1066 All Stars

Parts 1-3 of this feature can be found in the Videogames section, here.

Playstation

More talented writers than me will be able to talk about the cultural impact of Sony's first foray in games consoles and the fascinating history of how it came into being. I will instead focus on what made this such a great console.

Strangely I don't recall how and when I came to own this but I suspect it was funded by my student loan. Certainly some of my clearest memories are from 1998, the World Cup marked by that famous petulant kick out by David Beckham before England's inevitable early exit.

Reflecting that, a lot of my early time with the machine was spent with FIFA: Road to the World Cup, a cracker of a football game and in many ways the launching pad for more recent iterations.

But let's take a step back. After the Amiga and my early PC experiences, the Playstation was like a different world. Incredible 3D graphics, amazing sound, great controller. This was a machine of power, capable of running games that no other console could. No longer would the arcade be home to the pinnacle of gaming, the Playstation was here.

The list of classic games will vary depending on who you ask but a few titles stand out. Tomb Raider was exceptional, creating a template that has been adopted, refined and improved on dozens of times since. Games such as Uncharted owe a direct debt of gratitude to this ground breaking title. In 1996, the graphics were amazing but it was the atmosphere that drew you in, making you feel as if you really were traipsing round a long forgotten hidden tomb. And no-one who has played it will forget THAT moment with the dinosaur.

One of the launch titles was Ridge Racer, a game that redefined what I thought home racers were, capturing the essence of the arcade racer. And the classics kept coming; Wipeout 2097, Crash Bandicoot and Gran Turismo amongst others, not to mention weirder games, like Abe's Odyssey that my flatmates and I spent an inordinate amount of time on despite never quite understanding it.

Another game that saw a lot of playtime would likely never be considered a 'classic' by the critics but International Track And Field was great multiplayer fun, taking me right back to my arcade roots. I'm not sure that my high jump of 2.73m is likely to be beaten any time soon. In a similar vein was Olympic Soccer with it's bizarre commentary ('I don't think they're bosom buddies') and Everybody's Golf, that somehow managed to take a sport I had no interest in and make it fun and accessible

As ever there were numerous great games that I never owned. Colin Macrae, TOCA, Silent Hill, Driver, Final Fantasy, Tony Hawk amongst dozens of others.

Many of the classic games I owned but never actually completed. Metal Gear Solid (which I wrote about in more detail here) completely redefined what gaming was and I was thrilled to finally complete it a couple of years ago. Similarly Resident Evil, so original and fresh on release, was a game I only finished in 2014. And others yet to be truly explored, such as Fear Effect and Alundra.

These games are perhaps representative of a trend that, if not started on PS1, was certainly moved forward; that of the cinematic experience, a drive to create games where you would feel like you were part of an interactive story.

Testament to the brilliance of the Playstation is the number of franchises that either started life or found mainstream success here that continue to resonate. The aforementioned Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear amongst many others.

There was competition of course, principally from Sega and Nintendo. But neither the Jaguar or the N64 could hope to compete with Sony's leviathan.

The console continued to evolve over it's life times, the games becoming more sophisticated, matched by the peripherals. The initial controller design was improved, adding rumble capability, something that seemed a gimmick at the time but soon became a staple, and the ultimate evolution of the dual analogue sticks. And of course the memory cards, the misplacing of which could crush your dreams in one fell swoop.

For a console so well supported there were, as may be expected, a number of magazines. I tried a few, ultimately settling on the Official Magazine. Part of me enjoyed the read, part of me enjoyed the demos but part of me was just desperate to find a magazine that could compare to the mighty Amiga Power. OPM was good but, needless to say, it never came close.

Sadly my recollections of the PS1 are somewhat blighted by a recognition that this period of my life saw the first signs of mental illness, a theme I will explore in another feature.

All good things must come to an end of course but uniquely, Sony's reign as king of the consoles would see them dethroned only by themselves.

Playstation 2

The Kennedy assassination. The Moon Landing. Mr Blobby hitting number one. People will always remember where they were and what they were doing during these momentous occasions.

