Simulation Games

[Rejinx]

I LOVE simulation games. But now a days the market is packed with sh@tty Tycoon games and The Sims' expansion packs. So what I'm looking for is some really good simulation game, and not flight or trains sims, I want to build stuff. I don't like sims that are storyline only, like Black and White 2. And I have already played every Maxis game. Does anybody knows of some really good simu games, retro or new?

[scorch56]

The old Mechwarrior/Mechcommander series on PC (NOT the Xbox games) are my favorite simulation games.. but you're probably not looking for that kind of simulation.

If you're into building things though.. Mindrover for the PC was awesome.

[kedawa]

Ever tried Yoot Tower?
It's older, but I've heard good things about it.

[Tan]

The old Mechwarrior/Mechcommander series on PC....

in the height of it's popularity nothing could touch mechwarrior 3 or 4 for me, when the clans were active and we played league i could spend hours in the mechlab on a server testing configurations while discussing strategy on battlecomm.

[kentuckyfried]

Aerobiz Supersonic for the SNES and Genesis are fantastic.

Railroad Tycoon 2 for the computer is amazing too, you can build an empire in the good old rail baron historical sense, play the stock market, all kinds of goodies.

Civilization 3 (never played 4, liked 3 more than 2 and 1) is sort of a society simulator, and I can't begin to laud that game enough.

[Haoie]

From your initial view it seems like you know only about, or are merely interested in, western simulators.

Some of the more interesting sim genres from the land of the rising sun including dating [both kinky and non], train driving, child raising, and summer holiday.

[InsaneDavid]

From your initial view it seems like you know only about, or are merely interested in, western simulators.

Some of the more interesting sim genres from the land of the rising sun including dating [both kinky and non], train driving, child raising, and summer holiday.

Yeah, go download Princess Maker 2, the unreleased US localized version. It's out there, totally free, it was a "looking for a publisher" private release. It's daughter rasing simulation, very interesting and extremely complex game if you get into it - not a hentai game though.

[scorch56]

The old Mechwarrior/Mechcommander series on PC....

in the height of it's popularity nothing could touch mechwarrior 3 or 4 for me, when the clans were active and we played league i could spend hours in the mechlab on a server testing configurations while discussing strategy on battlecomm.

Bahhh.. Mechwarrior II for me.. the greatest game.. ever; although I did enjoy ALL of them (and even the Xbox games). In fact.. I was a beta tester on Kesmai's old Battletech online game. my Mechwarrior collection is my pride and joy. I own every version of every Mechwarrior game ever made.. ever; and that means every variant of a single game like MWII Titanium,W95 and original DOS version. Not to mention all the "optimized" versions that were released for the games (i.e. ATI pack-ins, etc.).

In fact.. if it weren't for Mechwarrior.. my nym wouldn't have been scorch56 for the last 15 years, as it was my callsign on the ladders.

[Neo Rasa]

JAGGED ALLIANCE 2. The ultimate combination of exacting strategic gameplay, maintenance, and plot. Styled after badass eighties/early nineties action movies. The original Jagged Alliance is fantastic as well but you might have some trouble getting it to work on XP without sound issues.

You're hired by a deposed ruler of a third world country to get it back. You hire mercenaries over the "internet" (the interface for the game is your laptop from which you mastermind all the operations from afar) and choose what point in the country they enter in. Turn based battles and encounters ensue. You gradually take back territory and do some sidequests to gain the trust of the people, from which you can train a militia to defend a sector while your main troops are gone.

You have to balance your militia with still having enough guys to exploit the natural resources of the sector to pull in cash so that you can keep everyone fed and armed. You have to worry about having weapons shipped in and not get intercepted by the enemies, it's fantastically involved.

I could go into a whole thing about it but it got massively positive reviews on release (no one bought it though since Quake III/Unreal Tournament came out a little before it) so just check out the reviews on Gamerankings. They'll sum up the coolness of the game better than I can. IMO it's arguably one of the finest PC games ever made.

All I'll say is that at first it feels like a typical combat-oriented turn based strategy game, but the mercenaries you hire have so many one liners, their morale and personality quirks all clash and complement each other so well, and you have to take that into account when planning your team. It's literally an eighties action movie simulator.

For the consoles, check out the Nobunaga's Ambition games, also see Shingen the Ruler on the NES.

You probably already played the Caesar and Pharaoh games published by Sierra. If not then Caesar III is really worth a look.

Taipan is an old old one but great. Basically a precursor to Uncharted Waters. You get an upgradable ship and trade, battle pirates, etc. Really addictive. There was a GBA remake called Sea Trader: Rise of Taipan.

If you want pure combat, Daisenryaku VII on the XBox is where it's at. No bullshit, just hexagons and different terrain levels terrain and tons of units with tons of stats plus a map editor. :D

[scorch56]

Jagged Alliance 2.. I have that.. somewhere.. good game. Wasn't there an expansion to it as well?

[Jorpho]

There are some fond reviews of Constructor and Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life, both for PC.

[InsaneDavid]

If you want pure combat, Daisenryaku VII on the XBox is where it's at. No bullshit, just hexagons and different terrain levels terrain and tons of units with tons of stats plus a map editor. :D

Even the Famicom Dai Senryaku game (translation patch has been made) is a damn good time.

[Neo Rasa]

Jagged Alliance 2.. I have that.. somewhere.. good game. Wasn't there an expansion to it as well?

Yeah, it was called Unfinished Business. There's also a US re-release called Wildfire that came out two years ago that's so difficult it's insane. You come off the chopper in the first mission with just handguns and there's triple the standard enemy count, and they all have heavy rifles and body armor. LOL

[Jorpho]

Wildfire and Unfinished Business are completely different, I believe. I've also heard Wildfire isn't very good.

Since the source code was released, there are some fairly nifty mods available for JA2, though.

[Neo Rasa]

Yeah I didn't clarify that, Wildfire is a re-release of Jagged Alliance 2 itself with ramped up difficulty. Unfinished Business is the JA2 expansion.

[Jorpho]

Well, I'm going by http://www.strategyfirst.com/special/conquestpack/ principally, which doesn't quite suggest that it's a re-release.

[SNKFan75]

I am totally enjoying MS Flight Simulator 2004 and Lock On! Both of these games are for the PC and are great looking and have excellent controls. Note that you will need a pretty beffy CPU and RAM to run FS2K4 nicely.

SNKFan75

[Damaramu]

My favorite sim type game is no doubt Dungeon Keeper 2. I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for, but that game is a hoot and a half!!

If you haven't played it, you owe it to yourself to track down a copy. Should be REAL cheap by now, bargain bin stuff probably.

[Neo Rasa]

Well, I'm going by http://www.strategyfirst.com/special/conquestpack/ principally, which doesn't quite suggest that it's a re-release.

I'm going by my personal experiences with the game, there is some level alteration but the overall progression, etc., I mean it's closer to a "Jagged Alliance 2: Champion Edition" then a real remake or sequel. The primary change is to the difficulty itself which is pretty insane.

I'll try to play further into it at some point and see if it has any changes that make it worth owning (for now though I'd recommend that anyone who wants the game gets JA2 Gold).

[Rejinx]

Thnks guys, I played a lot of these already, but some I am going to have to look for. It will help me fill my time till "Spore" comes out.