Games I love to play on a rainy day

In my free time, when I've not planned on anything, I usually end up playing games on my PC (I never had a gaming console like PS2 or XBox. But the wide selection of PC games never made me miss them, though now I'm planning to save for the super cool Nintendo Wii :-) ). My entry into first-hand PC gaming was in 2002 when I got a laptop of my own. Before that, the only games I knew were solitaire and minesweeper that came (and still come) bundled with MS Windows. I started with Age of Empires on my laptop (I got the game CD because it was on sale. I was not aware that it was a cult classic by that time.) and have been a fan of this and a whole bunch of other PC games ever since. If I had to list down my favorites out of the dozen games I have, they'd be:

Adventure/Action: Sid Meier's Pirates, Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, Prince of Persia
Strategy: Railroad Tycoon 3, Age of Empires (Conquerors expansion pack)
Puzzle Solving/Adventure: The secret of the Monkey Island, Indiana Jones

Why do I rate them top in my list? Let me explain...

Thief 3: Deadly Shadows

When I first heard about this game, I had a feeling that this was one of those routine games that comes out with a promising name but ultimately disappoints. I had not heard of Thief 1 or 2. I am a fan of movies that belong to the heist and mystery genre. So it was a no-brainer that I was looking out for a game with similar plots. So, since I was having a lean period (read that as loads of spare time), I had nothing to lose and bought the game just because I liked the name. But when I tried to install it, the game would not run because my PC’s graphics card was not capable of supporting the game's graphics (Grrrr!!!). It cheesed me off and I tossed the game box onto my overloaded bookshelf-cum-JAA (junk accumulation area). It was another 3 months before I got a new graphics card (ATI Radeon 9500) and had it installed. One of the first things I did after installing the card was to install Thief. The whole reason for investing in a graphics card was to play this game. I had lost interest in the game after ignoring it for so long, but when I saw the opening tutorial I was hooked to the game.

As the play progressed, the settings, the environment, the layout and the stealth tactics got really cool. To top that, the game had an eerie aura to it. Gothic architecture in the city, the cobbled streets with menacing soldiers on the watch. And since you played a thief, you never ventured into daylight. So the night streets with shadows and dark spaces became more menacing and spooky at times. Garrett, the title character has this uncanny power to merge into the shadows but then again he's human too. You got to use your stealth capabilities to fight soldiers, zombies and other creatures of the dark. And there's this suspense that built up as you progressed in the game. Anything more would spoil the fun. Arguably, this is one of the best games I’ve ever played so far. If you are a fan of adventure and stealth games I strongly recommend this game for your collection.

My rating: ****/*****

Sid Meier's Pirates (Live the life!)

Another game I got bitten by after I saw the graphics. When I'm playing a game, my main focus is not only on the plot but also the graphics. I hate playing a game with a great plot but which has graphics that suck.

Pirates was one such game which fulfilled both my requirements. Well, almost. Though the plot was not as in-depth as I would've liked (hey! you can't have the cake and eat it too.) the graphics were really cool. Added to that, the battles with the swordfights and strategic plundering of towns, though similar in nature, give a great twist to the game. And the fun doubles when you hunt for treasures buried by other Pirate captains :-). The kind of map clues and leads you get in town taverns and through Governors' daughters, amazing!! I especially liked the way the hero ages as the game progresses. You really end up living the life of a goodhearted but wronged swashbuckler. And the other good thing about it is, the blood and gore normally associated with action/adventure games is thankfully missing.

If you ever wanted to play a game that should not strain you much but at the same time entertain you, this one is a must. You can select various options and keep playing for hours together and sometimes the game brings a smile on your face without you even knowing about it..

Probably, if I get more time on my hands (I've plenty of that on my hands these days), I'll write about the other games I like in my next blog.

My rating: ****/*****