Old games that hold up today

[Bostur]

I had the honour of playing Jagged Alliance 2 for the first time. It's not often I encounter an old quality game that I haven't played. It has some of the best tactical AI I have ever seen in a game. The system is solid enough that decisions matter and the player can learn and become better at it. As icing on the cake the story elements and the dialogue is hilarious.
When I watch modern games getting AI wrong to the extent that NPCs can barely navigate without getting stuck, I wish modern developers would observe and learn.

Any adventure game, if it was good back then it still is. Adventure games don't depend on graphics to carry them through.

Master of Magic - One of the most replayable 4X games ever made. Very hard game, very deep.

UFO:Enemy Unknown, and the sequel Terror from the deep - For much the same reasons as JA2.

Deus Ex - I replayed it in preparation for Human Revolution. Absolute rubbish graphics but a level design that is second to none. In the age of railroaded shooter corridors it's refreshing to play a game that doesn't treat the player as a drooling idiot. Too bad the last part of HR turned into another typical shooting gallery, because it started out promising.

Many of Sid Meier's games.

Pirates! - Still the best implementation of swordplay I have seen in a game due to the simplicity and the clear cues. The remake doesn't work quite as well in this regard because the complex animations make moves sluggish.

The Civilization series - Civ 2, 3 and 4 being the best of the series.

The Railroad Tycoon series - The second being my personal favorite.

Alpha Centauri - Not so much for the gameplay, because it misstepped a bit as a 4X game, but one of the few 4X games that successfully integrated narrative.

 

[2733]

[sub][sub]**I know that Metroid Prime was rereleased as part of a trilogy. I have said trilogy and the console to play it on. And I still very much prefer it on the Gamecube because I can play it with a good and proper controller, not any of this newfangled motion control bollocks. Plus I would like to see that game in a true HD rerelease - it still looks really damned good.
[/sub][/sub]

I have the exact opposite thing going: I can't play normal first-person shooters for crap with a gamepad, but the Wii's pointer (without waggle, just the pointer) works like a charm.

I like the pointer for accuracy as well, at least I did before I upgraded to a new HDTV and the thing aims 4in high and 3 to the right, I hope wiiu fixes that.

Back on topic, I'm currently playing Okami for the first time and it is still better then most modern releases.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

[sub][sub]**I know that Metroid Prime was rereleased as part of a trilogy. I have said trilogy and the console to play it on. And I still very much prefer it on the Gamecube because I can play it with a good and proper controller, not any of this newfangled motion control bollocks. Plus I would like to see that game in a true HD rerelease - it still looks really damned good.
[/sub][/sub]

I have the exact opposite thing going: I can't play normal first-person shooters for crap with a gamepad, but the Wii's pointer (without waggle, just the pointer) works like a charm.

Metroid Prime has lock-on, though; doesn't that help at all?