And so it is with the launch of the PS2.

1999. I was quite happy with my PS1. Sure, it was a little old by now but it was still a competent machine. But then one fateful evening I took a trip to a friend's flat to see his new machine. As I walked in he was playing Tekken Tag. I tried to look away, my eyes desperate to spare my heart the aching pain of disillusionment. Then another disc was slipped in, an unknown game, apparently a first person shooter (whatever that was). And then the moment of truth arrived, the words that echoed through time and will stay with me forever;

'Do you want a go?'

That game was Time Splitters and I was instantly hooked. It has been surpassed by any number of shooters since of course but my first experience with it was mesmerising. It was so quick, fluid, graceful. The action was intense, the levels exciting, bits of glass going flying as you sprayed bullets through them to reach a hiding enemy.

That evening I slunk back home to my PS1 and early PC games, hoping for a fix of something similar from Klingon Honour Guard. But it wasn't to be. I was hooked. I needed a regular fix.

So it came to pass that I too purchased a PS2 and thus owned what may just be the finest console of all time.

Everything that made the PS1 awesome was ramped up to 11. The graphics and sound, the look and feel of the machine, the cool black controller. And it played DVD's! It may seem quaint now but to many of us, the PS2 was our first proper DVD player, complete with sound that went out of synch with the picture on longer films.

The games evolved. Early WWF / WWE games laid the foundations for future instalments with the Smackdown! series. Outrun Coast 2 Coast saw a glorious return to form for one of the great driving franchises. Boxing games such as Ready 2 Rumble and Fight Night offered contrasting but compelling experiences.

And then there was Grand Theft Auto.

I remember when the first game came out on the PS1. My friend (the one who keeps popping up as my Cannon Fodder cohort, FIFA partner and PS2 dealer) and I were shopping in HMV and we came across it. I remember reading the blurb on the back and saying, 'Any game that trumpets how many colours it uses must be rubbish,' before finding that it was actually a fun, original game.

But none of this could prepare me for the experience of GTA 3.

Or more precisely, GTA Vice City. I made some headway in GTA 3 but for some reason put it to one side. I spent far more time with Vice City, playing it through to completion some time around 2005. Many words have been written on this seminal title so perhaps I will simply say this; if you haven't blazed along the docks on a motorbike at full speed listening to Billie Jean then you haven't lived.

On completion I dived straight into San Andreas, the change in pace between the games jarring but soon giving way as I realised that somehow San Andreas was bigger, bolder and better.

Another series that grabbed my attention, despite not pushing any technical boundaries, was the Lego games, starting with Lego Star Wars. This was a game I could play with the missus (I know, I had somehow scored an honest-to-goodness real woman) and it has of course gone on to spawn a range of sequels. It was fun, it was simple, it was clever and it was strangely accurate to the films despite the lack of speech.

Other series got a polish. Metal gear, Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil. And other franchises found their footing; Devil May Cry, Ratchet & Clank, God Of War, Star Wars Battlefront.

In truth, I never played that many of the true classics. Once again, there is an element of my time with the machine that I look back on with regret as Football Manager came to dominate my gaming experiences. As a result, I again found a stack of games went purchased but underplayed - MGS2, Freedom Fighters, 24 - whilst other games were admired from afar but never purchased.

But the games that I did spend serious time with - GTA, Lego, Prince of Persia - stick with me all these years later and I retain a strong desire to go back and experience some of my unplayed games through emulation.

There is a reason why the PS2 was the biggest selling games console in history. Because it is simply the best games machine of all time.

Coming soon in part 3, we come to the next gen consoles as PS3 and X-Box launch a new format war.

Find parts one and two of this feature here and here.

The Ones That Got Away

I've been pretty blessed in my gaming life to have owned some of the classic gaming machines; Atari, Spectrum, Amiga and so on. But for all the great machines owned, there are some that escaped me.

Perhaps it is a geographical things but the NES and Sega Master System escaped my attention completely. But during the Amiga's life, two consoles in particular came to the fore, neither of which I owned.

