Be warned: This article is not objective. However it does try to be.

When I think back to the days that converted me from just being a console player into someone who was really desperately wishing to buy a desktop-pc, then I have to think of one specific game that probably nearly no one else will really remember. I have to think of a strategy game called M.A.X, short for Mechanized Assault and Exploration.

I can't believe how many hours I have spent with playing it, over at a friend's house. It was basically the same pattern everyday: We would go there after school, with two more friends accompanying us, and then we'd go to the computer room to start the game, depositing all our school bags in the dining room on the way. We'd then start the multiplayer. Multiplayer then, of course, was not the same as multiplayer nowadays. We had to take it in turns to make our move, to assault and explore with mechanized units. So basically Mechanized Assault and Exploration was one pretty straight forward title for the game, because: this is exactly what you did. One player at a time would close the door, take his turn, come out again and let the next player in, while all the others were out there in the dining room using the time to do their homework. Which would only work in the first thirty minutes, because after the first clash with the other players it was really all about trying to think of the best strategy while out there and then to quickly implement it when you finally had the chance to be back in front of the screen.

See: I don't even remember much about the gameplay. I just remember this one tiny little unit, the Scout. I could still paint it from scratch, in full detail. It was the most important unit in the game, or so I thought. Probably it actually wasn't: that would be an explanation for why I always lost. I was thrilled by the complexity of the game. I didn't know this from my old Nintendo-world in which I had grown up. It was the most fascinating thing I had experienced for a very long time. And the look of it was so unmistakeable, so mechanic, so big that it just really felt like achieving something glorious while building your base. As it always is with nostalgia I probably don't judge the game with the most objective view, but then again: Is that always really necessary? M.A.X after all was so much fun: I owe this one a tribute.

And this feeling of literally having your opponents sit next to each other, busy doing their homework, always pretending that they definitely can't have been the ones who just interrupted the construction of your second base by shooting it down; let's just say that I never experienced this feeling again. It was a feeling of community that even the best thought-out multiplayer games today lack. Again this might be nostalgia, and I'm not saying that multiplayer nowadays can not be fun, but: It was just different back then. And neither Teamspeak nor anything else in the world can be a substitute for that. Although I have to admit that a hot seat mode just really seems out-dated these days. And if I'm honest: I don't know if M.A.X could still be the same fascination it was ten years ago. That's the crazy thing with memories: When you try to grab hold of them and when you want to pull them back on the surface, you often return as disenchanted and disappointed. But after all: This is GamersGlobal, not PsychologistsGlobal. So let's stop delving this deep into the human mind.

You probably ask yourself right now what the point of this whole article is. To put it straight: I just felt the urgent desire to write about this game. Just to write, not even to explain, not even to tell you that it was developed by Interplay Productions in 1997, not even to mention that you should stay out of the way of its successor M.A.X 2 which was a downright disappointment. I only realized that there's not much to be found about this strategy oldie on the internet and I decided to change this with a little contribution. So: Should you care about M.A.X? I can’t tell you that. You might want to take a look at this video, which for me feels like meeting a beloved friend after not having seen each other for years. For you it might feel different, it most definitely will. But if you like it nonetheless, then you might want to check out a fan-made project titled M.A.X Reloaded, although I didn't try that out myself just yet. As a matter of fact: I am not even sure if I want to. I could be let down. And probably you know that feeling perfectly well from your own memories that you cherish. From your own little stepstones that helped you enter the world of gaming a long or not such a long time ago.

Let them out of their cage. There might be people out there sharing them with you.