Top 111 PC Games, #100-91

100. Horizon's Gate (Rad Codex, 2020)

A game that has been described by many as "Final Fantasy Tactics by way of Uncharted Waters", and upon playing it, I can certainly confirm that is indeed the case.  You build a character, take part in turn-based battles both on foot and by sea, unlock new classes as the game progresses, and can basically explore, trade or become a privateer at your leisure, taking part in ship battles or legitimate business to earn loot for later upgrades.  Inventory management and item manipulation is simple as can be too, using a keyboard-and-mouse interface that reminds me more than a bit of the classic Ultimas.  It's certainly not the deepest example of anything it attempts to be, but it is a lot of fun, and really, that's what I come to a game for anyway.  Sacrilege, I know.

99. MegaRace (Cryo Interactive, 1993)

The FMV game genre had a resurgence in the 90s with the advent of CD technology, allowing developers to record and encode videos (usually in very low quality) and stick some gameplay on top of them to create "interactive movie games" (also generally of very low quality).  MegaRace stands out from the pack, though, on the merits of its strong presentation.  While the game itself is a fairly standard combat racer, having the player destroy all the other cars on the track before time runs out, it's wrapped in a dystopian space-age game show hosted by sleazy corporate stooge Lance Boyle (played by Christian Erickson).  Through that, it paints a picture of a zombie-like populace permanently enamored by trashy TV, though with a consistently sardonic and humorous tone that makes it quite an enthralling one to experience; not completely unlike Robocop.  The great soundtrack by Stéphane Picq is certainly worth a listen in its own right too.

98. Simcity (Maxis, 1989)

The story of Simcity is a famous one - Will Wright developed "Raid on Bungeling Bay" for the Commodore 64, but had more fun designing maps with the editor than playing the game itself.  Maps which were surprisingly intricate and realistically designed - there were plane runways and seaports, networks of roads and buildings, rivers and inlets and even boats doing supply runs between the islands, so it helped the game feel more dynamic and alive than most top-down shooters.  Eventually he decided to take that idea and expand it into a full-fledged city planning and building simulation, and the end result was SimCity.  It doesn't sound like a particularly fun game on paper - constructing your town while managing crime, pollution, traffic, sim health and entertainment - but its addictive design and random disastrous events like fires, floods, tornadoes and monster attacks kept it fresh and engaging.  It has also since been made open-source (albeit under the name "Micropolis" due to copyright concerns) and ported to just about every platform imaginable, so you have no excuse not to check it out in some form!

97. The Incredible Machine (Jeff Tunnell Productions, 1993)

A puzzle game built on a great concept, having you solve various objectives using a collection of parts, each with unique properties and applications, to construct elaborate Rube Goldberg devices.  So something as simple as "guide the mouse to the mousehole" can involve pulleys, rope, balloons, scissors, pipes and a springboard, and that's just one of hundreds of scenarios spread across the series.  The first game later had an expanded release (The Even More Incredible Machine), two sequels that got expanded versions themselves, and a spiritual successor (Contraption Maker) that added even more goals to complete and parts to experiment with, so fans of logic puzzles had quite a lot to enjoy from this series.

96. Atomic Bomberman (Interplay Productions, 1997)

Now here's an oddball game attached to a well-known license.  Atomic Bomberman is an officially licensed Bomberman game, though it wasn't developed by Hudson Soft - instead, Interplay took the code base from Super Bomberman 3, gave the game an odd CGI art style and a techno soundtrack and added numerous voice quips by the likes of Charlie Adler and Billy West (including a number of very profane ones buried on the disc, most likely so they wouldn't alienate a younger audience with a T or M rating).  It's also notable for the fact that it lacks any kind of single player campaign - all you get is multiplayer versus mode against up to nine other humans or bots, both locally and over LAN or dialup.  Definitely one of the more obscure and bizarre Bomberman games, but hey, it's pretty hard to mess up a classic.

95. The Dig (LucasArts, 1995)

Another adventure title from the legendary LucasArts, though unlike most, The Dig doesn't have a lot in the way of the company's quirky humor, opting to tell a more somber, serious and high-concept science fiction story.  Starring a team of scientists unexpectedly whisked away to an alien world devoid of intelligent life but full of advanced technology, they set out to uncover exactly what led it to its current state and discover a way home.  The Dig was also a very high-end production for its time, having surprisingly well-known actors voicing the main characters and some incredible atmospheric music by Michael Land.

94. Out of This World (Delphine Software, 1991)

Also known as "Another World", this was a game created from the get-go to be a Dragon's Lair-esque cinematic action adventure on a much lower budget.  Utilizing vector graphics instead of drawn cels, the game's visual design had relatively little detail but very smooth animation, giving it a nicely cinematic flair regardless.  The end result was certainly distinctive and memorable, adding a grim yet beautiful aesthetic to the game and its many, many death scenes.  The gameplay was also quite solid, if heavily trial-and-error based as you tried to solve puzzles, evade enemies and figure out the correct sequence of events in order to survive another melee with aliens and see your way to the end of this strange tale.

93. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (Blizzard, 1995)

I never played the first Warcraft game until several years after its release, but having found the demo of Warcraft 2 on a shareware CD, I quickly found myself hooked by it.  It was my first exposure to the real time strategy genre and quite a good one for its time - collecting gold, timber and oil to build up bases and units and trying to be the last one standing by the end.  Granted the AI wasn't particularly fun to play against - they can reach the upper tier units well before any human player possibly can, yet walls completely stop them in their tracks - but I have a lot of good memories of playing this one over dial-up with my friends well into the evenings.  The single player campaign was also quite fun, with 32 stages in total (16 Human, 16 Orc) and an expansion called Beyond the Dark Portal that added another 32 levels.  A bit later on in 1997 Blizzard also released the Windows-based "Battle.net Edition" which included all the content from the expansion and allowed online play over their Battle.net service.

92. Sid Meier's Pirates! (Microprose, 1987)

The first game to bear Sid Meier's name right on the cover, and it was also a pretty unique and innovative game for it's time.  Taking place in the age of piracy, you pick a nationality, a time to begin your career and a skill for your character, and from there, you're pretty much left to your own devices.  You can become a pirate, a privateer, a pirate hunter, a treasure seeker, or any combination thereof.  You can also seek prestige and favor from any of the major powers, and once your career has ended, you get a score based on how much land, prestige and wealth you accrued, how many of your lost family members you rescued and whether you successfully wed a governor's daughter.  A pretty clever early take on sandbox gaming that's still fun today.  It also had enough of a following to get a multi-platform remake in 1993 (Pirates Gold) and another remake in 2004 for Xbox and PC with a heavier focus on minigames.

91. The Incredible Toon Machine (Jeff Tunnell Productions, 1994/1996)

The Incredible Toon Machine (originally released as "Sid and Al's Incredible Toons") is an offshoot of the Incredible Machine series which adds cartoon logic into the mix, pitting the titular characters against one another on the backdrop of a series of puzzles.  To this end, you'll fire catapults, utilize lights and magnifying glasses to burn things, use elaborate systems of ropes, pulleys and conveyor belts to transport objects, and, of course, cause mayhem with anvils, dynamite, revolvers and bombs.  The between-level cutscenes in the CD release were also a lot of fun, having Sidney Mouse and Al E. Cat (voiced by Rob Paulsen and Jim Cummings respectively) explain your objectives with bits of animation and plenty of jokes.  Oddly the game also had a Japan-exclusive reskin for the Playstation and Sega Saturn, changing the objects and characters to ones from the Ghosts n' Goblins franchise.

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