Replay: The History of Video Games (74 page)

The US finally caught up thanks to Harmonix’s work:

• Frequency
  (2001, Sony Computer Entertainment, Harmonix Music Systems, PlayStation 2, USA): Too arty for mass appeal but well worth tracking down.
  
• Karaoke Revolution
  (2003, Konami, Harmonix Music Systems, PlayStation 2, USA): Added vocals to the music game mix, paving the way for the sing-a-long party extravaganza that is
  SingStar
  (2004, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Studio London, PlayStation 2 [PlayStation 3], UK).
  
• Guitar Hero
  (2006, Red Octane, Harmonix Music Systems, PlayStation 2, USA): Wedded the music game to the air guitar dreaming of western rock fans.
  
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
  (2007, Activision, Neversoft, PlayStation 3, USA): Improved on the original with the addition of downloadable tracks to buy and cameos from rock guitar gods such as Slash from Guns ‘n’ Roses and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.
  
• Rock Band
  (2007, MTV Games, Harmonix Music Systems, Xbox 360, USA): The singing, guitar-playing and drum-beating strands of music games united at last.
  

Not to be forgotten:

• Digital Praise
  (2008, Digital Praise, PC: Windows, USA): Christian rock joins the guitar-controller party
  
• DJ Hero
  (2009, Activision, FreeStyleGames, PlayStation 3, UK): Guitar Hero for the turntable set. The more freeform play of
  DJ: Decks & FX
  (2004, Sony Computer Entertainment, Relentless Software, PlayStation 2, UK) got there first.
  
• Wii Music
  (2008, Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto & Kazumi Totaka, Wii, Japan): Miyamoto’s attempt to make playing music simple. Uses the Wii controller to mimic dozens of instruments.
  

Simulations

Non-combat flight simulations:

• Flight Simulator
  (1980, SubLogic, Bruce Artwick & Stu Moment, Apple II, USA): Brought virtual aviation to the home computer. The ever-improving series, later rebranded as
  Microsoft Flight Simulator
  , concentrated on civil aviation.
  Microsoft Flight Simulator X
  (2006, Microsoft Game Studios, PC: Windows, USA) offers incredible detail and very good tutorials making it ideal for those unfamiliar with the genre.
  
• Pilotwings
  (1990, Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto & Tadashi Sugiyama, Super NES, Japan): Not a sim, but great aeronautical fun all the same.
  
• Stunt Island
  (1992, Disney Interactive, The Assembly Line, PC: MS-DOS, UK): Perfond film aerial stunts. The video recording options foreshadow the rise of machinima.
  
• Microsoft Space Simulator
  (1994, Microsoft, Bruce Artwick Organization, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Getting on a bit now but its realism carries it.
  
• Google Earth Flight Simulator
  (2005, Google, PC: Windows, USA): Not the most realistic but it does integrate the maps of the
  Google Earth
  allowing you to fly anywhere in the world.
  
• Orbiter
  (2006, Martin Schweiger, PC: Windows, UK): Free, super-accurate space travel simulation.
  
• X-Plane 9
  (2008, Laminar Research, PC: Windows, USA):
  Microsoft Flight Simulator
  ’s biggest rival. The professional version is certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration as a pilot training tool.
  

Combat flight simulations:

• Red Baron II
  (1997, Sierra, Dynamix, PC: Windows, USA): Sterling First World War fighter plane battles that developed a strong modder community.
  
• European Air War
  (1998, Microsoft, PC: Windows, USA): Microsoft take a break from civilian flight sims to serve up this Western Front air combat classic.
  
• IL-2 Sturmovik
  (2001, 1C Company, 1C: Maddox Games, PC: Windows, Russia): The often neglected Eastern Front of the Second World War gets the attention it deserves with this thrilling flight sim.
  
• Comanche 4
  (2001, NovaLogic, PC: Windows, USA): The first choice for those seeking helicopter gunship action.
  
• Falcon 4.0: Allied Force
  (2005, Graphsim Entertainment, Lead Pursuit, PC: Windows, USA): Update of the 1998 modern fighter jet sim that added many of the mods created by the original’s fans as well as improved physics.
  
• Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
  (2006, Namco Bandai, Namco Project Aces, Xbox 360, Japan): Fast-paced aerial action, more shoot ’em up than sim.
  

Train simulations:

• Southern Belle
  (1985, Hewson, Mike Male & Bob Hillyer, BBC Micro, UK): Early 1900s steam engine driving sim. Take the Southern Belle from London Victoria to Brighton.
  
• Densha de Go!
  (1996, Taito, Coin-op, Japan): Modern day train driving that replicates the commuter lines of Japan, starting with the quiet rural lines before heading to the urban crush of the rush hour.
  
• Microsoft Train Simulator
  (2001, Microsoft, Kuju Entertainment, PC: Windows, UK): Does for trains what the
  Microsoft Flight Simulator
  series did for flight sims. Microsoft later abandoned the train sim genre leaving a gap that
  Trainz Simulator 2009
  (2008, Auran, PC: Windows, Australia) has sought to fill.
  

Other simulations:

• Silent Service II
  (1990, Microprose, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Highly accurate submarine simulator.
  
• Search & Rescue 4: Coastal Heroes
  (2003, Just Flight, InterActive Vision, PC: Windows, Denmark): Coast guard heroism.
  
• Rigs of Rod
  (2003, Pierre-Michel Ricordel, PC: Windows, France): Open-source vehicle simulation software that began as a off-road truck sim but has evolved into one of the most accurate and detailed simulators around.
  
• Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific
  (2007, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Romania, PC: Windows, Romania): Submarine game that emphasises ‘action’ over simulation.
  
• Ship Simulator 2008
  (2007, Lighthouse Interactive, VSTEP, PC: Windows, Netherlands): Seasickness inducing journeys across the waves.
  

Strategy and management

The earliest strategy games stuck rigidly to the format of tabletop war games. Chris Crawford, however, broke the mould:

• Tanktics: Computer Game of Armored Combat on the Eastern Front
  (1978, Chris Crawford, PET, USA): Primitive text-only strategy but introduced the use of fog of war.
  
• Eastern Front 1941
  (1981, Atari Program Exchange, Chris Crawford, Atari 800, USA): Turn-based decisions with real-time following of orders. The real-time/turn-based hybrid approach resurfaced in the exceptional
  Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin
  (2002, CDV, Battlefront.com, PC: Windows, USA)
  
• Excalibur
  (1983, Atari Program Exchange, Chris Crawford, Larry Summers & Valerie Atkinson, Atari 800, USA): Arthurian war game designed to encourage diplomacy over conflict, an approach Crawford expanded on with:
  
• Balance of Power
  (1985, Mindscape, Chris Crawford, Macintosh, USA): Cold War geopolitics where diplomatic manoeuvring rather than military action is the name of the game.
  

Other political sims:

• President Elect
  (1981, SSI, Nelson Hernandez, Apple II, USA): US presidential election campaign simulator.
  
• Hidden Agenda
  (1988, Springboard, Trans Fiction Systems, Macintosh, USA): Text-based simulation of running a post-revolution Central American state.
  
• Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator
  (1990, Virgin Interactive, David Eastman, Amiga, UK): Diplomacy focused game where you play the new Israeli prime minister.
  
• Floor 13
  (1992, Virgin Games, David Eastman, PC: MS-DOS, UK): Take charge of a sinister secret police force in early 1990s Britain. Your job: to torture, assassinate and smear opponents of Her Majesty’s Government.
  
• Republic: The Revolution
  (2003, Eidos Interactive, Elixir Studios, PC: Windows, UK): Post-communism revolutionary politics sim in a fictional ex-Soviet state. The designers’ grand vision got the better of it, but the result was still a fascinating, if flawed, attempt.
  

Germany’s business and kingdom management sims eschewed combat for planning, creating a sub-genre that owes a significant debt to German board games.

• Kaiser
  (1984, Ariolasoft, Dirk Beyelstein, Atari 800, West Germany): Simple kingdom management game.
  
• Hanse
  (1986, Ariolasoft, Ralf Glau & Bernd Westphal, Commodore 64, West Germany): Middle Ages trading sim set around the ports of the Baltic Sea.
  
• Ports of Call
  (1987, Aegis International, Internatial Software Development, Amiga [iPhone], West Germany): Much-loved maritime trading business sim.
  
• Pizza Tycoon / Pizza Connection
  (1994, Software 2000, Cybernetic Corporation, Amiga, Germany): Run your own pizza parlour managing everything from overheads to pizza topping choices.
  
• Die Fugger II
  (1996, Sunflowers, PC: MS-DOS, Germany): Political and business intrigue in medieval Germany.
  
• The Guild 2
  (2006, JoWooD, 4Head Studios, PC: Windows, Germany): Die Fugger’s spiritual successor.
  
• Catan
  (2007, Big Huge Games, Xbox 360, USA): Video game version of classic German board game
  The Settlers of Catan
  .
  

Non-German management sims:

• The Oregon Trail
  (1971, Don Rawitsch, Paul Dillenberger & Bill Heinemann, unknown mainframe [iPhone], USA): Classic educational game that expertly tells the story of the Wild West pioneers. Another education game worth seeking out is the logic puzzle title
  Rocky’s Boots
  (1982, The Learning Company, Warren Robinett & Leslie Grimm, Apple II, USA)
  
• Railroad Tycoon
  (1990, Microprose, Sid Meier, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Railroad empire building in the early days of steam trains. Sid Meier revisited the series with
  Sid Meier’s Railroads!
  (2006, 2K Games, Firaxis, PC: Windows, USA).
  
• Transport Tycoon
  (1994, Microprose, Chris Sawyer, PC: MS-DOS, UK): The artificial intelligence is showing its age, but this transport empire-building game is still one of the finest business games ever made.
  
• Theme Park
  (1994, Electronic Arts, Bullfrog, PC: MS-DOS, UK): Peter Molyneux’s slapstick take on running a funfair.
  Rollercoaster Tycoon 3
  (2004, Atari Interactive, Frontier Developments, PC: Windows, UK) is its spiritual successor.
  
• Dungeon Keeper
  (1997, Electronic Arts, Bullfrog, PC: Windows, UK): Molyneux turns the RPG on its head. Build dungeons to stop marauding ‘heroes’ from stealing your treasure.
  
• The Movies
  (2005, Activision, Lionhead Studios, PC: Windows, UK): Machinima-inspired business sim where you double as Hollywood studio mogul and film director.
  
• Chocolatier
  (2007, PlayFirst, Big Splash Games, PC: Windows [iPhone], USA): Chocolate tycoon.
  
• Monopoly
  (2008, Electronic Arts, EA Bright Light Studio, Wii, UK): An excellent video game version of the iconic property tycoon board game.