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The Games I Have Loved

How taking time and money seriously ensures gaming joy, at least most of the time.

How planning perfects the perfect game

I’ve loved video games for as long as I can remember, and throughout that time there have been some real standout moments of gaming joy. For me the real crackers are the ones that live up to the image that I have of them in my head before playing. As a serial planner, I spend quite a lot of time researching - reading reviews, comments and speaking to friends - before I buy a game. When I was little this was because of the financial neccesity of only being able to afford a few games a year, but now it’s more about how little time I have.

The games I have loved

I want to go back and revisit all of the games that I have loved, from the very beginning to today. This will take the form of a series of deep dives, so this list will slowly change it a collection of links to the post detailing each game. The only way for something to reach this list is something I have played through at least once, and have a real fondness for.

The Early Years

It’s interesting to see how UK centric the titles on the early list are, but I guess that just goes to show how much the UK was punching above its weight in the early days of gaming.

  • Jet Set Willy: ZX Spectrum
  • Fantasy World Dizzy: ZX Spectrum
  • The Legend of Zelda, Links Awakening: Gameboy
  • Sensible World of Soccer: Amiga
  • Cannon Fodder: Amiga
  • Theme Park: Amiga

The Late Childhood Years

This period was really focussed on strategy games, and I think it’s down to the fact that I loved the games that I could go at creatively. Still interesting to see that it continues to be dominated by UK produced titles, something I was never really consious of at the time!

  • Lemmings 2: The Tribes: Amiga
  • Championship Manager 2: PC
  • Theme Hospital: PC
  • Quake: PC
  • GTA: PC
  • Rollercoaster Tycoon: PC

The Teenage Years

I hadn’t really owned a console until I was in a position to save and buy one myself, up to this point I had to run stuff on hand me down computers.

  • Final Fantasy VII: PlayStation
  • Goldeneye: Nintendo 64
  • GTA III: PlayStation 2
  • Final Fantasy X: PlayStation 2

The 20’s

Heading into university was a big shift in gaming for me, because I had more people to game with. There are a lot of incredibly fun multiplayer games that start creeping in here, as well as more cultured story driven stuff.

  • Virtua Tennis: Dreamcast
  • Shenmue: Dreamcast
  • Burnout 2: Xbox
  • Fallout 3: PlayStation 3
  • Minecraft: PC

The 30’s

The shift to a very deliberate and careful choices starts around here - as well as stuff I can play with the kids.

  • Fallout 4: PlayStation 4
  • No Mans Sky: PlayStation 4
  • Ghost of Tsushima: PlayStation 4
  • Mario Odyssey: Nintendo Switch
  • Zelda Breath of the Wild: Nintendo Switch
  • Baldur’s Gate: PC
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