Wargame Dork: Game Collection: Hobby Games Gone Computer

Yes. ?My grand project continues! ?As this blog is primarily about hobby gaming, one would think I would have many of the translations of hobby games that were brought over to the various electronic systems out there.

And I do.

But one machine had more hobby games than any other.

THE COMPUTER.

I guess computer gamers were a better and more receptive market for these sorts of games, and developers who might like to make such titles are also the sort that would play them more often, especially in the 80s and early 90s where much of the console development was taking place in Japan whose hobby game market is absurdly small and unconnected.

(Earlier consoles couldn't exactly do anything resembling a proper go of a classic hobby game. ?Look at the Intellivision AD&D games. ?Take the name off the box and you really can't tell what it is at all!)

And since my hobby games on console machines and portables will show up during said collection posts, the mighty computer platform gets it as a subgenre all to itself. ?(Which also helps make my massive PC game collection a bit less massive in scope. ?My living room is covered in boxes waiting to be photographed but even with the hobby games translations removed it is DAUNTING.)

Let's start with Battletech! ?Crescent Hawk's Inception was one of the earliest Battletech computer games and one of Infocom's first non text adventure titles. ?Made by Westwood Studios (they of the lazy Order of the Griffon D&D game on the TG 16 infamy) it is sloppy, lazy, and a bit of a failure that could have been good. ?Battletech Powerhits contains this game alongside its RTS sequel (Crescent Hawk's Revenge. ?It.. isn't very good.), and the first Mechwarrior game in glorious 16 color EGA. ?Mechwarrior 2 is where the Battletech universe got made popular and the real birth of the Mech Sim subgenre. ?I also have the cluebook, and the expansion pack. ?Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries was a standalone sequel that didn't involve playing a Clan Mechwarrior. ?Mechwarrior 3 is another VS Clans game and not very good at all in my opinion. ?The Gold Edition also contained the super rare expansion pack.

Activision ended up losing the BT rights to Microsoft who basically owns Battletech's IP now. ?They made Mechwarrior 4 which was good, the Black Knight expansion which had an absolutely terrible story that turned all your party from 4 into cartoonishly evil villains, and their own Mercenary stand alone which was AMAZING and I have replayed it a ton. ?They also made 2 mech packs for multiplayer games and a little use in the solo campaign. ?(Other one in my BT megapost series.) ?Mechcommander (Gold) was a RTS game based around controlling small unit tactics instead of the Command & Conquer/Warcraft style of base building. ?Mechcommander 2 is the sequel. ?I enjoyed both.

The Mech 3 Expansion and Mech 4 cluebooks I got cheap. ?Mage Knight Apocalypse is an action RPG I got cheap just for the collection. ?Magic Battlegrounds was a really interesting action strategy title. ?The Microprose Magic game and expansion was an attempt to mesh an RPG with classic Magic the Gathering and almost succeeded given the tech of the era. ?Heavy Gear 2 is a mech sim based on the hobby game and is the series Activision tried to use when they lost the BT rights. ?It only got two titles so I guess we see how well that worked out.

Alone in the Dark & Prisoner of Ice are adventure games (the former being really the first Survival Horror game as we now know it) based on Call of Cthulhu. ?Starfleet Command & 2: Empires at War are real time translations of the Starfleet Battles game but with a closer connection to normal Star Trek lore. ?(3 is changed enough to not really be SFB at all.) ?Ticket to Ride is the legendary boardgame with multiplayer options. ?Realms of Arkania 1 and Drakensang are based off of the huge in Germany RPG series called The Dark Eye in English. ?King of Dragon Pass is based on the Glorantha setting used in a number of RPGs and board games, Runequest being the most popular. ?The GURPS Character Assistant is a character generator for GURPS. ?That I no longer have as I traded it off for more Battletech stuff.

Now for Games Workshop translations!

Space Crusade is a near perfect to rules conversion of the not released in the UK Warhammer 40K game that was equivalent to Hero Quest. ?Space Hulk however is a real time version of that game and suffers for it. ?(As does the sequel below it.) ?Final Liberation used the Epic scale without using any of the actual Epic rule sets. ?Quite good even if it never got the planned expansions. ?Rites of War was basically Panzer General's engine but you play the Eldar primarily. ?Chaos Gate is sort of like X Com but you play Ultramarines fighting Chaos without the base building stuff. ?Space Marine is a quite fun third person action game. ?Sadly you play an Ultramarine in the solo campaign.

The Dawn of War RTS series! ?1 and expansions are more of a traditional RTS game whereas 2 is more of a real time RPG where you control small units you upgrade and advance. ?I enjoy both of them, though Dark Crusade and Retribution have the best campaigns as I can play Chaos all the way through a campaign.

Shadow of the Horned Rat & Dark Omen were early RTS games where there was no base building involved ala Dawn of War 2, Mechcommander, and Crescent Hawk's Revenge. ?However they were both unfairly hard. ?The basic design would lead into the Total War franchise though. ?Hero Quest was.. Hero Quest but on a computer. ?The original Blood Bowl was a poor translation of the tabletop game, being limited as hell with even a single sprite for every player on your team and no expansion rules content. ?Mark of Chaos and its expansion were more modern and more enjoyable takes on the Horned Rat style of game. ?Warhammer Online is World of Warcraft in the WHFB universe. ?The new Blood Bowl and the Legendary Edition (Purchased at a discount online for owning original Dark Elf version so its just a DL file.) are better but not perfect versions of Blood Bowl as it really should have been the first time around.

Of course one franchise owned the computer game space more than any other:

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

Eye of the Beholder 1-3 are good overall Dungeon Master clones. ?Dungeon Hack takes the same engine and turns the real time first person dungeon crawl into a single player randomly generated roguelike. ?Shadow Sorcerer is an odd isometric real time game using the Dragonlance original trilogy novel setting. ?The Gold Box series is the legendary turn based AD&D 1st ed rules RPG, with Unlimited Adventures being a Do It Yourself maker. ?That was somewhat limited in comparison to the 9 Gold Box titles...

D&D Stronghold is a weird real time kingdom simulator, the Core Rules is an awesome tool for AD&D 2nd ed campaigns with all sorts of neato stuff. ?Masterpiece Collection contains multiple late DOS era D&D games. ?Ravenloft series/engine, Dark Sun, the Al Quadim action RPG.. ?a good little value. ?So much has been said of the Infinity Engine real time series I don't need to repeat it. ?Daggerdale is a poor action RPG I only got because it was cheap.

And we finish it up with the modern era. ?And the sought after Dragon Magazine Archives with the first 250 issues of that magazine on PDF. ?Plus my original editions of Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, the turn based but flawed Temple of Elemental Evil, the real time Neverwinter Nights series, and the collection of it including the few expansions I missed out on.

I have two more computer games but they can be seen in the Atari 8 bit collection when I do it, or two other collection posts I plan on hitting in the future.

One thing I have noted over the years is many of these translations didn't use the rulesets or for some reason took a turn based ruleset and made them real time. ?I never understood why as it rarely translates properly. ?I understand wanting to get the most people playing but.. the license is supposed to be for that product. ?Why make something turn based real time? ?Is it to get those people who won't play anything that isn't constantly moving? ?Am I just that messed up and slow thoughtful games are just for losers?

I don't know.

Source: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2012/11/game-collection-hobby-games-gone.html

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