Holy crow! I made a topic! I'm a posting madman! Somebody stop me before I hurt myself!
Ok all you old fuddy duds out there, time to reminisce a little. Oh, and of course young whippersnappers are encouraged to participate too.
What was the very first strategy or war game you found yourself hopelessly addicted to? I'm talking strictly electronic gaming here, on any platform. I'm sure many of us started on the tabletop (myself included), but those don't count!
My first taste of gaming crack was a little gem by SSI called Sixgun Shootout for the Commodore 64. In a nutshell, it was a tactical squad-level game sort of like X-Com, only with cowboys and indians instead of marines and aliens. There were a bunch of different scenarios to play, many of them based on actual events from that time period in American history. Man, there was nothing like taking on the Clanton gang at the OK Corral with the Earps and Doc Holliday or trading shots as Blondie from behind an overturned saloon table with Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. You could also design your own custom cowboy, assign his attributes, weapon skills (lots of weapons to choose from), and of course label him with a suitably notorious nickname of your choosing. If someone ever re-made this game, I'd fall to my knees and commence to worship said someone.
I enjoyed playing MULE before I discovered Sixgun, but Sixgun was the one that really sucked me into the TBS genre. Mostly because I've always been an avid fan of American wild west lore, I imagine. I shudder to think of the countless hours I dumped into that game.
So, now it's your turn. You don't have to necessarily put the
first strategy game you ever played, I'm looking for the first one that really hooked you! The one that is at least partly to blame for your SEIV addiction today.