I really wanted to get Tropico but it wasn't in the cards. I really should just sit down and play the games I have. I just got Fallout Tactics and love it and Escape from Monkey Island has been in the "next game cue" since November. ok, so I wasn't going to pick any games. But then I was in the mall...
In an old software bin at a clothes store they had a bunch of software for $3.99. They had Gex Enter the Gecko. I have it for the PSX but I never finished it because my psx broke. So for $4 I give it a whirl.
Then I drive buy cyberexchange and realize that I have a $40 trade in certificate from when I offloaded 4 copies of win95. So I go in and pick up Sacrifice, Syndicate Wars, and Descent Freespace. For $7.99 I figure Sacrifice can't be a total waste. (plus its used so it isn't like Shiny got any of my money) Syndicate Wars is dos based and I doubt I'll actually be able to run it. Freespace is kinda dumb since I have Star Lancer sitting around unplayed...

The funny thing is, I don't really have time to play any of these and ultimately some will not get played. Worse, when I do want to go out and buy something new, the wife will point to these "new" games.

I loved Syndicate Wars and still have it in my closet. You might be surprised how well Windows 98 will run most DOS games in a DOS box without having to mess with configurations or boot disks. Not sure if SW will make it, but I've had luck running Crusader: No Remorse/No Regret that way. :)

My unopened list includes:
* Sanitarium (a great adventure game now about $3.99)
* Fallout Tactics
* Warzone 2100

On Syndicate Wars, I'm still waiting for another game with a weapon as much fun as Razor Wire. And maybe Red Faction will finally bring another 3-D game that lets you bring entire buildings to the ground. :)

A couple of things. Sacrifice is a GREAT game. I am on my 3rd full time through and it is still fun. There is just something about it that makes me come back for more.

As for Syndicate Wars and getting it to run. I managed to get the original Syndicate to run in win98 without too many problems. Just know which dma and irq the sb16 emulation is using and you should be set. I can't imagine Syndicate Wars being a lot worse.

I have also managed to get U7 and Betrayal at Krondor to run in 98 recently. Just FYI.

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Quote:

Freespace is kinda dumb since I have Star Lancer sitting around unplayed...

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Freespace 2 was an excellent game. It's a lot of fun - reminiscent of X-Wing or Tie Fighter...

Freespace 2 was definitely the best starfighter game in a LONG time. Probably since TIE. Starlancer was rather flat by comparison.


Currently, these games wish they were being played:

Fallout Tactics
Summoner
Nox
Finishing Baldur's II
Sacrifice
F/A 18 (Janes)

Currently burning my time:
Kohan
Tribes 2

Yeah, Im a game buying junkie too. Just got my order of Europa Universalis and Descent 3, and I already got Summoner and Evil Islands the week before... and before that MDK2 and B & W and HH 2002...

I think since buying Kohan I've been on a game spending spree...and i still want to play Tropico...saw it on sale at Best Buy...must contain myself.

Finsihing up Summoner and Evil Islands before I get into EU, and still awaiting B & W patch. MDK2 I got to lvl 6 and will finish over weekend... great game with great engine... funny as hell. Descent 3 I just got since i had the demo and finsihed it and wanted to play it all the way thru...ten bux, not too bad.

etc

kafka
Once you finish MDK2, watch the special thanks section of the credits. You may catch a familiar name from around here (MINE!) heh..

If I may ask... what did you do for Bioware Ohle?


-Andrew

Greg Zeschuk actually asked me to come in for a couple testing sessions for MDK2 (Bioware's about 10 minutes away from here), and I used that time to work on a preview of the game for my site:
http://hgames.com/hg2k/previews/mdk2-2.shtml
It basically just consisted of me going in for two weekends and playing the game from start to finish. Greg watched me play the whole time (I'm surprised he could sit through the full 25 hours watching me) to see which parts needed to be easier. His words were basically, "I want to see how a 'hardcore' gamer works his way through the game."
Man, that game was hard when I tested it. The final version was a fair bit easier.

Thats how I tested Klingon Honor guard. Just ran through it from beginning to end with people watching us taking notes. Really bizzare. For this we got a free copy of the game and a klingon knife. Didn't get a credit for that. I then tested EAW which was cool but I was sick of it by the time I was done. After that I decided I wasn't testing games anymore because it sucked the fun out of it. Was suppose to test Xcom Alliance but we know that didn't go anywhere...

Is Alliance officially dead, or is there some life left in that sectoid yet?

Dammit, all I really want is the original xcom hacked to run in 1024x768 at "normal" speed on my box. I'd play it through at least three times a year for the next couple of years, I swear.

