Defining moments in video games

[Booldawg]

What has been a video gaming moment that will always stick with you or what game do you consider a benchmark?

I'll kick off by nominating 'Hunter' on the Amiga. For the first time in a game I felt a real sense of size and scope of playing area. The game involved moving from island to island by various means of transport. Obviously the helipcopter was quicker than the boat and driving was quicker than walking. The game gave a great sense of being aware of distances and travel time.

[Richard1966]

I think I wasted hours on a text based adventure on the ZX 81 which was basically The Hobbit.

Jet Pac on the speccy was another great time waster.

Guess what, tonight i'm trying to complete Gears of War 2 on the hardest level.

43 years old. I dont think Ill ever grow up.

[Booldawg]

The moment where you get the cut scene of 'The Licker' on Resident Evil 2 on the PS1 was also memorable. The difference in graphics between resi 1 and 2 almost made it seem like they were on different generation consoles.

More recently the moment you step out of Vault 101 on Fallout was memorable - that vast post nuclear expanse spread in front of you. I was fairly new to the 360 and still wowed by the graphics.

Now my 360 has died I have no intention of buying yet another. I've just got the GTA trilogy for PS2 (Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas) brand new off Amazon for £18.40.

I put Vice City in straight away as it holds lots of memories for me and is an awesome game. Re-playing it made me realise you dont need flashy graphics and lots of CGI to make an addictive game.

[AB Editor]

Didn't you find the Final Boss on GoW2 a bit pathetic?

Good game, if only for the fact that it is co-op. It saddens me that most multi-player experience nowerdays are intended to be played alone - i.e. over the net.

Looking here: http://www.co-optimus.com/ you can see that none of these games offer the same depth of local multi-player as slightly older games such as Time Splitters or Bomberman.

Spare Ed

[Mattk]

Online play isn't necessarily a lonely thing. I play online almost everyday as it is more fun for me and more varied than single player and made some good 'friends' playing BFMC but my son also plays online and has a solid goup of friends that he met on xbox live. They are always in a party together enjoying each others banter. He has never met them and maybe never will but such is the 21st century 'social scene'.

[AB Editor]

I have always gamed socially, it just doesn't make sense to me to play a game with other people who just aren't in the same room.

I do take the point that online communities can be formed in this way, and you could probably call them "friends".

But it is nowhere near as fun as, when you're mate disappears to the bathroom or to get a beer and it is his turn to race you next on Sega Rally, you set everything up for him, but painstaking turn his car around on the starting line.

I just don't see how it could be as fun without this kind of nonsense.

Also, anyone who has played micro machines knows "local multiplayer" (or Multiplayer as it used to be called!) is the only way to do it.

Spare Ed

[Daisho]

Hee hee, I remember playing Heroes of Might and Magic with a friend once over a LAN at his house, My machine would be the host so all the saves were on it, when I got home I would open up the save files with a Hex editor and hack loads of gold and resources into my save for next time. Needless to say he got a right good kicking.

[AB Editor]

Daisho - Yes! This is exactly the kind of nonsense which makes gaming socially fun!

Ever played Streets of Rage with a buddy, but made sure you got ALL the roast chickens under the garbage cans? Just to be mean? Even if it meant you had to actually attack your "partner"?

Just checked - there hasn't been a MicroMachines since V4. What is going on with the world? When was the last Bomberman? Anyone know?

Spare Ed

[TTG]

Walking into a seaside arcade and seeing Defender. I was only used to pong, breakout and space invaders before that. Seeing Defender for the first time was the defining moment for me as far as video games are concerned. Also seeing Doom for the first time comes close.

[LazyGun]

Ahh, nostalgia time! :) Been a big fan of computer gaming in one form or another since I was first introduced to the text based adventure game. Since then, highlights have been;
1. Atic Atac ( Spectrum)
2. Shining Force rpg ( Sega Megadrive)
3 A succession of PC games, such as Elite, Sam and Max, and The Elder Scrolls
4. Ultima Online - my first ever introduction to MMORPGs. had a great PvP system :)
5 WoW - Graphics, etc.
6 Various Xbox 360 games - Fallout3, Fable2, GTA4, Mass Effect 1&2.

When you compare the clunky graphics of those early spectrum games with todays cinematic offerings, it is tempting to think there is no comparison - but playablilty is still important, and the only recent games that have come close to Elite for instance, have been Fable 2 and Mass Effect.

[bushbaby_de]

I've got a Playstation version of Bomberman so they're still making that one :)

[Mictain]

Oh man. I remember loading up Elite at school on the BBC computer via tape drive. All that screeching and whirring and waiting was made worthwhile when the main screen appeared and your ship was ready to run some narcotics past the police :-)
Hated manual docking though. Bleurgh. First purchase - docking computer. Yay!

[Coobeastie]

I still remember feeling slightly nauseous crashing off the track in Stuntcar Racer.

Others that I have fond memories of...Speedball 2, Streetfighter, Doom, Goldeneye 64, Micromachines & Mario Cart (Snes & 64).

Used to go to the local big department store after school and play Smash TVon the shop display NES. That didn't see much action after the SNES came out and they had F-Zero as the promo game.

Anybody else get a visit from the Sega Tour Bus :)

[Coobeastie]

Doh....how could I have forgotten R-Type

[bushbaby_de]

I only had a copy of stuntcar racer so never had the instructions and always did the vomit-inducing somersault off the track!!! I LOVED R-Type too!! Also, anyone remember Xenon???