50. Boulder Dash
Man, I played the shit out of this game on my old PC Jr. It has a super simple premise of just trying to gather all the gems per stage, but as you move around the map digging the dirt, the boulders shift accordingly and can crush or trap you, leaving you vulnerable to enemies. The stages were massive and had it required a ton of strategy to get by. I still remember each stage loading - the screen would go all psycho and make this crazy noise. It drove me nuts. I loved it.
49. Diablo
You either like Seinfeld or Friends. You can’t like both. That's the case with ‘Diablo’ and ‘Baldur’s Gate’. You either like the slow paced RPG story build, or you like looting dungeons with insane action, death and enemies. I preferred ‘Baldur’s Gate’. ‘Diablo’ is a fantastic game with a solid story, but in high school I was into wizards and dragons, not so much hell and demons. I did actually enjoy it quite a bit in high school though, but I never really got too big into it.
48. Wolfenstein 3D
Holy smokes. Do you remember where you were when you first played this game on your shitty computer? ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ was a huge game changer for me. I grew up playing Zelda and Metroid on NES, and when I went over to my buddy Peter’s place to try out this game on his computer it made me want to throw my NES in the garbage. The 3D environment was mind blowing. Killing Nazi’s and battling your way through this depressing grey bunker was a great way to spend your afternoon. It was my introduction to how powerful and innovative PC gaming could be. I still smell Poland when I think of playing this game in Pete’s house. (He’s Polish)
47. Tomb Raider
My cousin gave me a burned copy of ‘Tomb Raider’ back in 1996 and once it got installed, me and all my friends played the shit outta this game. Controlling a dual pistol wielding girl with infinite bullets who’s busting out crazy acrobatic jumps and solving puzzles was something fresh and exciting. This was a game that showed how powerful the PC could be. The graphics absolutely blew my mind. I still remember the T-Rex coming out of the shadows, wow, what a moment that was. We flipped!
46. Football Manager 2013
From 2011 to 2013, I was living with my Irish buddy Mark Hendrick, and needless to say, he was obsessed with soccer. His passion rubbed off on me hard, and I was following the EPL and Newcastle with a vigorous tenacity. I’ve always been big into simulation games, and ‘Football Manager 2013’ is one of the best I’ve ever played. The depth and detail of this game is staggering. I became so invested in all my players and started learning about the Spanish League, MLS, and pretty much any and every player that could make my team better. This game is brutally addictive and tons of fun; plus I learned a ton about soccer.
45. Deadlock: Planetary Conquest
Deadlock was part of a CD my cousin burned for me with 7 or 8 games on it. I had never heard of it before, but when I installed it and gave it a go, I fell in love with it. It’s a simulation game with city building, conquering, and a tiny bit of battling. There were a bunch of races you could choose from who all had different abilities and buildings which added a nice amount of variety to it. Your workers could become disgruntled and stop working. You needed to manage your cities population and resources. I love this city building and expanding shit.
44. Druidstone: The Secret of Menhir Forest
This is the newest game on this list, and it’s one that I took a gamble on on the Steam store. My favourite PC genre is tactical strategy so when I saw that ‘Druidstone’ is a turn based, top down fantasy strategy game, I jumped all over it. It has some fun dialogue and decent story. You’re limited to the main story characters, but there’s just enough depth to all their abilities to keep it exciting. It got a tad repetitive after a while though, it needed more things to do.
43. Warcraft
I’m a crazy ‘Command and Conquer’ fan, so ‘Warcraft’ will always be riding in the back seat when it comes to the best RTS games. But what made ‘Warcraft’ so friggin awesome was that units had abilities! You could make a Cleric who had the ability to Far See and Heal, or you had the Orcs who could train a Warlock and had badass spells like summoning spiders or a fireball. It’s one of the original RTS games ever made, and is exploding with charm. strategy and balance.
