Community Service

267   8  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: Neighbours

When I was young, me and a neighbour sought to combine all of our gaming consoles and create an arcade that we would then charge other people to use. We even designed posters and stuff. Eventually, nobody came, so it was just me and the guys side by side playing our favourite games.

We even had the audacity to charge one kid 25p for playing a game on his own console that he'd brought around (That'll be Ben Black for all you Ben Black fans!). Street Fighter was the highlight, taking it in turns who could beat Vega, then ultimately Bison.

The Flagship's rating:

17   7.6  

Number of Friends: Six People
Friendship Group: Linford All-Stars

To celebrate the World Cup, EA released the mother of all FIFA games. This game had more teams than just about every professional league in England combined. What's the logical thing to do then?

Pick about 10 teams each at random, face off against each other over and over again in separately picked group games, then see who wins the World Cup! The classic Jamaica Vs Trinidad Semi-Final was definitely the highlight with a 6-6 thriller ending up in a 15 goal penalty shootout. Unfortunately, Columbia were just too strong for my Jamaicans in the final.

The Flagship's rating:

588   8.8  

Number of Friends: Five People
Friendship Group: Brothers'

My brother had a party when he was about 12 and invited his mates around. One of them brought Metal Gear Solid and I bet them all I could complete it in under four hours. Cue them all watching me rampage through the game and chalk up a respectable time of 3h:19m and earn absolutely no respect whatsoever. At least I was impressed with myself.

The Flagship's rating:

19   8.4  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: Linford All-Stars

Most of the 'FIFA crew' were football mad, so our next challenge was to try and get a joint CM game going. Any CM veteran must realise how slow this game can be at times, but we strived to get through at least five results each. After that, we kinda lost the will to live, but it was still a great day's work!

The Flagship's rating:

162   8.6  

Number of Friends: Five People
Friendship Group: Graham Close

The first ever time I played this game caused pandemonium in one family. I strolled in, took a character on a survival streak, and annihilated every record they'd set to date by sticking together about 30 wins. The rest of the day was spent with them trying to beat my score. They never did, so instead threatened me with physical violence.

My love affair with SoulCalibur was born.

The Flagship's rating:

183   7.7  

Number of Friends: Three People
Friendship Group: The Jokers

Instead of taking drugs and drinking alcohol at the time this game came out, me and my buddies started a joint career game. The most harrowing part of the game was that we all had equal shares in the bank balance, so any car we purchased was heavily scrutinised and lambasted!

The endurance races were the highlight, sitting in for hours doing ten laps at a time, seeing who could chalk up the quickest lap time.

The Flagship's rating:

258   7.8  

Number of Friends: Five People
Friendship Group: The Lads

The 'Royale' was born, when me and my friends went up against each other online. No holds barred, all against all. This particular skirmish holds many fond memories for me, mainly because I won, but also because I astounded myself with my own tactical brilliance. I'd probably count it up there with my top gaming achievements. Not only overcoming friends, but unholy alliances and unspoken agreements to triumph as the final bell tolled.

The Flagship's rating:

64   7.8  

Number of Friends: Too many to count!
Friendship Group: The Lads/Whasis?/Oxley Crew.

This game has built more communities than Sim City. It has never failed to overcome critics and impress. My first experience was at my best buddies house. Luckily, Street Fighter skills never leave you, so I dusted them off and held my own as we tried unlocking everything in sight.

Then, I found myself in a similar position with three other people I actually hate, but who cares when you've got some MvC on the burn?

Finally, I purchased my own copy of the game and despite being decried by my university pals, a whole new royal rumble emerged as our floor got together for the first and last time to play this seizure-inducing madness.

The Flagship's rating:

1086   8.5  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: The Lads

The ultimate one player game was given a multiplayer makeover by me and my two honchos. Three TVs, Three PlayStations and three copies of the game side-by-side resulted in a race to see who could complete it first. The event became less of a race, more of a war of attrition just to see who could get to the end of the game.

All the while we were backed by a confused friend who couldn't see the point in us spending hours playing a game together, whilst he played Football Manager for hours behind us.

The Flagship's rating:

257   8  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: Uni Boys

Somehow, this game could be copy and pasted from one computer to another with the greatest of ease. So one day, whilst doing some homework around a friends house, he unzipped a copy onto each of our collective hard drives and a UT multiplayer free-for-all was born!

Some were playing with the touchpad, other rooted through his drawers for miscellaneous mouse hardware, but much unintended fun was had by all.

The Flagship's rating:

488   8  

Number of Friends: Six People+
Friendship Group: The Lads

When I was away at University, my friends back home amazed me by getting into LAN gaming - exactly the sort of thing I was expecting to have to hide as a shameful secret about my own life upon my return. Call of Duty was the game, and we had several different gaming sessions on this wartime classic.

My only wish is that we weren't surrounded by pasty idiots looking for friends and fights.

The Flagship's rating:

725   7.7  

Number of Friends: Three People
Friendship Group: The Lads

I built up a probably undeserved reputation as being good at this game during preliminary multiplayer races. We then took it in turns to try winning some of the games 'career mode' trophies, in which people pinned their last hopes on me to bring home the bacon in the final cup. Needless to say, I disappointed everyone in the room and balance was restored.

But I didn't care, the Spirit of Gran Turismo 2 was alive again (albeit with different mates)!

The Flagship's rating:

973   7.8  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: Uni collaborative

We always hated Halo, but we'd never played it. Seeing as this was quite an unfair opinion to have without proof, me and two others conspired to go around the house of the only person we knew who had it, to give it a whirl. The problem was, she was a girl and it was 5AM. Still, she let us in and much fun was had by all...

It took us two 5AM visits in which I can boast to being the only member with a 100% awake record. Still, I wanted to finish the game no matter who was Player 2. We all changed our minds from then on - Halo was Average.

The Flagship's rating:

47   7.9  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: Uni boys

All we wanted to do as a house was play one game online as a team. Our very own LAN party that didn't involve moving any piece of hardware out of the comfort of our own rooms. One of us, however, had the biggest piece of shit laptop ever. Day of Defeat was just about the only game we ever found that would run for all of us. Much hilarity ensued.

We reverted back to DoD after the release of Halo 2, when our infuriating housemate claimed he was the God of all FPS games. He got unquestionably owned by each and every one of us when it came to playing FPS' properly - with a mouse and keyboard.

The Flagship's rating:

1037   8.3  

Number of Friends: Four People
Friendship Group: Uni boys

All day San Andreas-a-thons will never leave my memory. Passing the controller around, completing the odd mission, going on survival runs, seeing who could get the worst outfits... it was a way to pass the lazy days of a wicked summer.

My confounding memory is of driving out into a hilly wilderness in the pouring rain on a Sanchez, whilst listening to 'America - Horse with no name'. Brilliant.

The Flagship's rating: