Hari's Corner

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A revival of interest in PC games

Filed under: Software and Technology by Hari
Posted on Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 11:41 IST (last updated: Sat, Aug 17, 2013 @ 11:41 IST)

Of late, I've had a mild revival of interest in PC games. I've always been a fan of Real Time/Turn Based Strategy games, simulations and world-building games and to me, gameplay has always been the key, rather than graphical glitz or sound effects. Over the years, I've been a fan of games like Age of Mythology, Seven Kingdoms, Civilization, FreeCiv and so on. I've also had fun playing hardcore rail simulators like Microsoft Train Simulator, Auran Trainz and OpenBVE.

Now, a long time ago, I used to play a game called Transport Tycoon by Microprose. It was a fun, addictive transport network building game with the option of building several types of transportation networks  including land (road and rail) and air. The biggest fun was building a complex railway system and watching your miniature trains run flawlessly from point to point and make you a hefty profit. The challenge was to make sure your transport company stays afloat while servicing your bank loan, maintenance costs, infrastructure costs and so on.

And then, I recently discovered OpenTTD, an open source re-make of the old classic Transport Tycoon Delxue. Old fans of TT and TTD will find the screenshot below quite familiar.

OpenTTD

It has several enhancements over the orginal and provides for hours of fun and entertainment as you lay out tracks and roads and send you trains, buses and planes on their way.

It is addictive and fun. But be warned: it is a time sucker and it can make your family mad at you for spending hours in front of the computer! 

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