Populous

For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many.

I remember that when I first got this PC for the purpose of going through the 1001 list, one of the first titles I tested out was Populous and that was the first time I had ever played it. It may even have been the first time I'd seen it, though I've definitely seen some type of game that looks like this. Set in Rome, I think. The name escapes me. So does the reason I bring it up. Where the hell was I talk-

Populous is about playing God, and that's the kind of power a great many of us would want to wield, only to inevitably see it be our downfall, which is exactly what can happen in this game. It's you against a CPU God (though multiplayer was available), each hoping that your followers will build their numbers and their strength and drive out their foes one way or another.

Sounds promising.

Pang

You've got a long way to go. Take it easy.

Disappointingly, Pang isn't a clone of Pong, but when it comes to simple little games that drain your pockets of spare change, they both have to be up there on the list.

Balloons are attacking landmarks and locations across the world, from Mount Fuji to the Taj Mahal, from Ayers Rock to Athens and beyond. It is up to the Buster brothers to mount a harpoon-based assault on this deadly threat, and the faster they do it, the more points they get - and recognition for saving the world, of course.

Will we pop along to all 17 landmarks, or will we simply just pop?

Herzog Zwei

Duke Two, Me Nil.

Source // Oldies Rising

It is safe to say that Herzog Zwei had never even blipped up on my radar before seeing it on the 1001 list, and beyond knowing that 'zwei' is german for 'two', I was completely stumped as to what this Sega Mega Drive title could be about.

Reading up about Herzog Zwei gives you the sense that it is a kind of Command & Conquer before Command & Conquer - a real-time strategy that doesn't have base building per se, but does have unit and resource management, but not in the same sense as any RTS with which you may be familiar.

It's alright seeing that on paper, but what about with a controller in my hands?

The Revenge of Shinobi

Three years later...

Source // Gamefabrique

I actually played The Revenge of Shinobi before the original Shinobi, and I was pleasantly surprised with Shinobi - to a point. The Revenge of Shinobi follows on from events in the first game, seeing the heroic Joe Musashi get some revenge on Neo Zeed, a criminal organisation formed from the ruins he left behind in the previous game.

What is he getting revenge for? As an accomplished ninja in a video game, his master has died after being kidnapped and Joe doesn't want to see his future bride share the same fate. You must head out through stages and boss fights to find her and take your revenge on Neo Zeed.

Given how successful I was at Shinobi, I'm going to apologise to Naoko now, because she likely won't be saved by my inept hand. Let's give it our best shot, though.

Final Fight

Oh! My car.

Source // Wikipedia

I must admit to going completely blank when it came to remembering what Final Fight was. I knew I'd heard of it before, I didn't think I'd ever played it, and I knew it was significant. Somehow. Just don't know how, or why, or what it was - until I started playing, that is, and remembering all that.

Jessica, the daughter Metro City mayor, Mike Haggar, has been kidnapped by the Mad Gear gang. The only way to get her back is to do what they say... unless you happen to be a former professional wrestler whose kidnapped daughter is dating a martial arts master skilled with knives, who also happens to be friends with a master ninja. I think your chances may be pretty good in this scenario...

So the question is simple: Will we save Jessica or will the streets be home to our Final Fight?

See what I did there? Damn right, you did.

Minesweeper

B)

Source // Wikipedia

I don't know where I first encountered Minesweeper. On a PC, certainly, and it probably wasn't the Windows XP version seen above, though that's where I spent most of my Minesweeping.

Like many classic titles, I just couldn't tell you when and where that fateful first was, but we're all glad that there was that first game. And the second. And third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. I'll have tea in a minute. Seventh. Eighth. Just coming. Ninth.

Let's see how well this ageless classic has aged.

Midwinter

"Gregory Flint bears a grudge against Llewellyn, who jailed him once for selling watered-down whisky as best malt."

Source // Wikipedia

The very first thing I read about Midwinter was its introductory paragraph on Wikipedia. "Midwinter is a post-apocalyptic first-person action role-playing game with strategy and survival elements for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC." This lead to two reactions. Firstly, words to the effect of 'Holy shit, am I reading this right?', and shortly thereafter 'I'm probably not going to be able to play it, am I?'.