42. KKND: Krush, Kill ‘N Destroy
This game came out on the heels of ‘Command & Conquer’ and it’s sequel, ‘Red Alert’, and was actually really good. It traded in the war theme for a dystopian post-apocalyptic theme. The good guys had a crazy ass mini-gun tank, and the bad guys had a massive fucking war elephant and crab thingy. It was a real treat when you finally upgraded your base to unlock all the units available. It was just something new, fresh and exciting. The game play is definitely not as good as C&C, but if you like RTS (Real Time Strategy) games, this one is fantastic.
41. They Are Billions
I found this game randomly on the Steam store and was very happy with my purchase. ‘They Are Billions’ plays exactly like ‘Starcraft’ or ‘Command and Conquer’ but instead of going to attack other bases, you’re trying to survive a zombie invasion. You explore, get resources, rescue teammates or recapture old bases all the while fending off relentless zombie attacks. It’s brutally addictive. It’s kinda scary actually. I would start a game around 8pm and the next thing I knew, it was 4am and I’m wired. Trying to defend a full screen worth of zombies is a fucking rush. You fail often, but it just makes your strategy that much better the next time you play it.
40. Lode Runner
Another PC Jr. game that I played the living shit out of. I was probably in grade 1 or 2 when I was going hard at this, so I’m not sure if I ever made any progress or finished the game, but the premise of it was fun. You’re trying to find a couple items to escape the stage while running for your life from enemies the entire time. You can burn the ground on your left or right and the enemy will fall into it making it a pathway. Super simple, yet very difficult to master. A fun little game!
39. Math Circus
I’m sure most of you are wondering “What the fuck is Math Circus?” and I gotta say, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had learning in my life. Our grade school, Sir Winston Churchill, finally got a bunch of computers when I was in grade 6, and ‘Math Circus’ was installed on all of em. It had 12 mini games in it that challenged you to problem solve, but in a fun clever way. You had to dodge a wizards spell, move a car through traffic, lift 4 clowns up holding items at the same time, and tame a dragon. I absolutely adore this game. It made computer/math class so much fun I can’t even begin to describe it. I looked more forward to math class than I did gym. Insanity.
38. Subspace
My buddy Peter showed me this game back in grade 8, and we spent hours, days, weeks, months playing this fucking thing. It’s an online game that held about 50 people in a map at a time. You had a choice of space ships to pick from the big Leviathan which was slow and shot heavy missiles to the balanced Warbird or the super fast Javelin. It had incredible thrust movement mechanics which really made the game so special. It’s the first ever massive online multiplayer games I’ve ever played. Peter and I took turns playing in his basement and just had a blast. I hated that he was better than me too. Ugh.
37. Solitaire
There’s not much to say about ‘Solitaire’ other than it’s a fantastic card game! When I got bored on my computer I would fire up a quick game of ‘Solitaire’ and always had fun trying to finish it. I never liked playing the 3 card draw thing though, so I would always change the settings to 1 card and only one time through. Expert level baby. I’d see a red ‘X’ when I got the end of the deck, and it always destroyed my soul. I refused to let this game beat me… it beat me all the time. Also, changing the art on the back of the cards was such a simple pleasure.
36. Moto Racer
I’m not big into motorcycles but ‘Moto Racer’ is a flawless racing game. It had beautiful stage design from ocean view to climbing ice mountains, great music and fabulous driving mechanics. The game is so smooth! I mean, probably not anymore, but this is up there as one of my favourite racing games of all time. All my friends would take turns playing this trying to beat the high score for months.
35. Half-Life 2
I really don’t get all the hype for this game. It’s just another first person shooter with a cool story. I guess I needed to play it in 2004 to really appreciate how good it is. I mean, the story is pretty awesome. It doesn’t cater to kids and is willing to try something new and exciting by infusing an Orwellian feeling to the game. The controls are flawless and the graphics are amazing (Even playing it now in 2021, it’s incredible).
34. King’s Quest III
This was the first time ‘King’s Quest’ ventured outside of the Graham story, and instead went to something new and magical. It must have taken me two years to escape that stupid wizard at the top of the hill. Once you get into this game though, it really does shine. It has the typical fairy tale theme with wizards, oracles, and the three bears from Goldilocks. You got to teleport, cast magic spells from a book, and ride a boat to travel around. One of the best King’s Quests.
