Mad Planets

Oooh, it makes me mmmmmad...

Source // Vizzed

There's nothing I love more on this long list of video games than a space shooter, and Mad Planets is a space shooter that I'm unable to play. I'm even unable to lazily scroll through Wikipedia for it, for there isn't even a page dedicated to this game that we all must absolutely play.

So thank goodness for YouTube being there to fall back on, and to show me how I'm missing out.

Gyruss

3 Warps to Uranus

Source // Arcade Museum

There are titles that you're familiar with or that sum up a game nicely. There are titles that you've never heard of or haven't got a clue what they're about. Gyruss, to me, fits somewhere in the middle. I know I must have come across it somewhere because it feels familiar. But what is all about?

It sounds a little like gyroscope, but that could conjure up a few games. Gyrate could have been the root word for the title though... Either way I was at a bit of a blank until I fired it up.

It's another space shooter!

Dragon's Lair

Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!

Source // Syfy Games

That's not a game, that's a cartoon. Those were probably my words, or at least my thoughts when I first crossed paths with Dragon's Lair, an interactive animation of the adventures of Dirk the Daring on his quest to save Princess Daphne from an evil dragon.

I'm struggling to remember where exactly I picked Dragon's Lair up. My brain wants to say "You got it on a DVD with a bunch of other laserdisc games like this", but I can't be so sure. I think it was on a demo disc with a magazine, but why would they give away an entire game, or more, if it did indeed come with other interactive titles. Or have I just witnessed those other titles in various documentaries that touched on Dragon's Lair? I just can't recall.

I've played Dragon's Lair, that's the important thing, and I know why it's on this list...

The 51/1001 Milestone Awards

Source // Wikipedia Photo CC-BY-SA by X51

Coming to you LIVE (via tape delay) from just beyond this sign in a nondescript area of South-Western North America, it's the first in a long line of The Milestone Awards, celebrating the best, the worst, and the indifferent of the latest batch of video games from the list of 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

Every Milestone Awards event will see a number of pointless and literally non-existent awards get presented in passing to a select few titles. Eligible entries for this first set of awards range from The Oregon Trail to Chuckie Egg and the winners were mostly hand picked by our selection panel of industry experts along with myself (none of whom could attend).

Without further ado, may I present to you, the 51/1001 Milestone Awards.

Chuckie Egg

A clucking good game?

Source // Wikipedia

I can't deny that as a name, Chuckie Egg sure stands out against its competition. As a game, I have no idea, but upon seeing the preview image in the 1001 book, I knew it had to be something that came from the old school hobbyist computers of yesteryear. Before my time, when video games were made of rainbows and raspberries.

Star Wars

The Force isn't with me today...

Source // Arcade Museum

Dun, dahn, dunadun dun daun, dunnadu... Hey, kid - do you like Star Wars? You do? Do you want to fly an X-Wing like Luke? You'd rather swing a lightsaber like Luke? Ok, but the X-Wing is pretty cool too though, isn't it? I know, right! We've got a great game just for you...

Star Wars is the slightly late but always welcome game that most of us wouldn't mind playing. We've bought all the toys, we've seen three movies now, can we just play something with some substance? Not that Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was a bad game, we just want something a bit more... immersive.

That's how I imagine a bunch of 9 year olds spoke back in the day, at least. Star Wars the arcade game is one of the many Star Wars games I've not played, and I do call myself a Star Wars fan. Really. But I can't recall a whole lot about it, other than it loops. Useful. Better find out what's really going on.

Archon

Why didn't we play this at Chess Club?

Archon. Archon? Archon. It sounds like I should know about Archon whether I've played it or not, but nothing sprang to mind. The title doesn't exactly sum the game up, and the vast majority of players won't speak enough to Greek to know what it translates into. Even if they did there's not much chance they'd land on Archon being a game of Chess. Sort of. Because it isn't really. Chess and then some. Come to think of it, it's more Chess Boxing.

Chess is fine for me. Haven't tried Chess Boxing. I don't claim to be a Grand Master though (and I'm regularly outclassed by P2, whose aggressive strategies have thankfully quietened down, after I cottoned onto them) but against a computer, a games console... I think I can manage.

I, Robot

It's your gaming that interests me. Your studies of the interplay of human motives and emotion.

When I think 'I, Robot', I think Isaac Asimov. Then I think Will Smith. After that I think there was another book with the title, and some Outer Limits episodes. It's common, is what I'm saying, but very rarely - if ever - do people think of I, Robot, the game.

I certainly didn't. I was hoping it was something to do with Asimov's short stories, but I was wrong, as is often the case. With a title like that, you can't go wrong with guessing that the game contains a robot, but what does it do? I haven't got the foggiest of ideas, but there's a way to find out.

Utopia

You sunk my fishing boat.

Source // Wikipedia

The idea of utopia has been around for hundreds of years, as have the questions of whether they'd make for great living spaces in the first place. For hundreds of years philosophers have only had books on the subject, their questions going unanswered - until now. Or 35 years ago. Ish.

Utopia is a battle between two city-building Gods, if you want to call yourselves that, where the idea is to create the very definition of a perfect island habitat, and ultimately score more than the other guy.

It is our first multiplayer centric game of the list, at least to my recollection, which means calling in P2 and doing some research, because I've no idea what on Earth this game is.

Time Pilot

Please deposit coin and try this game.

Source // YouTube

For a short while I was really hoping Time Pilot would be some game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, based - however loosely - on the film of the same name. Unfortunately, that film was called Timecop, and it would come out 12 years after Time Pilot. I'd imagine that even if the latter parts of those titles aren't similar, then the notion of travelling through time is, so I'll be disappointed if we don't do anything time-y.

Piloting something is everywhere in games, it's been done. How can we play with time?