X-wing

I wonder how many people bought (or wished for) PCs as a result of seeing this running on a (rich) friend's 486-chipped computer.

It was Star Wars space combat. Running on a computer in your home.

It was one of the most exciting things I, as a Star Wars-obsessed teenager had ever seen, and for once the actual experience of playing it wasn't a disappointment.

It certainly wasn't dumbed down, with as many controls as hardcore flight simulators, and defending your starfighter involved juggling power around between shields (front and rear) and weapons. You had wingmen and it used a truly 3D game engine, unlike many other space sims of the time and afterwards. It was the closest you could really get to jumping into an Incom T-65 and battling the evil galactic empire.

The original release climaxed with an attack on the Death Star, and there were two add on packs. A lot of top 100s tend to give the 'best' award to it's follow up Tie Fighter. Make no mistake - Tie Fighter is absolutely brilliant, but more or less identical to X-Wing, which was first - and best!

Incubation

It's turn based. It's tactical. It's terrifying. This was the tag line of this brilliant strategy game.

A sort of Aliens knock-off, one of the main selling points was the 3DFX accelerated graphics which did look amazing (it still plays on current PCs although ironically the graphical bells and whistles don't work).

Not often was such attention lavished on a turn based tactical game. Some of the levels worked almost like complex puzzles, while others could be got through with sheer firepower.

Heat was your biggest enemy - the weapons might have been futuristic but after about three shots in succession were ready to seize up, leaving you to be eviscerated by big-clawed aliens.

This all added up to a building up of tension, and you really had to get your thinking cap on to get through some levels, with very limited movement points, and only being able to fire when absolutely necessary.

Baldur's Gate 2

For sheer value for money alone this should make it into any role-playing fan's top ten.

It was estimated that the main mission would take something not unadjacent to 200 hours to complete - enough to satisfy any Dungeons and Dragons nut. Closely following the rules of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, BG2 had you controlling (up to) six characters in a team, balancing out abilities by ideally having a couple of warriors, wizards and so on, giving you the muscle and the hocus pocus power necessary to succeed.

A very lengthy main plot was always in the background but there were an absolute host of side quests, some small, some pretty epic to keep you going.

All in all phenomenal value for money, and for me never yet beaten by a role playing game.

And I did complete it - and I've never tried to work out how long it took, for reasons of trying to keep my own sanity.

Medieval Total War 2

"You burn time in the vault".

So said Special Agent Johnny Utah in surfing bank robbing buddy movie Point Break.

It is fair to point out that playing Medieval Total War 2 would also be a bad idea during a bank raid by a gang of surfdudes wearing masks featuring the faces of former US presidents.

Nothing makes time disappear like the total war series.

Each release has steadily refined the game engine. Each incarnation has in the main been better.

The battles are wonderfully tactical, and the city management, building, and so on is incredibly immersive.

There's always just one more battle to fight, city wall to repair and invasion force to build up. Hours fly by like minutes and you become a stranger to your family.

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