Movie fans have Citizen Kane, painters can go back to the Lascaux cave paintings, and gaming is now old enough for prehistoric classics, too. A recent Reddit thread discussed which games from the past are worth trying by the younger generation, and my fellow over-thirty gamers eagerly answered the call.
“I’m sure you have your favorite games from “back in the day” (the jak games for me). Do you think any of those game would still hold up well even to this day?” writes the poster, starting a fun discussion by throwing the Bioshock games into the mix.
The thread turned into a who’s who of gaming classics with some genuinely great suggestions. The top-rated comments include recommendations of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, the original RollerCoaster Tycoon games by Chris Sawyer, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Chrono Trigger and Warcraft 3. “Graphics might be dated, but the storytelling and gameplay more than make up for it,” reads one of the comments on the classic Blizzard strategy game, a sentiment that may apply to all the suggestions in the thread.
Then again, it all depends on what you consider old—and the timeline might be wider than you might think. “Hate to break it to you, but Portal 1 can vote next year,” reads one of the more heartbreaking comments.
As someone who recently shifted to the, erm, more stable side of thirty, I’ve also got a few titles to throw into the discussion. There’s Civilizations IV for the peak “end of history” Francis Fukuyama-infused historical strategy experience not yet hampered by the one-unit-one-tile rule, Blood for some classic boomer shooter action, Need for Speed 4 and 5 (the former called either Road Challenge or High Stakes depending on the market, and the latter subtitled as Porsche Unleashed or Porsche 2000 depending on where you look) for some vintage arcade racing.
Wait, I’m not done yet! There’s the original Rome: Total War for a clear and smooth experience not yet burdened by the Warscape engine and Creative Assembly’s ambition to become another Paradox-like grand strategy game. You could also check out the original Knights of the Old Republic and its direct sequel for BioWare’s Star Wars-infused prototype take on the Mass Effect formula—or go further and try Star Wars: Jedi Academy for some fantastic lightsaber combat. If you want to go deeper in the sci-fi labyrinth, might I suggest FreeSpace 2, a brilliant space sim far ahead of its time both in terms of gameplay and storyline? That should be a good start.
Or, you know, you can play some chess. You can never go wrong with chess. Chessmaster 3000, anyone?