33. Magic Carpet
I wish I could remember how my brother Erik and I got this game. I feel like it came with a video card purchase or maybe Erik and our friend Todd were jacked about getting this game and grabbed it. Either way, it was absurd to play a game where you could go anywhere on the map, and also be flying while doing it! It was a liberating feeling to play ‘Magic Carpet’. You could gather magic spells, burn down villages, fight dragons, and gather up white and black orbs. I felt like there was no point to the game though. I don’t remember any story attached to it, and didn’t ever feel any sort of progression no matter how long I played it for. It didn’t matter though. I had a blast fucking around on that carpet.
32. 3D Pinball Space Cadet
How many memories flow through you when you see this picture? Anyone who owned a PC in the 90s played this game. This was my go-to PC game whenever I had a little extra time on my hands. I can’t remember if the high scores were saved, but I never really cared about that too much. I just enjoyed playing a game of pinball here and there. It had really cool sounds too!
31. RISK
If you know me, you know how competitive and serious I am about ‘RISK’. I play it at the cottage with my friends on a yearly basis and they’re always the highlight of the trip. I’m usually 1st or 2nd place whenever we play, and a lot of that skill (luck) comes from playing the living shit out of ‘RISK’ on PC when I was younger. I played this game for hours and hours. I’m starting to wonder how I did anything else in life considering how many PC games I played, but conquering the world in this adaption of ‘RISK’ was always a good time. ‘RISK’ usually takes about 5 hours to play a game, but this PC version was awesome. It moved along so quickly, and you could bang out a few games in an hour.
30. Duke Nukem 3D
Oh I remember where I was in 1996 when this beauty came out. I was downstairs in my buddy Peter’s basement and he showed me this crazy fuck game called ‘Duke Nukem 3D’. It was the only thing that mattered for a while. The graphics were so unbelievably amazing, and the protagonist was such a badass. Peter and I were big fans of the original ‘Duke Nukem’, which was a side-scroller game. So this was a big deal to see. One of the best 1st person shooters ever made. It combined action, comedy, fear and sex - we would giggle when we threw money at the dancers.
29. Dope Wars
‘Dope Wars’ is just a simple DOS/text game where you try to buy low and sell high. The rub is that you’re selling drugs, buying guns, and fighting cops. I don’t think my parents ever knew I played this game because I doubt they’d want me getting a high off selling heroin at a good price in Brooklyn. My friends and I would take turns trying to make a million dollars with the 1 month deadline you had (Something like that anyways) and the excitement of buying $50,000 worth of acid and then selling it for $200,000 a day later was addictively exhilarating. It’s simplicity is what made it so great. Hopefully they haven’t tried to add a bunch of features to it in its newer iterations.
28. NHL 2002
I grabbed this game in 2001 and it was the first sports game I ever played on a PC - I would always be playing my sports stuff on Nintendo and Playstation. I was kinda blown away how much better the PC version was compared to the PS2 version. The graphics were 50% better, the game play was smoother, there was no menu lag, and it actually had extra features that the console version didn’t have. It still has one of the best soundtracks in a sports game ever, with songs like “I Hear You Calling” by GOB, “Fat Lip” by Sum 41, “Temptation” by Tea Party, “American Psycho” by Treble Charger. I mean, it was a punk infused rock fest. Some hockey players who had a 90 or above in certain categories were labelled on the ice: Marian Gaborik was a swift skate. Chris Pronger was a hammer. Mario Lemieux was a sniper. It was a great step forward for EA sports.
I became completely and utterly obsessed with ‘NHL 2002’ to the point where my family was about to head up North to my cousin’s cottage for a week, and I honestly thought about faking an illness just so I wouldn’t have to go and I could stay in my room and play this game.
