…
Is there some kind of secret scifi gaming writers circle?
No, but the guy who wrote it used to have his own actual print magazine on sci-fi games (which sadly folded) and I wrote some stuff for him a long time back.
Saw your recent podcast on Stardrive 2 and I don’t recall hearing you giving the game a thumbs up or thumbs down. Which way does the old thumb go?
The old thumb was indifferent, the new thumb with Sector Zero is a bit more positive and upwardly pointed.
Thanks, you might want to consider using a “Thumb-O-Meter” at the end of your podcasts to help us tonally challenged figure out what you really think. ;)
I mostly like RPS’ list. How would yours be different Brian?
I personally don’t like the X games, so I wouldn’t include X3 in the top 15. Same with Freelancer, because playing with the mouse made that one very unsatisfying for me. I would have included Privateer as my personal favorite game in the Wing Commander universe. And I would have found a way to include Star Control 2 and perhaps Galak-Z. I do like that Elite: Dangerous gets some love, and Independence War (though I would have put I-war above Freespace 2).
Let’s see, if I had to do 15, it would likely be:
- Distant Worlds
- Drox Operative
- Wing Commander 2
- Space Rangers 2
- Freelancer
- Frontier: Elite II
- Master of Orion
- X-Wing
- Independence War
- Elite
- Wing Commander: Privateer
- Star Control 2
- Starflight
- TIE Fighter
- Freespace 2
15 Eve online
14 Jumpgate
13 Star Control
12 Star Raiders
11 Gal Civ
10 Gratuitous Space Battles
9 Kerbal Space program
8 Sundog
7 Space Rangers 2
6 Space Empires III
5 Mercenary Escape from Targ
4 Millenium 2.2
3 Elite Dangerous
2 Master of Orion
1 Elite
mine :)
Gosh, it’s so weird you guys are including 4x space games too. OK, I’m game. But it’s so tough judging Star Control 2 vs MOO2 vs Freespace 2, you know?
- Hardwar
- Tachyon: The Fringe
- Elite: Dangerous
- Freespace: The Great War
- Wing Commander IV
- Galak-Z
- Descent
- Wing Commander III
- X-wing Alliance
- Wing Commander: Prophecy
- Wing Commander: Privateer
- Star Control 2
- Master of Orion 2
- Freespace 2
- Independence War
It’s about ethics in space game journalism.
-Todd
- Wing Commander 3
- Gratuitous Space Battles
- Star Wars: Rebellion
- Distant Worlds
- Sins of a Solar Empire
- Star Control 2
- TIE Fighter
- Mass Effect (would be higher if I wasn’t stretching the definition)
- Freespace
- Gal Civ
- AI War
- Master of Orion
- Eve Online
- Kerbal Space Program
- X-wing vs TIE Fighter: Balance of Power
I’m downright disappointed nobody else had pegged AI War yet. You let me down Qt3ers, you’ve let me down.
If anything, the contentiousness of such lists just shows how awesome space games are.
Only 1 list with Starflight. :(
Wish there were a Star Trek game worthy of the list. (Points at his avatar.)
Wow, it’s tough to make such a list. I’ll work on it tomorrow, when I’m more awake.
Birth of the Federation & Emperor of the Fading suns were joint 16th for me. I may have made an error not putting them in :)
Which was the Star Trek TNG game in which you’re fighting Cardassians? I enjoyed watching my friend play all the way through that one from beginning to end.
And I loved Star Trek 25th Anniversary edition back in 1992.
I’ve not played BotF because it looked meh, but putting it on the same level as EFS? Intriiiiguing.
Gah, I’ve no idea, was it an adventure game or a strategy game or…?
You fight a lot (A LOT) of Cardassians in Bridge Commander.
They both have very good memories for me. I did not put them in because the nostalgia goggles maybe too strong. But BoTF was delightfully slow and you had REAL borders (like the show) crossing a border was taken very seriously. The empires in that game felt like empires somehow. You danced around each other with spies, border intrusions and incidents before a full scale war would erupt.*
*decade plus old memory, maybe faulty.