Gaming...?

[InCreator]

Once in a while, I conduct wide search on web for some PC games I don't know about, but could love.
This causes some gems to be revealed. Problem is, it's absolutely random and I would have better luck in playing lottery.

For me, the release year and graphics won't matter much, unless it's a first-person shooter from the start of 3D age. There's nothing as horrible as old Lithtech engine...

The four genres I'm really into are:

* real-time strategy
* tycoons
* political simulators
* and turn-based strategy

For example, I think I've played all RTS and tactical shooter classics. Spent countless hours on Westwood's and Blizzard games, went through all Jagged Alliance, XCom, etc games and sequels... I simply love things like this.
I've seen it all. Even the fever of Starcraft. I also don't have to mention everything turn-based that has to do with Heroes of Might & Magic for example.
But where to go next? New RTS's have Lord of the Rings and Star Wars written all over them, and that's something that makes me climb curtains. Out of disgust.

Political simulators are another weird thing that's both extremely rare and cool. I caught myself playing Hidden Agenda few days ago... a game with 2 colors and <10 animations total. But it's so awesome! Similar things are Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator, Genkhis Khan 2, Shadow President, Crisis in Kremlin... Though these are games from stone age and probably made zero profit, they're unique and extremely addictive.

Yet, I want to find more things like this. Newer, older, prettier, uglier, whatever. I still think that there's many things I haven't discovered yet. How could I find them? Google is not an answer here... Neither are (otherwise quite useful) sites like Gamespot: if I search for top rated games in some genre of all time, and it results with 20 first pages full of simply newest games that were just released, this isn't worth a thing. Also, all the top gaming sites always hype the newest and more popular things. But such complicated and deep games as I like aren't popular enough to get a review and screenshots posted. They simply aren't mainstream.

Any ideas where to start? A place where I could search very deeply or just good game-name/series hints?

[LimpingFish]

Mobygames always turns up something interesting.

Its information isn't always the most reliable, but its a good place to start.

[juncmodule]

Check out some of Gamespot/Gamespy's best games of all times lists. I sometimes find that the people who write these things have some okay taste in older games.

For me the two games that have stuck with me since the first time I played them are Freelancer and Mafia. They are quite a bit newer but I really enjoy the "freedom" aspect of both of them. Freelancer also has a decent sized fan community that still cranks out some really cool mods. The fact that you can follow characters around in both games and they don't just disappear appeals to me a lot. Not really your genre, but worth checking out.

I enjoyed Railroad Tycoon 2 and 3, but then again I'm a big Train lover so to many they may suck. I seemed to play RT2 much longer than I played the 3rd one though. Based on your preferred genres if you haven't played Pharoah or Caesar 3 I recommend that you check them out. I still play them today and they haven't really lost their appeal. I tend to enjoy Pharoah more, even though I prefer the ancient Roman time period I think the gameplay in Pharoah is somehow better. Oh, and if you haven't played Rome Total War yet it is worth a try. Download the demo first, it will give you a pretty solid idea about gameplay. Hope some of those give you some ideas.

later,
-junc

[HillBilly]

Well. I have a political strategy game called "Economic War", but I didn't get too much into it. So I don't know if it's good or bad. You could also check out "Rock Manager", which is a pretty funny tycoon game. Made by swedes, too. You've probably already heard of "Theme Hospital", but it's such a great game I'll plug it here for anyone that hasn't.

For newer games, "The Movies" is recommended, if you haven't tried it yet.

Hope this was to some help.

[Phemar]

Don't know if you've played it, but give Dark Colony a try. (I love that game, one of the only RTS's I like)

[fred]

Genghis Khan, that was cool! I had an old amiga version where the save-features was broken, but eventually me and a friend completed the game in one session, took us like 26 hours straight

Seriously, though, there has been some discussion about this on gaming and developers sites -Ã,  the fact that we need some kind of catalog of games based on their features. MobyGames has a lot of detailed categories, so you can easily find for example almost 600 windows real-time strategy games result

Still, as soon as you want to search games based on more detailed features, like specific gameplay elements or specific content, there's no tool for it. Which is why I'm prototyping one! It is a database that will allow users to provide game entries (by name and platform) as well as game properties (for example: this is a strategy game, or: this game has monkeys in it). Games can then be mapped to their properties, and users can search for games based on their properties. This wil be usefull both for gamers looking for games with specific features, for developers checking out what's been done that is similar to their current projects, and to researchers doing multi-variate analysis on games based on their features.

