A history of computer games, part four: my personal gaming history

So I've been playing games for as long as I can remember. I got a computer when I was 3 for Christmas and my dad bought me a lot of old games to play on it. Some of my earliest memories are of me playing point and click games like 'The Pink Panther's Passport to Peril' and 'Elroy Goes Bugzerk' as well as first person games like 'Barbie Horse Riding Club Adventure'. These were some of the greatest games I've ever played and admittedly I take them out sometimes to replay. They were so simple and clearly made with programmes like Microsoft Paint and VERY simple 3D software (although these kind of games came about when I was older) but the simplicity was what made them so much fun. And I replayed The Pink Panther's Passport to Peril a few months ago and still found it incredibly challenging at some stages of playing it (not too sure what to think about that...) but these were the foundations of my very first gaming experience.

Elroy Goes Bugzerk (Source 1)

Then the glorious series that is Pokemon emerged for the Gameboy. I adored Pokemon so much, it's no exaggeration when I say Pokemon was my life when I was younger and playing the very first Pokemon games (Red and Blue) was like a dream come true to me. I could play those for hours on end, the whole idea of them was just amazing and despite the pixelated graphics, this game could keep any kid entertained for hours on end. I owe a lot to Pokemon and I love seeing how far the series has come to this day.

Pokemon Red and Blue (Source 2)

So I had my experience with PC and handheld gaming at a young age but I think what really brought me into the gaming world was when I was 5 and my dad bought me a Playstation 1 for Christmas. I remember opening it and having no clue what it was, I honestly think my dad bought it because he wanted to play it himself, I doubt he knew what a huge impact gaming would have on me and how I have grown up an avid gamer all because of him. So I opened this oddly shaped device along with two games: 'Bugs and Taz: Time Busters' and 'Spyro the Dragon'. My dad convinced me to play Spyro first. I can honestly say that playing all of the Spyro games has been some of the greatest moments of my life. Spyro was definitely one of the greatest Playtsation games out there and even to this day they are absolute gems, they have to be some of the world's greatest games I believe, countless hours have been wasted playing the original Spyro PS1 trilogy.

Spyro the Dragon (Source 3)

So the PS1 is probably what started off my gaming life and is the foundations of me being a Sony girl. When I was in primary school my parents bought me a Playstation 2. Admittedly, this console is what I probably played the least out of all of my Playstation consoles (although after getting a PS3 in the future I went back to play more PS2 games after this) but the PS2 holds some of the greatest games of its time, one being Ratchet and Clank. I remember playing Star Fox Adventures on my friend's Gamecube but didn't have my own Gamecube so couldn't buy it for myself. In PC World my dad spotted Ratchet and Clank and asked me if I wanted that instead as it was a bit similar. I said no. This was a great mistake. But my dad had other plans and bought it for me a few months later for my birthday. So i ended up playing it. Since then I now own every single Ratchet and Clank game out (aside from the very latest few, which I will buy soon!) and I can tell why I love it so much; the company that made it is Insomniac, the creators of the original Spyro games.

Ratchet and Clank (Source 4)

Another really memorable series for me was the Sonic the Hedgehog series. I started off a bit late in this franchise and started with Sonic Heroes when I was about 13. I remember my dad telling me I'd hate it and not to buy it but I did anyway. And it was the start to the greatest inspiration of my life. After playing Sonic Heroes I pretty much bought every Sonic game I could, Sonic was like my Pokemon obsession all over again and it was what really inspired me to start drawing. All of my drawings today have stemmed from my Sonic obsession. I don't really play Sonic anymore but I owe a lot to it, it's a marvelous series and I hope it does well in the future.

Sonic Heroes (Source 6)

I got a Playstation 3 for my 14th birthday after saving up £200 for half a year (and getting £100 off my parents for it) mainly to get the PS3 Sonic and Ratchet and Clank games but after this, owning a PS3 was what really brought about my favourite form of gaming; shooters. My dad plays my PS3 a lot so he often buys games for himself and he loves shooting games so when he was done I'd often have a go at some of the games he had bought. I remember watching him play 'Uncharted: Drake's Fortune' and 'Fallout 3' and being absolutely terrified of them, I'd never play them alone. But then I got into a competition with one of my friends to see who could win the most trophies on their PS3. I didn't have enough games so I picked up my dad's copy of Fallout 3 to try as I knew this game had trophies in it. I thought I'd absolutely hate it and would leave it after about 5 minutes of playing it. It is now one of my all time favourite games and I've replayed the whole game at least three times and Fallout: New Vegas is the only game I've ever pre-ordered because I was that excited. I also now have an obsession with the apocalypse and 50's music. The same thing happened with Uncharted, I own all the games in the Uncharted series now and have replayed Drake's Fortune six times. The making of Uncharted videos are also what made me decide I wanted to go into the gaming industry when I was older. So this is why I'm sat here writing this blog, because of Uncharted. So this is the point in which I really began to take an interest in shooting games.

