Theme Hospital

Right I'm going to start by saying I love, love, LOVE this game and always have, and it's exactly as I remember, trickier the further into the game you get, it's humorous and witty, and the same cheats exist to bail you out if you want to bypass the more challenging elements like a wuss. However on quite a few occasions now I have experienced the game glitching out on me, or just crashing altogether. You will occasionally get staff members or patients coding getting stuck, meaning their physical form is where it should be, but a second version of the same form stuck in one or two squares on the map, meaning you either have to reload from an earlier point in the game, or restart the level completely, which is just irritating. Granted these things were part of the game in the 90s as well, and it was by no means bug free, it's just hampered my playing experience more than it had when I was a kid.

The reason being that if you get too big for your pantaloons, the game will take you down a notch. It will actually slam you every 3 min with an epidemic, and cost you 12-20k a pop. Otherwise the graphics are awesome, even for being so old, gameplay has some realism with a toss of humor, and controls are relatively simple. Spread out your floor plans, take your time, and this will be one of your favorite games of all time. ALSO: I had a problem with graphic corruption, there is a file in your main installation folder called Launch Graphic Mode Setup that you must run to change the necessary settings. Fixed mine right up. Phenom II 1100T, Radeon 6950 2Gb.

Still a fun game to this day. Especially for a 25+ year old game. Get the CorsixTH(dot)com mod for this. Available for Win, Mac & Linux. You'll be happy you did.

I waited for this one, because it's one of my golden classics: easy to play, hard to master and soooo much fun. Design the rooms of your own hospital and work your way up from a small village to the big city. I always loved the crazy illnesses, the "theme series" typical handling and overall details. Bullfrog (best developer ever, imho) gives you so much to discover, see and laugh while rising the level step by step. And it gets messy quite fast, especially when a dozen new emergency cases make a run to your reception for immediate help - and they are all invisible! ;)

I've been playing computer games ever since I could afford one (VIC 20) and this game stands out as one of my all-time favorites, both for its quirky sense of humor and its design. For each level, you start out with an empty building, and add rooms, furniture, even potted plants (helps the doctors feel important). You hire staff: receptionists, doctors, specialists, nurses, handymen, etc. which are paid according to their strengths or lack thereof. The game starts out simply, and each level adds more diseases, cures, types of room (research, surgery), etc. - and more difficulty. Eventually you have to deal with epidemics, vomit storms, and earthquakes, all while trying to make a profit. Like many games of its era, there is no "build while paused' option; you can slow the game down, but that's it. I personally have never managed to beat this game, but have had many, many hours of enjoyment from it. Also, this game has personality and real humor, things that seem to be missing from many games of the last decade. Maybe that's because developers are rushing to get things out quickly for profit and have no time to add that particular magic anymore. Highly recommended.