Megadrive

Younger games might think that Sony and Microsoft invented the console war but us older games remember a time when there were multiple companies battling it out for supremacy.

I can still remember the Megadrive adverts, with that smooth talking guy who eventually turned up in Highlander the TV series and Holby City (Peter Wingfield, fact fans).

The Megadrive had that cool factor that the Amiga arguably lacked. Where the Amiga had sold itself to parents as a, 'look mum, it's educational, honest!' the Megadrive was simply a games machine, aimed squarely at a younger, cooler audience. And the games reflected that; Streets of Rage, Road Rash, Earthworm Jim and of course Sonic.

Power wise the Amiga was a match but his was a machine focused squarely an arcade style experience as the number of ports would attest to. 

I had some limited experience with it, a neighbourhood friend had one and I had a short session with Sonic. I didn't really get it to be honest. When Sonic 2 came out I remember hearing stories on the news about people boasting how quickly they had beaten the game, some in just a couple of hours. That just seemed silly to me, what a waste of money! 

But the combination of looks, both graphically and physically, quality games and marketing put this at the forefront of 1990s gaming.

SNES

Whilst comparable in terms of specs to the Megadrive, the SNES was a very different console. Where the Megadrive was brash and in your face, reflected by the spiky new mascot, Sonic, the SNES was a more family friendly machine. And of course the games were crafted by Nintendo. There were arcade ports sure but this was a machine of original franchises and characters with the ageless Mario leading the way.

My main experience of the machine was with Super Mario Kart (why was every game super anyway?). My flatmate had one, my abiding memory being when we went to look at another flat and found the current occupents playing it (badly) and so he proceeded to trash them on it and unlock a bunch of tracks.

Mario Kart was a sensational game, the controls effortless, the visuals striking despite the cartoony style. FIFA was the natural rival to Sensi on the Amiga, containing all the glitz and flashiness that Sensible's game lacked but never quite able to replicate it's sheer playability and charm. NBA Jam had some weird little old guy and I insisted on trying to throw the ball in the hoop from under my own basket having somehow fluked it once. And of course the SNES was home to a near flawless version of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, arguably the greatest one on one fighter of all time.

Sadly I have never played some of its greatest games, the likes of Zelda and Secret of Mana eluding me. But there is always emulation.

Spot The Difference

As an Amiga owner, I cast somewhat envious glances at these two machines. There were ports of course; Desert Strike, FIFA, Street Fighter 2, Battletoads. And some went the other way, Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Lemmings.

But these ports could never recapture the spirit of the originals. The Amiga couldn't cope with the controls of Street Fighter in the same way that Cannon Fodder could only work with mouse control.

And there were other games, not direct ports, but original titles looking to jump on the bandwagon. Games like Tearaway Thomas, Body Blows or Bump 'N' Burn sought to emulate the likes of Sonic, Street Fighter and Mario Kart but they were pale imitations.

Indeed it becomes clear that each machine excelled when it concentrated on what it did best. The Megadrive captured the arcade experience at home; the SNES created original, lasting game franchises; the Amiga was home to the most eclectic, broadest range of software. They should not be compared, there is no right or wrong, best or worst. They were all fantastic depending on your personal preference.

PC - The Early Years

Somehow my Amiga managed to make it to University with me, only finally and reluctantly giving way to the PC in about 1999.

It is incredible to think back now and realise the my mobile phone has more processing power and memory than my first PC. It was an Advent with a mighty 500mhz processer with a whopping 16gb hard drive (or thereabouts). Laughable now of course, but at the time I thought it was a beast.

My early PC experience was a combination of Championship Manager 97/98 and spending hours trying to download the Star Wars Episode 1 trailer on a dial up connection.

There were other games; Star Trek: A Final Unity, Colonization, Star Wars Dark Forces. But it was all a little beyond me. I didn't understand why these games wanted me to type in lines of code instead of lauching with a double click. I didn't understand why nothing ran on Windows '98.

Eventually I upgraded, nothing too fancy of course. But my game time remained dominated by Football Manager, a theme I will revisit in another feature.

