Battlefield 2, Modern Combat. My brother and I watched the opening sequence with our mouths hanging open. We couldn't believe how "realistic" the ragdoll physics were lol.
For me I'd say it was probably playing Carmageddon 2 at my friend's place. I think that was also the first time I played a 3D-accelerated game (Voodoo).
Warcraft 2. It was the first game I played online. Fond memories of a friend teaching me to download war2.zip and direct dial to his computer and play together. It was a complete game changer.
I'd also say Mass Effect. I'd never played a game that I connected to so much at that time. I still to this day don't know if there's another series I've played more often.
I'm gonna go with world of warcraft. The idea of a persistent online MMO was entirely new at the time (at least for me and most people I think) and it just blew me away that it was basically just a virtual world that was going 24/7, entirely 3D too. I got into mmos a bit after that and got really into ragnarok online which is now a fond memory for me.
I did not grow up with a console. Pretty much just floppies with TLC games on them. My grandma introduced me to Sierra and Blizzard games, and they were exciting yeah but not mind blowing.
But then warcraft III (didn't play Starcraft much at this time, was young) introduced the concept of custom maps to me. Basically going from having one game to dozens. Tower Defenses, RPGs, genres that basically either didn't exist yet or don't exist anymore (rip Enfos...and RP maps seriously wth)
It pretty much shaped my childhood, friends, and all that stuff. Really sad that SCII never really became what Warcraft III was to me.
Reading this title, instantly thought of watching my older brother play wc3 as a 5 year old, and it being the defining game of my childhood and teenage years. Easily 10k hours of having that game open if not playing.
The comparison of lightning in a bottle that I've heard is so apt. og Dota, etc, countless custom maps that countless people put their souls into creating, out of passion. the "programmers", texture/map designers, all working together or by themselves to build and improve these incredibly complex/deep works of art. For MOBAs, being the progenitor grounds of the genre!
Blizzard killing wc3 with reforged was the day I told myself I'd never buy another one of their products again. Impossible bosses (GORGEOUS mod), metastasis, war in the plaguelands, battle for middle ... you get it dude. meeting mapmakers in lobbies! Wc3 was every genre you could imagine in a birds eye view game wrapped into one.
& I concur about sc2. Graphically looked newer, but the custom game scene pales in comparison, even today, with a more "powerful" map engine. I got into league because of friends a couple years ago, and controlling 9 heros as the fellowship or nazgul in bfme, in pitched 5v5 wc3 battles with massive custom designed lotr armies with lore accurate, non revivable heros and named units, in a spawn based map, with an insane amount of coded events... well, league never hit the same in terms of that feeling of sheer scale and epicness :/ always seemed... too easy?
Gonna date myself a bit, but the Original Descent and MechWarrior 2. The seemless use of a z-axis in a shooter was for some reason mind blowing, and the combination of resource balancing and evaluating pros/cons for how to approach a mission was amazing. TIMBERWOLF is the real Og.
Certainly Kerbal Space Program. The first game that felt like more than just a toy or a story teller. Landing on the Mün for the first time felt incredibly real and like an insane achievement, in a way that no game I played before (or after) has delivered.
Road Rash was the first game that made me love games then it was Need for Speed II I could replay those games for hours. nowadays the only game that gave me good replayability was Hades and live-service games like Valorant.
Unreal Tournament for me. I'd never played ANYTHING like it. Gibbing people with the frack cannon will forever be one of my absolute favorite gaming memories, even thought I stopped playing FPS games like a decade ago.
That's a tough question! I would have to say it's a toss up between MechWarrior 2 and the original Half Life. I spent so many hours customizing mechs and tearing stuff up. There was something magical about the first Half-Life game though. So good and led to so many mods that I played for such a long time (CS, TFC/2, DoD).
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