12 Addicting Video Games of Days Gone By (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1 [Duh] - make sure you read that first!)

6. Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (PC): This was another one of those inexplicably enjoyable games. I mean, really? Managing a theme park? Hiring staff? Cleaning up vomit? Fixing broken toilets? Yet the game was a smash hit. Indeed, there was far more to the game than that, but all that stuff was in there, too, which is really a testament to everything else. Arguably, the best part of the game was designing your own roller coasters and trying to stuff as many awesome rides and attractions into whatever miserable plot of land you'd been assigned. Some missions necessitated your park rating and occupancy be at a certain level by a certain time, while others required you build a successful park around a specific theme.

Like this apparently Alcatraz-themed park.

Easily my favorite part of the game, however, was the sandbox mode. In it, you are given the largest possible plot of flat, empty dirt; unlimited money; full access to all rides, food stalls, decorations, etc.; and infinite time to just build the best park ever. And while it was all good fun to watch the kids throw up their cotton candy after the Tilt-a-whirl, or to find that random straggler who's been lost in your maze of a park for months, one of the greatest thrills of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 was making death coasters. It usually took a dastardly design or a little finagling in the build mode to get things just right, but in the end, it was worth it to send trains full of passengers crashing into other coasters or soaring through the air to their demise.

Oh, was the Park Inspector on that ride? How unfortunate. Looks like little Billy can keep his Mike's Hard Lemonade, after all.

5. The Sims (PC): Easily one of the largest PC gaming franchises in history, Maxis' (and later EA's) The Sims took the world by storm upon its initial release. And it's only grown since then. With three main iterations, and near countless expansion packs, the ever-extending list of Sims titles is headache-inducing. And, while I've enjoyed all three core games, along with a number of the fun (though not often cheap) expansions, the original game was probably the most important of its kind in my gaming history. It was yet another oddly mesmerizing simulator (Whoa-ho! Light bulb!) where you controlled people in their day-to-day lives - making food, taking leaks, watering plants, going to work, causing babies, and generally being physical, mental, and emotional train wrecks. Just like real people!

"I don't believe this! I can't find the coupon for the pizza!!"

With a ridiculous amount of expansion packs offered seemingly every month, the world of The Sims grew at a frighteningly fun pace. There were new places to visit, new job ladders to climb, new interactions to awkwardly weasel in at parties, pets to take care of, and a slew of new butt-ugly furniture to adorn your vividly beige house with. But the core formula always stayed the same. Even with the Shyamalan-named sequels, The Sims 2 and  The Sims 3, the general idea of the central gameplay never changed. The graphics got a major overhaul, and all sorts of new features and extras were added, but I think the world of The Sims has gotten a little too big for its core values. At this point, there seems to be almost too much for your Sims to do. You just can't cram all that awesomeness into a single lifetime, unless you turn off aging in the settings menu, which frankly gets kind of boring after a while. I understand that's a lot closer to real life, with the whole "too much to do and not enough time", but I didn't play The Sims to mimic real life. I play it to build giant mansions for my bachelor playboy rock stars who can't make a bowl of cereal without setting their house on fire.

4. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64): Anybody who says they don't like this game has never played it, and anybody who says they've never played this game is lying. Considered by many to be one of the single greatest video games ever made, this is one of those classic titles that (pardon the saying) stands the test of time.

"Hey!" No puns allowed.

Some of the innumerable delights of this game include: an incredibly vast and diverse world, giant mustachioed trees, roly-poly rock people, the stupidest and most laughably annoying owl since that Tootsie Pop jerk, super magic arrows, glider chickens, ridiculous puzzles, kick-awesome villains, musical scarecrows, freaking time travel, and that adorable guard you sell the Keaton Mask to.

"Pika, pika!"

There's really not enough room here to fully express how amazing this game was, and still is. Sure the story is paper-thin (and recycled paper, at that), but the gameplay, graphics, and endearing charm of Ocarina were revolutionary and have rightfully earned the game its prestigious place in gamers' hearts.

Seriously. What a douche.

3. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PS2): Yes, this is a last-gen game and, as such, barely qualifies as a "Days Gone By" title. Nonetheless, it wholeheartedly qualifies as addicting and so, here we are. I played this game over and over and over. Even after I'd beaten it. Even after I'd seen the (kind of) twist ending. I couldn't get enough of this game.

So many great... features. Gameplay features!

Actually, those two up there are a large part of why I kept coming back to this game time and again. Their "lover's spat" banter throughout the story is positively wicked. And the narrative itself is surprisingly compelling: An unsuspecting prince unleashes the Sands of Time, which begin eating away at the palace and all its residents, so he must find the mystical hourglass and use the Dagger of Time to reverse the damage he's done. The ingenuity of using the Sand and the Dagger to manipulate time during gameplay was extremely refreshing, especially since the combat got rather repetitive rather quickly. The overall elements of the solid action, the engaging characters, the fun puzzle-solving, and the immersing story all blend together to make a brilliantly addicting game.