In part 4, it's the arrival of the Playstation, a machine surpassed only by its' own sequel, here.

I feel extremely fortunate to have been born in 1978. Star Wars was released the year before and would become the defining film of my generation whilst we witnessed a technological revolution that is still rumbling on today.

I was too young to experience the great Atari Crash but from as far back as I can remember, gaming has been a part of my life in one form or another.

So join me on a stroll down memory lane as I wind my way through my gaming history.

Atari 2600

It all starts with this legendary console. The neighbours had one first, one of those old style wood veneer boxes that looked like it had been carved out of a 1970's sofa. We had the rather more futuristic but delicate looking version and it started a love affair that I have remained loyal to.

Early highlights include Kangaroo, success measured not by completion but by reaching the third screen, inevitable death accompanied by the familiar refrain of jaunty music. Moon Patrol, like a vehicular obstacle course with shooty aliens, was an amazing game, becoming progressively tougher as the speed ramped up and craters would be placed fiendishly right in front of or behind rocks, careening into either of which spelled instant destruction. Other games come instantly to mind; Phoenix, Pole Position, Centipede, Dragonfire, Breakout, Combat, Bezerk, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And then there were the games I played or saw but never owned. Pitfall, that cool looking Star Wars game with a lightsaber fight, ET..er okay, maybe not.

And it wasn't just the games, it had awesome controllers too. The one with the stick and the single orange button; that weird one with a spinning dial on top and a button on the side for playing Pong or Breakout; and my personal favourite, the remote control sized oblong version with orange buttons on each side, a stick on top and a silver strip with 'Atari' written on it with a flash of colour.

Incredibly I still own the console, games and at least some of the controllers. It just about works too, although the ariel port is a bit iffy. The games can be played by emulation of course but for this granddaddy of them all, somehow that feels like cheating.

Handhelds / Game & Watch

It's difficult to remember the exact chronology but handheld gaming certainly had an impact on me from an early age. From the brown clam shell version of Donkey Kong, to the Pac Man shaped portable, er, 'Munchman', via the awesome BMX Flyer that I seem to remember my brother owning whilst I looked on forlornly, awaiting my go.

Undoubtedly though my favourites were a pair of miniature arcade cabinet style shooters, Astro Wars and Firefox F-7. Astro Wars was the simpler of the two, with its funny, thin metal control stick and big clunky fire button. Firefox was far more colourful, playing like a cross between Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. The standout feature of both though was undoubtedly the sound and the music. I played these beauties for hours, the game looping round on completion like all true arcade classics.

Handhelds these days are models of sophistication but these early pioneers set the benchmark of what was to come.

I'm sure I still have these somewhere, probably in my mum's house like all good childhood toys. Firefox is a bit dodgy but Astro Wars is still in pristine working order. Say, haven't visited the old girl for a while...

Spectrum

When people talk about the Spectrum it seems trendy to bang on about the rubber keys but I never played that version, we onwed the 128k+2. I'm pretty sure it came from a family member, all I remember for sure was that it came with a set of about 10 dubious quality games, the highlight of which was something called 'Millionaire' where the aim was to start a business and to become, well, a millionaire. It was more fun than it sounds, even to a 7 year old kid, although I never did make my million.

What a machine! There are literally hundreds of games for this machine so naming a selection of favourites is nigh on pointless. That said, it would be remiss of me not to name check Hyper Sports, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Target Renegade, Batman, Robocop, Alien Syndrome, Ghostbusters, Matchday 2, Last Ninja 2, Emlyn Hughes, Kickstart 2.

The main genre of game that dominated my time with the Spectrum though was football games, specifically football management. It is a theme I will come back to later but it was here that the first seeds were sown. It started in fact with a friends BBC, playing Footballer of the Year, then countless hours were spent on Football Manager, FA Cup, On the bench, World Soccer League, Football Director, Striker, Soccer Q, Tracksuit Manager and countless others. Some of them were great, some of them were dross but they fed a growing interest, culminating in the mighty Football Director 2.

