Sure, Elite gets credit for being the first, but I think Wing Commander: Privateer took the Elite concept and took it to new heights. I have tried on many ocassions to play Elite. It's just one of those games that sadly hasn't aged well. The 3D wireframe graphics are primitive and boring. I realize it was made at a time when 3D games weren't viable, but for me the graphics make the game unplayable. Taking your Space Invaders to Galaga comparison, I think Elite is Space Invaders and Galaga is Privateer. Privateer gave us rich, colorful graphics based on an updated Wing Commander 2 engine. It still wasn't real 3D polygons, but sprites look a hell of a lot better than wireframes. And unlike Elite, the game had personality and flair. To this day I remember the memorable things bartenders would say and the ship salesman's long winded speech when you couldn't afford a new ship. This game came out at the height of the CD-ROM craze, when all games had to have voiceover. With the CD-ROM version, you had voices for every character in the game, an unprecedented acheivement at the time.
The thing I liked most about Privateer is that it put a heavy emphasis on combat. We all played Wing Commander and were amazed at how intense the dogfighting was. Well, this put that great combat in with all the economy elements of Elite. You could still be a Merchant, Pirate or Smuggler, but you had to prepare to defend your cargo in intense battles. Modern Elite clones like X2 bore me because they don't really let you get into serious dogfighting.
Also great was the the way your ship took damage. To date I have not played a space sim that has even come close to this game's damage system (not even in other Wing Commander games). Get banged up too much in battle and they might hit your manuvering jets, crippling your ability to turn in a specific direction. Try dogfighting when you can't steer to the left. If they hit your afterburners, it would slow down your ship significantly. Each of your ship's systems could get damaged and provide limited or no functionality, including communications, armor, and navigational systems.
The mission variety was also nice. There were the standard patrol, defend, bounty hunting, and cargo missions but there were also special missions that you got from fixers you met in the bar. These were the game's main storyline, but you were not required to follow them. One of my favorite fixer missions is when you are contracted for the Exploratory Service and are required to chart out unexplored star systems. This one is a dangerous one because you go so far out that you only have JUST enough jump fuel to make it back to the base. Take an extra jump and you're stranded in the void of space. This is also the mission where you land on a derelict ancient base left by a highly evolved race of aliens. You take a powerful cannon off a crashed alien ship and mount it on your ship, not only getting the most powerful gun in the game, but attracting the attention of a mysterious ship from said alien race which pops up now and then to try to kill you. Of course, you can't destroy it with normal weapons, but you are helped at the end of the game (I won't spoil it).
Getting back to Elite, even if you thought it was the best game in the genre, it's still not the best game of all time. While great for hardcore gamers, Elite's learning curve is much higher than say, Tetris. I STILL think Tetris is the best game of all time because it meets all the criteria: enjoyable for gamers and non-gamers alike, easy to learn, hard to master, addictive, and endlessly replayable.
Sure, Elite gets credit for being the first, but I think Wing Commander: Privateer took the Elite concept and took it to new heights. I have tried on many ocassions to play Elite. It's just one of those games that sadly hasn't aged well. The 3D wireframe graphics are primitive and boring. I realize it was made at a time when 3D games weren't viable, but for me the graphics make the game unplayable. Taking your Space Invaders to Galaga comparison, I think Elite is Space Invaders and Galaga is Privateer. Privateer gave us rich, colorful graphics based on an updated Wing Commander 2 engine. It still wasn't real 3D polygons, but sprites look a hell of a lot better than wireframes. And unlike Elite, the game had personality and flair. To this day I remember the memorable things bartenders would say and the ship salesman's long winded speech when you couldn't afford a new ship. This game came out at the height of the CD-ROM craze, when all games had to have voiceover. With the CD-ROM version, you had voices for every character in the game, an unprecedented acheivement at the time.
The thing I liked most about Privateer is that it put a heavy emphasis on combat. We all played Wing Commander and were amazed at how intense the dogfighting was. Well, this put that great combat in with all the economy elements of Elite. You could still be a Merchant, Pirate or Smuggler, but you had to prepare to defend your cargo in intense battles. Modern Elite clones like X2 bore me because they don't really let you get into serious dogfighting.
Also great was the the way your ship took damage. To date I have not played a space sim that has even come close to this game's damage system (not even in other Wing Commander games). Get banged up too much in battle and they might hit your manuvering jets, crippling your ability to turn in a specific direction. Try dogfighting when you can't steer to the left. If they hit your afterburners, it would slow down your ship significantly. Each of your ship's systems could get damaged and provide limited or no functionality, including communications, armor, and navigational systems.
The mission variety was also nice. There were the standard patrol, defend, bounty hunting, and cargo missions but there were also special missions that you got from fixers you met in the bar. These were the game's main storyline, but you were not required to follow them. One of my favorite fixer missions is when you are contracted for the Exploratory Service and are required to chart out unexplored star systems. This one is a dangerous one because you go so far out that you only have JUST enough jump fuel to make it back to the base. Take an extra jump and you're stranded in the void of space. This is also the mission where you land on a derelict ancient base left by a highly evolved race of aliens. You take a powerful cannon off a crashed alien ship and mount it on your ship, not only getting the most powerful gun in the game, but attracting the attention of a mysterious ship from said alien race which pops up now and then to try to kill you. Of course, you can't destroy it with normal weapons, but you are helped at the end of the game (I won't spoil it).
Getting back to Elite, even if you thought it was the best game in the genre, it's still not the best game of all time. While great for hardcore gamers, Elite's learning curve is much higher than say, Tetris. I STILL think Tetris is the best game of all time because it meets all the criteria: enjoyable for gamers and non-gamers alike, easy to learn, hard to master, addictive, and endlessly replayable.