27. Heroes of Might and Magic
I was visiting my cousin’s cottage up north when we went to a little town called Kincardine. We entered a computer shop and they had a bargain bin with a ton of games for $5-10. I looked through the pile of dog shit games and found this one called ‘Heroes of Might and Magic’ and thought it looks pretty cool! You could make Pikemen, Knights, Wizards, Goblins and hell, it was only $5! So I bought it with my allowance, and then the worst part: I had to wait till the vacation was over before installing it back home. I honestly don’t think I’ve been more excited to play a game before. The unknown was such a rush. Would this game suck shit? Or be as amazing as it looked? Anyways, I installed it and fell in love with the game. It was the first tactical strategy game I’ve played like that, and now it’s my go-to sub-genre for games. Building a base, building units, finding treasures, conquering other bases and leveling up heroes. It’s such a wicked game.
26. The Adventures of Willy Beamish
I first played this game at my cousin Chris’ house. I would watch my brother Erik and Chris play the living hell out of this game. It’s a point and click adventure, and for my money, this is the best one ever made. You have a pet frog who helps you out while you’re dealing with mean parents, bad grades, video games and some other fun stuff. I remember the last time I played this game I got to a part where you have a vacuum and you’re trying to kill or avoid a vampire bat. Jesus Christ, I must have been at that part for a week straight. I just couldn’t figure out how to beat it - I haven’t played it since, so I guess I still gotta try and figure out how to get by that part.
25. King’s Bounty: The Legend
I found this game on the Steam store and saw that it had the exact same battles as ‘Heroes of Might and Magic’. I couldn’t have hit the purchase button any faster. This game is so awesome. There’s a pretty big difference in this game though, which is that you don’t have a base to build and units to create. Instead, you are a hero who wanders the three dimensional map and can acquire units as you go to strengthen your hero. Ultimately, it’s the same as ‘Heroes of Might and Magic’ but it’s just a graphical upgrade and some minor tweaks. Tons of add ons and sequels have some out, and they’re all just as fun to play. I can’t wait for ‘King’s Bounty II’.
24. Warcraft 2
Talk about an upgrade over the original. This one had more units, better graphics, better balance, and some of the best voice work for units I’ve ever heard. This game was duking it out with ‘Starcraft’ for the best RTS game on the market, and honestly they were both unreal. But what made ‘Warcraft 2’ so much fun were the cartoony graphics. It was bright, bold and exciting to play. The only thing hurting it was that they still only had two races. Orcs and humans. They game desperately needed a 3rd faction to use.
23. Doom
‘Doom’ came out a year after ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ exploded onto the scene, and it took everything that made ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ great and amped it up to a 100. ‘Doom’ featured a crushing metal sound track, a ground breaking map system, terrifying hellish enemies and stages loaded with depth and secrets. My buddy Peter and I took turns playing this gem in his basement till our parents would yell at us to come up for dinner.
22. Plants Vs. Zombies
‘Plants vs Zombies’ is one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played. It has tons of whacky plants to pick and unlock. It has phenomenal replay value which is evidenced by my Dad who has been playing this game for over 10 years now and has mastered the endless run to the point where he can go walk the dog, come back and not have a single plant eaten by zombies. It has a super fun comedic charm to it, and is a must play if you like strategy/tower defence games.
21. Carmageddon
I don’t think there was a game I played more in 1992 than ‘Carmageddon’. My cousin gave me a burnt copy of it and I was beyond obsessed with this game. I remember being home from school sick one day and Judge Judy was on television and I was sitting in my den playing this game on my Pentium 133 all day long. I would pick cool cars, upgrade them and start killing people to gain extra time and then smash the shit out of other cars till I was the last one standing. There was actually a racing element to the game which I pretty much ignored every single time. It flipped the racing genre on its head. They finally switched from realism to pure entertainment. What an absolute blast this game was.
20. Alone in the Dark
I’ll admit I’ve never finished this game before, but ‘Alone in the Dark’ casts a dark scary shadow that I love in my video games. It’s the first 3D survival horror game ever made! From the opening scene of a monster breaking in through the window and a zombie coming up from the trap door, ‘Alone in the Dark’ keeps your heart pumping a million miles an hour. The story is cool too. You’re a private detective who goes to find out what’s really going on in this mansion or you play as the niece of the late owner of the mansion. It requires some great problem solving skills, and surviving is really frigging hard. It was such a ground breaking game. I love love love it.
19. Darkest Dungeon
I hesitated putting this one here because I’ve also finished it on the Nintendo Switch, so because of it’s cross-platform eligibility, it’s a little lower on this list. But ‘Darkest Dungeon’ is one of my favourite games ever made. It has a wonderful cast of characters you can hire and level up, a town that you can upgrade, tons of artifacts that you can equip your customizable characters with, and beautiful randomly generated missions you can go on that are littered with visually stunning backgrounds and enemies. This game is punishingly difficult and at times very frustrating, but it’s that challenge that makes every victory so rewarding. It’s a turn based strategy game and has now become the new standard for roguelike turn-based RPG games. A fucking 10 beller of a game.
18. Sim City 2000
I love the original ‘Sim City’ for SNES, but after you build an airport the game gets a little shallow. That’s where ‘Sim City 2000’ comes in. You are in charge of plumbing, electricity, reshaping the land, building bridges and tons of new options. The maps are gigantic, but not to the point of intimidation. It added tons of new mechanics which took your city to the next level. You could use a query tool to rename your buildings, find its land value and altitude if you’re into that kinda thing. You could adjust your tax levels for residential, commercial and industrial. It’s just a really well made simulation game. I have a weird tradition now where every year during the Super Bowl I bust out my laptop and play this game. Football is just that boring that I’d rather build a city.
17. Heroes of Might and Magic II
Oh man, I couldn’t fucking wait for this game to come out. I took a gamble on the first one at a random computer store in Kingcardine, and fell in love with this franchise. When I finally fired up ‘Heroes of Might and Magic II’ it was really everything I hoped for. The graphics had a nice and tight upgrade, trading in the super cartoony look for something a little more realistic. They introduced more factions to play with, more units to create, bigger maps, longer campaigns, and better battles. What really blew me away with this game is that there are six factions, and all of them are uniquely balanced against each other. No faction is better than the other. My favourite to play with was the Sorceress. I loved making the Grand Elves and Greater Druids to pummel from afar, and then fly in with my Phoenix army to clean up their archers.
16. Tapper
‘Tapper’ was probably my most played game on the PC Jr. You’re a bartender serving the local drunks. Yep, that’s it. I would get so excited to move stages from the bar, to the sports complex, the college dorms, and then… space? What? Serving all these beers while collecting the empties before they fall is surprisingly really difficult. Anytime I see it at an old arcade I always give this some love and attention. A fun one to play with friends and take turns.
15. Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Looking at the box art brings back so many emotions. Buying this game was one of happiest days of 1996. My buddy Peter and I were so fucking jacked to get this game. They had stages covered in snow, which I thought was so cool (The original didn’t have that). The Russian’s had a fucking tesla coil that could murder a tank in one hit. They moved the Mammoth Tank over to the NOD side. What the fuck!? Actually they changed GDI and NOD to Allies and Soviet. You could train dogs, battle cruisers, longbow helicopters, there was a Chronosphere that could teleport a bunch of units anywhere on the map and a Missile Silo that launched nuclear missiles. And thank fucking God Westwood Studios got my letters - walking your troops in the tiberium ore didn’t kill them anymore. They just remastered this game in 2020 so I’m playing it non-stop all over again.
14. Unreal Tournament 2004
The best 1st person shooter ever made. You would enter a tournament and if you and your team won, you could collect money that you could use to recruit new members for your team. Sometimes after you win, you get a choice of a player to join your squad as well. You could see stats after every match and take the guy who best complimented your squad. You had to make your way up a tournament ladder while adjusting your strategy for each and every leg you entered. The controls were amazing, the guns were the best I’ve ever used in a 1st person shooter; overall it felt like I was playing a 1st person shooter RPG. I got really good at the multiplayer aspect of it too.
