiberian Sun’s story might be slightly stronger, Red Alert 2 has the superior gameplay and playability.
The game features two fully featured campaigns: Allied and Soviet, and tells the story of an alternate reality where the Soviet Union has launched an attack on the United States, which the player must either defeat, or finish.
One of the most striking elements of Red Alert 2 is how smooth and satisfying the gameplay is. Movement and combat feel effortless, units are both unique and well-balanced, both within each faction, and between both factions. Units such as the Kirov Airship, Agent Tanya, Chronosphere and Prism Towers are all memorable fan favourites. The sprite animations and sounds are well designed, and integrate seamlessly with the action, with buildings becoming damaged and destroyed, soldiers being killed, and tanks blowing up with satisfying results.
Gameplay is simple, but challenging: players must use strategy and tactics, develop a plan and carry it through. However at the same time, this is not a “simulation” title, it is easy to pick up and play, and you could “tank rush” through most of the levels if you really wanted to.
Like its brother Tiberian Sun, Red Alert’s story is told through live-action FMVs featuring professional actors, such as the gorgeous Kari Wuhrer playing agent Tanya, and Barry Corbin playing General Carville.
Red Alert 2 takes its story somewhat seriously, which, despite its obviously fantastical nature, adds a great deal of immersion and depth to the game, which I like.
The third installment in the franchise, while not a bad game in terms of its core mechanics, descends too much into the realms of slapstick with its story, which I didn’t enjoy quite as much.
One final point is the soundtrack. Frank Klepacki created one of the finest video game soundtracks of all time, including the incredible “Hell march 2”, which , along with Duke Nukem’s “grabbag” is one of the all-time greatest video game hits.
The greatest turn-based tactics game of all time, X-COM inspired an entire genre that still exists today. However, despite significant technical advances in the intervening years, none of the recent entries in the series have replicated the depth, replayability, and sheer scope of the original.
1994’s X-COM had the ability to build bases anywhere in the world, and customise their layout. It had a deep research tree. You could bring over a dozen soldiers on a mission, and equip them with any combination of weapons or gear. This lends itself to very powerful combinations. One soldier carries a rocket launcher while another carries ammo, so that you have plenty of time units to both move and shoot.. You can give a soldier nothing but a pistol, so they can scout and reveal enemies for your more heavily laden and slower soldiers.
Not only that, but X-COM features fully destructible terrain. Players can shoot holes in buildings to launch sneak attacks on enemies, or to evacuate if the mission is going badly. They can destroy fences, hedges and other obstacles to improve sightlines, and even demolish entire buildings to kill any enemies hiding inside!
While some of the modern X-COM and X-COM-like games are excellent (such as the Firaxis remakes), they still massively simplify the gameplay: No custom bases, only six soldiers per mission, loadouts limited by role, smaller map sizes, etc. To this day, no mainstream title has replicated the sheer scope of what X-COM did. It is a genre-defining masterpiece that still holds up today, and is, as a game, almost perfect.
In my opinion, 2003’s UFO:Aftermath by Altar Interactive actually comes closest to capturing the magic of the original, but even this is vastly simplified. It is not a turn based game, and does not feature custom base building.
If I had to criticise X-COM, I would say that the psionic mechanic feels a little unfair. When enemies first start using psionic attacks, the player has no defence, meaning that you can suddenly find yourself losing half your soldiers through a random dice roll.
In addition, the game does feature frustrating searches for the last enemy on the map, called “last-bug hunts”.
However, the complexity and sheer power of the players choices makes the Original X-COM far superior to its more casual modern iterations.
X-COM is the kind of game that you can return to time and time again, and still discover new tactics, strategies, and playstyles.
2: Half Life 2 2004: Valve
Well deserving of its place on the list, Half Life 2 is a masterpiece of engaging, emotional, immersive, storytelling within a world that feels real.
