Smells Like Teen Gamer: The Games of my Teenage Years - Intro/2004

Intro

In five days I'll be twenty years old. No longer will I be able to blame my immaturity on being a teenager, now people will expect me to start acting a little bit older. HAHAHAHA, no chance. But since I've been busy video making instead of actually playing the games I said I would, I thought that in the week leading up to my birthday I shall talk about my most important games of the last seven years, two per year. I'll be going year-by-year, but that doesn't mean that the games are from that year. This is not a "favourite" game list either, it's all about the games that are most important to me. So without further ado...

2005

Football Manager 2005

I may have bought this when I was twelve, but no other game series has taken away as many hours (no, days. No WEEKS.) of my life then this one. To non football (or Soccer) fans, it's just a glorified spreadsheet with silly little dots instead of players. But to actual football fans those dots have given us some of our favourite gaming moments. 

Like this little gem I found. Ah, the days when I'd insist on making Quinton Fortune a first team regular.

Over the years I have changed from a big nerdy child into a big nerdy almost-adult, but one thing hasn't changed and that is my love for those little dots (or faceless 3D players as they are now). It doesn't matter if I'm leading my local Aberdeen to the Champions League Semi-Finals, winning everything with Man Utd or challenging myself in the South African leagues, each instalment of this great series will provide many new memories and weeks of my life I'll never get back again. No regrets.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Slightly cheating with this one, my sister bought me this for Christmas 2004. BUT I was still playing it an ungodly amount by 2005. Also, it's probably my all time favourite game. Even now, nearly eight years after it's release, it's still fantastic to play. San Andreas has so much you can do and much potential for just causing mayhem. In fact the only things I can think that could make it better would be if it has GTA IV graphics and the ability to ride through the desert on a horse with no name.

OH THANK MOD, you can!

While Vice City maybe my favourite setting, it only just beats San Andreas. Even driving in the countryside or the desert feels good, as long as you've got the radio on. The soundtrack is on par with VC, and the fact that the radio shows change as you progress through the game blew my mind when I was twelv...I MEAN EIGHTEEN I WOULD NEVER CHEAT THE RATING SYSTEMS! But yes, in my mind the closest thing we've gotten to a perfect game (though I'd love to be proven wrong. Maybe GTA V?).

Next: 2006, where we revisit many worlds from my childhood and maybe incur the wrath of a chick with a magic wand.