What PC/console game provided the most bang for your buck? Which was the worse?

[Butter]

Why oh why can't anybody make a decent college basketball game for any console?

I had such high hopes for Sega Sports' NCAA College Basketball 2K3 for XBox after reading the reviews. I've played it some, but the excitement is so lacking when playing the actual game, that I've only advanced halfway into one season with my beloved Dayton Flyers in 5 months of owning the game. There are virtually no fouls, even with frequency turned up all the way (unless you just try and steal relentlessly), the AI is ok, but I was able to hold the ball for the last 30 seconds of one game with a one point lead. WTF? The computer's end game strategies ruin 1 of every 2 games played. Recruiting was poorly done, and the camera angles aren't well done either, in that either I have one where I can barely distinguish my players from ants, or I have one where the court whips around on every possession, or I have one where I can't see any of my players in the frontcourt.

I would almost be happy if someone would just slightly improve on the old SNES Final Four game where the court just seemed to be floating in a blue space. Coach K for the Genesis was alright, but when you only have 64 teams in a game, the tournament is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

[MizzouRah]

Tecmo Super Bowl (nes) - This game was played so much, I had to buy a second copy.

Wasteland (c64) - my introduction to a role-playing game.

Excitabike (nes) - the nes was truly a gem of a gaming machine and this motorcycle game is a classic.

10-Yard Fight (arcade, nes) - no stats or teams, but a great football game where breaking tackles requires a shaking of the joystick.

Madden 92 (genesis) - ahhhh. . the good ole Sega Genesis.

NHL 93 (?) (genesis) - EA becomes a household name.

FPS Football '97 (pc) - possibly my favorite sports game of all time.

FPS Baseball '96 (pc) - another Sierra classic.

High Heat 2000 (pc) - a great baseball game by Team .366 and 3do, basically my introduction into gaming forums, Dave Dial, etc...

FOF4 (pc) - the best of the series, imo - I'm still playing this version, which is more than I can say about FOF2.

OOTP5 (pc) - played countless games so far with this one.

Duke Nuke'em (pc) - Die!

Honorable Mention:

TDCB (pc)
Castle Wolfenstein (pc)
Medal of Honor (pc)
C&C Red Alert (pc)

NCAA 2003 (ps2) - the BEST college football game EVER, imo
SSX Tricky (ps2)
MVP Baseball (ps2) - next year's version should be the total package.
NCAA CBB 2k3 (ps2) - Sega owns basketball
Bird vs Dr J (c64) - what a fun game
4th and Inches (c64) - gridiron classic


Games that flat out sucked!

NHL 2002 (ps2)
FPS Football 99 (pc)
FPS Baseball 98 (pc)
High Heat 2003 (pc)
Black & White (pc)



Todd

[Maple Leafs]

Does anyone notice that a very high percentage of the "loser" games are sequels to very successful series? FOF4, Civ3, Earl Weaver 2, etc. Going back to read the list, virtually all the loser games are sequels with the exception of Black and White.

Conclusion? Either sequels are typically bad, or (more likely), creating a sequel to a well-loved game is a no-win proposition. If you make changes, everyone complains. If you keep it the same, everyone complains.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
Conclusion? Either sequels are typically bad, or (more likely), creating a sequel to a well-loved game is a no-win proposition.

Except for the TON of money they make.

[Butter]

My favorite memory of FPS Baseball '98 was the patch in of a colored cursor, green if the pitch was to be a strike, red if it was a ball. That's how bad their hitting interface was, it was virtually impossible to distinguish between balls and strikes.

I think looking back, I would also have to say that FPS Football '96 was up there as well. Loved that play editor.

[MJ4H]

Winners:

Master of Orion (PC) - Man I can remember playing this CONSTANTLY. I had a friend of mine that played it with me and he would actually go to my after hours job (when I was in college) and sit around while I worked and we would DISCUSS STRATEGY for our current game since we couldn't both be at the computer playing it. Then we would rush back to the dorm and put our plan in action. Man, good times.

NHL 95 and 96 (PC) - College. Man, we had seasons where someone in my dorm owned EVERY TEAM and they would come to my room to play every game of an 82 game season and full playoffs. I miss that stuff.

Metroid (NES) - I still play this. What a great game. So well designed.

Legend of Zelda (NES) - They don't make games like these anymore.

X-Wing (PC) - One of the first games I ever played on PC. So addicting.

NCAA Football 2003 (PS2) - Simply outstanding. The CPU team cheating is way down from 2002. Still there, though.

Gran Turismo 3 - I played this until I had every car and completed every race. 100% baby. Great fun with my PS2 steering wheel and pedals.

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast) - I debated whether to put this one in or not. It is SUCH an outstanding game, but there are way too many of those random monster attacks. Its highly annoying, but I think the fun of the game makes up for it.

Baseball Stars(NES) - What a game.

Losers:

Ascendancy(PC) - I still think Im on candid camera when I load this one up.

Star Wars Rebellion(PC) - Disappointment was huge.

NHL series 97 and after(PC) - YUCK. way to destroy a franchise.

FIFA series 96 and after(PC) - FIFA 96 was playable. Everything after that feels more like foozball than soccer.