There came a point though when owning a Spectrum became a bit old hat. An Amiga owning friend would come to visit and I would be embarrased that all I had for us to play on was this crusty old machine. He seemed so sophisticated with his full colour, disk based machine of wonder.

As ever, it was about more than just playing the games though. Going to Smiths and buying games for £1.99; looking at the graphics for the multi format games and dreamily thinking, 'if only' when you saw the Amiga and Atari ST screenshots; when the play button broke on our tape deck and we wedged a two pence piece in to make the games load; the first time you type in some basic and create your own hangman game.

And of course the magazines. My brother preferred Sinclair User but I was always a Your Sinclair man and it would start a passion for reading about the medium that still runs high today.

That's it for part one. Join me for part two as I explore Arcade games, the mighty Amiga and a little series called Championship Manager.

The following is an extract from a thread I maintain on the Sports Interactive forums. The thread details my experience in Football Manager 2014 and explores how my mental health issues manifest themselves within the game.

You can find the full thread here.

Who Manages The Manager?

Approaching Christmas in 2020 seems a good point at which to stop and take stock of where I am in my FM journey.

My save has thrown up all sorts of mental health issues but then that was the point. These are real life issues, they are not caused by FM, they simply manifest here. So let’s explore some of the common themes and try to understand what they mean.

Let’s Get Tactical

I used to always start as Liverpool and, inspired by Rafa, would always deploy a 4231, rigidly sticking to the mindset that Steven Gerrard simply HAD to play at AMC regardless of how it affected the rest of the team’s shape. But more than that, I simply HAD to use certain role and duty combinations. Other roles were off limits.

In this save, I wanted to break this mindset. I didn’t know the players so could I develop something organically. I started with a rigid, long ball 442 to keep things simple. Reacting to what I watched, this became a mixed passing, balanced 442, utilising a target man and width down the flanks. I stuck with this until it saw me go on a 17 game losing streak, ending in rage quit.

Starting again, I made adjustments, alternating between complex and simple, never trusting my own judgement, always seeking validation in the forums. Ultimately I ended with a 4231. But I consciously set about trying something new, utilising a 4141, then a 433 before ultimately coming back to 4231. And now I have developed something that seems to work, an asymmertrical 4231 with an attacking winger on one side and a supporting winger on the other, two playmakers and a defensive forward, all with a rigid philosophy.

What we learn – the rigid mindset seen at the outset is borne of two things. First, some OCD issues, a belief that things must be done this way otherwise a phantom rule is broken. Secondly, a fear of failure, a fear of trying something new, of blazing my own path. This second belief system comes from an underlying lack of confidence, a sense that others know best. If no-one else has done it, I am wrong to try.

Where are we now – the rigidity is broken, ironically seeing as I am using a rigid philosophy. I am utilising roles and duties I have never used before. I believe that I could start at any club in the game and, rather than trying to squeeze the players into my own pre-defined idea of a formation, could instead develop something that suits the assets at hand. I always expected to develop a singular strategy but instead I have developed a sense of freedom. Sometimes rigid is best. Other times fluid. It is contextual based on whatever you are trying to achieve. I have been successful. I can take confidence from this success.

Highlight Reel

I become incredibly anxious watching highlights. Whenever the other team attacks, I have a sense of dread that we are about to concede, then we’ll lose and it is all because my tactic has been found out, I am no good, the save is a disaster, my career thread a waste…and so on.

And this anxiety builds up. The next game is a defeat. Then the next. There is no context that can explain this, I am simply incapable, the game is destined to end in disaster. And so I quit.

Prior to this save, I would always start as Liverpool. But I wouldn’t ever actually play the game, not really. A successful campaign saw me get past Christmas. I once switched off because we lost a game. I once switched off because a player signed for someone else. I once switched off because a player got injured. I once switched off because the staff member I wanted hadn’t been automatically generated. I once switched off because Steven Gerrard reacted unfavourably to a team talk. I once switched off because in our first friendly against the under 21’s, we only won 2-0.

