Video Games

“If you don’t shut down the computer, I’ll throw it away” Mom

This classic line from my mom would send me scurrying to the save option. Computer games have been a massive part of my childhood. I was quite addicted to these games and wound up playing for hours on the computer, much to my mom’s irritation. Various characters, rich interactive worlds and funky gameplay ensured that I stayed hooked to these fictional universes. If you’re wondering if I had a healthy lifestyle concerning video games in my daily routine, I did not. That story is for another day.

Despite the advancements in technology and the graphic quality in games, the heart of it has always carried over for generations. My first experience with a video game was in the form of a knockoff PlayStation 1, which required catridges that stored games (around the year 2000). These catridges were marketed as of having 10,000 or 15,000 games. In reality, there were around 20 games that kept repeating all the way till 1,000 or so.

The one I had was quite similar to this, with a different branding. Most of my time would be spent sorting out the AV cables as they’d get tangled easily

The wildly popular duck hunting game with the mysterious light gun accessory that seemed to like something from the future.

Cartridges were sold in similar outer form and had

After this console stopped working, due to reasons I don’t remember now. I started to play games on the swanky new pre-built PC that my dad brought home one day. There were 2 games I was really fond of – Captain Claw and Airline Tycoon Evolution.

Captain Claw was a sidescrolling action video game, where the main character, a pirate cat fights enemies (dogs primarily), in search of an ancient amulet. It was divided into levels, with increasing difficulty. I fondly remember the frustration of calculating every move to defeat the final boss in the game, a mightly beefy cocker spaniel.

The first level in the game was quite simple and straightforward to finish. There are videos on YouTube that have entire playthroughs, from the start to the end of the game.

The final boss Omar on Level 14 of the game. He stands in between Captain Claw and his dream amulet

What fascinated me most about this game were the incredibly diverse worlds in each level, and bosses that had their unique powers that were related to the level they were in. In my opinion, this game was incredibly detailed in terms of its gameplay experience for its times. Scrubbing through the entire gameplay video can give a decent idea about how diverse the gameplay is.

I’d highly recommend watching till 7:00 before scrubbing through the levels, to understand the narrative

Airline Tycoon Deluxe was the first business simulation game I had played, and kickstarted my love for the sim genre. It was way out of its time and grossly underappreciated. I got this game when I had gone to Mumbai for the first time (I was 7 years old) and found it in a store that sold pirated games. The CD that I had bought had a few other games, but this was the only one that installed and worked without any issues.

The player can choose an airline amongst 4 available choices and compete for macimum profits in an airport with constrained resources. And the fight can get dirty. Here’s a glimpse of this game –

Deluxe and Evolution have small changes in the gameplay, but have the same spirit

One can

1. Trade shares of their airline and their competitors

2. Sell or buy aviation fuel according to market rate and their needs

3. Sabotage competitors ranging from silly pranks to illegal activities

4. Design, build and add their own custom aircraft to their fleet

5. Engage in conversations with people all around the airport to learn tricks in the trade

6. Hunt easter eggs spread through the game that are worth the discovery

A hilarious example of a sabotage session

The next highly impactful game in the sim genre was Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate Collection. This is a zoo management simulation where the player built a zoo from scratch and had to cater to the needs of the guests, animals and staff. One could choose between currently present species, endangered animals, marine life, extinct species (yes, dinosaurs break out of their exhibit like in Jurassic Park). Apart from this large roster of species to exhibit, one can set up marine performance shows, jungle safaris, cable car transport, tranquilize rampaging dinosaurs, genetic engineer dinosaurs from fossils that need to be hunted around the zoo.

The game intro for Zoo Tycoon 2

Sim games aren’t exactly the most entertaining to watch, and a game like ZT would take hours in the making to exhibit a share-worthy zoo. So I have not added any video to this post. However, searching for “zoo tycoon ultimate collection gameplay” on YouTube does consist of many interesting takes on what a zoo means to people. Unfortunately I have no content from any of these ancient games that I could possibly put up in this post. The only surviving game is Zoo Tycoon. In a mark of respect to this game, I install this game on every new computer or laptop that was used at home. It warms my heart everytime I install and fire up the game for the first time on a new computer.

There are dozens of other games that have been a part of my childhood. But these are some that I have held very close to heart, as they bring back loads of smiles everytime I’d discuss about them. Most of these older games, despite the tight constraints of technology in their times, managed to keep countless children and adults hooked on to immersive fictional worlds. That I believe, is the greatest achievement of the gaming industry. Games today are getting closer to photorealistic visuals and are blurring the line between fiction and reality. One look at these older games are enough proof that technical prowess is miles away from an enticing gameplay and experience creation.

Skandha