13. The Sims
I’m a big fan of simulation games, and ‘The Sims’ is one of the best ever made. You got to pick a house in a neighbourhood and start a brand new life with your partner. It was exhilarating! You eventually would pick up a newspaper and then got to choose a fun career path, but you started off at the bottom. Man, did I spend months and months working on my house, my character’s happiness in pursuit of an extension on my home, a pool in the backyard or a promotion at work. It really did feel like I was living a 2nd life. All of mine and my brother’s friends would wanna play this game in our house, and I hated it - because I just wanted to play it forever and ever. That is one of the dangers of this game. I would fall deep into it and hours would melt by without me even knowing. Thankfully my Dad would yell at me to do some stupid chore and I’d have to take a break.
12. Icewind Dale
Beamdog enhanced this game in 2014 to my delight. I snagged it on GOG.com for about $10 and after finishing it, I was reminded why I love this game so much. Unlike ‘Baldur’s Gate’ you got to create your entire party from scratch right off the bat. There are no NPC’s in the game. It’s a pretty divisive choice because half the fun of ‘Baldur’s Gate’ was choosing which companion you wanted to take with you on your journey. So instead you build this dream team with all your friends names, and set out into an identical gameplay of ‘Baldur’s Gate’. ‘Icewind Dale’ has a wicked Dungeons and Dragons story line that takes you down a dark and cold path in search of the truth in Kuldahar. What I didn’t remember though was how damn hard this game is. I lost two of my wizards in the first fight against shitty little goblins!
11. XCOM 2
I was at my buddy Guybrush’s house and he showed me this game he was playing on PS4 called ‘XCOM 2’. He had named all his troops, had custom colours and equipment, and then took them into battle against a swarm of aliens in turn based combat. I was salivating. I went home and bought it immediately and finished it twice. I loved it so much, I grabbed it on PC as well. The load time is about 80 seconds per map on PS4 and it’s about 5 seconds on PC. The graphics were cleaner, way less bugs, and ultimately just a better experience. If this was a PC exclusive, this would be probably even higher on this list.
10. The Movies
If you like ‘Sim City’ then you’ll love this game. You get to hire actors, directors, janitors, writers and then make movies with them! You eventually get star actors who pump up the quality of your films and all the while you’re building up your studio with new buildings, roads and decorations to improve your cachet. I remember buying this game and loving it so much that I brought it with me to my family’s yearly vacation to Chicago. I installed it on my Aunt Betty’s old ass computer and instead of hanging out with family, I was locked and loaded in the basement playing a 2nd run through of this. It’s wildly underrated and an absolute gem of a simulation game. I’d kill for a remaster of this game.
9. Baldur’s Gate
I was in a mandatory shop class in grade 9 and I sat next to a dude named Zoltan Balla. We talked quite a bit because we were bored out of our minds and when we got to video games all I talked about was Nintendo and Playstation games. He was a computer geek and we got going on PC games when he brought up ‘Diablo’ and ‘Baldur’s Gate’. I had never heard of them before but I thought ‘Baldur’s Gate’ sounded a little cooler so he brought it into class the next day for me to borrow. Holy shit, it was a booklet full with 6 CDs and a gigantic map! I couldn’t believe it. When I installed it and started playing for the first time I felt like I unlocked a whole new world of gaming. Seriously. This game made me realize that PC gaming is the absolute best and that games can be so much more than just action. I fell in love with the NPC’s you could add to your army and because there are so many, all with different stories, I must have gone through this game 3 or 4 times trying to use everyone and then find my sweet spot. ‘Baldur’s Gate’ holds a very very very special place in my heart. Zoltan, wherever you are: THANK YOU!
8. DOTA 2
My buddy Peter showed me this game Jan 2, 2014 and when I got to the character select screen of this game, my eyes lit up. Holy fuck. There were over a 100 characters to pick from, I couldn’t believe it. I ended up picking Bane because he looked like a Xenomorph from ‘Aliens’. Since that day, I ended up sinking 5 years of my life into this game. I would watch and follow major tournaments on Twitch, which once awarded the winner over $15,600,000, I researched and studied the game, and talked about it incessantly with my buddy Chiefy Poo and other friends who wanted to punch me in the face for never shutting up about it. I shudder to think how many hours have been spent playing ‘DOTA 2’ but in retrospect, they were (mostly) all enjoyed. It actually really bonded my friendship with Chiefy when we had our weekly hangouts with ‘DOTA 2’, rum and cokes and pizza at 203 Rushton Rd.