What we learn – the underlying issue here is clearly my anxiety but what causes this anxiety? Again, there is clearly some OCD influence here. But it also comes back to one of my most common mental health triggers, the negative automatic thinking errors. It is black and white, perfection or disaster with no room for an in between. Life is not black and white, it is a series of greys. We do not have a real life three month auto rolling save. Many a time an event has occurred and my primary reaction is to run away, quit my job, build a time machine and fix everything. But I can’t because life doesn’t work that way, instead we must learn to cope with disappointment. My actions in FM demonstrate what happens when I have the option. I can start over, so I do. But I have a sense that it is wrong and so I must be punished. It is not enough to reload a save, I must start again right from the beginning, every single time.

Where are we now – this one caused a different anxiety. During this save, I rage quit. I reloaded an old save but I felt incredibly guilty, as if I had conned anyone who had read the thread. I reconciled in my mind that this thread was not about the actions taken but rather my reaction to them and so carried on. But then it happened again. And again, until finally it became the norm. I had traded in one unhealthy behaviour (safety net of a restart with punishment) for a new one (safety net of reload with no fear of failure). In a sense there was a positive. I had learned to treat FM like a game. But it came with a strong negative. Failure was now off the table, I could simply manipulate my way to victory. I was cheating myself. I still pursued perfectionism but now it manifested in a new way. I had created a safety net, I no longer had to deal with adversity.

But there is even more at play here. I was judging myself. Does it matter if I cheat? Isn’t it more important that I enjoy the game? I have 3 kids, time is precious. I made a conscious decision that to enjoy my limited game time, I needed to be moving forward. Was it the right decision? Who knows, but there is no need to judge myself for it. Acceptance is the only way.

And not only that, but black and white thinking is again in play. If it were possible to tally up the games I manipulated, it would count for no more than half a season over the course of my save. Of course it played a part in my success but fundamentally I achieved this based on my own actions and decisions, the reloads effectively giving me another opportunity to learn. I wish I hadn’t done it. I wish that I had the fortitude to see it through. But I will not judge myself for it. And I will not dwell on it. Mindfulness teaches us to live in the present.

Do You Want To Build A Football Team?

I agonise over signings, always assuming the one that got away is better than the one I signed. On two occasions in this save, I have built a new squad in pre-season only to reload the save to undo the work I had done. The squad I have now, despite being built logically, appears lopsided and locked to a certain way of playing. I don’t know how to identify good players, I don’t know how to develop them.

What we learn – confidence, decision making, judgement of self, mindfulness (or lack thereof), all these things are coming in to play.

Where are we now – well I have got promoted from the Skrill South to the Championship and am on course for promotion to the Premier League by 2021. I must be reasonably good at this, right? Mistakes made are gone, I can do nothing about them. Mindfulness tells me to live in the present, to accept. And so I rebuilt my tactic to take advantage of what I have and it has worked. Despite the fact that my team is inherently inferior to those around us, we are holding our own and overachieving. That is down to me. I can be pleased with my efforts. I can take confidence from them.

Phew, this is turning into a longer post than I imagined so let’s stop here for now.

One final thought though, something that runs absolutely central to my ongoing recovery from mental illness – the importance of change. We must become the change we want to see. If you keep doing things the same way, you will keep getting the same result. This is as true in FM as it is in life.

I choose to change.

Throughout my gaming history, I have encountered the good and the bad, but there are some games that stay with you. Some games that you just wish you could go back and experience. Emulation is great but the one thing you can never capture is that moment of playing again for the first time.

And so I present a list of five such games. They are not necessarily the best games but they each had a moment that has stayed with me.

The Rules

1. Only one game per machine

 2. This is a retro feature, so nothing later than PS2

Gauntlet (Arcade)

The quintessential multiplayer game and one of the games that set me on the path of a life long love of the medium.

From the character selection (everyone wants to be the warrior, right?), to the first few rooms as you and up to 3 chums work together, watching each others backs, sharing treasure, strategically allocating health according to greatest need.

But then something magical happens. You realise that you can shoot the food.

