Colin on Computer Games

Last updated 1997

This is what I've been playing for the past year: Ultima Online. Here are the pages I've created about Ultima Online.

I am also a member of one of the oldest guilds still active in Ultima Online: The Noble Lions.

Here are some great games that I have played over the last few years.

Master of Orion II. The new version of a great game, published at the end of 1996.

Star Control 3. This is far from a war game but it does have a nice "ship vs. ship" combat mode. The ship combat mode is a lot like the very first computer game "Space War".

Command and Conquer. A "real-time" game, also quite popular.

Panzer General. A very popular game published in 1995.

I have been playing games of various types for 25 years now (since I bought my first Avalon Hill game, Afrika Korps, back in 1972). Starting in 1984 (when I bought my first Mac) I have been playing computer games. As anyone in the industry can tell you, the computer has replaced the old paper board games to a very large extent. Why? (you ask). There are a few key reasons:

• The computer can store a complex game in a very small space (i.e. your hard drive). I've played some of the larger wargame that had four full size hex maps (Wacht Am Rhine and La Battlie Boridino come to mind) and storage for these games was a real exercise in logistics.
  
  
• The computer can setup a game in seconds. Setup of the paper based war games could take an hour or more. Setup is NOT a very interesting part of the process.
  
  
• No accrimonious fights over rules. If you don't like the way the rules are in a computer game, there isn't much you can do about it (except with nicely customizable games like CivII).
  
  
• The computer will always play with you (well, almost always). For those of us who don't join war game clubs, this is our best chance to play a fun game. Trying to get other people to play games with you is iffy at best. And wiping out the forces of people you know and care about is not the most enjoyable experiance either. The computer does not care if you win or lose. No computer program is as good a challenge as a human, but the computer program won't go off in a huff when it loses.

Lately, computer games have become really good looking and some games have been published that are great fun to play as well.

• Dark Sun
  
  
• Master of Orion
  
  
• Acendency
  
  
• Perfect General II
  
  
• War in Russia