OK you say. What factors am I looking at that would make some games great and others not so great. The first thing I do when I download a new game is to play it. I ask myself a few simple questions. Is this a game that I would play over and over? Is this a game I would pass along to others? Sometimes I get a new game and just cannot stop playing it. That is what I would consider a good game. Other factors include.
1) Sound: Is the sound exceptional or just ho-hum. Games that utilize sound
manager 3.0's capabilities or run in stereo are even better.
2) Color depth: I prefer games that require at least 256 colors; thousands is
even better.
3) Graphics: Are the graphics exceptional or just ho-hum.
4) Shareware Fee: It has to be hard to determine what price to charge for a
shareware game. Some good games are Freeware and other games ask
for $25.00 or more. I ask myself whether or not I would pay the shareware
fee. Is it worth it? I give special attention to games that are freeware
because the authors are just trying to enrich the Mac community without
asking for anything in return. If I think that a game is overpriced I will
definitely take this into consideration.
5) Compatibility: All of the games reviewed play fine on my Centris 610 in
32-bit mode. It is important to me that games do not crash, or that I do not
have to restart my machine disabling extensions, or turning of 32-bit
addressing. Imagine typing a paper in Word, taking a quick break to play a
game, and the computer freezes. If you hadn't saved you document all of
you changes could be lost. Games that have these conflicts are a
nuisance and should avoided.
After considering all of these factors I then compare the game to games that are similar, for instance I would compare Asterax to Maelstrom, and the make my final conclusion. With this in mind I have played thousands of games and picked out the very best. Others might disagree with me, but that is the great thing about our society, we each can freely express our own opinion and have our own thoughts.