Im sure there are others, but those are the biggest off the top of my head.

[WussGawd]

Originally posted by AgPete
Agree 100%. Someone pointed out that they felt that way with SimCity 3000 and I couldn't agree more. I was very disappointed with how SimCity 3000 was almost a carbon copy of the previous game. I haven't bothered to buy SimCity 4 because I read the reviews and it looks like it's the same game with better graphics. It looks like most companies consider graphics the top priority for any update or sequel but that's always been at the bottom of my priorities list. I guess when you start out with an Atari 2600 and TRS-80 you look at computer games differently. Seriously though, I'm amazed at what kids bitch about today when it comes to computer games. "Dude! No organs or pieces of skull go flying when I shoot him! Man! This game has 2-D characters instead of 3-D! This game sucks!"

I couldn't agree more with anything you said here. Then again, I play more text-based sims than anything.

[WussGawd]

dola.

My winners and losers:

Winners:
M.U.L.E. (C64)-Played this one to death, even registered a C-64 emulator to be able to play it again on the laptop. Dani Bunten was a great designer.

Civ I & II (Amiga/PC)-Played this one to death, loved the sequel even more.

FOF 1 & 2, 2001, TCY (PC)-Played these to death, so much so that FOF4 was a bit of a letdown to me.

The Sims (PC)- Others put this on their losers list, but I thought this one highly creative, and played it pretty heavily for a couple of years.

Master of Orion 2 (PC)-This game's been on my hard drive now for about five years.

Splinter Cell (XBox)-Got this used about a month ago, can't put it down.

CM4 (PC)-Haven't had this one long, and never played any other installment of the series, but I can't put this one down.

Doom (PC)-Loved the heck out of this game, even though I generally suck at FPS's.
Gabriel Knight I, II, & III (PC): Loved this series of adventure games, was very disappointed to realize there won't be a fourth (particularly since III had a very open-ended conclusion).

Steel Panthers I & II (PC): Stayed on my hard drive for 8 years...must have had something going for it.

Sam & Max Hit the Road (PC): The best adventure game I've ever played, period. Brought it up with the laptop a couple of years ago to a cabin up north, the kids and I played it through for two days.

Europa Universalis I & II: Love these games...particularly the latter.

Railroad Tycoon 2 (PC): Loved this game, can't wait to see the next version.

Losers:
Sim City 3000 Unlimited: Should have been named Crash City 3000...never had a more unstable game in my life. Finally threw up my hands in frustration and went back to 2000.

Front Page Sports Football Pro '99: A game so bug-riddled that it effectively killed Sierra's sports game line. Sierra was taking returns on the thing in the droves. What a sad way for my favorite PC Football series to end. IMO, even the latest iteration of the PC/Console Football games (EA & Sega) don't have the gameplay value this series did.

FOF4: The showstopping bugs of the release and first patched version turned me off, and I've never really got back into it. Still prefer FOF 2001.

Phantasmagoria (PC): Yes, it was stylishly done, with FMV, and the cut scenes were great...but once you got past it, you quickly realized the game was all sizzle and no steak.

Riddle of the Sphinx (PC): I have to admit I'm an adventure game freak, probably one of the last two people in America. However, that being said, this game was a complete steaming pile of poo. Bad graphics, boring gameplay, dull puzzles, awful acting, user-hostile interface. In baseball parlance, this game was a five-tool steaming pile of poo. What a waste of $15 at Costco.

NBA 98 (PC): I have to admit I bought this in a bargain bin a few years ago. What a bug-riddled piece of crap. Stupid AI, too many crashes. Yes the graphics and sound were great for the time, but at the core of it, if you dress up a pig in an Armani suit, you've still got a pig. I've also never bought an EA basketball game since.

American Civil War: From Sumter to Appomattox (PC): I've really wanted to like this game. I love the subject matter (I have 2 shelves of a book case devoted to Civil War history books). Obviously, the designer knows his subject. But the interface was so arcane and user-hostile that I couldn't get into it. Nonetheless, there's enough promise that I'm hoping to see his third iteration later this year.

The 7th Guest (PC): Will somebody wake me up when it's over? The most overhyped game I've ever seen from the early days of FMV adventure games, well, almost...the title of most overhyped game I've ever played has to be...

Myst (PC): I like the Myst CD. It makes a great coaster. Some people loved this to death, so much so that they were dumb enough to buy the two sequels. To me it was a dull game wrapped in an admittedly very pretty package.

[Katon]

Winners:

CM (PC) for obvious reasons. I've played every version since the original CM3 to death.
PES/PES2 (PS2) are by far the best soccer games I've ever played.
Hattrick is rather nice at the price.
Planescape:Torment (PC) cost less than £10 and was well worth it.
Warcraft II (Mac). I used to play this constantly with a friend. I'd make a level for him to play, then he'd make a level for me . . .

Losers:

Evergrace and Summoner (both PS2) are complete rubbish. I bought them when I was looking for a decent RPG on the system; I finally wound up waiting for FFX.
Not actually for me, but I bought Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2) for my sister and it's a perfect example of the rubbish sequel phenomenon.