It is amazing what time will do to your memory. You can look back and laugh at the time where you were dangling helpless from the tree, while your brother squirted you with a water pistol. You can forget the ignomy of the having the first girl you asked out look at you and laugh. Having recently begun running out of games to play, I took a look through my collection, dug out a few old favorites and reloaded them.

I'll say it again, time does strange things to the memory. Age of Empires 1, a game that a mere 4 years ago I had counted among my favorite games of all time now looked, and played like, well to put it bluntly, shite.

Everything was pixellated, the civilisations were pretty much identical to one another, and there was no strategy to speak of.

Mind reeling from this shock to the senses, I quickly removed the disk, and hastened to grab another. Surely it wasn't that bad when I first played it. Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck this time. The next game I inserted was the first FPS I ever played, a game called Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. It took me a month to complete originally, and I felt 1337. I was expecting more great gaming times ahoy. I loaded the game, and began to play. 1.5 hours later, I was finished. Pathfinding issues, laughable AI on both sides and a pathetic storyline had forcibly ripped the rose-tinted glasses from my face.

I've learnt two things from this.

1) Time does strange things to a memory, and

2) Rose-tinted glasses are opaque.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Before the word l33t was created, I knew a game called Septerra Core. It was an RPG game for Windows systems. Being my first RPG, I was blown away by the (then unique...to me at least) story and battle system.

Now, well...it's crap.

Man, Super Mario 64 rocked. I loved that game. But it was sadly thrown out a while back, and when it came up on the Virtual Console, I grabbed it. Then I saw the crappy graphics, loose controls, and deleted it to make room for Contra.

Man, Super Mario 64 rocked. I loved that game. But it was sadly thrown out a while back, and when it came up on the Virtual Console, I grabbed it. Then I saw the crappy graphics, loose controls, and deleted it to make room for Contra.

It was a good game back when it was truly revolutionary.

I thought only blue-tinted glasses were opaque. Oh well.
Mario 64 is probably the mario game ever in existence.

I thought only blue-tinted glasses were opaque. Oh well.
Mario 64 is probably the mario game ever in existence.

Not if you've ever seen, played, or heard Super Mario Galaxy.

I think it's because we were more easily entertained when we were younger.

A game that I always thought was a blast was Gauntlet Legends for N64. I played it again at my cousin's house a week ago and it was repetitive and boring.

Abe is still fun, I ran through it with friends last week with a few beers.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day, arcade game for the Genesis. I loved playing that gaem, but I never managed to beat it.

Some Nascar game for 64. :(

You have to judge a game based on the time it was released. There are few old games for me that really stand the test of time for purposes other than nostalgia.

One would be Fallout 2. I still replay that game every couple of years and have a good time with it. Sure its graphics are dated. But the story is still well written and the atmosphere is great.

System shock 2 is another game that is still really immersive if you play it now (if you can get it to run on your machine).

The main thing is that you enjoyed the game when it was released. Were you wrong to enjoy it then by todays standards. No because todays standards didn't exist then. Age of empires at the time was something new for RTS games. And it was good. But I would never choose to play it now when I could be playing supreme commander or world in conflict.

played FFVII a few nights ago....still the best game ive ever played. even if it isnt as flashy as todays games.....just cant beat a solid game like that ;)