Classic Personal Computer (PC) Games

This turn based, historical game from Sid Meier is definitely a classic. Warfare games that includes ships and gunpowder are one of my favorite type of games. The feel of conquering another country and having obedient citizens, expanding territory, battling pirate ships, upgrading ship weaponry, recruiting and training crew is just what [...]

As the name suggests, the objective is to construct and manage a towering skyscraper and keep its occupants happy. Offices, hotels, and condominiums give tenants places to live and work, while shops and restaurants provide commercial balance. Utilities such as hospitals and recycling centers become necessary as the tower grows in size. The player’s progress [...]

Released in 1994 for DOS this first game of the series tasks the player with freeing the island of Metavira from the greedy Santino. The player must recruit mercenaries as they explore, capture, and hold new territory. The natives harvest the valuable trees from which a revolutionary medicine can be extracted; a result of the [...]

Pirates! is Sid Meier’s firt foray into Strategy Gaming. Before Pirates! he was mainly involved in simulation games such as F-15 Strike Eagle and Silent Service. Just for that, this game deserves it’s place in history being the first attempt at strategy games of arguably THE GREATEST STRATEGY GAME DESIGNER OF ALL TIME. [...]

 
 
Master of Magic falls among the games which pioneered the 4X game genre. A new game world is randomly generated with every new game. The player can customize some aspects of generation (land mass size, strength of magic, etc.). The player can also customize the skills, spell choices, and appearance of the player’s wizard, as [...]

Master of Orion (MoO) is a turn-based science fiction computer strategy game designed by Steve Barcia, developed by Barcia’s company Simtex and published by Microprose in 1993. Although Alan Emrich coined the term “4X game” (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) in his review of the game, Master of Orion was not the first in this genre [...]

The Syndicate puts the player in charge of a player-named corporation in a gritty near-future cyberpunk-style world. Gameplay involves ordering a four-person team of cyborg agents around cities displayed in a fixed-view isometric style, in pursuit of mission goals such as assassinating executives of a rival syndicate, rescuing captured allies, “persuading” civilians and scientists to [...]

X-COM: UFO Defense is one of those games that transcends technology and time. Playing this game on your bleeding edge PC Today is just as enjoyable as it was playing it when it was first released over 15 years ago. Yes the graphics is ‘dated’ but that’s not what makes this game what it is.
The [...]

Transport Tycoon (TT) and Transport Tycoon Deluxe (TTD) are computer games developed by Chris Sawyer and published by MicroProse in 1994 (TT), and 1995 (TTD). The games are economic simulations, presented in an isometric view in 2D with 8-bit graphic by Simon Foster, in which the player is in control of a transport company, and [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Richard Evans
GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 2005, Richard Evans
Zugzwang is an excellent chess tutorial/puzzle game coded in Adventure Game Studio, once more demonstrating versatility of this engine. If you don’t know what the name means, “zugzwang” is a situation in chess in which one is forced to make bad [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Andreas Seyfarth & Andr Wichmann
GAME DEVELOPER:Rio Grande Games
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 2005, Andr Wichmann
San Juan is a great fanmade PC conversion of the card game of the same name, which is in turn based on Puerto Rico board game. The description at Boardgamegeek.com explains the basics: “The pack of [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:
GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 2005, Battle for Wesnoth
Turn-based war games with fantasy themes are among the rarest breeds of computer games: after SSI’s superb Fantasy General, armchair commanders have to settle for 4X strategy games like Age of Wonder or Heroes of Might and Magic to get their [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Eric Miller
GAME DEVELOPER:Norland Software
GAME PUBLISHER:Norland Software
Copyright 1983, Norland Software
Sleuth is a simple, but fun and memory-challenging ASCII-based murder mystery written by Eric N. Miller, the man behind the well-made Norland Hangman series. In the author’s own words:
“Sleuth is an interactive murder mystery. As a game of Sleuth [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:
GAME DEVELOPER:RAM-SOFT
GAME PUBLISHER:RAM-SOFT
Copyright 1987, RAM-SOFT
This is one of the older Yatzee games made for the computer as far as I know, developed and published by Danish RAM-SOFT. The interface is simple and the gameplay is flawless, and you can play with up to three friends and/or computer [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Don Gibson
GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 1985, Don Gibson
Although an inferior version of the game Monopoly Deluxe already included on The Underdogs, this old gem is nevertheless a fun PC version of the classic board game. The final version of the game, v5.5 done in 1986, includes a Save [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:John Thayer
GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 1984, John Thayer
Computer Dots is a fun little would-be coffee-break game. Basically a PC version of the game “Dots”, the game was written in 1984, and is somewhat of a jewel for that fact alone. For those as of yet uninitiated, here’s the [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Don Berg
GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous
GAME PUBLISHER:Anonymous
Copyright 1988, Don Berg
A very simple black and white (pardon the pun) chess game with 6 difficulty levels. The computer opponent is decent enough, and you can choose whether to play white or black. It’s nothing spectacular, however, and the real challenge lies more [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:
GAME DEVELOPER:Red Storm Entertainment
GAME PUBLISHER:Red Storm Entertainment
Copyright 2000, Red Storm Entertainment
Shadow Watch is a fun, albeit short sci-fi tactical strategy game in the same vein as X-COM that offers some original ideas that make up for the short length, slow gameplay, and none-too-bright AI. My most favorites [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Andreas Seyfarth & Mark Blanco
GAME DEVELOPER:Rio Grande Games
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 2005, Mark Blanco
Puerto Rico is a great fanmade PC game based on a great tabletop strategy game of the same name which is published in the USA by Rio Grande Games. In this 2-5-player game, each player takes [...]

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Klaus-Jurgen Wrede
GAME DEVELOPER:Rio Grande Games
GAME PUBLISHER:KOCH Media
Copyright 2004, KOCH Media
El Grande is a decent PC version of the excellent board game of the same name, coded by the same company (Germany’s KOCH Media) who released the PC version of Carcassonne. The original board game is a great [...]