its the little things........ (bits of games which leave lasting impression)

I loved that game! I had a cheat that allowed you to fly around the screen with a kind of noclip on. The only problem was if you moved diagonally across a ladder you were stuck with no way off and had to reboot! :D

Cheaters never prosper...
 
I was thinking about this earlier. Despite playing the original on the bbc the Amiga port was where I spent the vast majority of my hundreds of hrs gameplay, and even now certain sounds are etched into my head from the game. There are others but, I think the 3 sounds which gave the biggest lasting impression was the docking sound, the fuel scoop sound, and last but not least the ecm.

(I am not talking big things such as music, obviously the BD in elite is as iconic as they come)

What - if any - little effects in games from yesteryear have left a lasting impression on you?

And do you think in 30 years people (may be me) will be saying the exact same thing about bits of ED?

C-64 "Archipelago"; a small game but totally unique. Multiple Islands each based on the 26 letters of the english alphabet. The islands covered with various numbers of palm trees with a spawning disease taking over successive blocks of the island. Your task was to find the cure and deliver it, within a time limit to the nearest tree, running and jumping over diseased landscape elements.
That's all I can recall of it; but it was totally addictive.:)
 
I loved the music in Star Control II.

The installation for Command and Conquer - it was the first time I'd ever seen an installation be 'themed' with the game. Impressive.

Those huge beam weapon sounds in Freespace 2.

The ability to see campaign medals on your uniform in XWing.

Star Control is one of my faves game ever, great fun on the Megardrive!

On a space theme, first time seeing the Mothership from a distance and hearing the beautiful soundtrack in Homeworld.

Trying to complete a Dreadnought in Paradroid when you could not find a low level droid to transfer to! Also by Andrew Braybrook, racing to escape a disintegrating ship after completing a level in Uridium.

Hearing the digitised Tardis sound on the Amiga version of Sidwinder for the first time.

Successfully landing the FA/18 Interceptor on the aircraft carrier in the game of the same name.

Successfully completing a mission without being detected in F19 Stealthfighter on the C64.

And lots more!!
 
I have never seen anyone else ever refer to that game, but remember it fondly.

Chap who wrote it, Nick something but called himself Orlando I seem to remember, also wrote an awesome version of Galaga called Zalaga and also another shoot-em up called Firetrack (at least I think that was him :) )
I know, I know, I could just look him up in Google but where's the fun in that? ;)

Just thought of another one....

....avoiding the gaze of the Sentinel in 'Sentinel'.
 
Among many, many others...

The sound of a concrete slab going down in Dune2.

The eternal rumbling of the engine in F-18 Interceptor.

The first choo-choo of a new locomotive emerging from an engine shop in Railroad Tycoon.

The horror of entering the voodoo shop in Monkey Island I.

Finding out what that button over there did in Populus.

Nuking someone for the first time in Megalomania.

The swoosh of a missed sword thrust in Eye of the Beholder I.

The agonizing death throes of an eviscerated enemy soldier in Cannon Fodder.

The sound of pushing a button in the menus of X-com Terror from the Deep.

This heavenly opening song.

The sound of a horse charging in North and South.

First seeing a human skull as a ball in the IK+ bonus stages.

The jumping sound of the dragons in Bubble Bobble.

Getting completely lost in the starting forest in Obitus.

Solving your first island puzzle in Midwinter II.

Finding a secret sietch full of weirding modules in Dune.

Building your first large castle in Settlers right next to enemy land.

Watching the AI beat your ass in Jimmy Whites' Whirlwind Snooker, and then destroying the AI in Archer Macleans' Pool.

etc etc...I could go on for years...:D
 
'Wake up and smell the ashes' from Half-life 2. And the head crab noises from both games.

The noises behind doors in Doom.

Flying an A-Wing in X-wing, particularly one mission when you had to spy on the arriving Imperial fleet and were dwarfed by the surrounding capital ships.

Gaining blue eyes in Dune and feeling sad when your dad dies.
 
Oh yes, completing "Demon's Winter" RPG game on the Amiga. There was something brilliant about it. Yes, there is Ultima and a whole raft of others, but this is the one that still has me pining to return to it. Where is UAE ??? :)
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Moved over to games general. :)

And for me.

The Intro to First Encounters.

Stans waving arms in Monkey Island. still makes me laugh. :D

jGnfk.gif


How well the physics were coded in Pinball Dreams. on the Amiga.

Everything about Flashback. That game had it all.

The humour of Duke Nukem.

and so much more.

Chucking tons of money into the arcade machine version of Atomic Runner at my local swimming pool, :)

Did the same myself...
 
Oh yes, completing "Demon's Winter" RPG game on the Amiga. There was something brilliant about it. Yes, there is Ultima and a whole raft of others, but this is the one that still has me pining to return to it. Where is UAE ??? :)

Completely agree about Demons Winter!
Also loved the 'gold box' games such as 'Champions of Krynn'.
 
Two more...

Hearing the lovely soundtrack when you climbed out of your Spaceship in Parallax on C64.

The Bossanova-like tune on the C64 Wizball high score table.
 
* Lords of Midnight - trying to reach Korinel the Fey before he gets massacred. Every. Single. Game.

* Elite - fighting through a anarchic system only to be boarded by pirates and killed on reaching the station (who put that feature in?... :p)

* Tau Ceti/Academy - Shaded and lit graphics! on a Spectrum!

* Starglider/Starglider 2 - both almost as good as Elite. Almost.

* Falcon 2 - Being amazed at the graphics on an Atari ST (and the vertical landing trick) and started a 20+ year ... oooops 30 year love of flight sims.

* Midwinter - First experience of fractal landscapes in real time (Love Mike Singleton's work :) )

* Doom - First encounter with a pink thing. Doom (again) - playing it on a Pentium 100, after an upgrade from a 486 sx33.

* Quake - First encounter with a fiend. And having a kind stranger show me all the good rocket jump locations in multiplayer :) And spending too much time playing multiplayer quake on the uni's server rather than writing-up thesis.

* System Shock CD - anything that came out of SHODAN's mouth, but especially "Look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone. Panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?" or "I prefer a quiet station, thank you.", cutting off a transmission.

* System Shock 2 - Those ********* midwives. And Shodan again.

* Half-Life - the moments after the test chamber when the world goes to heck.

* Falcon 4's comms - 30,000 lines of dialog in a flight-sim game, including "I have become death. Shatterer of Worlds." Hell. Falcon 4. All of it. Period.

* Halo Multiplayer - :)

* S.T.A.L.K.E.R (all of them) - the Music. the Ambiance. the Freedom. the Zone. :)
 
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