#10: Command & Conquer (1995)


I was about 10 or 11 years old, and still fondly remember meeting up with a friend at Sunday School and fervently discussing all the finer points of EACH AND EVERY MISSION. It was brilliant. I suppose it was one of my first experiences where the sharing took place on that level. We would strategise, discuss weaknesses, the amazing FMV clips...I would look forward to that the whole week.


It was very fun trying to find little tricks to exploit the A.I. It didn't feel like cheating at all, it felt like it was all part of the game. It felt NECESSARY. Ones I can still remember are parking a stealth-tank in the enemy refinery so that their harvester could not deliver any tiberium, or how you could pick off an enemy Mammoth Tank with a single Recon Bike unit if you were fast and skilled enough to dodge their rockets, because you could stay outside the main cannons' range.

The first time I encountered an Obelisk of Light...it was one of my most defining gaming moments up to that point. The way it powered up...and then dispensed swift and instant death...was EPIC. The battle to take it down the very first time, took a while. It felt so good, comparable to the joy of killing the nuclear bomb-dispensing Temple of Nod on the final mission.


Don't even get me started on the amazing Frank Klepacki soundtrack that I still rock out to today. Some of the finest electro you'll ever likely hear, if you consider where it came from especially. Songs like "Act On Instinct", "Just Do It Up!", "Radio", "Mechanical Man"...there are far too many to mention. The adrenaline rush they would provide at the most opportune moments was indescribable. Just imagine a young boy jiving along to a video game soundtrack. Glorious.

This game would define RTS for myself and many others for years to come. Yes, Dune II came before it, but not being able to multi-select bugged the hell out of me. This must make you wonder, if this was so great, what could be better? Oh my friends, just wait and see. Trust me, it's worth it.

 Honourable Mention: Pokémon Red & Blue (Game Boy Color, 1996)

The absolutely only reasons this didn't make it were the grind-style gameplay and the way this amazing franchise was quickly ruined. Some will say this was meant for 6-year-olds, that is BULLSHIT. It's inherently insanely addictive, but there are a tiny handful of games that have done it better. I pumped over 600 hours into this game, on holidays and car drives and such, but I just couldn't do it again. Who can forget the joy of capturing Abra for the first time and training him into a powerhouse? For years I did consider this to be in the top 10, but there are slightly better. That's a testament to gaming goodness, not any fault of this.

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