A few years ago I fired up this game in Dosbox to see how well it had aged. Next thing I knew, it was 6 AM and the sun was coming up! Just as when I first played the game 18 years ago on my 33 MHz PC, the game had again sucked me in. Its memorable music, intuitive controls, and charming pixel art graphics have only gotten better with age. This truly is a timeless classic and your owe it to yourself to check it out!
Another World (aka Out of this World) is a classic platformer that really showcased what PCs could do, and remains a shining example of PC action games. Its highly stylized graphics, epic soundtrack and sound effects never fail to draw me into the alternate world it creates. I have many fond memories of this game, and even though it's short and has no dialogue, this simplicity is deceptive and you will soon find yourself captivated. You owe it to yourself to explore Another World!
Myst is an unusual game. Its popularity and reputation are huge, yet the game is comparatively simple by modern standards. Consisting of a slideshow of otherworldly pre-rendered scenes with overlaid Quicktime movies, Myst is all about exploration and discovering the secrets lying behind the bizarre and mysterious worlds you find yourself in. The depth of the story behind this games and its sequels is unmatched in any other PC adventure game. Check this out, but if you really want the full experience I highly recommend you read the novels written by Rand Miller, which is now available as The Myst Reader, a compilation of all three novels. They bring the world to life and make your exploration of Myst that much more enthralling.
I tried to love Painkiller. It seemed like my kind of game: fast-paced with lots of enemies to kill with lots of weapons. Yet it overshoots its goal of recreating classic FPS action and lands in a frustrating realm of repetitious and boring gameplay. How could a game about slaying demons with a stake gun be boring, you ask? It comes down to implementation: it seems to misinterpret the classic formula and opts instead for a checkpoint-based level progression that condemns you to fighting wave after wave of uninspired enemies while locked in a room until the game decides you've done enough. Miss one enemy, and you have to hunt him down and kill him before you can progress. Once you've done this a dozen times, the bareness of the game's formula will become apparent. I've been told that if I like Doom, I'll love Painkiller. Why this might be true, I have no idea. Doom is based on an essentially open level where you progress by finding keys to open locked doors. Painkiller, on the other hand, is often a shooter-on-rails, where you are guided into a room, forced to fight respawning waves of enemies, then allowed to progress to the next room where you do the same until the end of the level. Painkiller is far more similar to a game like Serious Sam, although unlike Serious Sam you don't get the outrageous weapons or bizarre enemies. Instead you are treated to wave after wave of boring enemies which you have to kill with weapons that, while original, are more frequently baffling than fun to use. You get the arcade-style gameplay without much else. Frankly, Painkiller is overrated. It really has little in common with the iD Software classics like Doom and Quake, and frankly your $10 could be better spent on any number of more modern FPS titles that not only look better, but are more fun and more satisfying than Painkiller. Better yet, just play the original Quake if you need your classic FPS fix and you won't regret wasting your time and money on Painkiller like I did.
