Games you never understood to play (the right way)

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by StrategyGamer

I always wanted to learn how to play Carrier Command properly but I just couldn't work it out. I must be dumb. It seemded like it might be a really excellent game if I could just figure it out properly.



Push joystick up to move forward.
Press fire button to shoot your gun at the monsters.

Its easy as pie.

Carrier Command!! piss easy

[laffer]

Originally Posted by Boo Boo

It had a nice Game Over sequence but took ages to get around to a new game when you did die just waiting to play again youd get bored.

It wouldnt have taken much to make this game playable, FM Towns had a more playable port.

You could disable the game over sequence in Beast 2

A game I never understood how to play the right way is Batman - the Caped Crusader (for the C64, but the Amiga version is quite similar).
It has some puzzles and such, and I was too young back then to solve most of those... especially since the game is (obviously) in English, and I didn't know a word of English at that age.

Another reason I didn't get very far in this game is it's one of those games where you can wander around everywhere in the game at any time, which tends to become quite confusing.

I did finish the game in an emulator a couple of years ago though, by drawing maps of all the areas.
Great feeling to finally finish a game you played a lot as a kid but never got very far in

[Oliver_A]

Hmmm, for me, it was Le Manoir de Mortevielle / Mortville Manor / Der Landsitz von Mortville from Lankhor. This game confused me to no end with its convoluted plot and user interface. Either I was killed or I blew my "cover" by asking way too many questions. I'm really curious if someone completed this game on his/her own.

But I played it quite often, because it was so unintentionally funny. Mostly due to the German localization and the hilarious German voice synthesis, which has every character speak German with a realistic French accent.

French version:

[ Show youtube player ]

English version (sadly, only Atari ST):

[ Show youtube player ]

[JohnnyWalker]

Originally Posted by s2325

Mega Lo Mania
Cool intro but what should I do? Next game please.

Woah... you really missed out. One of the best games ever.

Populous II
Didn't have a manual.

Powermonger
See Populous II.

Colonization
Just couldn't understand this at all... Even though I understood Civilization.

[gilgamesh]

Battlemaster
Gold of the Realm

Didn't know what you are supposed to do. But maybe that were problems of language.

[CritAnime]

Originally Posted by Oldtimer

Shadow of the beast II - The difficulty level was just insane :P

I just got myself a copy of this. Dunno if it's the drink that stopped me from playing. Or maybe it actually is difficult, lord knows I have tried to play it in the past, but this is a hard game.

[StarEye]

Just because you didn't figure out the game doesn't mean it's a piece of crap. In fact, it's a very good game, and a very popular one.

[Monsterland]

We're living in an age in which people consider things they don't understand 'a piece of crap'. It's the ilness of postmodernity.

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by StarEye

Just because you didn't figure out the game doesn't mean it's a piece of crap. In fact, it's a very good game, and a very popular one.

+1

PoC was so popular that the author even released an enhanced version years later for the PC: http://www.portsofcall.de
I loved PoC as a child . Great game if you're into simulation / trading games.

[Leffmann]

Feud and Mind Walker.

[StarEye]

Originally Posted by Kada

It's a piece of crap, in my opinion. It has nothing to do with illness or postmodernity. It's just a really boring game. And if you think it's a great game - well, good for you. But your opinion is just as subjective as mine.

Oh, but it's very possible to think a game is boring while still acknowledging it's a good game, just not for you. I don't like Halo, Call of Duty or most FPSs really, but looking at them objectively I can see they're mostly good games. It's not 100% subjectivity all the time, since it's very possible to enjoy crap music and not see it as Mozarts equal.

[Monsterland]

Originally Posted by Kada

but I had absolutely no f*cking idea what to do... Not even my dad could figure out what the game was about. What a piece of crap!

[gilgamesh]

Originally Posted by Kada

But your opinion is just as subjective as mine.

Maybe his opinion is an informed opinion while yours isn't? Just give it a try, man. It's actually quite nice.

[LuMan]

Not yet mentioned:
Archapelagos! - What the bejeezuz did this involve?? I used to load it up to listen to the start music, click on a few squares, think 'hmm, is it like Sentinel?' and then shut it off!

Already mentioned (but here's my tuppeny-worth )
Midwinter - loved it. Spent WEEKS completing all the missions, then my mate said "sod that - get the skidoo and storm the main base straight away. The boss is there and you'll kill him with one shot!" The git was right, too!

Critical Mass (ZX Spectrum) - Go left and explode. Go right and.. er.. bounce off things... shoot things.... drive about a bit... er... nope.. no idea.

Shadow Of The Beast I - Load it up. Revel at the beautiful multi-parallax scrolling and Korg-generated theme tune. Click fire to play, give it 30 seconds and then turn it off <sigh>

Shadow Of The Beast II - Run to the right until you see the bloke who drops from a tree. Say 'Ten Pints' to him. Cheat mode on. Complete the game. I loved the splashing nose when you jumped in the pools in the underground caverns

[mombasajoe]

Originally Posted by Arnie

Hired Guns: Four screens and no clue what to do.

Like HACKER/HACKER 2

[StarEye]

Originally Posted by Kada

I can't say it's a good game, because if I do so, it would mean *I* think so. Which I don't. And I can't say it's a good game objectively, because 1) an opinion is always subjective (there are no exceptions), and 2) that would be me deciding for other people who ALSO think it's a bad game. So as you can see, we're stuck here and you're just gonna have to accept that my opinion differs from yours, and I'm not gonna acknowledge Ports of Call or MTV music as being "good" just because they're popular


See, I have tried it actually! I didn't understand it when I was little, but I played it again years later when I got better at understanding games, my English got better and all that. And that's when I realized the game just wasn't for me. I just didn't like it, even after I understood how to play it. So not only did I think it was a boring game, but it also took me a long time to learn how to play it. That's a double turnoff in my book.

Opinions are subjective, I agree. But while you may not like it, there's no reason to acknowledge it as a good game. If you don't like Mercedes, does that mean they are shit cars? It's possible to be objective about things.

[deicidal]

Originally Posted by mombasajoe

Like HACKER/HACKER 2

I liked Hacker, never did complete it though, one of the games I keep meaning to get round to trying to finish

[TCD]

M'kay, I think that's enough about objective opinions now.

[DDNI]

14 years in, and I just found out that I haven't been playing "Marriage" properly

[CritAnime]

Originally Posted by mombasajoe

Like HACKER/HACKER 2

That one still stumps me to this day. I can get pretty far but then someone always catches me from the end of a corridor and that seeker thing spanks me for it.

Repeatedly....

Still it's a good little game

Originally Posted by DDNI

14 years in, and I just found out that I haven't been playing "Marriage" properly

Can anyone play "Marriage" properly. Way I see it. It's mainly one sided anyway