Didn't MDK2 sell like, oh, five dozen copies? Interplay must have taken a bath on that one.

...and it's a crying fucking shame too because MDK2 is in a lot of ways much better than its prequel. It's one of the best action/arcade games I played last year.

--Dave

The Dreamcast and PS2 versions have made up for the shortcomings of the PC version, sales-wise.

MDK2 was a console game. They shouldn't have bothered with it on the PC. They probably made a mistake in releasing it on the PC first.

Aszurom, we'd all like a 1024x768 X-COM. I don't think we'll ever see it. It's really bizarre that they don't do one.

Rob, if you got tired of testing a game, think how tired the actual developers get of their own games when they play it for months and months.

I didn't think MDK2 was all that great. Great soundtrack though! I actually preferred the original MDK ever so slightly.

And I have to say that I admire Dave Perry for backing off his "only pussies use in-game saves" stance with the original. Many console developers never make that critical leap successfully..

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"MDK2 was a console game. They shouldn't have bothered with it on the PC."

I must disagree. I've played it on the DC and I have the PC version myself. The keyboard/mouse combo is far superior to the DC controller, and the ability to save anywhere prevents a high frustration level.

The graphics are better on the PC, too. I picked it up for the PC because it supported all of the bells & whistles on my new graphics card. I spend half my time in the game marveling at its beauty and speed.

"Aszurom, we'd all like a 1024x768 X-COM. I don't think we'll ever see it. It's really bizarre that they don't do one."

I could never understand Microprose marketing. even when Hasbro took them over, they kept on with the same insane approach. Well, I call it insane. Building valuable properties and names (X-COM, Civilization, the Master of...series, Railroad Tycoon, the list is too depressingly long to recite)and then either letting them moulder or selling the rights off so that you can blindly attempt to hit more one-shot wonders--wassup with that? It's beyond dumb. It's...madness...

If I could ask for just one improvement to our theoretical 1024x768 XCOM, I would want it to be the ability to permanently assign a gear loadout to each squaddie. That would really make my day.

Here is the deal as I saw it. Microprose was working on a true Xcom remake called Xcom Genesis.
Here is a link to some screen shots:
http://www.agx.org.uk/xcom/games/gshot1.html
It was on track for an early 2001 release. (actually I heard they were ahead of schedule)
Well Hasbro bean counters saw that the NC studio hadn't turn a profit (thanks to Spectum Holybytes years of crash and burn management) and just closed it without looking at future profits and prospects. So they fired everyone and transfer the poject to Hunt Valley who didn't have the people to work on it. Genesis quitely went away.
With Alliance, the main programer/ai developer left at a critical stage. Hasbro ordered the team to throw something together (enforcer) in a few months to make a quick buck. With that done, they may return to Alliance or start a new Xcom game. Hopefully they will return to the original format.

Yeah, but what scares me about enforcer... and Microprose strategy in general... is that if enforcer tanks (and why shouldn't it?) they'll say:

"Well, Xcom just doesn't generate sales anymore"
rather than
"Well, people want the original and we've tanked every time we've deviated"

I just want an X-Com remake, maybe with the following changes:

1. high-res artwork
2. a properly coded timer to control geoscape speed
3. that "open door" command from X-Com2
4. more variety of trooper appearance
6. allow aliens to kneel and use inventory (for player-controlled aliens)
7. multiplayer (e.g. hotseat, PBEM)

- Alan

Clearance discoveries at Micro Center:

* Freespace 2, $7.99
* The Last Express, $7.99 (or maybe $4.99)
* Absolute Zero, $2.99 (I seem to recall reading good things about this Domark space combat game back in its late DOS heyday)

Yeah, that's where I picked up my copy of FreeSpace 2. The Last Express... that's the Jordan Mechner mystery adventure, isn't it? What's he been up to lately? I can't remember if he had any say in the last Prince of Persia game or not. IMHO, PoP3 suffered from "Tomb Raider Syndrome" and would actually have been better as a 2-D game.

- Alan

Mechner I think had a little consulting role on 3-D but I have horrible memories of most of the game. Beware games done with new engines the first try out. :)

The Last Express was a well reviewed but poor selling adventure game from 1998, swept most of the adventure game awards that year but was... oh crap, I left it in my car. Doh!

I have to pick up Last Express...theres a few adventure games that i want to play that i haven't played but got good reviews... mainly Last Express, Sanitarium and that Longest Journey thing... the last afventure game i played was Grim Fandango (and am on the third year still haven't finsihed it)...

Also, anybody who has played Sanitarium is it close to the Planescape game in story? i hear that PST was somewhat similar to Sanitarium..

etc