Oh God! I'm trapped on a desert island! Wait - is that a... game?

[toythatkills]

I'm sure this thread has been done before, but I'm changing the r00lz.

You've been stranded on a desert island. This is fairly inconvenient and there's nothing to do, so it's bloody lucky that you've got three games with you and the means to play them.

One PC game.
One console game.
One handheld or mobile game.

Unfortunately, being on a desert island, you don't have the internet. You should think yourself lucky that the trees have got plug sockets at all. So you can power your games, but you can't play against anyone, you can't check leaderboards, all you've got is yourself, your three games, and a magic tree that produces electricity. Isolated.

So, what are your games?

My PC game is easy, and I've only been playing it for a few days. I don't PC game much so there wasn't much to choose from but I think that even with a choice of billions SpaceChem would still win it. Here's a puzzle game that you can finish and then just constantly refine and refine and refine and make ever more efficient solutions. Not for any real reason, but you could probably play it for infinity and still come up with a better solution. Amazing scenes.

Console game is harder. As is a handheld game. Both categories have some games I love, obviously, but I can't think of many games that offer that kind of longevity. I'd probably take Ikaruga as a console game. A game so prohibitively hard that I could get a little further each time and it would still take me a hundred years of solid practice before getting even close to 1CCing it. Then I'd play it on medium. And even after beating it the score system is so in-depth that I'd happily go for better ranks even without online leaderboards.

So, handheld games. It's obviously tempting to go for Loopop Cube, but that's finite. Until I think of something else, I'm going to go with Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd. For the ace music, and because it's another game that can be very hard and so I think it'd be a while before I could finish it, but even after that there's still the music to go back to and play it for.

[Bort]

Virtual Valerie 2 - waka waka.

DoDonPachi - I'd need something for my toast.

Wonderswan tetris - To kill the time before Valerie is ready again.

[prinnysquad]

PC game - Total Annihilation - for single player skirmishes vs computer enemies.

Console game - Something like Sacred 2 - full of fetch quests and grinding, 100s of hours of SP gameplay.

Handheld game - EDF 2 - 100s of hours. Immense in MP, but still excellent in single player.

It's all about the longevity, combined with thinking those games are tops.

[briareos_kerensky]

No internet connection for PC games? Have you thought about patches and driver conflicts?
BTW, for PC my choice would be DCS A-10C. In fact, any flight sim with a mission or a campaign editor will work, but DCS A-10C is currently the best there is among military simulations. It has plenty of pre-built scenarios ranging from training missions to a dynamic campaign and the included editor is simply superb. And a deserted island has plenty of wood to build a fake cockpit.

For the handheld game I choose Super Mario 64 DS. I was going to choose a Mario game for the consoles and one of the Advance Wars games for the handhelds but without online connection I don't know how long they would last (I'm pretty sure they will last long, but with no internet connection fooling the AI will become way too easy); a runner-up would be any of the three Etrian Odyssey, but in the end they won't be able to compete with SM64DS.

Choosing a console game is hard; something in my mind continues to tell "Deeemoooon'sssss Sssooulssss" and it will be a great choice, but then I think at the shoot'em'ups...and there's just too many of them! But in the end I think I'll settle with Radiant Silvergun.

[toythatkills]

Console game - Something like Sacred 2 - full of fetch quests and grinding, 100s of hours of SP gameplay.

Handheld game - EDF 2 - 100s of hours. Immense in MP, but still excellent in single player.

This sounds like a lot, but you're stranded, you could be there for thousands and tens of thousands of hours, an SP campaign of a few hundred may not cut it! I really wanted to choose Fallout 3, but I think even that wouldn't last forever.

No internet connection for PC games?

Yeah, your game is pre-patched to run fine

Multiplayer has to be excluded otherwise it's too easy. WoW for PC 'cause it lasts forever. Call of Duty for console 'cause MP lasts forever. Etc.

No internet makes this a much more interesting question!

[Mr Ono]

Let me think.

For PC I would probably go for something I can sink my teeth into. Whilst I always wanted time to play games like Fallout 3, I tend to think I would prefer something a bit more exciting and has the skirmishes too. Supreme Commander 2 it is then.

Console - let's go with a driving game so I can shave times and unlock stuff. Strange as it may seem as I never got on with it - Gran Turismo 5.

Portables - Tetris

[Fader209]

PC game - That's a tricky one as I rarely game on the PC (as my PC is so old and awful) so I would randomly go for Bejewelled 3. Bejewelled Twist or Peggle are also serious contenders. Pretty colours and simple gameplay basically So that handles my puzzle needs. Like Tetris so infinite hours of gaming.