Set in the not-too-distant future, you are tasked with navigating a massive island in search of support for guerilla warfare against the big bad guy. You can recruit civilians into your ranks, snipe the enemy from afar, blow up their means of travel and far, far more, all viewed with 3D shaded polygon-o-vision.

Let's see what all of this is about - but will we see it in first-person, or via the wonders of YouTube?

SimCity

Heavy Traffic reported.

I have a bit of a fascination with maps, their creation, and by extension the creation of whatever it is that those maps depict. No matter what the scale is, I like worldbuilding. Perhaps it was playing a lot of Dungeons & Dragons that did it.

In fact, it probably was D&D, because for all I admire mapping and city building, I tend to suck when it comes to the likes of SimCity, but I still have fun, and that's what's important.

I've not played the original SimCity, so this should be a good afternoon for me - one that sees city after city succumb to disaster after disaster, and for me, the major of them all, to simply not care and keep on splashing the cash in all the wrong places.

North & South

"If I owned Texas and Hell, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell."

Source // Dazeland

I went into North & South completely blind as to what it was about, but it doesn't take long for you to realise that it's a game about the American Civil War, and what a game it is. You command your army on three different scales in a game against your enemy and whatever stage hazards you've opted to play with, including varying weather conditions and Native Americans.

Now I'm not the best tactician or strategist, but I'm sure we'll put on some kind of showing. The Civil War might get a bit alt-history from here on out...

Fantasy World Dizzy

I knew you'd come to my recsue!

I am only aware of the Dizzy series as 'that one with the Egg man'. I think I've played it in the distant past, and by 'it' I mean 'something with an Egg'. So, let's make that a bit more concrete by actually playing Fantasy World Dizzy.

The titular Dizzy is a walking, talking egg with a desire to flip everywhere - in the movement sense, not that he goes berserk with rage or anything. While walking in the woods, King Troll kidnapped Dizzy's girlfriend Daisy, and in video gaming that can only mean one thing: We must rescue the princess!

Will Dizzy dance his way to Daisy or will those three lives of his be lost quicker than I can cook an egg?

Do you cook eggs? You fry them, don't you? Or boil them.

I don't like eggs, so I don't need to know what to do with them.

Let's get on with it.

Exile

Ni! Ni, ni!, Ni!

Source // Moby Games

I originally thought Exile was another game entirely, but comparing Exile with Exile (that is, comparing a Metroid-like Newtonian physics simulator with a controversial action RPG following a time travelling Syrian assassin) it is clear to see that Exile went into the 1001 list and Exile was left out.

Still following? Good, because you'll need some brains to play Exile, which obviously means I'm out of luck.

The NewZealand Story

HELP ME.

Source // Wikipedia

Brightly coloured graphics are a funny thing. They may look welcoming and child-friendly, but underneath the pixels can lay a devious little platformer whose rules are simple but success can be hard to come by.

So it is with The NewZealand Story, a 100% factually accurate account of the entire story of New Zealand. A bunch of kiwis (ignore the fact that they look like lil chickens here, they're kiwis - kiwis in shoes) have been captured by a leopard seal (ignore the fact that he just swam all the way from the Antarctic to waltz into a zoo to kidnap kiwis).

One lucky kiwi, Tiki, has managed to evade capture and has tasked himself with retrieving and rescuing the rest of the... pack...? Tribe? A tribe of kiwis, says the Internet.

Whatever they are, whatever they look like, the goal is simple - platform your way to success.

C'mon little kiwi fella, let's see what you've got.

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

"WORLDWIDE STUPIDITY EPIDEMIC LINKED TO SPACE ALIENS IN PHONE COMPANY"

Source // Moby Games

As far as attention-grabbing titles go, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders has to be up there with the best and is perhaps fitting for an otherworldly adventure starring a journalist fed up with his assignments.

I've not had the greatest of times with point and clicks adventures, perhaps because I didn't play these classics during my formative gaming years. Will my brain be able to think outside enough boxes to get past the devious puzzles the genre is notorious for?

I'm going to bet 'no', but let's find out.