The Stupid Gamer

Note: Best Game Ever is a series of posts I’ll be doing dedicated to the best games ever made. Each game I profile will be a game I’d accept as someone’s answer to the question, “what do you think the best game ever is?” So please, do not email me and tell me I’m stupid for posting about game X when game Y is clearly superior. And you never know, game Y might be the next game profiled. For more in the series, check out the “best game ever” category in the side bar.

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

Developed for the Xbox by FASA Interactive, Crimson Skies was one of the absolute gems of the Xbox library. There were a few air combat games released during that console cycle, but nothing came close to providing the crazy action, tight controls, and fun storyline elements that combined to make Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge tops in its genre.

The game takes place in an alternate history setting. It’s the 1930s and the sky is dominated by airplanes, zeppelins, and rival groups of sky pirates, smugglers, and all other sorts of fortune hunters on both sides of the law. You play as a somewhat scoundrel sort of hero (think Han Solo stuck in the early 20th century) and its not long before your somewhat innocent hijinx get you caught up into much larger plots and schemes. I won’t dwell on the story, but it is quite fun.

The game also supported Xbox Live, and multiplayer was extremely addictive. With several different types of planes to choose from, strategy played a bit part in how you dealt with enemies online. The maps were excellent, and finding a match was a piece of cake.

The game is pretty easy to find on disc if you decide to go hunting for it (and you should), but it’s also available on the Xbox Originals store on the Xbox Live Marketplace. I would suggest picking it up on disc, however, as it’s going to cost you $5 or less these days. This would be the perfect title to hold you over if you’re waiting for the next big release to hit and want something to keep you busy.

Below is the original trailer for the game. Give us a sequel, Microsoft!

Note: Best Game Ever is a series of posts I’ll be doing dedicated to the best games ever made. Each game I profile will be a game I’d accept as someone’s answer to the question, “what do you think the best game ever is?” So please, do not email me and tell me I’m stupid for posting about game X when game Y is clearly superior. And you never know, game Y might be the next game profiled. For more in the series, check out the “best game ever” category in the side bar.

Star Control II.

Originally on the PC but also ported to the 3DO with enhanced sound and added speech, this game was easily the best open world game of its time. You can now download it FOR FREE (link at the bottom of the post) as it’s been made open source. It’s really rare, even today, to find a game that offers the same level of freedom, non-linear progression, and sense of scale. Here’s the lowdown.

Game is set way in the future after a big galactic war in which the Earth and its alliance lost. Earth is trapped under a slave shield and a race called the Ur-Quan rules the galaxy along with anybody else that chose to join up with them and avoid being annihilated or enslaved.

You’re a descendant from science team that left earth way in the past that had colonized a new planet where you’ve found alien tech. You go out to find out what happened with earth. After finding out that the alliance basically got curb stomped you decide to take it upon yourself to fly around the galaxy recruiting races to start the fight back up again against the Ur-Quan. Depending on the alliances you make the game changes and the storyline can get altered quite a bit.

The game is split into three main styles of gameplay. First there’s exploration where you’re looking for resources (money), new races to ally with, and alien technology to augment your ship. Secondly there’s the political aspect where you need to convince races to join your fight and keep them at peace with one another. Finally, there’s combat that plays out as a 2D top down battle. It’s all great stuff.

Here’s the intro video:

Here’s a battle sequence:

A conversation with the Spathi, a coward race that you still want to recruit as allies because they make awesome starships.

You can get the game for free here: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

Versions of the game are available on Windows, OS X, Linux, and a few other devices (including PSP).

I know it’s a busy time for gaming, but honestly, I doubt any game coming out in the next few months will be as good.