I became addicted to this game like any other. I would start playing at 10pm and next thing I know I’m saying “Just one more game” around 4am. It was really bad to the point I had to force myself to uninstall it and stop - for real. I get why it’s so addictive though, because it’s a phenomenal game. The variety in it is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced - and what makes it even crazier is that the game is played on the same map every time. You think it’d get boring right? Nope. It just made you want to master it even harder.
7. King’s Quest
My cousin owned a PC Jr. when we were kids and ‘King’s Quest’ was the crown jewel of his collection. It’s probably the first computer game I ever played and probably one of the most influential games as well. First off, this game has a great simple story. You’re playing as Graham and a King has sent you out on a quest to find three treasures to help bring the kingdom back to prosperity. Secondly, what makes this game so special is that it’s actions are all text based. If you want to swim you need to type in: “Swim”. If you want to pick up an egg, you need to type in: ”Pick up egg”. What an amazing way for a kid to learn how to type while enjoying a fun fantasy video game. We had our PC Jr. set up in my brother’s room, and his old desk had a tiny drawer you could pull out, and on it was a piece of paper taped to it with all the shortcut words and sentences we figured out we could use in the game. “Give carrot to Goat” was later crossed off and replaced with “Show carrot to Goat.”
6. Magic: The Gathering
I got into Magic in 1996 when I was in grade 7. I saw this starter pack of Portal at a Coles book store and thought it looked cool so I grabbed it. Little did I know that that moment would not only change my life forever, but also tons of my friends; I got a bunch of my buddies into Magic and rekindled some old passions. I became addicted to Magic. Then a year later, Microprose released a Magic: The Gathering game and it just deepened my love for the card game. You could open packs and do drafts which was a ton of fun, but the soup de jour was a mode called Shandalar. It was a RPG version of Magic. You got to create a hero and could then battle random enemies all with unique decks, visit towns, buy food, do quests to get gems, cards, or mana links to increase your health, all while trying to defeat the 5 coloured castles who are sending out their minions to try and take over towns while trying to cast their ultimate spell and win the game. It helped me learn how to play the game better, and still to this day provides ton of fun. It’s an absolute flawless interpretation of the game. God I wish they remade this game with updated cards.
5. Command & Conquer
Oh man, grade 6 was the best year ever because my buddy Peter invited me over to play this game called ‘Command & Conquer’. It was the first time I ever played a Real Time Strategy game, and from that moment the RTS genre has become one of my favourites (As evidenced by my top 5 games here). Peter and I would sit in his basement and take turns playing missions over and over. We got so fucking excited when we made a Mammoth Tank with GDI. It felt like we were Gods. We could create this army at will. It’s such a perfectly made game. The GDI and NOD are well balanced, the music is fucking fantastic, and the cut scenes they made with real acting were pretty revolutionary at the time.
On top of all of that, ‘Command & Conquer’ marks the first time I ever played against someone using a modem. Peter hooked into the web with the old dial-up 56k modem and we played against his cousin in Vancouver using a direct line. My mind was blown. We were playing live against someone in BC?! It was so nuts. When Peter’s sister or parents picked up the phone to call someone the game would stall and then crash. I can’t believe that used to be how the internet worked. But not only that, what impressed me even more was that you could change your colour! I would always pick green and just thought it was the cat’s ass.
4. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty
I played this game a lot. From 2010-2013, it was pretty much all I did - to the detriment of my relationships. I was also really good at it. I got to the highest rank you could get to at the time, and was eventually ranked in Canada. My name reflected one of my favourite movies and how I mercilessly destroyed my opponents - The Terminator. A funny story: I used to play online with a buddy named Jameson, and one day he was at a music show and ran into my brother. Somehow I came up in the conversation and Jameson had this crazy revelation and said in disbelief “Wait, you’re The Terminator’s brother?!” I had never felt so proud to waste my life playing a video game in my entire life.
