|
 |
     
X-COM: UFO Defense Developer: MicroProse Publisher: Mythos Games Year: 1993
Arriving in 1994, X-COM was one of the relatively few strategy games to define a genuinely distinct sub-genre in its wake. Giving you control of a small band of heroic humans who face a terrifying alien menace, X-COM emphasized close combat and careful use of specific squad members' skills in a way that injected new personality into strategy gaming. Games such as Sir-Tech's Jagged Alliance 2, Red Storm's Shadow Watch, or Interplay's upcoming Fallout: Tactics follow closely in line with X-COM's style of play and demonstrate the vitality that remains in the turn-based tactical subgenre even a half-dozen years later. The X-COM universe itself has greatly expanded, as MicroProse and Hasbro have tried to capitalize on the appeal of the alien-infestation theme and to push it in the direction of the more accessible marketable action genre. However, the most direct successor to the X-COM heritage doesn't bear the name at all - the original game's developer, Mythos Games, is currently working on a tactical game called The Dreamland Chronicles.
Populous
This is the game that established Bullfrog Productions, allowing the UK developer to move on to equally innovative games such as Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, and SimTheme Park. Populous introduced a startlingly simple concept, putting you in the role of a god who has real-time control of earth-bound followers and is capable of ground-shattering natural disasters. In contrast to the more free-form SimCity, which was released in the same year, Populous presented players with specific goals, which essentially consisted of destroying any opposing gods on a map. The game introduced a mythic scale often lacking in computer games. The god game concept logically allowed for spells of terrific power - summoning of an erupting volcano in the middle of an enemy village could be strangely satisfying - and it made sense to control it all from a isometric god's eye view. Populous' influence in style and game mechanics can be seen in games like LucasArt's Afterlife and even in high-level management sims like MicroProse's Railroad Tycoon.
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Myth: The Fallen Lords received a great deal of critical acclaim when it was released in late 1997, and although it's a relatively young game in the real-time strategy genre, its influence is certain. It was the first real-time strategy game to use a fully 3D terrain and a user-controllable camera that you could use to rotate your view point around your units as well as around the landscape around you. Although gameplay was overly challenging and the interface was not user-friendly, its mouse-drive control allowed you to control individual units as well as groups. As for graphics, the game supported hardware acceleration and as a result, the landscape visuals were quite pretty and the animated violence and gore quite realistic. Its physics model was perhaps the best thing about the game because it allowed for a more-realistic depiction of flying objects and explosions in virtual three dimensions. A whole wave of 3D RTS games have come out or are coming out now, and the trend isn't ending anytime soon.
Test Drive
Electronic Arts' Need for Speed series is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable and successful racing game franchises available for the PC today. The series' unique yet seemingly simple concept of placing players behind the wheel of a wide variety of high-powered sports cars on a number of twisty roads have proven to be a success with every successive release of a Need for Speed game. However, it was Test Drive that first introduced this formula of gameplay to gamers. Originally released by Accolade for Amiga, Atari, and Commodore systems in 1987, Test Drive gave players the chance to drive one of five officially licensed dream cars, each with its own handling characteristics and engine sound. The premise, which was to race from gas station to gas station along a predetermined route while dodging traffic and avoiding the law, has now become a staple of nearly every driving game across the entire spectrum of platforms. Today, Infogrames continues to publish various racing games based on the Test Drive license, although the series is nowhere as popular as once was during its heyday.
MechWarrior II: 31st Century Combat
Activision's MechWarrior II may have not received as much widespread success as other games, but its influence on the PC game development and gaming community is undeniable. Most would quickly point out that MechWarrior II's influence is strictly confined to the MechWarrior series, but in fact, MechWarrior II would have a tremendous influence on different aspects of team play in action games, especially first-person shooters.
Early gaming services such KALI were overloaded with Mech pilots looking for a good battle. As time went on and strategies became more advanced, people began to for teams and alliances known as clans. For the first time, clan and general team play would become a major aspect of online gaming making other developers to take notice and incorporate similar team play experiences in their games.
|
|
|
