Old Gamers Never Die: My Favorite Computer Games of All Time

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Screenshot from Crusade in Europe. © 1985 MicroProse Software
Well, 2018 is almost over for those of us who live in the Americas, and I am glad! It's still morning in the subtropical state of Florida, and it looks like it's going to be one beautiful New Year's Eve day. It's mostly sunny as I write this, and the temperature outside is 71℉. If I don't get sucked into watching Star Wars; The Force Awakens, or try to get some writing done, I might grab one of my many books and go read on the front porch later.

 Knowing myself well, though, it's quite likely that I'll probably end up taking a shower, change into comfortable but nice-looking clothes, then come back to my computer and play one of my favorite games for a couple of hours.

 Since I got my first computer 31 years ago (it was a gift from my paternal Uncle Sixto), I've always divided my time at my desk between "productivity" and "entertainment." Starting from the time when I was in college, I've always "put work first," regardless of whether "work" meant writing my column for the campus student newspaper, doing a research paper for one of my classes, or (later) working on a specific project for a paying client. Even now, some 28 years after I left college, I always devote 60% of my time on my PC either working on my fiction projects or writing posts for A Certain Point of View. 

 The other 40% of my time at my desk is devoted to either reading random articles on Wikipedia, keeping in touch with my friends and family via social media, the odd bit of online shopping, and gaming.

 Now, I'm not as much of a gamer as I used to be, especially between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s. I enjoy writing a great deal, even though (as Lawrence Kasdan has observed), it can be a lonely, claustrophobic, and difficult activity, especially when you're not collaborating with others. Nevertheless, sometimes the mind needs some play time, and computer games are the best diversion.

 So, to close out 2018, here's a list of my favorite games of all time, in no particular order.
Red Storm Rising
© 1989 MicroProse Software and Jack Ryan Enterprises, Ltd. 
Published in 1989 by the defunct MicroProse Software simulation and video game company, this is a nuclear submarine simulation based on Tom Clancy's eponymous 1986 novel about a conventional Third World War fought between the former Soviet Union and the Western NATO alliance. Designed by Sid Meier and Arnold Hendrick, this is a fast-paced sub simulation loosely based on the sections of the novel that focus on the wartime activities of the Improved Los Angeles-class fast attack boat USS Chicago. Similar thematically and in gameplay to Meier's World War II sub sim Silent Service, Red Storm Rising allows players to select different types of games (Training, Single Battles, and War Career), skill levels, the specific year in which the war takes place (ranging from 1984 all the way to 1996), and different boat classes to command.

 Crusade in Europe
The manual for the Commodore 64 edition of Crusade in Europe. The Apple II version had a similar cover. © 1986 MicroProse Software
 
 I've been a World War II buff since I was a boy of six, and one of my favorite topics to study about is the Allied invasion of Normandy and the campaigns that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1944 and 1945. Naturally, when I found out about this game in 1987, I just had to have a copy. I ordered it via mail using the order card I found in the catalog that came with the documentation to another MicroProse game I had purchased for my then-new Apple II computer (probably F-15 Strike Eagle). And you know what? To this day I have not found a World War II real-time strategy game that beats Crusade in Europe. Not even Hearts of Iron IV, with its impressive 21st Century graphics, has that beer-and-pretzels WWII strategy game vibe. Designed by the legendary Sid Meier and Ed Bever, it is perhaps the most historically-accurate but easy-to-learn game of its genre. It's a pity that no one has really come up with a similar game for state of the art computers. It can be found on several "abandonware" sites, along with the other two games in the Command Series, Decision in the Desert and Conflict in Vietnam. 

 Sid Meier's Civilization V 
© 2010 Firaxis Games/Take-Two Games 

 Right now, I have three different editions of the best-selling Sid Meier's Civilization world history game: IV, V, and VI.  Of the three versions, Civilization V is my favorite, even though Soren Johnson's 2007-era Civilization IV is a close runner-up. I like how the designers of the fifth entry in the 37-year-old franchise took the best features of the previous one and added new ones to enhance the game and make it more challenging. (The Civilization developers like to keep certain things consistent, improving some features here and there, and adding all-new features to each new release.) To me, Firaxis Games/Take-Two Games did a really great job with Sid Meier's Civilization, especially the interactive rival readers that actually use voices and speak to you in their languages. 

 The only thing I don't like is how games such as this one are released in stages which give players the basic game, then make you buy expansions if you want to get the whole game experience.
F-15 Strike Eagle III
© 1992 MicroProse Software

 Between 1985 and 1992, the late, great MicroProse developed and published the three-game F-15 Strike Eagle series of flight simulation video games. I played all three (the original in its Apple II port, the other two in their DOS versions). Needless to say, I absolutely love the third and final entry because it was, for its time, as realistic as a commercially-available simulation of the McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bomber could get. Yes, it suffered from the limits of  1990s-era computing power that limited its graphics and gave it its unrealistic "one-plane-Air Force" vibe. But the game was set in the reality of Desert Storm and two possible other Major Regional Conflict scenarios (Korea and Panama), and it was the next best thing to getting access to a real F-15E simulator. 

 Silent Service II
© 1990 MicroProse Software
Ever since I watched director George Waggner's 1951 war movie Operation Pacific when it aired on Miami's then-independent WCIX TV station in the 1970s, I've been fascinated by submarine warfare, and more specifically, the roles and missions of the U.S. Navy's submarine force. As a result, almost every computer I've owned has run some version of MicroProse's classic Silent Service II. 

 Designed by Arnold Hendrick, Silent Service II is a submarine simulation game set in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Developed by MicroProse’s in-house MPS Labs, the game is a sequel to 1985’s best-selling Silent Service. It is a single-player game that puts you in command of a U.S. Navy submarine during America’s war with Japan in various areas of Earth’s largest ocean.

 As in Silent Service and its World War III-set stablemate Red Storm Rising, Silent Service II allows players to choose various options, from game type, difficulty settings, all the way down to specific boat-classes and war career start years. Visually stunning and painstakingly researched, this game is so popular that Retroism offers it in the Steam Games store. 

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