The idiots at Blizzard decided to release ‘Starcraft 2’ in 3 parts and waited years and years to get them all out. I eventually lost interest and haven’t played it since 2013.
3. Heroes of Might and Magic III
I bought the first ‘Heroes of Might and Magic’ on a whim at a computer store and loved it. I bought ‘Heroes of Might and Magic II’ and was blown away by its upgrades. When I played ‘Heroes of Might and Magic III’ at my buddies Peter’s place, for some reason I wasn’t that impressed. I thought there was too much going on. Too many factions, upgrades and units. Boy was I wrong. When I got over my pride of Peter getting this game before me, I realized that this is the pinnacle of turn-based strategy games. The wealth of options available to you in this game is enough to keep you entertained and challenged yet not crazy enough to turn a casual player away from it. The art direction is gorgeous, the music is something I listen to still to this day, and the campaigns are tons of fun (Although sometimes you’ll hit some pretty fucked up AI that can be frustrating, but it’s beatable. Just gotta be good).
Every sequel after this one was a step down, unfortunately. ‘Heroes of Might and Magic III’ has taken my love for turn-based strategy into a lifelong search for games equal to this one’s quality. Spoiler alert: I’m still looking. My favourite faction is still the Knights. I love getting the Swordsmen, and upgraded Paladins. I’d argue they’re probably the weakest at the end game, but early on and mid game they’re deadly. Plus I like the challenge.
2. Starcraft: Brood War
This counts as both ‘Starcraft’ and the expansion ‘Brood War’. I can say without a doubt that I’ve played ‘Starcraft: Brood War’ more than any other game in my life. From 1998 to about 2003, which is all of high school and the first year of University, I played this game to the point where I felt confident I could beat anyone in the world. I was really fucking good at this game. In high school I made a Street Fighter 2 clan with my buddies Tolga (Zangief), Peter (Blanka), Tiago (Vega), Chiefy Poo (Guile) and myself (Ken). We wreaked havoc on the ‘Starcraft’ servers. All my buddies would come over to my house (Which had two computers) and we would take turns playing 2v2 and strengthening our clan. Sometimes there’d be tons of trash talk and one of my friends would accept a 1v1 challenge, so then they would call me over and make me face them, just to make sure they smashed them. Zerg were my guys. Ah the good old days.
I remember I broke my collarbone in grade 9 and I only had access to my right arm for about 3 months. I played this Use Map Setting (UMS) game called Builders and Fighters (Or something like that). There were no statistical gains or losses from it, so it was something I enjoyed playing, and it kept me sane during my recovery. Man, playing that game is a really good memory I have during a really shitty time in my life. This game is a big piece of happiness in my life.
1. Baldur’s Gate II
The best PC game ever made, and arguable the best game ever made. It has a great story, lively and exciting characters, tons of customization, gorgeous art, and amazing game mechanics. I love how you can pause the game, take a breath and figure out your strategy. You can’t just run head first into every battle or rely on the same magic and items to defeat every boss. You really need options available to take on all the challenges thrown at you.
‘Baldur’s Gate II’ really expanded on the original while staying true to what made it so great in the first place. Everything just got an enhancement. There’s a mission you can do in this game at the Docks with the Shadow Thieves, where after you beat it you become the leader of the guild and can assign assassins to go out and do missions for you. Each NPC character you meet would have a side quest you got to go on and your relationships would develop based on yours and your army’s good/evil alignment. You get whisked away into this beautiful land and each map you uncover holds a new and exciting secret.
I’ve never been so enveloped in a world before quite like ‘Baldur’s Gate II’. I’m constantly pulled in and can spend days and days in there leveling up my characters. I come back to this game all the time, and find something new with it every single time. I still think there are tons of companions I’ve never used. I get so attached to Korgan, Edwin and Viconia. I gotta try some new ones!
