Replay: The History of Video Games (67 page)

On the arcade side:
font>

• Out Run
  (1986, Sega, Yu Suzuki, Coin-op, Japan): All the glamour of the 1980s.
  
• Super Hang-On
  (1987, Sega, Yu Suzuki, Coin-op, Japan): Motorbike racing.
  
• Cisco Heat
  (1990, Jaleco, Coin-op, Japan): San Francisco-based racer that makes the most of the city’s famous hills.
  
• Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge
  (1990, Gremlin Graphics, Magnetic Fields, Amiga, UK): Slick racer that stands the test of time.
  
• Super Mario Kart
  (1992, Nintendo, Super NES, Japan): Madcap tyre-screeching fun that kick started the whole kart-racing genre.
  
• Daytona USA
  (1993, Sega, Toshihiro Nagoshi, Coin-op, Japan): One of the most enduring coin-op games of all-time and with good reason.
  
• Burnout
  (2001, Acclaim, Criterion Games, PlayStation 2, UK): Daredevil racer that rewards dangerous driving.
  Burnout 3: Takedown
  (2004, EA Games, Criterion Games, PlayStation 2, UK) had the most panache.
  Burnout Paradise
  (2008, Electronic Arts, Criterion Games, PlayStation 3, UK) opened up the city streets.
  
• Crazyracing Kartrider
  (2004, Nexon, PC: Windows, South Korea): Kart racing goes online. The biggest development in sub-genre since
  Super Mario Kart
  .
  
• Need for Speed: Underground
  (2004, EA Games, EA Black Box, PlayStation 2, Canada): Custom car racing inspired by the 2001 film
  The Fast and the Furious
  .
  

Other racers of note:

• Excitebike
  (1984, Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, NES, Japan): Side-view motocross racing.
  
• Kikstart 2
  (1987, Mastertronic, Mr Chip, Commodore 64, UK): Evel Knievel daredevil stunt biking. Modern equivalent:
  Trials HD
  (2009, Microsoft Game Studios, RedLynx, Xbox 360, Finland).
  
• Wave Race: Blue Storm
  (2001, Nintendo, Nintendo Software Technology, Gamecube, USA): Jet ski racing
  
• F-Zero GX
  (2003, Nintendo, Amusement Vision (Sega), Gamecube, Japan): High-speed futuristic racing with excellent-looking tracks.
  
• Project Gotham Racing 3
  (2005, Microsoft Game Studios, Bizarre Creations, Xbox 360, UK): Racing game series distinguished by its Kudos time bonuses for stylish driving.
  
• Wipeout HD
  (2008, Sony Computer Entertainment, Studio Liverpool, PlayStation 3, UK): High-definition, breakneck, futuristic racing.
  
• Colin McRae: Dirt 2 / Dirt 2
  (2009, Codemasters, Xbox 360, UK): Off-road racing.
  
• 18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker
  (2009, ValuSoft, SCS Software, PC: Windows, Czech Republic): Truck driving simulation game. For more racing-orientated trucking:
  18 Wheeler
  (1999, Sega, AM2, Coin-op, Japan).
  

Grand Theft Auto

Although the original came across as a driving game, it was and is so much more.

The spiritual ancestor is the emancipating space sim
Elite
(1984, Acornsoft, Ian Bell & David Braben, BBC Micro, UK), which gave players a galaxy to play in.
Elite
has its own, more obvious, followers in
Privateer
(1993, Electronic Arts, Origin Systems, PC: MS-DOS, USA) and the massively multiplayer online world of
EVE Online
(2003, Simon & Schuster Interactive, CCP, PC: Windows, Iceland). Also see the official sequels:
Frontier: Elite II
(1993, Gametek, David Braben, Amiga, UK) and
Frontier: First Encounters
(1995, Gametek, Frontier Developments, PC: MS-DOS, UK).

The simulated cities of Sean Cooper’s
Syndicate
(1993, Electronic Arts, Bullfrog, Amiga, UK), a gritty sci-fi game of corporate conquest, and its sequel
Syndicate Wars
(1996, Electronic Arts, Bullfrog, PC: MS-DOS, UK) are another influence. As were DMA Design’s own early dabbles in 3D with the non-linear
Body Harvest
(1998, Gremlin Interactive, DMA Design, Nintendo 64, UK) and the 3D platforming of
Space Station Silicon Valley
(1998, Take-Two Interactive, DMA Design, Nintendo 64, UK). Incidentally, the latter’s possess-the-enemy action owes a significant debt to the cerebral shoot ‘em up
Paradroid
(1985, Hewson, Graftgold, Commodore 64, UK). See its prettier remake:
Paradroid ’90
(1990, Hewson, Graftgold, Amiga, UK).

The first
Grand Theft Auto
(1997, BMG Interactive, DMA Design, PC: MS-DOS, UK) contains most of the core features of the series, but the move to 3D was a revelation:

• Grand Theft Auto III
  (2001, Rockstar Games, DMA Design, PlayStation 2, UK): The stunning 3D breakthrough that made level-based games look old-fashioned overnight.
  
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  (2002, Rockstar Games, Rockstar North, PlayStation 2, UK): Eighties retro cool with a wicked sense of humour.
  
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  (2004, Rockstar Games, Rockstar North, PlayStation 2, UK): Three cities, one state. The most ambitious of series.
  
