Best PC Games
Classic PC Game Doom (Enhanced)
Best PC Games
Best PC Games
PC Gaming; get the best in online games for free.
For total immersion and pure game-play you just cannot beat it; PC Games and the best PC games are for the mature gamer.
For me, the PC as a gaming machine took over where the likes of the Commodore Amiga left off.
In fact, back in the early 1990's there were plenty of games that were released both on 16-Bit machines as well as the PC.
As the 16-Bit scene faded away I found myself moving onto the PC as a gaming platform. I still feel that a good gaming rig beats any console you can get hands down.
Here are some of my favourite ever PC games that I still play from time to time.
Half Life is as classic as they come for PC gaming
Doom
The seminal 1st person shooter that really raised the bar after the likes of Castle Wolfenstein 3D.
We had been treated to some immersive 3D environments with the likes of Driller on the ZX Spectrum (some truly awesome graphics) in the late 1980's, but when Doom came along it was like nothing seen before.
Scary, atmospheric, action packed and full of weird and fierce creatures, Doom was a game that took the gaming world by storm and was the root of all 1st person shooters today.
DOOM Level 1 For The PC
Half Life PC
Half Life
After Doom the genre was bettered with the creation of true 3D environments (with the likes of Quake and Duke Nukem) as the player could look in all directions and not just where they were facing.
Half Life took the 1st person experience to a whole new level. Now you had enemies that showed true intelligence to contend with. In a firefight with marines?
Watch as they run out of ammunition and duck down behind a pile of crates to change their magazine and reload. Awesome stuff.
The enemies you faced did not just 'stand there' and fire blindly at you, they would take cover and move around the environment to try and nail you.
You could also use items in the environment such as enemy gun emplacements (great fun blasting the enemy soldiers with their own machine guns!), vending machines, light switches and more. Basic interaction with other in game characters was also possible as you met up with scientists and security staff.
Half-Life really did take the FPS to a whole new level.
A small demo game called HalfLife:Uplink was released shortly before the full game hit the hight street to give us PC gamers a taste of what was to come.
It was a short 1 level game set within the HalfLife universe and was given away on many magazine covers. After playing it I knew I had to buy the full game as soon as it was available.
Atmospheric, scary, action packed and full of surprises - Half Life packed in a great story to immerse you in the world of Black Mesa.
Half Life:Uplink (Part 1)
Half Life:Uplink (Part 2)
Command and Conquer on the PC
Command and Conquer
Real Time Strategy - or RTS. You just can't beat it - and back then you just couldn't beat Command and Conquer.
This first game in the long running and succesful series took the RTS genre to a new plateau.
Multitudes of units to build, the ramping of of your own tech levels, stealing tech from your enemy, land, sea and air based vehicles... the list goes on.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert (and Red Alert 2) really refined the gameplay and in my opinion these games remain playable to this day.
If you like RTS games then these ones are always worth going back to; they are fine examples of addicting games that you can play over and over.
Combine all of this with frantic action and a pumping soundtrack and you were onto a winner.
The Westwood sequels were all fantastic too.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert on PC
Duke Nukem 3D
Ahh The Duke.
He's a hilarious ass-kicking sort of bloke and once he was given the all new 3D treatment it opened up yet another niche in the 1st person gaming genre.
Running around blasting away bad guys in a 3D world had never been so much fun before. Laced with humour this game was pure action from the beginning.
The game did contain more 'adult' content with scantily clad ladies dancing away, blood splatters and gore aplenty as you made your way through the levels.
The weapons were imaginative too; shrink rays (which you could use on yourself if a mirror was handy!) to shrink the enemy down and squash underfoot, freeze cannons, rapid fire rockets and pipe bombs just to mention just a few.
Duke could also don a jetpack and fly around the environment which was a really neat feature of the game.
With our hero spouting insults to the enemy at regular intervals (with most of his quotes taken from various movies) there were as many laughs as there was violence.
Grab a copy of Duke Nukem 3D and 'Come Get Some!'
Duke Nukem 3D on PC
Many More
There are many more classic PC games from recent years worth playing - this was just a small selection of some of my favourites.
Useful gaming and retro links
- 80s theme tunes
Funky, funky! - 3D Sky Attack
It was super cool at the time - Acorn Atom
The Acorn Atom was the ancestor to the BBC series of computers - Acorn Electron
The Electron was an 8-bit Micro manufactured by Acorn - Amiga CD 32
The Amiga CD32 - a nice console - Amiga Games
Go 16-bit classic - Amstrad CPC 464
During the 1980's entrepeneur Alan Sugar made a foray into the home computer market - Asteroids
Asteroids (along with the seminal Space Invaders) must be one of the most famous arcade games of all time - Astro Blaster
Astro Blaster was a table top arcade game - Astro Wars
Astro Wars was an electronic arcade game - Atari ST
The Atari ST - nearly as good as the Amiga. Nearly. - Awesome Graphics
Some awesome graphics were created on many retro computers - AY Music
Funky? Yep! - BBC Micro
A chunky heavyweight computer that carved out a unique niche for itself during the 1980's - Commodore 16
The C16 was an 8-bit micro manufacured by Commodore - Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 was the flagship of Commodores 8-bit fleet - Commodore 128
The last of Commodore's 8-bit machines - Commodore Amiga
We love the Commodore Amiga - Crash Magazine
Crash magazine was fantastic - Games Online
Games Online - one of the phenomenons of the modern internet - Ground Zero
Grim text adventuring - Miniclip Games
Just what are Miniclip games? Well, if you are into games online then miniclip games might well be just for you - Missile Command Games
Missile Command must be one of the most well know arcade games of all time - Ocean Software
How good were they? - Oric 1
The Oric 1 was a British computer - Oric Atmos
The Oric Atmos was a British computer that superceded the Oric 1 - Pacman Game
Play Pacman again - Play Game Free Online
The best and biggest online games site. Come in and play the best and newest free online games - Scramble games
Scramble must be one of the most famous arcade shoot em ups ever - Sinclair Interface 2
The ZX Interface 2 was a hardware peripheral that was pretty cool - Space Invaders
Space Invaders - an all time classic - Spectrum emulator
Re-play those classics again - Star Wars Computer Games
Ooo-tini! - TV Theme Songs
Funky, funky and just a little bit bouncy - Vectrex
A true vintage piece of kit - VIC 20
The Commodore VIC-20 was an 8-bit home computer - ZX Spectrum Games
Go classic with this - ZX Spectrum Game Characters
Miner Willy was not the only one - ZX Spectrum Music
Pushing that beeper! - ZZap 64
So was Zzap...