I haven't played the original, and besides, the lock-on makes everything a whole lot more trivial. And when you lock onto something fast, it's hard to move where you want to go because the camera moves without you...
~~~~
Note that every detractor of motion controls I've ever met only talks about the lag on the "waggle" command, even with the Wii Motion Plus. None of them ever bring up the pointer (except with Yahtzee's review of Killzone 3, and that was only because it was shown in a ridiculous way.)

 

[him over there]

Assuming you have someone else to play with Pong holds up pretty way. Other than that the most obvious I can think of The Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker, And the original Paper Mario.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Sword of the Stars sounds like a game to watch then as this sums up my list except I would substitute enemy unknown for terror - why?

The bugs - the stupidly long drawn out terror missions, please I never, ever, ever want to play through one of those again. The original was more fun.

Sword of the Stars 2 had probably the worst launch possible, Kerberos is patching the hell out of it, but it'll be a good few months before the game even starts looking close to completion. It's playable now (previously it basically wasn't), but many of the features don't work yet.

Trade and diplomacy isn't in yet, but warfare is, research seems to work ok now, and the fleet system takes a lot of getting used to, especially since the tutorials aren't in yet either.

In other words, give a few more months to get closer to what it should have been, and you'll have a game that can compete with Orion 2, although I suspect the latter will still be better liked. ^^

 

[LittleJoeRambler]

StarCraft and Brood War. I've been replaying both of these games recently, and I have to admit there's just something about them that feels... better than StarCraft II. I can't put my finger on it, but I know part of it is the music. The pace feels less break-neck too, although I tend to enjoy faster-paced stuff more. Maybe it's the greater sense of accomplishment from pulling off a victory, because it takes so much more effort to get the most out of all of your units, and it's less about "build giant force and a-move, rinse and repeat until enemy stops moving."

I also still really enjoy playing Titan Quest (though I have the Underlord mod and not the original game), and as such I'm really, really looking forward to Grim Dawn when it comes out.

And the 3rd generation Pokemon games, although it really, really bugs me that the physical/special split didn't take place until 4th gen, so that's really the only thing keeping Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/LeafGreen/FireRed from being the best Pokemon games ever made in my opinion.

 

[Monkey lord]

when I saw the tread title I was also going to say the original ratchet and clank
It's an incredible game and I'm playing it right now

 

[JasonKaotic]

Final Fantasy VIII !
/flameshield

 

[Sprinal]

Well you can't go past Zork...

As far as story goes there it is a little limited in comparison to some o the more modern games yet this doesn't deter as the game has some solid game play and is very very hard (if your not good at puzzle games).

 

[octafish]

snip
XCom:Enemy Unknown.
snip

Ahhhh there it is. Now I'm one of those few who prefer Terror from the Deep because I can open doors without walking through them, but Xcom is still one of my favorite games to play.

I think JA2 holds up pretty well too, but I'm still looking forward to the reboot.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Zelda A Link to the Past like others have said cartoony visuals tend to make something age a hell of a lot better.

I agree with psychonauts and the baldurs/icewind games aswell.

 

[zomnomnom]

Seiken Densetsu 3, Baldur's Gate 2, and maybe Super Bomberman 5.

Actually, scratch Bomberman. I'm probably the only person who can play that for hours on end and not get bored...

 

[josemlopes]

Every game with solid gameplay and cartoonish visuals will age incredebly well.

Psychonauts
TimeSplitters (the gameplay of the third one is as solid as it can get)
Unreal Tournament 2004
Halo CE


For games that tried to be more realistic they could still age well if the visuals were solid and simple (not a lot of mess on the screen that would result on a cluster fuck of messy textures that we are not used to now).
Max Payne 2 like someone else already said aged also very well.
The Hitman games (with the exception of the first one) are still VERY playable.
Freedom Fighters
Black

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

The Resident Evil remake.

The character models are a dated but the rest of the game still looks great and is still one of the scariest games ever made in my opinion.

 

[Leemaster777]

StarCraft and Brood War. I've been replaying both of these games recently, and I have to admit there's just something about them that feels... better than StarCraft II. I can't put my finger on it, but I know part of it is the music. The pace feels less break-neck too, although I tend to enjoy faster-paced stuff more. Maybe it's the greater sense of accomplishment from pulling off a victory, because it takes so much more effort to get the most out of all of your units, and it's less about "build giant force and a-move, rinse and repeat until enemy stops moving."

Agreed, Starcraft has aged better than most any other game I can think of. Great story, great gameplay, and the 2-D visuals have aged quite gracefully. And an absolutely MASSIVE online community, with plenty of user-created maps doesn't hurt, either.

And I'm just going to say it now, Brood War is probably the best Expansion pack I've ever played, bar none.

 

[Skylare]

megaman x all the way x2 exspecialy, good music good lvls

 

[Skin]

Age of Empires 2
Hyperblade

There are no others.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Doom and Doom II will be fun for hundreds of years. It goes in the same bin as Pac Man and the original Mario and Zelda games, because it's just a hands down classic for reasons that are clear to anyone who plays it.
The original MGS will also always be great. The story and voice acting are fantastic, and while the graphics are dated, the visual style still holds up to create an atmosphere that has yet to be recreated.
Oh, and two more fairly unheard of classics that both hold special places in my heart; Blood and Beneath a Steel Sky. Blood does a remarkable thing in which we are led to love a protagonist who is literally only slightly less evil than the villain. Not only that, but it has the most amusing (and sadistic) line-up of weapons which the aformentioned protagonist uses with glee on his thousands of victims (I refuse to call them enemies anymore), accompanied by a haunting art style and a disturbing soundtrack.
Beneath a Steel Sky is just good. I can't even put into words why it's good, it just is. I simply cannot think of words that can describe what makes it so good. Oh, and as of recently, it's freeware.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

Is Mount and Blade old enough to post yet?
Well, anyways. Dungeon Keeper 1 + 2 are the 2 jewels i dig up regularly. I really dont mind the graphics. They just dont matter. Just awesome.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

Chrono Trigger and Metroid Prime are two games that come to mind.