While the original game was a technological milestone well ahead of it’s time, Half Life 2 takes this to the next level. It features not only state of the art graphics, animations, and an innovative physics system (That even rivals many modern titles) but also a powerful story and memorable characters, such as Alyx and Eli Vance, and Dr Breen as well as the crowbar-wielding MIT-educated protagonist Gordon Freeman.
In addition to its physics, Half Life 2’s graphics were outstanding, with innovative facial animations, lighting, and special effects.
Half Life 2 was one of the rare games out there where you genuinely care about the characters, and want to be a part of the world. Half Life 2 is set some time after the events of the first Half Life, where Gordon Freeman emerges from stasis into a world occupied by the alien Combine and their human collaborator Dr Breen.
The game’s storytelling is excellent, and its pacing is well balanced between action-packed combat, story-rich dialogue, and immersive exploration, driving, and physics puzzles.
The final sequence of the game, where the player is leading the revolution against Dr Breen, is one of my favourite moments in video gaming history. The world is so deep and believable that by this stage of the game the player feels genuine anger at the plight of the people of City 17, and is determined to help them earn their freedom.
There were times while playing this final battle sequence where I reloaded just to save random NPCs in the world. Not because they were important for the story, but because I couldn’t bear having them get killed.
The story features subtle but powerful moments (Such as the resistance tearing down monitors displaying images of Dr Breen) and lines of dialog such as “Now that you’re here, we’ve got a chance” that reinforce the player’s role as the saviour of this world and these people. You feel important, you feel like the world needs you.
That kind of immersion and genuine empathy for fictional characters is as rare today as it was then.
1: Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2015: CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt
At the top of the list is what I believe to be the greatest game ever made. Its story, gameplay, world-building, characters, graphics, sound design, and immersion are the best I have ever seen in a game.
The sheer depth and care taken to bring the world of Sapkowski’s The Witcher novels to life results in a masterpiece of a game that can be replayed over and over again with new content still being discovered on each playthrough.
Tremendous voice acting, hundreds of quests, excellent music, hundreds of weapons, armour types, items, and equippable items, dozens of memorable, fully voiced characters (My favourite being Triss Merigold, voiced by Jaimi Barbakoff, and of course Geralt himself, voiced by Doug Cockle) and unique enemies (Such as the Leshen) make the Witcher 3 the kind of game that will simply never be beaten.
What makes the Witcher so great? Games like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim offer more agency and customisability over your build, which I typically prefer over the more lore-focused Geralt of Rivia with his two swords and more limited magic abilities.
But that’s what sets the Witcher 3 apart from other RPGs. You are not simply playing a game, you are visiting a world. This is what gaming has always been for me: A journey, or even an escape, from one world into the next.
The Witcher offers hundreds of hours of gameplay within a story and character rich world. Each of the game’s side quests could be an entire story in itself, while the main quest features romance, humour, despair, and loss.
Other games may offer the player more agency, but in so doing they lose a lot of the depth and immersion that sets the Witcher apart.
The Witcher’s combat system is simple but satisfying, and even though Geralt prefers carrying two swords to a more varied combination of weapons, there are plenty of unique choices to keep your inventory stocked.
If I had to criticise the game, I would say that the combat system could be developed further. Once you have mastered the attack-attack-roll combo, even higher difficulties become a breeze.
More important than this is that the Witcher’s extensive crafting system (From Witcher Gear to Oils) is not important enough in the game. Players will find better gear in the world or from quest rewards, making the items that you have spent time crafting obsolete far too quickly. Oils do make fights shorter, but for most encounters they aren’t really needed. I have gone through entire playthroughs, even at higher difficulties, without ever crafting an item or using an oil on my blade. Finally, some of the quest rewards are worthless the instant you receive them (Such as the famous “Blade from the Bits” sword that you get from Hattori), although this is a common balancing issue in a lot of RPGs.
The Witcher is the kind of game you can get lost for hours in, just wandering from town to town, doing a quest here, talking to a character there, or just exploring, not to mention playing Gwent, the collectible card game that is additively fun once you get the hang of it!
