Top 9-12 best games in 1974. Reviews: Asteroid Space, How the West was One + Three x Four, Star Trader, Gran Trak 10

 

All list top 32 games.

Asteroid Space Wang 2200

The goal of the game is to navigate the spaceship through an asteroid field. In addition to moving forward, the player can turn, accelerate, and decelerate. The latter action repeats continuously, requiring careful attention. At the end, the time spent reaching the finish is displayed, providing motivation to improve the result.

How the West was One + Three x Four Apple II, Terminal

This is an educational game where you receive 3 random numbers and the final result. You must perform operations such as addition, multiplication, subtraction, placing in parentheses, etc., to form a correct equation with all these numbers together.

The game features visualization in the form of a railroad, indicating the difficulty level: the further you progress, the more challenging the tasks become. There is also an option to take a shortcut on this railroad to get ahead. However, failing to cope with the difficulty level will redirect you backward on this path, leading to easier tasks.

Players can compete against both the computer and other players.

Star Trader Mainframe, Research Machines 380Z

This is a multiplayer text-based space trading game where you travel between stars and seek profit by buying and selling 6 resources: uranium, metals, medicines, precious metals, programs, and heavy equipment.

You must assess the development level of a planet and determine its most pressing needs. However, the planet's development level is not static and can change in any direction. For example, more distant planets may have more raw resources, making them cheaper, while closer ones are more developed but lack as many raw resources.

The game includes a 10x10 light-years map around the Sun. There are also banks in the game where you can deposit your funds with interest.

This game inspired developers to create future franchises such as "Eve Online," the "Wing Commander Privateer" series, and the "Elite" series.

Gran Trak 10 Arcade

Possibly one of the first racing games, as before, only a space race from Atari was available, and the Odyssey game had too primitive graphics.

This game was intended to be the first on arcade machines from Atari, but they ultimately created the much simpler Pong.

The game featured advanced controls, including a full steering wheel, pedals, and a gear lever. The top-down view caused the car to brake and spin when reaching the track boundary. An oil spill zone on the track significantly worsened control. The brake slowed rather than stopped, and turning while braking led to skidding.

The goal was to complete as many turns as possible within a limited amount of time.