Cue a mad free-for-all as you gleefully fight to reach the next pot of treasure, hanging back so that your over eager colleague dives into the fighting first, desperately scrambling for keys to that room that you can never quite reach, cheering triumphantly as you reach the next stage. And then finally, that mad, blind panic as you boldly step into the transport tile, only to materialise in THAT room full of ghosts, watching on helplessly as your back-to-the-wall last gasp fight ends with the agonising, toe curling 'urgh'.

Cage Match (Spectrum)

There were hundreds of games released on the Spectrum, dozens of indisputable classics and this was...not one of them.

So why does it make the list? Because it taught my 8 year old self an important lesson.

Picture the scene. WWF wrestling is spreading across the world. Hulkamania is running wild (brother), you are browsing the game section in WH Smiths and this one title catches your eye. Cage Match!

You dig deep into your pockets but come up short. No! But wait, here comes your brother so you pool resources and hand over your £1.99. You dash home, taking turns on the bus to read the back cover of the cassette, excitement building as you storm through the front door, switch off whatever drivel Dad is watching, plug in the trusty Spectrum, somehow endure the agonising wait as the game loads as only a Spectrum game can until finally it is here and you take control of your avatar, ready to lock horns with your CPU controlled adversary in combat so bloodthirsty it can only be held in by a cage...which he promptly runs up the side of and wins.

Is that it? Surely there must be some mistake. Eagerly you read through the scant instructions again, looking for some nugget of information missed. Nope.

The controller is passed around, perhaps someone else will discover the secret of this undoubted moment of video gaming history? Nope.

Desperately, forlornly, you come back to it each day, hoping against fading hope that there is more. Nope.

You have learned an important lesson.

Some games are crap.

Sensible Soccer (Amiga)

There had been football games before of course. Matchday 2, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer, Kick Off. Even Microprose Soccer, coded by Sensible Software themselves.

Sensi wasn't the best looking game on the Amiga. Technically it paled in comparison to the fare available on consoles. But it was more than that. The intuitive control, the speed, the multiplayer, the sense of character, the catchy music, the depth, the just-one-more-go-ness.

It was surpassed by it's sequels, culminating in the mighty SWOS 96/97, the follow ups introducing cards, international teams, editors, after touch, goalies who actually saved shots. Yet it is the original to which we should pay homage.

As a series, this is the greatest game ever to grace the Amiga and one of the finest games in the history of videogames.

You can keep your FIFA and your PES. THIS is football.

Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

The inspiration behind this piece and one of the seminal titles of a generation. MGS introduced the gaming world to stealth, tactical fighting and action. And cut scenes, lots of cut scenes.

This is a game that makes you want to stop and applaud, the type of game that is almost as much fun to watch as it is to play. A technical marvel at the time, matched by the quality of its gameplay.

The highlights of MGS will go down in gaming folklore. From your first stealth kill, to hiding in a box to avoid detection, the adrenalin rush when you are spotted by the guards, the awesome codec system, when you realise the code you are looking for is on the GAME case, to possibly the greatest boss battle in gaming history when Psycho Mantis takes control of your pad and reads your mind.

As with other games on this list, technically this has undoubtedly been surpassed by its sequels. But its enduring appeal, evidenced by a cameo in MGS4, is a testament to its genius.

GTA: Vice City (PS2)

If GTA3 established the mould, Vice City refined it.

The genius of GTA games is that each player will find their own highlight. The missions were only ever half the fun, there was a whole world to explore. Part of the fun was going off track, thinking you had ended up in a dead end, only to stumble across an off road race or hidden trophy. The characters were deep, the Scarface influence and 80’s setting adding a unique charm, as did the joy of the, ‘wait, is that who I think it is?’ voice acting.

But there is perhaps no gaming highlight that can surpass the sheer joy of tearing along the beachfront on your freshly stolen bike listening to Billie Jean.

The GTA series continues to get bigger and better but for that one moment of unbridled, ‘holy crap, look what I can do’ sensation that videogames bring, Vice City has no peer.