Personally, I love the world so much that I don’t use fast travel (except between maps) or travel by horse. I prefer to walk, to drink in the atmosphere of the game. It is a role-playing experience, wandering from town to town, picking up contracts, talking to the locals, visiting the local taverns. I can’t even remember the number of times I have watched the sun set over the Novigrad docks, or wandered through the swamps of Velen at night with a torch in my hand.
With the Witcher, the player is a part of the world, but it doesn’t revolve around them. When you stop playing, it feels like the world is still there, that it is real, in a way. The Skelligers are still raiding the coast, Emperor var Emreis is still scheming to conquer the land, and Geralt, Triss, Yen, and Zoltan are still travelling the land, with many adventures still to be had.
The Witcher is a masterpiece that is unlikely ever to be bested, it just got it right in a way that nothing else can. There have been games out there that might have better graphics, more weapons and abilities, and maybe even better gameplay in some respects, but those are games.
The Witcher is a world.
Famed film critic Roger Ebert once said that “Video games can never be art”. I have always believed that he was wrong. Not only can video gaming be equivalent to other forms of art, they can, at least in theory, surpass them. Most art forms are passive: You watch a movie, listen to a song, look at a painting. Only gaming allows you to interact with the artform, be a part of it, experience it as you choose.
Even games that don’t offer branching story paths still allow the player to choose how they play: Which weapon to equip, which enemy to fight first, which room to enter, etc. This means that gaming can involve its audience in a way that no other artwork can.
In some ways, I believe that gaming has started to lose its way. Today, it seems the gaming industry is just that: an industry, dominated by predatory mechanics, micro-transactions, excessive politicising and censorship. However, the potential today is even greater than it ever has been. I wanted this list to be a celebration of my life with gaming, and I think it has been.
I have been lucky enough to enjoy what I believe to be the peak of gaming, a time when gaming was fun and free. I can only hope that some day we can rediscover the joy and passion that used to be the driving force behind the games we play.
I have improved the “Decoy” system for space fighters. There is now a visible “Missile Lock” warning indicator, allowing the player to know more easily when to fire decoys. I have also improved, and fixed some issues, with the targeting and combat systems.
The story campaign has seen some slight changes and improvements, mostly with dialog triggers and enemy balancing.
I also fixed some issues with the colour of some gui elements, as well as a severe performance issue with the AI that I didn’t notice before.
There were also a lot of minor issues and improvements related to the third campaign that have ben done. There is still some work left here, but I definitely making progress.
The next goal is to retest the First and Second campaigns, and then return to the third campaign.
As an avid, life-long gamer, I decided to honour my hobby by creating a list of my all time favourite games. Originally, the list was supposed to be a Top-10, but I simply couldn’t pick just 10, there are too many games that needed to be on the list!
So, I cheated a little, and picked the top 20.
I am a little disappointed that there are very few truly surprising entries on this list. Most of my favourite games are games that were widely recognised at the time as being exceptional, winning multiple awards, and earning their place in gaming history.
However, the titles span decades of gaming and many genres, and showcases some of the best titles of their respective decades.
I am only including games that I personally played and have fond memories of, if I haven’t played a game myself, it won’t make the list. There are many games that deserve to be on this list, but aren’t. Halo, for example, certainly would get a place, but my first experience with it was very recently when I played the Master Chief Collection on PC, so it doesn’t get an entry.
All images are considered to be “fair use” and are property of their respective owners.
20: Infamous 2009, Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Computer Entertainment
Infamous is actually the only game on this list that I played on a console (PS3). Great graphics, powerful story and innovative mechanics are what I remember most about this game.
Infamous stars Cole McGrath, a lowly bike courier who gains supernatural powers after a mysterious explosion.
The world is fun to explore, with the player being able to use their powers to run, jump, climb, and glide around the fictional Empire city.
One of the most memorable aspects of the game is the “Karma” system: players can choose how to interact with the world and it’s citizens. They can be ruthlessly aggressive, harming civilians, killing wounded enemies, and generally causing havoc, or they can be merciful, not using excessive force and helping the people around them.
