With so few good new titles being released these days, especially by major studios, I figured I'd make a thread for everyone to share your favourite classic or older games, especially if they're lesser-known titles that others might have missed at the time.
I'll open with The Saboteur (2009), Mercenaries (2005) and Saints Row 2 ( The 2008 original)
98-04 golden age of pc games... so many favorites but one that i especially enjoy from then is Septerra Core a western jrpg with full voice acting and very strange combat mechanics. it often came in a double pack with Shogo which is another great game from that time.. a fps with giant mech action
I'd argue the golden age was 1994 to 2004.
'94 starts with games like Master of Magic, System Shock, Warcraft's: Orcs and Humans, Eye of the Beholder and Menzoberranzan, Theme Park, X-COM: UFO defense and more. It was an tremendous year for gamers, and that's just where things started for the era.
Harpoon 2 came out in 1994.
The current, modded version of Harpoon 2 is still the best naval fleet simulator of all time.
It is realistic enough to use for command training, and still lots of fun.