Fallout 3 (Source 7)

I have a few favourite series of games that I will love forever, those being: Uncharted, Fallout, Mass Effect, Arkham and Assassin's Creed. My love for Fallout and Uncharted have already been explained but I have yet to explain my love for the other series' I've listed here.

Mass Effect and Arkham came around the same time. I played Arkham Asylum a few years ago, it was a good game, nothing special but I did enjoy it. A couple of years later the sequel to Arkham Asylum came out, Arkham City. At the same time, my best friend became obsessed with the Mass Effect trilogy and tried her hardest to get me into it as well. I bought Mass Effect 1 and 2 at the same time as buying Arkham City. I couldn't get Mass Effect 1 to work for a while so just started with Mass Effect 2 and it confused me a lot so I started playing Arkham City instead. I played that for about three weeks straight, it was such an amazing game, everything about it was just so original and fun, the sneaking around was awesome and using detective mode is always a blast. I bought pretty much all of the dlc content for this game. When I finally grew tired of Arkham City I went back to Mass Effect 2. And I met Garrus Vakarian in the game. The hottest alien I've ever seen. Ever. Garrus has such a massive fanbase and now I can see why. I finally began to understand the gameplay of Mass Effect and stormed through Mass Effect 2, twice and then eagerly bought Mass Effect 3 to play afterwards. I was never really into sci-fi games but Mass Effect was just such an amazing trilogy, it's definitely one of the greatest games out there. The character interactions and different storylines depending on your actions is amazing, it's also brilliant how you can import your character from each previous game so you can stick with one 'Commander Shepard' for the entire trilogy.

Mass Effect (Source 8)

Lastly I want to talk about Assassin's Creed. I have all of the Assassin's Creed games now and even an Altair cosplay, that's how much I adore this series. The whole concept and design of it is beautiful and the characters are just so lovable, I have very strong feelings for the assassins. I remember finding the first game hidden in my dad's room for some reason. I started playing it, nothing special really, then my friend said he'd broken his PS3 and asked if I wanted to buy Brotherhood off him for £10. I agreed, started playing it and was absolutely blown away by everything about the game, I loved it. So I went back and played all the previous AC games, played Brotherhood and then eagerly awaited Revelations. Now I eagerly await for Christmas so I can finally get my hands on Assassin's Creed III. Assassin's Creed is such a well thought out and imaginative series, I don't know what I'd do without it.

Assassin's Creed (Source 9)

So I believe that's pretty much my gaming history. What do I look forward to in the future? Finally getting my hands on Assassin's Creed III of course! I'm also awaiting news on Mass Effect 4 and looking forward to playing Naughty Dog's new series 'The Last of Us'. Apparently Fallout 4 is also being made and I'm dying for some more information on this game. Also the speculations of 'Arkham World' better be true!

What do I hope will be in the future of gaming? It's a long shot but I'd really love a real life simulation where you actually go into the game to play it. It's unlikely but I'd love the gaming industry to get there one day.


Source 1: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100130193309/elroy/images/9/94/Elroy_Bug.jpg
Source 2: http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Pokemon_Red_Version_GBC_ScreenShot4.gif
Source 3: http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/3957/293694-spyro.jpg
Source 4: http://images.psxextreme.com/screenshots/ps2_ratchet_clank/ps2_ratchet_clank_11.jpg
Source 5: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtq1abvzoRtoSwpkkXUPwIgq9KuTfLSVCGYnL64UpbRILM0k6eMYwsNKvPJ1gxOrN0-JIN25VmGuWr3Ccn7qT1-qw8PBG8bdc6sQvNsLl1oTII7X2unb-NaZL1EpxoSJfDB98LGLR9qJJZ/s1600/Sonic+Heroes.jpeg
Source 6: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtq1abvzoRtoSwpkkXUPwIgq9KuTfLSVCGYnL64UpbRILM0k6eMYwsNKvPJ1gxOrN0-JIN25VmGuWr3Ccn7qT1-qw8PBG8bdc6sQvNsLl1oTII7X2unb-NaZL1EpxoSJfDB98LGLR9qJJZ/s1600/Sonic+Heroes.jpeg
Source 7: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/fallout3_1_lg.jpg
Source 8:  http://gallery.techarena.in/data/503/medium/mass-effect-pc-screenshot.jpg
Source 9: http://www.gamershell.com/static/screenshots/9853/286144_full.jpg