I'm new to php and mysql, so what I've done is just a prototype demonstrating the basic functionality. In it's final version, it wil either be integrated into an existing game database, or it wil be re-implemented by actual programmers and webdesigners. Currently, MobyGames is having a look at it, and I also think the game research department atÃ,  my university is enthusiastic about it. I hope MobyGames will integrate some of its features, since otherwise it may take a while for it to get enough users and data to be of any use. If you're interested, check out the prototype here:Ã,  GameBase

You're welcome to add relevant content to the base (requires registration) but bear in mind this is just a temporary prototype. The games and tags I already added are there just to show how it works, nothing final.

Btw. InCreator, you don't mention the civilization series, or Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - some of the best turn based strategy games imo. Just a hint in case you haven't played them.

[InCreator]

You've probably already heard of "Theme Hospital"

Of course!
And spent a bit too much time on this!
Way too much...

InCreator, you don't mention the civilization series, or Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - some of the best turn based strategy games imo. Just a hint in case you haven't played them.

DUDE!!!
Even now I do have Civ 2, 3 and 4 installed...
Though I'm quite sick of them already (oveplayed SO much) and also TOO similar newer game, Galactic Civilizations 2.

Thinking about that, Master of Orion and Reunion both rocked equally. Anything else like this in this world? (and no Star Control, please)


Dark Colony is something I saw, er, 10 years ago?
It was in one of those pay-to-play places that could be found anywhere in Estonia at this time. Rooms filled with LAN-ed computers where you could pay per hour and multiplay yourself crazy with friends or other customers. And they had EVERY cool game in the world! Probably due no piracy law and free flow of Russian pirate-game-collection CD's. Places like this are very rare nowadays and replaced with neat, Quakeless and boring internet cafes...

I've always wanted to try out Dark Colony, but forgot the name... Thanks for waking up an exciting memory.

Rock manager looks fun. I'll try out a demo.

But my biggest wish is still to find something similar to Shadow President and Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator.
The only game of that type I really couldn't handle was Hearts of Iron 2 -- it was WAY too complicated. What a waste of money...

Mobygames' search is something I didn't know about, but it sure looks useful. Thanks for the tip.

[HillBilly]

I bought a decent tycoon game today, Trailer Park Trash. It seems good enough for a few hours of fun.

[GarageGothic]

There's a magnificent political simulator called "Democracy", it's an indie game, and you can download a demo version from http://democracygame.com/ - but I assure you, at a price of 23 dollars, it's worth every penny. You'll find a good review at http://www.gametunnel.com/gamespace.php?id=74ab=3.

[sergiocornaga]

You might like Darwinia.

[InCreator]

Tried it, and hated it. Darwinia isn't somewhat my style.
I like informative games. And realistic ones.

[Toefur]

Hehe, I was going to suggest Conflict: Middle East. I can't believe somebody else has actually played that game.

I played a game called Superpowers 2 a few months ago, and that had awesome potential but it turns out you can't really do much in it. Otherwise I would recommend that.

[fred]

I tried "Democracy" recommended by GarageGothic, and I think it's fairly detailed and offers a lot of "interesting choices". I also got more caught up in "Kudos" by the same developer which is definately worth checking out.

Also, "A Force More Powerful" seems a very promising title. I recently had it shipped from NYC only to find the CD didn't work - but it's a game about peaceful conflict solving that at least a few people in the middel east should be playing these days instead of what they're doing.

[Redwall]

Hehe, I was going to suggest Conflict: Middle East. I can't believe somebody else has actually played that game.

I play it all the time. It's awesome. We must spread the word about Conflict.

[Anym]

My favourite underrated strategy game is Imperialism.

[Haddas]

I want to get my hands on Capitalism +

[TheJBurger]

Have you ever tried Millenium: Return to Earth ?

I thought it was awesome, but maybe it was just me.

[InCreator]

Yes, I have.

Reunion is a step forward from that.

Problem is - we don't have enough realistic modern day manage-a-country games.
You can always be a leader of nation -- in some other time. A king, a tribe leader, warlord, whatever.

But not on 20-21th century. Not a president. Not in nowadays world.
And this sucks.