I hate that I have to specify Sands of Time the game in my search now.

On that note, if you're making your judgments on this game based on the Disney film, you have been grossly misled (and severely robbed of your time and money). Please disregard whatever you saw or heard in that movie. Not just for the game's sake, but for your dignity's sake, as well.

2. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (PC): One of, if not the first video game I ever purchased with my own cold, hard cash, this game was one of my steepest obsessions as a kid. It really solidified my love of Real-Time Strategy (RTS) gaming and introduced me to an epic world of awesome.

This is one of the weakest units in the game. For serious.

The game was dense with sprawling landscapes, sexy graphics (for its time), devastatingly manly war machines, an eerily psychotic bad guy, and some pretty craptastic live-action cutscenes.

Sorry, Mr. Jones.

The strategies ran fairly deep in this game, from air and land maneuvers, to a range of stealth units, to some severely powerful defense technology, to long-range siege weapons, to space-based laser cannons, to mutant cyborg soldiers who can self-heal.

To the popular "firebomb the everliving crap out of everything" strategy.

The dire need for constant base management, resource acquisition, and military dominance lent a rather frantic pace to the game that kept it fresh and exciting. The story, while not exceptionally original, was a cool twist on a more tried-and-true formula. The Brotherhood of Nod, led by the sociopath Kane, are more-or-less a militant religious cult who have a fascination with Tiberium - a toxic crystal that is spreading at alarming rates over Earth's surface, endangering the entire world population. The Global Defense Initiative (GDI) is essentially the 'big government' type organization with deeper pockets and more 'civilized' warfare tactics than the Brotherhood. Constantly butting heads with the rebellious Nod guerrillas, the GDI's main objective is to somehow purge the Earth of its Tiberium infestation. And what do all Global Defensive Initiatives require? Why, ginormous, walking, death machines, of course!

Yeehaw!

1. Age of Empires II: Age of Kings (PC): This was the first real video game I ever owned, and my sister bought it for me as a birthday present. With roughly zero experience in gaming, I dove into the game and buried myself pretty deep. Granted, looking back, it was a relatively simple game, with relatively simple graphics, but this game had everything where it really counted.

Sure, you can't really tell what's going on, but you know it's EPIC.

Every available race was built essentially the same, each sporting a few perks and downsides to help keep things balanced and interesting. But really, just about every match of this game I ever played boiled down to massive armies (which unfortunately capped at 200 units each) colliding at various points on the battlefield, and mass casualties ensuing. But, if we're truly honest with ourselves, wasn't that really the best (if not only) aspect of the Middle Ages? Armies spawning from the horizons to wreak havoc across the countryside until bloody skirmishes broke out, devastating every last inch of society within a 10 mile radius. Generals marching their trained archers, foot soldiers, and paladin knights to the doorsteps of enemy camps and villages while their siege artillery rained fiery destruction down from the heavens.

Knock, knock.

And let's not forget the irksome villagers who need constant pampering lest they absentmindedly wander off after a stray sheep and wind up following it into a wolf's den or into the aforementioned "enemy doorstep mayhem", wherein he or she will find him or herself wearing a brand new vest made entirely of authentic Egyptian arrows.

However, despite the occasional annoying peasant (who have nothing on the peasant women in Assassin's Creed), the game is flooded with unforgettable moments. The first time you destroy an enemy castle. The first time you piss off an opponent by converting half their troops with a battalion of monks. The first time you march an army of hundreds out the gates of your city and straight into their imminent doom. Or the first time you storm the enemy's Town Center and crush their feeble civilization beneath the unforgiving hooves of your military.

Haha! Try to harvest your nondescript crops now!

On top of all that, there was also a Star Wars mod of this game released called Galactic Battlegrounds and a Clone Wars expansion, which are both just as phenomenal. They also come highly recommended to fans of both AoE and Star Wars. All-in-all, Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings and its Conquerors expansion pack are fantastically addicting and surprisingly replayable titles. They not only brought me into the gaming world once and for all, but they kept me there, pushed me further, and even make a resurgence once in a while, when I'm in the mood to raze a few villages and pimp-slap a few peasants.

Runner-ups: Jazz Jackrabbit (PC), LEGO Creator (PC), Rise of Nations (PC), Real War (PC), Mario Kart 64 (N64), Command & Conquer: Generals (PC), and Comanche 4 (PC).

With all that out of the way, I'd love to hear your favorite old-school games - the ones that made life glorious and unforgettable, if even for just those few, fleeting moments. As you may have noticed, I was primarily a PC gamer, so I'm sure there are a host of titles I missed out on as a kid. So... what are some of the classics that defined your childhood?