This choice not only affects the games story, it also affects the players appearance, and even the very powers that they is given. On the “Evil” side, powers tend to focus more on area-affect damage and general destruction, on the “Good” side powers are more focused and surgical.
Infamous’s cutscenes are delivered in a stylish comic-book style format, which works extremely well and fits the “super-hero” motif of the game.
The story is not spectacular, but it is solid, with several twists and turns and some emotional moments. In addition, the missions feature several moral choices which contribute to the players Karma score, although, unlike, for example, the Witcher, there is no ambiguity: The choice is simply “Good” or “Evil”.
19: Uplink 2001: Introversion Software
Definitely the most unusual game on the list. Uplink is a “hacker simulator”, with the player taking on the role of a fictional computer hacker doing jobs to earn both money and reputation.
Over the course of the game, the player will gradually upgrade their “Gateway” computer with new hardware and software allowing them to hack into more advanced networks, and therefore, take on more complex jobs.
The game is presented to the player as if they are accessing a remote computer terminal, and the player must create a secure connection to the server they wish to attack, circumvent its defences, and perform their illicit tasks without being detected.
The types of jobs the player will find themselves contracted to do could be anything from framing someone for a crime they didn’t commit, sabotaging computer networks, stealing or redirecting money from banks, or stealing research data.
The latter ties in to the games story, which is actually quite rich and involved.
The cyberpunk inspired story focuses on two rival corporations: Andromeda Research Corporation and Arunmor, and an Artificially Intelligent computer virus that could destroy the entire internet.
The player can choose which of the two factions to side with, with each choice resulting in a very different outcome to the story. Despite the games simple presentation, the world building and immersion is very strong, and there are many easter eggs and things to do within the game that are not immediately obvious.
Despite being a hacking “simulator”, the gameplay is fictionalised, using visual icons and a simple point and click interface which is easy to pick up and master.
Even so, missions are tense and players find themselves frantically scrambling to delete the last of their log entries before they are finally traced and caught by the authorities.
Soldier of Fortune 2 competes with Duke Nukem for the title of best gory old-school shoot-em-up.
The players finger scarcely leaves the trigger from one end of the game to the other, with shotguns, pistols, machine guns and grenades being used to burn blast and dismember terrorists in locations spanning the glove.
The combat in Sof2 is violent, bloody, loud, and unbelievably awesome.
Soldier of Fortune 2 was incredibly advanced graphically for it’s time, and features a “Ghoul” rendering system developed by Raven Software to allow for realistic “location based” damage. Not only can limbs be severed, enemies will react to the grievous wound realistically: Blow off a leg and an enemy will limp or crawl, blow off an arm and they will be left waving a bloody stump.
Unlike many FPS games from this period, the story is actually very compelling. Rather than just “generic bad guy trying to take over the world” we instead get a disturbingly realistic story about a well-funded terrorist faction manufacturing a virus that they intend to use for high-stakes blackmail.
The player, John Mullins, is a mercenary, working for “The Shop” and is tasked with investigating, and stopping, the terrorists responsible for the virus.
The scene where the player first investigates the viral outbreak is particularly well done, and reminds me a lot of the movie “Outbreak”.
SOF 2’s random mission generator is also a lot of fun, allowing the player to create semi-randomised scenarios with different parameters.
I have re-played Soldier of Fortune 2 again recently, and I can confirm that it still holds up very well today. In fact, few modern games can compete with the games adrenaline-fueled violence.
Another gem from a lost era of gaming.
17: Hell Let Loose 2021: Black Matter /Expression Games/Cover 6 Studios / Team 17
Hell Let Loose is the only multiplayer game in the list. I generally don’t like competitive online shooters, preferring single-player story driven experiences instead, but this is an exception.
Hell Let Loose is a World War 2 themed team-based shooter, featuring a variety of authentic weapons, vehicles, items and of course, locations. The goal of the game is to gain control over various strategic positions on the map: The team with the most points in their hands at the end of a round, wins.
