Top 5 Retro Games (that are still good)

Blooooog

*cranks handle*

*content spews forth out of your internet pipes*

Bloooooog

*cups ear* what? 

Oh, it doesn't work that way? I actually have to write things to keep this blog going. Well, okay. 

In case you hadn't picked it up by now (and it's practically painted over this blog on letters exactly 97 feet high), I'm a big gaming fan. Someone magnificent recently posted on Facebook a list of IGN's top modern videogames and suggested that I give my take on it. Well, I'm definitely going to do that, but since I've been on of a nostalgia trip recently (or as I like to call it a DIVNG EXPEDITION THROUGH TIME AND SPACE), I though I'd instead start with my top five classic games.

Now, this would be no fun if I shared all these games and you had no way to experience them for yourselves. You don't want to go diving through Cash Converter's back room to find a 15 year old PC running windows 3.1 that can play these in the original, crisp technicolor fidelity for which they were designed. Nor do you want to spend four hours getting them to run in an emulator only to find they're so horribly dated that you can't get through more than five minutes without your brain sliding out of your right ear. 

So I've limited myself to five games that you can still play and that aren't so antiquated in their design as to be unplayable. Sure, they'll be dated, but many of these are actually better designed than some of the high-budget mass market crap that people spend £40+ on these days (some of it. There's still plenty of quality out there, even in the mega AAA launches). You'll largely be able to pick these up for less than a tenner. Or free! How neat is that?

Okay, so let’s jump in. 

5 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

This is undoubtedly a classic. I’m with many people in thinking that the follow-up, Majora’s Mask, is a better all-round game, but Ocarina of Time is the enduring memory. It was one of the first games I played that gave me a sense of open-world adventure, of optional and demanding side-quests that really let you dive deep into the game, and above all, gave me that sense of wonder. I’ll bet most of you have played this one in some form another, but if not, it’s still pretty easy to get hold off, thanks to a number of remakes on just about every system Nintendo’s made over the last tyears. Therein lies the downside, however - Nintendo tends to keep a pretty tight hold of their franchises (which is arguably all they’ve got going on right now chortle chortle) - so if you don’t have one of their consoles, you might struggle a little. That said, it’s very easy to find as an emulator ROM, if that’s your thing.

4 - Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck’s Revenge

Now, this list could have easily been composed entirely of nineties Lucasarts point-and-click adventure games. I’m realising more and more that they are some of the finest games I will ever play. It still amazes me whenever I revisit them and I’m reminded of how instrumental they were in forming my language (and love of it) and humour. Sure, many of them suffer from that totally unfathomable video game logic at times, where you are required to rub together two objects that appear entirely unrelated to achieve a bizarre effect to further your goal, but these games all contain moment after moment of utter joy.

I’ve allowed myself just two of these games on this list. The first is Monkey Island 2. The original Monkey Island game was, unsurprisingly, phenomenal, but I prefer the second in terms of moving ahead with the design and humour of the original.

If you haven’t played this sort of point-and-click adventure game before, I think you’ll find it pretty different from most games on offer these days. There are a few studios trying to do the same sort of thing (the example that sticks out most in my mind being TellTale Games), but I honestly believe you can’t beat the originals.

Gadzooks, how do I play it? 

Another easy one - Lucasarts launched ‘special edition’ versions of Monkey Islands 1 and 2 before the studio was closed down (it’s to my eternal sadness that they never finished the equivalents for some of my other favourites). These rereleases feature enhanced graphics/art, voice acting, and a UI overhaul. The original versions of all of these things are great, but the excellent and faithful paint job does actually add to the experience. The best part is you can switch at any time between the original and enhanced versions.

3 - Oddworld - Abe’s Odyssey

I’m pretty sure this was the first game I owned on the original Playstation (perhaps other than Time Crisis - I forget. But what a great Christmas that was!). Fiendishly difficult, I enjoyed it but struggled immensely with it. Having replied it in the last couple of months, I can see why. It’s a demanding puzzle/platform game in an utterly bizarre universe (it’s called ‘Oddworld’ - I’m not sure what I expected), putting you in control of Abe, a slaughterhouse worker who finds that his people are next on the menu. He has to escape the corporate dystopia, rescue his comrades (or get them killed in interesting and highly amusing ways), and bring down Rupture Farms. 

