Once I picked up Perfect Dark, it seemed as though every weekend and day off from school turned into our own little war against those stupid, helpless bots. I couldn’t begin to calculate the number of hours me and my friends put into that game, let alone the Meat Sim body count. But if you and your friends just wanted to commit some good, old fashioned AI genocide, the Meat Sims were there for your homicidal pleasure. If you want something that occasionally offers some semblance of a mild threat, turn on the tougher bots. If you want a challenge, play with some real people. So named because they presented as much of a challenge to you as that chunk of meat did to Rocky Balboa. However, the spoiled cream of the crop were the Meat Sims. Perfect Dark didn’t just throw in the bots as an afterthought they were customizable with a variety of unique traits: some might like melee, others like explosives, and some always went for the power weapons. That’s right, whenever you and your friends were feeling down, nothing would cheer you up faster than jumping into the game’s “Combat Simulator” and populating the opposing team with AI opponents ripe for the fragging. Thankfully, Rare used its next shooter, Perfect Dark, to introduce the gaming equivalent of group therapy: bots. The best way to keep friendships healthy is not through competition, but rather through cooperation, so Goldeneye 007 was quite limited in that capacity. They wouldn’t be so lonely if they had some bots. Needless to say, I earned the ire of many. It was also during this time that I realized I was a natural-born screen watcher I knew the levels like the back of my hand and had no problem glancing at my friends’ screens and instantly recognizing where they were, thus giving me a huge advantage. The limit of four players made direct competition the only real option, and some of those battles would grow heated as we raced for the best weapons while developing a furious hatred for whoever picked up the proximity mines. The numerous modes, great levels, and impressive arsenal provided countless hours of entertainment, but it ultimately wasn’t the best game for building friendships. The 64-bit generation is when me and my friends really started to take gaming seriously, so it should come to no surprise to learn that GoldenEye 007 was a major time killer for us. That’s right, when I partied down back in the day, I was all about the shooters. For me, however, I get transported back to a different time, a time when mutilplayer always meant sharing a screen and talking smack demanded the courage to risk mortal combat with the gamers sitting next to you. Chances are when you hear about party games, your mind instantly jumps to thoughts of virtual board games, minigame collections, or plastic instruments.

Screenwatcher game