01/21/2002 Archived Entry: "Games!"

The best game I've ever played is Starflight. It came out when I was a wee lad, and my father bought it because he thought it looked interesting. The game sucked up months of our time, and lodged itself firmly in my heart. Countless nights were spent sitting next to my father while he played. I'm sure the gameplay suggestions I offered were silly and not worth very much--I couldn't've been older than eight--but Starflight turned into the best bonding experience I've ever had with my dad.

Plus, it's a damn good game. Starflight (and its just-as-good sequel, Starflight II) is a game of space exploration, communication, mystery, and discovery. To my eight-year old brain, the voyages my dad and I went on in our little starship were grandiose and galaxy-shattering. Never have I played a game that is as good or as fun.

One that came very, very close, of course, is Star Control II, which most people consider to be the spiritual successor to Starflight. It was the same type game--a type of game that is never made anymore. Now, everything is mindless first-person shooting, shitty real-time strategy, or mindlessly-boring turn-based resource management. Nothing--nothing--ever has or ever will evoke the sense of wonder that I felt when my father and I finished Starflight and we discovered the secret of the flaring stars.

Is it perhaps because I have become too old to be gripped by wonder anymore? Can the inimitable gaming experiences of my childhood ever be matched?

Probably not.

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