The Best Computer Games Ever

What are the best computer games ever? There is no doubt: they are from the golden age of 8-bit computers - the 80's. OK, this is a bit biased, but hey - those games had as much gameplay as today's top blockbusters. Only graphics was usually 2-dimensional, made of 16-color blocky pixels... and the sound was not as rich as a cell phone... and they did not use bells and whistles such as the Internet ... so what? Regardless of that, they used to provide as much fun as today's the most sophisticated titles running on XBoxes™, PlayBoxes®3, and Weeee...Boxes (known as ウィー) or any other boxes - shoe boxes, cereal boxes etc.

Let me present my top 5 the best computer games ever:

River Raid - Activision (1982)



River Raid was one of the first computer games I have ever played. It was also the only game I hacked. But it was not a usual patch, giving an unlimited number of lives (or planes in the case of River Raid). In my patched version the plane could fly over all enemy objects without any collision. It could even fly over the terrain! The downside was that the game was no longer fun. You just flew anywhere you wanted, shoot to whatever you wanted, and got points. No challenge! I learned my lesson: WHEN THERE IS NO CHALLENGE THERE IS NO FUN.

"River Raid" was notable for one more reason. It was created by Carol Shaw regarded as the first female game developer.

One more thing. Did you notice the Activision logo at the bottom of the screen shot? This is the same logo you can see on the latest Guitar Hero. Amazing! Isn't it? River Raid - what a humble beginning and a bit of history.

Boulder Dash - First Star Software (1984)



Boulder Dash was probably one of the most frequently cloned games (along with Tetris and Arkanoid). On Atari alone I counted 25 versions.

I'm not surprised it was so popular. Who would not like Rockford - the main character of the game. He had his own personality. For example when the player stood still too long he got impatient and started to stamp his foot and blink his eyes.

Boulder Dash - lots of fun and plenty of gameplay.

Montezuma's Revenge - Parker Brothers (1984)



Montezuma's Revenge had one of the most catchy music featured at the beginning of the game.

The player had to go through a whole bunch of rooms (sometimes in a complete darkness) and open many doors - and there was a twist. The doors were colored and you could open the door using only a key having the matching color. It happened I had a monochrome (one-color) monitor. I could only recognize shades, but not the colors. It added to the challenge as I had to guess which key would open which door.

Montezuma's Revenge - hours of fun.

Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory - Datamost (1984)



Mr. Robot was a simple game, yet it used to deliver an enormous amount of gameplay. I liked this game because I knew what techniques they used to create visual effects. Additionally the game featured Robot Factory which was a level designer. The player could create her own levels and save them on a disk.

Moon Patrol - Irem / Williams Electronics (1982)



Moon Patrol was actually developed for arcade machines and then ported to the Atari systems. The idea of the game was somewhat surrealistic. The vehicle could shoot bullets up to the air and at the same time straight ahead and also jump. Flying enemy objects threw bombs on the vehicle and made holes in the ground. There were also other obstacles that added to the dynamics of the game.

Moon Patrol - a good old-fashioned shooter.