Console game - This would be for my quick fix of awesome-tastic gaming and I would pick Devil May Cry 3. Played the hell out of it already but I could still play it forever.

Handheld game - This is where I would get a crap load of hours done: Disgaea. I'm rubbish at the game so it would last me a very long time as well as being a HUGE game anyway.

Puzzle. Action. RPG. Sorted!

[Soundwave]

Hmmmm interesting Idea.

PC Game - any football manager game.
Preferably one with plenty of leagues to choose from.
So much replay value from trying to get a lowly conference side to the pinnacle of Premiership & European glory would keep you entertained till the end of days.

Console game - Fifa, same as above really
No matter how good I would get at it (I'm ****e by the way) there are so many leagues & teams to play with it just never ever gets dull.

Handheld - Megadrive Collection PSP
This was the toughest one to choose but I decided on one of the collections on the PSP & the megadrive one has the best selection of games available so plenty of replay value trying to get 1cc's on some classic platformers plus the Phantasy Star games which would keep me going for years alone

Neil

[toythatkills]

Handheld game - This is where I would get a crap load of hours done: Disgaea. I'm rubbish at the game so it would last me a very long time as well as being a HUGE game anyway.

That's a good choice, possibly better than my handheld choice!

PC Game - any football manager game.
Preferably one with plenty of leagues to choose from.
So much replay value from trying to get a lowly conference side to the pinnacle of Premiership & European glory would keep you entertained till the end of days.

This is even better since without the internet, you can still start new games in 2029 and you'll have no idea that the Premier League isn't EXACTLY the same as it is in your version of the game!

[Matt]

I'm working on it.

PC game - I'll get one of the later Elite games which has more vehicles and is more expandable. I may go for X-3 - I picked it up, it's a bewildering game but it's a descendant of Elite....

Handheld - Advanced Wars on the GBA. Oh yes

Console - I don't know. Something to last forever, and that makes it a tough choice.

[abigsmurf]

PC Game... Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. Sandbox sims are perfect for desert islands and this is possibly one of the greatest ever made.

Console Game... Fallout New Vegas. You could probably play through this 20 times and still come up with build and alignment combinations that make the playthrough vastly different.

Handheld If Ubisoft could patch in a skirmish mode into Settlers on the iphone I'd say that. Otherwise Disgaea on the PSP.

[Skull Commander]

PC Game - I never game on a PC but if I'm on a desert island I'm going to need all the entertainment I need, so with that in mind I'd take whatever Civillisation game is meant to be the best. I only discovered the Xbox 360 version this year but it's my most played game of the year so far.

Console Game - A tough one, but I may have to go with Super Mario Kart on the Snes, I have played it for countless hours but never get bored of it and the time trials would keep me going, always trying to beat my own times.

Handheld - Tetris DS. It's my most played DS game and I never get bored of Tetris.

[kryss]

Star Wars Supremacy (Rebellion in North America) for the sheer number of hours you can just sit and plan what to move where.

Gotcha Force on the GC because even after years you'll never have the parts to make the crystal borgs.

Super Robot Taisen W on the DS. Just because on a desert island there simply aren't enough robots.

[koopatroopa90]

PC Game - In a way I think all I'd need are RCT(+expansions) , Sim City 3000 UK (or World) edition and C&C Red Alert (assuming I am allowed the 4 disc version that includes the expansions?). No console game. No handheld game. But if I have to choose just one then C&C Red Alert. I've already been playing it for 12 years and can still happily while away a few hours at a time on a good old Skirmish. There are loads of maps and even a map creator - I've not tried more than 30 of them in 12 years!

Console Game - I was going to put Mario 3 (GBA version) as a possible handheld choice but I think perhaps the Super Mario Allstars cart that also had Mario World one would be better. The problem is as much as I love many console games, I've played my favourite ones to death already and ones that I've owned for years are the sort that I play in short bursts (particularly SNES games like Bomberman, NBA Jam, SSF2, Probotector etc) or will play through to completion every now and then but wouldn't want to do so with more than once a year, and would only last a few weeks solid playtime anyway. Most of the console games I buy seem to be 1 play-through wonders even if that play through was incredible.

Handheld - TBC - struggling between The Tower SP, Advance Wars (maybe bit too similar to RA?), Harvest Moon and possibly Donkey Kong Country...

[monel]

Erm, could the PC and handheld games be emulators? Surely the size of a full retail game would instead allow for an emulator plus some roms?

For the one console game it would probably be Super Mario Kart for me or Street Fighter 2 Turbo.