What I like about Hell Let Loose is the authenticity, both in the setting and weapons, and in the gameplay. There are no health bars, pickups, or powerups: one bullet will kill. Likewise, the game features realistic weapons, settings, and characters (No Battlefield V historical revisionism here!).
Hell Let Loose is not a twitch shooter. Gameplay is very slow compared to most online games, and players must not only use cover and concealment, but communication and tactics too.
Having a mic is not required, but very strongly advised for this game: Charging blindly toward the next point is likely going to end in nothing but a quick trip back to the respawn screen.
Players gain experience as they play, which unlocks various cosmetics, as well as new loadouts. Crucially though, most of these loadouts feature new combinations of weapons and items, but not usually new weapons.
This means that a day 1 player can access the games most powerful weapons, like the Stg-44 or G-43, which creates a level playing field where skill, careful play, and team work matter a lot more than your character level or loadout.
One final point is the community. Unlike many games, Hell Let Loose generally boasts a positive and welcoming community, which by itself is a strong selling point in today’s toxic online world.
Giant robotic war machines fighting on an alien world, what’s not to like? MW3 was my first experience with the Battletech universe, and it’s still my favourite. The game features solid mechanics, powerful weapons, and a story that didn’t need to be nearly this good for a 90’s mech game.
Moving your mech really feels like you are controlling a lumbering armoured behemoth, and the weapons feel, look, and sound powerful. Sometimes in fact, too powerful.
Managing heat is a critical part of Mech games, and MW3 is no exception: Firing weapons too often, or without adequate cooling, will result in your mech shutting down, leaving you defenceless. The damage modelling is also well developed, for both the player, and enemy mechs. During combat, individual components can be damaged, and even entire limbs can be shot away.
One of the most fun aspects of MW3 is the ability to extensively customise your mech. Not only can you select the chassis (With mechs from the lowly Owens to the mighty Daishi being present) and your weapons, you can also select the number of heatsinks and the amount of armour. These completely change the gameplay. Players can create a fast, lightly armoured missile boat, or a slow, heavily armoured brawler.
The environment matters too: Mechs on Ice or Water maps dissipate heat more quickly, so players can pack their mech with Lasers of Particle cannons, while on a desert map missiles or autocannons might be a better option.
MW3’s story, mostly revealed through multimedia mission briefings, is not exactly prize-winning, but, as I said, a lot better than you would expect from a mech game from this period.
The plot concerns an attack by the inner sphere against Clan Smoke Jaguar on the planet Tranquil. This attack goes awry, with the player finding themselves and their comrades stranded on the planet fighting to survive against hostile forces. The player gradually reconnects with other stranded pilots, eventually controlling up to three squadmates in combat, culminating in a final showdown.
15: Starlancer 2000: Warthog Games / Digital Anvil / Microsoft Games / Ubisoft
An immersive flight sim that punches well above its weight, Starlancer is a game that shouldn’t have been as memorable as it was.
It’s a space combat sim, you fly around shooting at enemies, fundamentally, there’s not a lot going on there. The game features a diverse roster of ships and weapons, and solid, if somewhat unremarkable gameplay.
So why is it on this list?
Starlancer features a complex story, presented in the form of news broadcasts, mission briefings, character interactions, and more. The story is engaging, with strong characters and worldbuilding, and is fully integrated with the world itself (Which isn’t surprising, since Chris Roberts worked on Starlancer). The player will find themselves fighting alongside ships, squadrons or characters that they have heard about in mission briefings or seen on news broadcasts.
Missions contains a mix of objectives, from conventional space combat to infiltrating enemy carrier strike groups, to destroying orbital battlestations.
Between missions, the player is free to explore their star carrier and interact with their crew mates, whose reactions will vary depending on the players performance.