It is tricky and rewarding. The sequel, Abe’s Exodus, is also excellent, and adds some features to make it more playable, such as quick save, but I think it dilutes the experience a little. If nothing else, it was the first game I played that had a dedicated ‘fart’ button.

Getting strange creatures killed in bizarre and perversely hilarious ways? Sign me up!

The original games are both playable through Steam, and Abe’s Odyssey has just been rereleased in a ‘remastered’ edition - ‘New n Tasty’. It’s not out on all platforms yet, and I haven’t had the chance to play it, but it seems to carry the spirit of the original.

2 - Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

And here we have the other Lucasarts game. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is another game for which I am only just starting to appreciate the excellence of its design. It’s my favourite Indiana Jones adventure over any of the films in the trilogy (yes, trilogy). Dr Jones is set on the trail of the lost city of Atlantis, a global yomp featuring Nazis, mysterious metals, hot air balloons and one of Plato’s lost dialogues. It’s basically everything I want in a game. 

It follows the standard Lucasarts ‘point and click’ formula, with a few variations. There’s less of a focus on the humour (don’t get me wrong, though, it is funny). There’s a (rather clunky) combat mechanic - though you can avoid using it for the most part. In fact, you have a choice how to pursue the bulk of the story - as part of a double act, using Indy’s wits, or relying more on your fists. Each change up the way a good third or more of the game plays out, which is actually really awesome when it comes to replaying it.

It’s a sweet romp of a game that lets you feel like you’re playing out one of the great ‘whip and wonders’ adventures of the big screen. And it’s the game that taught 9-year old me where Algiers was (and presumably still is).

What good’s a whip in this day and age? Who am I kidding, how do I play it?

Sadly, no remastered edition for this one (boo), but you can pick it up on Steam. Old games always tend to have a few compatibility teething issues, but this has always run just fine on my Mac and PC.

Honourable mentions here are Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road. Beautiful, hilarious, utterly absurd.

1 - Baldur’s Gate II - Shadows of Amn

C’mon, was there ever any doubt?

Anyone who has had the (mis-)fortune to engage me on the topic of video games for any length of time will hear me talk about BGII. It is, in my mind, the paragon of gaming achievement. Sure, there are games that are my new darlings, for a time, occasionally even taking the title of ‘favourite’, but it’s all temporary. It always comes back to BGII.

It’s a proper Dungeons & Dragons RPG game. You pick a class, pick a race, wake up in a prison, and go from there. It’s an adventure that takes you overground, oversea, undersea, and off the Prime Material Plane altogether. Your character is whatever you want them to be, they can end up owning a castle, running a guild of thieves and assassins, or owning a really nifty extraplanar transportation contraption. The characters around you are rich, deep and have real personality. All this with decades-old sprites, text and damn fine voice acting. It’s an epic which still to this day has my finding new little things I never came across before.

Alright, I’m starting to gush. And this is making me really want to play it. That happens a lot.

GIVE IT TO ME NOW

Sure. It’s still possible to find the original (and it works - e.g. on GOG), but the knights in shining armour at Beamdog have done a snazzy Enhanced Edition of both Baldur’s Gate games. Utterly faithful to the original, just packed with more stuff and some playability improvements and bug fixes.

Okay confession time. I’ve never actually finished it. Well, okay, I have, but I’ve never truly, really got to the end, which is to say the concluding chapter of the whole thing - the epic ‘Throne of Baal’ expansion. I’ve got right to it, just ran into stonewalls that sort of...stopped me. What I’d love to do, and hopefully will do if I ever have anything like enough time (and interest), is to stream and/or record it. From the beginning. Start of the original Baldur’s Gate, right the way through.

This time, I might even finish.

What are you top picks for old games, whether they’re still easy to find and get running or not?