[solops]

After my post got embarrasingly lost...

Big disappointments (No rankings, just titles as I recall them.)

1. Patriot - incomplete
2. Superpower - buggy
3. Civ III
4. Call to Power I
5. Hearts of Iron – buggy as hell, true greatness was fumbled
6. Creatures I, II & III – too cute, my kids drive me nuts with it
7. Battlcruiser 3000
8. Imperium (the only attempt at a 3D galaxy I’ve seen)
9. Age of Empires (don’t like RTS arcades; too fast; no pause for orders)
10. SM’s Alpha Centauri - aweful graphics, absurdly unintuitive tech tree. Graphics usually do not matter to me, but I found these offputting to the point of making the game unpleasant.

Games I liked right out of the box (Not in order)

1. Conquest of the New World Gold
2. Star Fleet Command
3. Stars! – #1:The best ever MP, outstanding interface
4. Civ 3 PTW add-on w/ patch
5. Civ 2 - Liked it a lot
6. Civ 1
7. The Operational Art of War (all editions)– outstanding, #2 favorite
8. SE IV
9. Dungeonkeeper II – a hilariously engrossing jaunt
10. Tanks!
11. Harpoon
12. Medieval Total War – fun, mixed implementation, good interface
13. Reach for the Stars! (Ancient original edition on Apple II)