• Grand Theft Auto IV
  (2008, Rockstar Games, Rockstar North, Xbox 360, UK): The most detailed of Rockstar’s city sims yet and the best written story of the series.
  

Few of the attempts to copy
Grand Theft Auto
’s virtual city action have delivered. One of the few that did:

• Crackdow
  n (2007, Microsoft Game Studios, Realtime Worlds, Xbox 360, UK).
  

Single-player role-playing games

TSR’s 1974 pen-and-paper game
Dungeons & Dragons
started it all, but the leap to digital world wear instant, starting with the long-lost pioneer
Pedit5
(1974, Rusty Rutherford, PLATO, USA). Then:

• Dungeon
  (1975, Don Daglow, PDP-10, USA): Letters and punctuation in lieu of graphics.
  
• Oubliette
  (1977, Jim Schwaiger, PLATO, USA) and
  Moria
  (1978, Kevet Duncombe & Jim Battin, PLATO, USA): First-person view dungeons.
  

Most enduring of all the mainframe RPGs was
Rogue
(1980, Michael Toy & Glenn Wichman, Unix, USA): Beneath its ugly alphanumeric character visuals lurks a game of constant variety thanks to its randomly generated dungeons. Rogue’s influence and fanatical following spawned a huge number of so-called ‘roguelikes’, among them:

• Moria
  (1983, Robert Koeneke & Jimmey Todd, VAX-11/780, USA): No relation to the PLATO game. It was an important influence on the excellent action RPG
  Diablo
  (1996, Blizzard Entertainment, Blizzard North, PC: Windows, USA).
  Diablo
  ’s followers:
  Dungeon Siege
  (2002, Microsoft Game Studios, Gas Powered Games, PC: Windows, USA), the spandex-clad superhero RPG
  Freedom Force
  (2002, Crave Entertainment, Irrational Games, PC: Windows, USA) and, of course,
  Diablo II
  (2000, Blizzard, Blizzard North, PC: Windows, USA).
  
• NetHack
  (1987, The NetHack DevTeam, Unix, USA): The most notable roguelike. Created by open-source development.
  

Highlights of the first wave of home computer role-playing games:

• Space II
  (1979, Edu-Ware, David Mullich, Apple II, USA): Recreational drug taking and religious missionary adventures in space. An expansion to the original
  Space
  (1979, Edu-Ware, Steven Pederson & Sherwin Steffin, Apple II, USA).
  
• Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
  (1981, Sir-Tech, Andrew Greenberg & Robet Woodhead, Apple II, USA): The biggest RPG of the early 1980s but the series evolved too slowly to maintain its early lead.
  
• Tunnels of Doom
  (1982, Texas Instruments, Kevin Kenney, TI-99/4a, USA): Replaced line-drawing first-person view dungeons with solid walls.
  

Alakabeth: World of Doom
(1979, Richard Garriott, Apple II, USA) became the foundation stone of the legendary Ultima series:

• Ultima: The First Age of Darkness
  (1981, California Pacific Computer, Richard Garriott & Ken Arnold, Apple II, USA): The start of the genre-defining series.
  
• Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
  (1985, Origin Systems, Richard Garriott, Apple II, USA): The addition of a moral backbone raised the bar for all RPGs and it’s still regarded by many as the best in the series. Marked the start of
  Ultima
  ’s ‘enlightenment’ trilogy that also includes the brilliant
  Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
  (1988, Origin Systems, Richard Garriott, PC: MS-DOS, USA) and
  Ultima VI: The False Prophet
  (1990, Origin Systems, Richard Garriott, PC: MS-DOS, USA).
  
• Ultima VII: The Black Gate
  (1992, Origin Systems, Richard Garriott, PC: MS-DOS, USA) and
  Ultima VII Part Two: The Serpent’s Isl
  e (1993, Origin Systems, Richard Garriott, PC: MS-DOS, USA): The last great moments for the single-player
  Ultima
  s.
  

Also the spin-offs:

• Ultima Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams
  (1991, Origin Systems, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Jules Verne steam punk, where the celebrities of the Victorian era travel to Mars in a steam-powered rocket ship.
  
• Ultima Underworlds: The Stygian Abyss
  (1992, Origin Systems, Blue Sky Productions, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Started Id Software on the path to
  Doom
  , but a great RPG in its own right.
  

Mid-1980s to mid-1990s:

• Mandragore
  (1984, Infogrames, Marc Cecchi, Thomson MO5, France): Ultima-style RPG with an eco-message and references to the ancient Greek poems
  The Iliad
  and
  Odyssey
  .
  
• Wasteland
  (1988, Electronic Arts, Interplay, Commodore 64, USA): Post-nuclear war epic that paved the way for the
  Fallout
  series. One of the finest RPGs of the 1980s.
  
• B.A.T.
  (1990, Ubisoft, Computer’s Dream, Atari ST, France):
  Blade Runner
  goes Gallic. Features a programmable computer that is attached to the forearm of the player’s character. Also its sequel:
  The Koshan Conspiracy
  (1992, Ubisoft, Computer’s Dream, Amiga, France).
  
• Darklands
  (1992, Microprose, Arnold Hendrick, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Staggeringly detailed and open-ended quest for celebrity and wealth in medieval Germany.
  
• Legend / The Four Crystals Of Trazere
  (1992, Mindscape, Anthony Tagilone & Pete James, Amiga, PC, UK): A proto-
  Diablo
  with an impressively flexible design-a-spell magic system.