My top 5 [video games] - 3. SimCity 2000

Halfway through my stroll down video-game-memory lane!

3. SimCity 2000

It was around 1993 - I was 10 years old and thought Tetris was the pinnacle of gaming technology. A friend of mine invited me over to show me the new computer her dad had bought. In the space of 30 minutes I was introduced to Windows 3.11 (whoa!), a mouse (oooh!), and a 256-colour display (wow!).

The rest of the day went something like this:
"Hey, let's try this game my dad got!"


"What is it?"


"I dunno. The book says we have to build a power plant."


...


"What are those yellow boxes?"


"Hey there are buildings growing! Haha, look at the newspaper!"

A couple of years later, we got our very own Windows machine, complete with internet connection. It was a whole new world. There are only three games which I distinctly remember playing alone as a teenager: The Dig, Leisure Suit Larry (ha, to this day I am amazed my mom did not find out about this), and of course, the best game of the 90's, SimCity 2000.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to describe the game - is there anyone who hasn't seen it/heard of it/played it obsessively? I spent weeks building my little metropolis. Disasters were turned off, pollution was down, and the money was flowing in. My residential and commercial zones were so pretty, and high-tech industry was booming. I had one aim, and one aim only: to build an arcology. Eventually I managed to save up $100k and lure in 30,000 residents, and voila! It was like, so freaking cool, man.

The next day, I booted the game and loaded my saved game. Shock, horror, anguish! "Cannot load file" or "File corrupted" or "Error opening file" or some such message greeted me. Ohmigawd. Just like that, my  SimCity-ing days were over.

SimCity file error, you broke my heart.

A couple of years ago I tried out EA's SimCity 4. I sorta kinda got into it, but they had taken all the fun out of it and turned it into a micro-managing nightmare. It was slow and clunky, and totally missed the spirit of the original game. And it just wasn't the same without that cute midi background music.

I don't think I've forgiven EA for this yet, though they did redeem themselves a little in my eyes when I played The Sims (can you say most addictive game ever? woohoo!). I don't even want to think about how many hours I spent cultivating my little Sim family. My husband and I still use Simlish whenever we're sniffing a pot of food ("it's freduche!"). No, really, I know what you're thinking but it's not as sad as it sounds. It's just a little sad.

But I digress. SimCity 2000 is still my favourite simulation game and probably will be for a long time. It was smart, funny, rewarding, and oh so addictive. Here's that awesome midi theme song.



Next up, Spiderman 2.

My top 5 [video games] - 2. Assassin's Creed

Onto the second series on my top 5 list, and probably the most stylish couple of games I have ever played.

2. Assassin's Creed

New Year's day 2008. It was over 40 degrees in Melbourne (that's Celsius) and you couldn't step out of the house for fear of your shoes melting. Inside our house, the cooler was working overtime, and so was the Xbox. My husband and I were having an all-day Assassin's Creed marathon, taking turns with the controls and generally having the best time ever. I have to admit, that may be one of my fondest gaming memories (aww).

You play Desmond Miles, a modern day bartender who has been kidnapped by a sort-of-evil corporation called Abstergo. Desmond is chucked into a machine which extracts his genetic memories, making him relive the experiences of his ancestor Altair, a Syrian Assassin from 1191 A.D. Abstergo, which is run by the Templars, wants to use these memories to find the Pieces of Eden, relics which would allow them to control minds. I know, 'what huh?', right? It's pretty convoluted, and I didn't even get all that until I looked up Wikipedia.



What makes this game so much fun is that you spend most of your time playing as Altair, the hooded free-running assassin whose sense of balance is rivalled only by the Prince (of Persia, that is). Ubisoft bestowed on Altair the incredible acrobatics which they perfected in PoP, and allowed him to roam the streets and rooftops of Damascus and Jerusalem. Honestly, the storyline, though really cool, isn't the star of the game - you basically get assassination contracts in different cities and you have to go about fulfilling them. Although the missions are a little repetitive, it is so fun (there's that word again!) running around rooftops, walking through the streets trying to blend in with the monks, and fleeing for your life when you get spotted by guards.

The game is absolutely gorgeous, as Ubisoft games always are, and the costumes are amazing. My favourite parts of the game were scaling the many view points strewn across the cities (you know, to generate the city map, because that's how you do it) and then taking a Leap of Faith all the way down into a strategically placed bale of hay. I absolutely love how the sounds of the city fade away as you climb higher and higher, to be replaced by the call of a circling eagle. Once you're at the top, you can almost feel the wind blowing. Trust me, this game succeeded in giving me chills on a hot summer's day.

Altair viewing stuff from his view point

Assassin's Creed 2 came out in 2009. This time, you play Ezio Auditore, another of Desmond's ancestors, this time from 15th century Italy. The gameplay is pretty similar, except Ubisoft tried to spice things up a little by giving Ezio smart mouth (Altair was really cool, but pretty much had the personality of a pancake). They also threw in a couple of fun mini-puzzles and increase the story's complexity by a factor of lots. Conspiracies are everywhere, you beat up the Pope, chat with some ancient gods, and by the end of it pretty much the only correct response is 'wtf'. And they know it. But hey, it's okay because your good friend Leonardo da Vinci is there to build you flying machines!

While Ezio was real cute, I kind of missed the dark broodiness of Altair. Also I'm pretty sure they made the game easier - the chase scenes were less intense and the game in general didn't give me the same sense of satisfaction that the first one did. I did like the fact that they tried to set up a whole mythology and that there were lots of entertaining side missions. Here's hoping that they manage to find a happy balance in the next game! Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood comes out next month. It's a direct sequel to the second game, but what I'm really looking forward to is AC3. May it bring with it a whole new old world and many more bales of hay.



Next up, SimCity 2000!