Every week the hosts of TalkRadar present and answer a new "Question of the Week" - a personal inquiry which unearths some of our deepest, and sometimes most sinister, gaming memories. Everyone is encouraged to answer each week's question, so go ahead, tell us your most glorious, nostalgic, or shameful story!

Last week's question:

What game do you always go back to?

Wow! We had a ton of replies to last week's question. Thank you to everyone who participated.

We saw a lot of Half-Life mods in the comments (Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat), which is understandable, because those are addictive as hell (as our own Chris Antista will testify). There were also tons of great classics and obscure titles, which for one reason or another, stuck with you (we love to see love for the 8-bit).

Of course, it wasn't all old school - Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Mass Effect, and Elder Scrolls were mentioned a several times. At least a couple of us in the office have been glued to Mass Effect on and off for the past year. Oh, and GR's own Justin Towell reminded us of his affinity for Christmas NiGHTS, which we will commence making fun of him for.

Below are a few of last week's answers that tickled our collective fancies, but since we can't feature them all here, check out last week's article and forum thread for more...

nyef wrote...
"katamari damacy no doubt. I always feel better when I roll up random objects in a ball."

Above: Therapy 

Schmegeggi wrote...
"I always go back to Jedi Academy and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, both on the PC. I've murdered half my time on earth with those two."

Baconator96 wrote...
"God bless you Warcraft III. I may yell at you like a crazy person when my custom spells dont work, and i may get more than a little upset at you when my teammates ditch me middgame for the nth time. But youre always there to pick up the pieces afterwards. I salute you Warcraft, and all your hot undead action."

txtIanC wrote...
"Texas Hold 'em. No game around beats the enjoyment derived from putting everything on the table. I currently live in a cardboard box under an overpass with my dog, but I digress. When life has got you down, you can always try betting to get a new one. It's a fun game."

icecreamhendrix wrote...
"Battletoads on the NES and SNES. I love me sum goat horns"

KREATIVEassassin wrote...
"...Metal Storm - An obscure NES game that I can blast through in under 15 minutes without taking a hit. I've spent a lot of time with it and it's one that I keep going back to constantly. I love it."

Above: Jūryoku Sōkō Metaru Sutōmu! 

ssj4raditz wrote...
"Crimson Skies on Xbox. I never get tired of it, for whatever reason. It's just always fun to zip around the open sky and gun down enemy planes and zeppelins. It's just never gotten old for me, not matter how many times I finish it, I'll always be willing to go back for more."

TURbo wrote...
"X-COM UFO Defense. Saw my dad play it when I was 5. Played it at 11, then I haven't played until last year. The main reason I play it is there isn't many games that have good turn based combat, and resource management."

TheOtherOne wrote...
"For me it´s Solitaire for Windows. I play a few games every day since I discovered my first Windows 3.11 had such a game. That game NEVER gets old for me. Oh, and also Metal Gear Acid 1 and 2. Those games have something that keeps me returning to them. I wish they would make 3."

Above: Solitaire, the official game of procrastination 

May 21, 2009

To see the rest of the stories, check out last week's QOTW article, and for more podcast related discussion, introduce yourself in the TalkRadar forums.

New episodes of TalkRadar post every Friday afternoon, and can be found on iTunes or as features here on GamesRadar. We archive every TalkRadar episode in the TalkRadar Compendinarium.