MARBLE MADNESS

Marble Madness aged incredible well, as if its makers knew there would one day be a retro-mania spanning across media such as music,film, gaming etc. So all the innovations used on the cabinet - the trackball used instead of a joystick to help you immerse into the game's world and its unique physics (and no buttons- a sincere thank-you to whoever came up with this idea!), the stylish graphics that could pass for some contemporary nostalgia-driven graphics of today, the interesting soundtrack that used a unique Yamaha audio chip that propelled  this 1984 title  to an almost 16-bit era soundwise. And it's as hard as an 80s' game gets- I remember being entertained and frustrated at the same time playing this in the arcade.

I have yet to try it on some emulator and although I guess it won't feel the same, it'll  still be worth revisiting for its architecture and physics.

BLUE WHALE

After reading the Big Whale Suicide game hysteria elegantly debunked in my favourite local computer magazine (Svet Kompjutera,July2017, p.43)  I started thinking about art in gaming and art in general and how it exists even if its sole existence is based on documentation and not on its actual physical presence/ form.
Social media games have been extremely popular since their very inception and a number of unique ideas have sprouted to this very day, but the fact that media constructed a game  around a forum meme tricking global post-truth population into thinking it existed is nothing short of revolutionary.
I always speak of the necessity of coming up with new genres in gaming- well, here's one! It's refined, it borders on art and its practices, it spurs bigotry, paranoia, xenophobia, anti-millennial hysteria,confirms new media uses and practices...
The supposed author of the meme-game wrote a new page in gaming without knowing it.

COLOSSAL CAVE ADVENTURE

This game was not only the first text adventure game ever, but also the game that inspired many rogue-like and role-playing elements in the games that were to come. Exploring a mysterious cave to find  the rumoured riches comes with simple and effective  sets of commands and the narrative unfolding of the story that is entertaining and conversational enough to keep you interested throughout. Even some words and sentences from the game became concepts in later games. For a pre-80s computer game this must have been a true revelation.

I played this game on  my ZX as a kid, and I greatly enjoyed playing it and looking at the accompanying pics , but when  a friend of mine recently posted the news of the original version being available online I had to try it, realizing I enjoyed it more. It probably had to do with the absense of pics and the feats of imagination that make the game so enjoyable.Playing a book and not a movie. And this comes from someone who never enjoyed text adventure games that much anyhow.

A true gem that needs to be played and appreciated.

 http://www.amc.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire/exclusives/colossal-cave-adventure

World of Guns Gun Disassembly

Not all unique game ideas are brilliant. Some are both stupid and unique at the same time. And if they happen to target a particular audience all the better. The title -World of Guns-Gun Dissassembly- speaks for itself and it appeals to lovers of weapons and mobile upbringing  of the military worldwide. As somebody living in the Balkan I fail to see the grace behind this manual-slash-game and the possible educational value to this game, though I do understand the weapon craze and fascination of someone who hasn't seen what a weapon can do to human flesh. The gameplay is simple, you get to learn about the basics and you can chose among a number of different guns, rifles etc.I assume the etheral substance of clouds underneath the weapon you're disassembling is put there as a stark contrast to a sight of a gun or maybe as a means to make guns look more heavenly. Whatever it may be , I fail to see the reason behind it. The retro-modern elevator music fits the manual feel to the game perfectly well,
In a world where guns and nations and countries and other shite is all supposed to be long gone and obsolete but isn't, we still feed on the mass hysteria that feeds our fears and short-sightedness. So whoever came up with  this game is a genius and deserves every penny they earn.

QIX

One of those games quickly achieving cult status that you both hate (for being too damn hard to play in an arcade full of people yelling around you) and love (because it breaks new grounds).
You're a drawing marker (though I like to think of it more in terms of a futuristic vehicle as seen from way, way up) marking area by area of a rectangle screen with the aim of claiming  at least 60 percent of the rectangle, all the while avoiding direct contact with the Sparx who thread the same paths you did and claiming an area without it being touched by a mysterous entity the game was named after.

It's a fun and exciting play, so I guess its quick decline in popularity has to do with somewhat abstract graphics that didn't clearly indicate what you were seeing on the screen. Being a game ma(r)ker has always been hard. To me this is as essential in the history of gaming as Tetris, Pang, Block Out and other like-minded games. Try it for yourselves on any of the browsing game sites with classics nd you'll see how great it is.

TOTALLY ACCURATE BATTLE SIMULATOR

This is a tale of comedy and military tactics lumped togeter to form a unique gaming creation. You strategise and make your awkward army charge, hoping for the best.The soldiers emit strange and funny screams, run and wave their hands hillariously, reminding one of games like Humans Fall Flat or Octodad. Did the idea for this game  come while  the authors witnessed a battle recreation at some Medieval Festival and laughed at polyester ranks?

The game does offer you a chance to talk to your inner warlord and accurately think of strategies and plans you fully implement in a given battlefield,era and weapons array just like any other decent game in the genre does. But that's not the point  here- it's all about quirkiness and fun. I cannot help but think about the possible anti-war sentiment present in this game, and how disposable a soldier is in any given era. War is madness and it engulfs the cannon fodder with trembling terror, no heroes, period.

LEMMINGS

Ported to a number of different systems, Lemmings proved to be one of the biggest video games success stories of the 90s. A simple, unique and addictive concept of successfully guiding a number of lemmings to the level's exit by assigning 8 different tasks to 8 of them while paying attention to all the others in order to get as many of them to the exit gate by navigating and changing the levels' landscape became an instant iconic title in the  Amiga universe and one of the games most readily associated with Amiga. It inspired clever games across different gaming eras, from The Lost Vikings to Max and the Magic Marker and beyond.
120 beautifully designed and well-structured levels (or 20 in a 2-player mode) with ascending difficulty level throughout are still an eye-candy and still bring genuine joy to the player.
The music could have been given greater care with arrangements and sounds, but again it was the era of the unfortunate 16bit OGTs.However, this is insignificant compared to how great this game was and still is.