What makes for a good game? In the list below I assume all genres are an option and that a good game takes time, requires effort and is not trivial to finish.
Elite - A space trader and fighter game from the C64 days. Not the PC-version. The C64 should be available on emulator now. Both the BBC version and the C64 version were long, hard and difficult. The PC version is a joke. I could blast through to Elite status in a weekend. I never got there on the BBC and spent well over 200 playing hours to get to the "surprise challenge" you needed to get there on the C64.
Cannon Fodder - Very fun action puzzle game with lots of humour. Played it on the Amiga, available for PC and works nicely there. Took a "team" of dedicated gamers almost 3 days to finish the first time (playing 24 hours a day, switching players. I "used to be" a geek

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Might & Magic - 1st person, group based RPG with turn based combat. From 6 you can chose to have realtime. All from 3-8 are good. A long, hard and fun game is to combine 4 (clouds of Xeen) and 5 (darkside of Xeen) into one huge game. Available on GOG. Combining the RPGs with the strategy-games Heroes of Might & Magic can give you the longest campaigns available in the gaming world. The 6-8 games and the Heroes 3-4 with expansions can be seen as one very long campaign seeing the same story over lots of games and from several sides.
Syndicate - Realtime solidier/action game with strategy/development between missions. Hard and fun. Not too long, sadly.
Silent Storm - Tactical combat during WW2. Same feeling as UFO/X-Com and Jagged Alliance, but I preferred SS to the others. You need to be careful, tacticly good and it is a long game. The follow up is also well worth the time.
Silent Service - Submarine sim. Takes lots of effort and patience. Not the most fun of these, but sinking the Yamato without getting caught is definitely hard...
PlaneScape: Torment - Singelplayer RPG (Same style as Baldur's Gate) Long, good and with some concepts that might be very hard to get. I spent hours upon hours before I grasped a very simple (non intuitive) point.
Civilization - Strategy, turn based. Very good. I think the biggest challenge currently is Civ 4. The latest is too easy still, but after years of patching and with AI-mods Civ 4 is now a very smooth game with exceptional AI challenging the very best players.
RailRoad Tycoon - Railroad based economy sim. Very good, very fun, unfortunately not extremely difficult.
Panzer General - Strategic/tactical WW2 simulator. Turn Based. I prefer number 2 of these, or maybe Fantasy General. They are all good, though, and with any "feelings" for your soldiers getting the objectives for optimal results is very hard. Campaign mode is the way to go.
Håkon
realizing he has played very many good games since he started with his first in 1980