Immersion in the world is so complete that I often found myself repeating missions where I had succeeded but performed poorly just because I received a negative reaction from my shipmates. The players performance also affects the story, with cutscenes and mission objectives changing based on the players actions. Speaking of which, the cutscenes are action-packed and extremely high quality, and make the player feel like they are watching a movie (At least for the time).
Tomb Raider is one of the first games that cemented my love of gaming.
It is a true 3D adventure, unlike the mostly sprite-based games that came before it.
Not only that, it features beautifully detailed environments, immersive sound design, complex puzzles, one of the most memorable hero’s of gaming history, and a globe-trotting story that was ahead of its time.
The game takes the player through such varied locations as Peu, Greece, Eqypt, and even the lost city of Atlantis, combining real world enemies such as tigers and bats with mutants and mummies as Lara Croft embarks on her quest to find the lost artifact known as the “Scion”.
The story combines sci-fi elements with real-life mythology, and features CGI sequences and cutscenes with real voice acting, also quite rare for 1996.
Tomb Raiders gameplay combines exploration, puzzle solving, fully 3D platforming and action successfully in a way games often struggle with today. In fact, in many ways, Tomb Raider was one of the games that defined a new sub-genre: The Action-Platformer.
Lara Croft can run, jump, swim, climb and shoot through a beautifully rendered world, all in full 3D with a fully animated character. The platforming and puzzle sections are complex and challenging, but the games mechanics are solid, and the player soon finds themselves evading enemies, traps, arrows, and collapsing floors with practiced ease.
The depth of the world and setting, from the texture art, to the lighting, to the sound design, the enemies and the puzzles produces a uniquely well-crafted adventure that stands the test of time.
13: Aliens Vs Predator 2 2001: Monolith Productions / Sierra On-Line / Fox Interactive
Aliens Vs Predator 2 is, in my opinion, the best of the Aliens Vs. Predator games, with three fully featured campaigns: Alien, Predator, and Marine.
Each of the campaigns features a distinct but interweaving story, and completely different gameplay mechanics for the three characters.
The Marine is focused on combat, with arguably the best weapon roster of the 3, as well as armour and items such as night vision goggles. This makes them a tough, if conventional, fighter.
The Alien is actually the weakest combatant, possessing no ranged weapons and no armour. However, the Alien has the ability to walk on walls and ceilings, and has no fall damage, meaning they can attack from any direction. They are also by far the fastest of the three.
The Predator is the most interesting character. Their gameplay focuses on stealth, possessing a cloaking device and several vision modes (Including thermal vision, made famous by the original Predator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger) allowing them to see enemies while remaining hidden themselves. They also possess powerful weapons such as the shoulder mounted blaster and wrist blades.
The games story centers around a research colony on the planet LV-1201, and each of the three characters play their part in either causing, or responding to the incidents in the game.
The graphics were solid for the time, and the story well-crafted, with the three story arcs building on each other cleverly.
Aliens Vs Predator also paid attention to the accuracy of its sound design, and the familiar alien screams, pulse rifle fire and blaster shots from the movies are all present.
A strong entry for a 25 year old game.
12: Star Trek Bridge Commander 2002, Totally Games / Activision
Bridge Commander was a dream come true for any Star Trek fan: The ability to command your own starship, within the incredible Star Trek Universe! Bridge Commander promised a lot, but delivered.
The game allows players to command two vessels: The Galaxy Class USS-Dauntless and the awesome Sovereign Class USS-Sovereign. The player can control the ship directly through an exterior cinematic view, moving, steering, and firing it’s weapons manually, or use the 3D bridge view, taking the Captains chair and issuing commands by interacting with the various crew members responsible for Helm, Tactical, Engineering, etc.
The games story is engaging and well thought out, and features a new race called the Kessok, in addition to familiar races such as the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans. Bridge Commander features the voice talents of Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard and Brent Spiner as Commander Data, who both play their roles extremely well.
The games graphics were excellent, particularly the damage modelling, with the player inflicting and sustaining damage in real time. Entire sections of ships can be damaged and destroyed during combat, with the bridge shaking violently and exploding in showers of sparks with each disruptor blast or torpedo hit.
Bridge Commander also features a “Quick battle” mode, which allows the player to setup custom scenarios involving not only ships from the story campaign, but other ships from the star trek universe too.
The game can also be modded, and I remember installing many custom ships to the roster, such as the USS Defiant and USS Voyager.
If I had one criticism of the game it is that, as a Captain, the amount of options you have for actually fighting a battle are somewhat limited. You issue orders to your crew for manouvers, weapons, power, targeting, etc, but beyond that you are simply waiting for the enemy ship to eventually be crippled or destroyed. I think the game could have benefited from a slightly more complex battle system requiring more interaction from the player.
However, Bridge Commander, even today, is a must play for any Star Trek Fan.
11: Bioshock 2 2010: 2K Marin / 2K
Dark, frightening, and oozing atmosphere, Bioshock 2 takes players back to the submerged dystopia of Rapture.
This time, players play as one of the most feared enemies of the first game: The “Big Daddy”.
Bioshock 2 is one of the rare games where I felt the story was better than the gameplay.
That’s not to say that the gameplay is bad, (although I did feel that the player takes damage far too quickly considering they are supposed to be an armoured behemoth) it was more than the story atmosphere, and characters, were so good that it felt that the gameplay got in the way.
Bioshock 2 features a variety of weapons and, of course, plasmids, leading to some interesting and powerful choices and abilities during intense firefights.
Enemies are aggressive, and the AI is powerful, meaning that the player needs to think carefully and stock up on ammo before combat.
Bioshock 2 features a relatively simple but emotionally powerful “choices matter” system, with the players decisions at key moments having a huge impact on the story.
The story is strong, and quite dark, dealing with topics such as suicide, socialism, and mercy vs revenge. The ending to the game is quite frankly fantastic, and one of the best endings to any game I have ever played.
There are at least 4 endings with radically different outcomes depending on the players actions. Without giving too much away, the emotional weight of these final moments really tugs at the players heartstrings, and it weighs heavily on you whether you choose to forgive or exact revenge on your enemies.
That’s part 1! Part 2 will be coming in a few weeks, with the top 10!
The NPCAI system has been further tested and improved. I discovered some issues with it on the last run, and I have since fixed several bugs and added some new navigation and local object avoidance features. There is still some work to be done here though.
I have also fixed several other bugs that were discovered during the last run, mostly related to some random generation issues, some more AI improvements, etc.
Finally, I have completed another full retest. The vast majority of the serious bugs appear to be fixed now, and I am running into mostly minor bugs, and areas that need improvement, etc.
Many of the bugs that I discovered on this run have been fixed already, and I should get mostof the rest done next week.
I have added some improvements to the existing NPCAI and Companion AI systems, and improved the filtering of objects on the HUD, and I have made some improvements to the mission triggers in the third campaign.
I also completed another full retest of the third campaign. Even though I did discover some new bugs, the retest only took two days, since the campaign is becoming much more stable with each run.
I have already fixed many of the bugs discovered in the last test rung, they were mainly minor issues. I have also made some improvements to the game, such as line of sight checks when locking missiles onto targets, etc.
Thre are still some long standing issues with the project, which I will need to track down and fix eventually.
I have fixed almost all of the bugs that I needed to fix after the last test run.
One of the main improvements was to add better support for AI navigation when the player is within a complex structure (Ie, when the player could be above or below the AI, etc).
I also made several other improvements to the AI combat system, although there is more work needed here.
Once the main bugs from the last test run were fixed, I completed another full test run.
This uncovered quite a few new bugs, including some more serious ones.
The main issue I ran into was an issue with the players capital ship paging when the player was still on board. This has been fixed.
Other than that, the testing went well, despite the bugs that were uncovered.
![Spiritus Astrum [P0-B14]: p1555: Towards Early Access](https://i.imgur.com/ViBetHM.jpeg "Spiritus Astrum [P0-B14]: p1555: Towards Early Access")
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