Replay: The History of Video Games (75 page)

Dani Bunten Berry’s
M.U.L.E.
(1983, Electronic Arts, Ozark Softscape, Atari 800, USA) was a delicate balancing act of player competition and inter-dependence that is justifiably regarded as one of the all-time best-designed games. Desperately needs a modern remake. Dani Bunten Berry’s premature death from lung cancer in 1997 robbed video gaming of one of its brightest talents just as the online technology her work aspired to use came of age. Her sterling legacy:

• Wheeler Dealers
  (1978, Speakeasy Software, Dan Bunten, Apple II, USA): Pioneered the auction battles of
  M.U.L.E.
  
• Cartel$ & Cutthroat$
  (1981, SSI, Dan Bunten, Apple II, USA): Early business sim for up to eight players.
  
• The Seven Cities of Gold
  (1984, Electronic Arts, Ozark Softscape, Commodore 64, USA): Single-player game of exploration in the New World. Inspired the high seas adventuring of
  Sid Meier’s Pirates!
  (1987, Microprose, Sid Meier, Commodore 64 [Amiga], USA).
  
• Heart of Africa
  (1985, Electronic Arts, Ozark Softscape, Commodore 64, USA): Beneath the now primitive visuals lurks an expansive and deep game of exploring the wilderness. The sun blindness that blurs out the screen if you spend too long in the desert and the mixed-up joystick controls that result from delirium due to a lack of water foreshadowed the insanity effects of
  Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
  .
  
• Modem Wars
  (1988, Electronic Arts, Ozark Softscape, Commodore 64, USA): Early online real-time strategy.
  

The action-oriented, real-time strategy model pioneered in
Modem Wars
and the likes of
Herzog Zwei
(1989, TechnoSoft, Megadrive, Japan) came of age in
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty / Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
(1992, Virgin Interactive, Westwood Associates, PC: MS-DOS, USA). After that real-time strategy ruled the roost:

• Cannon Fodder
  (1993, Virgin Interactive, Sensible Software, Amiga, UK): Humorous point-and-click strategy action.
  
• StarCraft
  (1998, Blizzard Entertainment, Chris Metzen & James Phinney, PC: Windows, USA): Refined real-time strategy that conquered South Korea.
  
• Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
  (1998, Eidos Interactive, Pyro Studios, PC: Windows, Spain): Real-time strategy game focused on managing a small group of commandos.
  
• Shogun: Total War
  (2000, Electronic Arts, Creative Assembly, PC: Windows, UK): The start of Creative Assembly’s bold strategy series that is based around epic real-time battles involving hundreds of troops. The series has continued to improve with each addition, see
  Empire: Total War
  (2009, Sega, Creative Assembly, PC: Windows, UK).
  
• Conflict Zone: Modern War Strategy
  (2001, Ubisoft, MASA Group, PC: Windows, France): So-so real-time strategy game, but the need to win the media propaganda battle as well as the actual conflict made it stand out.
  
• Pikmin
  (2001, Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto & Masamichi Abe, Gamecube, Japan): Shigeru Miyamoto’s bonsai real-time strategy game.
  
• The Settlers IV
  (2001, Blue Byte, PC: Windows, Germany): Accessible real-time strategy game that avoids micromanagement of your troops. Also offers a conflict-free mode for those just wanting to build their kingdoms in peace.
  
• Cossacks: European Wars
  (2001, CDV, GSC Game World, PC: Windows, Ukraine): Intricate strategy based on Eastern European history.
  
• WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos
  (2002, Blizzard Entertainment, Rob Pardo, PC: Windows, USA): Excellent fantasy themed strategy action. Its mods led to the tower defense genre, where the goal is to defend your bases, be they towers or something else, from marauding hordes.
  Ramparts
  (1990, Atari Games, John Salwitz, Coin-op, USA) could be describeds the first tower defense game but it took two free Flash games to establish it as a distinct branch of gaming, namely:
  Desktop Tower Defense
  (2007, Kongregate, Paul Preece, Online: Flash, UK) and
  Flash Element TD
  (2007, David Scott, Online: Flash, UK). Other tower defense highlights:
  Plants vs. Zombies
  (2009, PopCap Games, George Fan, PC: Windows, USA): Vibrant crossover hit;
  Bailout Wars
  (2009, Gameloft, iPhone, France): A tower defense reaction to the 2008 credit crunch. Stop the bankers from raiding the coffers of the White House.
  
• Perimeter
  (2004, 1C Company, K-D Lab, PC: Windows, Russia): Terraforming and unit evolution mark this out as an innovator.
  
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
  (2007, Electronic Arts, EA Los Angeles, PC: Windows, USA): Sci-fi edged strategy.
  

In terms of popularity turn-based strategy has lost out to its action-oriented cousin, but its more cerebral pace has still produced many great moments:

• Nobunaga’s Ambition
  (1987, Koei, MSX, Japan): The start of Koei’s long running historical strategy game series.
  
• UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-COM: UFO Defense
  (1994, Microprose, Mythos Games, PC: MS-DOS, UK): Manage the global effort to repel alien invaders from Earth in this sublime mix of battlefield tactics, research management and defensive base building. Its creator Julian Gollop has served up a succession of first-class squad-based strategy games over the years including:
  Laser Squad
  (1988, Target Games, Mythos Games, ZX Spectrum, UK): The 2D blueprint for
  UFO: Enemy Unknown
  ;
  X-COM: Apocalypse
  (1997, Microprose, Mythos Games, PC: MS-DOS, UK): Turn-based and real-time hybrid follow-up to
  UFO: Enemy Unknown
  ;
  Rebelstar: Tactical Command
  (2005, Namco, Codo Technologies, Game Boy Advance, UK): Portable tactical strategy; Also see his earlier RPG strategy gem
  Chaos
  (1985, Games Workshop, Julian Gollop, ZX Spectrum, UK) and its multiplayer wizard battles.
  
• Advance Wars
  (2001, Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, Game Boy Advance, Japan): Expertly crafted and user-friendly game that even the strategy adverse should love.
  
• Dynasty Tactics
  (2002, Koei, PlayStation 2, Japan): An invigorating strategy spin-off from Koei’s action-packed
  Dynasty Warriors
  series.
  
• Hearts of Iron
  (2002, Strategy First, Paradox Interactive, PC: Windows, Sweden): Complex and historically accurate strategy that is not for the faint hearted, but is rewarding for those willing to delve deep. Also see:
  Europa Universalis III
  (2007, Paradox Interactive, PC: Windows, Sweden).
  

The king of turn-based strategy games has, however, been the long-running and utterly compulsive
Civilization
series.
Sid Meier’s Civilization
(1991, Microprose, Sid Meier, PC: MS-DOS, USA) marked the start but
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
(2005, 2K Games, Firaxis Games, PC: Windows, USA), which introduced religion into mix, is the one to go for. The cut-down
Civilization Revolution
(2008, 2K Games, Firaxis, Xbox 360, USA) provides a gentler introduction, but at the expense of much the series’ subtle beauty.

God games

Will Wright’s
Sim City
(1989, Maxis, Will Wright, Macintosh, USA) opened the floodgates, rejecting stories and goals for open-ended play. While the original’s raw appeal still lingers, a more accessible introduction to the series that made town planning fun is
Sim City 4
(2003, EA Games, Maxis, PC: Windows, USA).

The society-building rivalry of
Utopia
(1982, Mattel, Don Daglow, Intellivision, USA) ventured into similar territory before
Sim City
although it pales against Wright’s creation. The emergent dynamics of
Life
(1970, John Conway, PDP-7, UK) was an important influence on Wright’s game, try it at:
www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife

Wright’s non-
Sim City
work during the 1990s was more miss than hit, but his virtual ant farm
Sim Ant
(1991, Maxis, Will Wright, PC: Windows, USA) laid the foundation for his next major creation: the voyeuristic doll’s house that is
The Sims
(2000, EA Games, Maxis, PC: Windows, USA). The increased emphasis on the lives of your virtual people in
The Sims 2
(2004, EA Games, Maxis, PC: Windows, USA) only enhanced the appeal. Again others had dabbled in similar territory before:

• Little Computer People
  (1985, Activision, David Crane, Commodore 64, USA):
  The Sims
  15 years too early.
  
• Alter Ego: Male Version / Alter Ego: Female Version
  (1986, Activision, Peter Favaro, Apple II [iPhone], USA): It may be text only but the colourful and witty writing brings it to life. The iPhone version includes both the male and female versions of this live-another-life game.
  

Released a few months after
Sim City
was Peter Molyneux’s deity sim
Populous
(1989, Electronic Arts, Bullfrog, Amiga, UK)
. Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods
(1991, Electronic Arts, Bullfrog, Amiga, UK) was better though. Molyneux returned to playing god with
Black & White
(2001, EA Games, Lionhead Studios, PC: Windows, UK) and
Black & White 2
(2005, Electronic Arts, Lionhead Studios, PC: Windows, UK), but with stronger ties between you and your followers.

Life & dating simulations

• Tokmeki Memorial: Forever With You
  (1995, Konami, Koji Igarashi, PlayStation, Japan): High-school romance game that was incredibly popular in Japan.
  
• Harvest Moon
  (1996, Natsume, Pack-in-Video, Super NES, Japan): Live an idyllic rural existence in this farm sim.
  Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
  (2003, Natsume, Victor Interactive, Gamecube, Japan) captures the series’ country living delights best.
  
• Animal Crossing
  (2001, Nintendo, Gamecube, Japan): Vastly entertaining life simulation where you begin a new life in a village filled with colourful characters and a seemingly never-ending supply of constant surprises. The game uses the Gamecube’s internal clock to introduce seasonal surprises on days such as Halloween.
  

Virtual pets

• Dogz
  (1995, PF Magic, Rob Fulop, PC: Windows, USA): Loveable computer puppies. And for those who prefer cats:
  Catz
  (1995, PF Magic, Rob Fulop, PC: Windows, USA).
  Nintendogs
  (2005, Nintendo, Kiyoshi Mizuki, Nintendo DS, Japan) took the dog rearing to the next level.
  
• Tamagotchi
  (1996, Bandai, Aki Maita, Electronic toy, Japan): The egg-shaped toy captivated millions and stretched the patience of everyone else with its constant demands for attention.
  
• Seaman
  (1999, Sega, Vivarium, Dreamcast, Japan): Look after and chat with a frankly freaky fish-man-parasite thing.
  
• Alien Fish Exchange
  (2001, nGame, mobile phones, UK): Fish breeding and sharing (and if you are feeling particularly mean, cooking) that foreshadowed many of the ideas that would later become the basis of social networking games.