Scatterbrained gaming

Lately, I've been going through a rough time of gaming.  It isn't that I can't find anything to play, it's that there are just too many options.  I'm almost left paralyzed by the amount of choices.  I suppose it's a good thing, but I also miss the days of just focusing on a single game.

I want to play SWTOR.
I want to play League of Legends.
I want to want to play WAR.
I want to play Firefall.
I want to play The Secret World.
I'm going to play Guild Wars 2 in a few days.
I want to play Wrath of Heroes.
I want to play End of Nations.
I want to try out SMITE.
I'm tempted to play Rift because of the expansion pack.
I want to play Distant Worlds
I want to play Skyrim
I want to play EU3, Victoria 2, Hearts of Iron 3 and Crusader Kings 2.
I really want to play Planetside 2.

I'm sure I am missing some games, but the amount of options out there is just insane.

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Werit Gets Around

It's true, I can be rather easy when it comes to games. I just cant help myself, I'm not a one game kinda guy. This last week I played around quite a bit.

Warhammer Online. Yep, I still play!
Aion. Street Fighter called and wants its annoying sound back.
Ghostbusters. I came, I saw, I'm still playing.
Fallout 3. I think the apocalypse will actually come before I manage to finish.
Star Wars Galaxies. I am very close to resubscribing.
Punch-Out for Wii. Glass Joe was getting uppity.
NHL Hockey. Greatest hockey game ever?
Ice Hockey. The soviets beat me down. Needed more fat guys.
Light of Altair. More on this later.
Eve Online. Just to train, my subscription will be ending soon.

My posts last week were pretty varied. That is the nice thing about a general blog, you can switch it up when you feel like it. I had been doing WAR posts almost non-stop for several weeks, so I need a break to talk about other games. Do not fear WAR fans, I have a piece of paper filled with WAR topics!

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Classics: Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth was a multi-player PC game that was popular in the early 90's. The basic premise was you controlled a piece of artillery, on a 2D destructible landscape, mostly mountains. Your opponents were scatted around the board as well. You all took turns shooting each other with a variety of weapons. The challenge was to line up the correct angles to actually hit your target.

I remember me and a bunch of grade school friends getting playing this at a friends house. it seemed pretty amazing then, and it was a lot of fun. There were some pretty big weapons that you could purchase, which took out a large chunk of the landscape. MIRV, a warhead which separated into multiple warheads (3 I think), was always fun as well.

The reason this game came to mind is that a real-time Scorched Earth is coming to X-Box Live, called Death Tank. This game was actually on the Sega Saturn, an Easter egg in Duke Nukem 3d. They have upgraded it a lot for the X-Box hardware. The old version was turn based, so we will have to see how this one goes. I will likely download the demo at least. Check out a gameplay video:


Death Tank XBLA from Rlan on Vimeo.

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Classics: F19 Stealth Fighter

F19 Stealth Fighter is one of my all-time favorite games. It was probably the first computer game that I played constantly.

I was young at the time, so I really did not understand all of the concepts. I played on my Dad's CGA (4 color) 286 PC at the time. F19 is a flight simulator game that takes place in Europe and the Middle East (crazy huh?). The game came out around 1988. You were the pilot of the secret stealth fighter, which would later turn out to be the F-117. At the time though, no one knew what it was called, hence the F19.

There was a career mode and medals you could earn by completing missions. Missions ranged from destroying ground targets to air targets. The graphics were great at the time.. you could fly under a bridge! The enemies were realistic and the technology at your disposal was incredibly cool and real.

Two of the concepts I could not grasp were landing and the stealth game. I would normally just eject rather than land, since I was so awful at it. The game features a very detailed stealth/radar system so you were supposed to get to your target quietly in most cases. I could not grasp this and just went in with guns a blazing. It was fun none-the less. Another great thing about this game is the manual. It is a 200 page book. Not one of those little handbooks.. we are talking ~8x6 sized pages. It is one of the best parts of the game. I always hate what is shipped with games today in those small little boxes.

Recently I cam across a copy of the game on ebay and had to pick it up. It came with the manual, maps and 3 5.25 floppies. Sure, I don't have a drive that can read them, but it is nice to know they are there.

(This is actually a post from an old blog attempt)

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