THRUST

Does what it says on the tin.It's neither about its minimal design and simple graphics, nor about the unnervingly monotonous sounds of an engine thruster.The plot doesn't affect the gaming experience at all. It was done by one man from start to finish. But it's about physics and inertia and breaking a sweat while grapling the controls of your spacecraft, avoiding cave walls and thinking about your movements before you moved. It's graceful and addictive. it's timeless and unique.The cold design of the world traversed gives the player a common feel of a dystopian world without the usual   landscape and machinery visuals.It's truly an inspiration to hundreds of games that came afterwards. A game that could do with more in-game sounds and music, but hey- Rob Hubbard's title theme for the c64 version still rocks hard enough to make you ignore the above mentioned thruster sounds.

BATTLEZONE

This game was the first to drop the vector graphic bomb on the gaming world- nothing was the same afterwards. It still looks and plays beautiful and may tickle even a present-day kid's curiosity with just enough sensory data and beauty to try it.And by beauty I mean being able to take any screenshot while playing and use it on a contemporary synthwave/electronica  album coverart before any other design. I definitely see the smooth vector display inspiring the makers of the original Tron movie as well. The game screen is divided to give the illusion of space and  shooting UFOs , tanks and missiles invokes just enough of a wargod in you to be in a state of constant excitement while playing. No wonder it stirred quite a buzz in the day.
Battlezone shouldn't be admired for its historic value but for the very play value that made it a gem among gems.