Your favorite sci-fi themed games of the '90s?

Funny enough, I was thinking of Descent these last couple of weeks because of my recent run through Dark Forces. I never owned any of the Descent games but like a lot of the stuff back then, I had a shareware version of one or a few of them. Do you think they hold up? I wonder how the full 360 degree control is if one were to play it now. I've always been really curious about them though and they look awesome at a glance. Looks like they have some OpenGL source ports.

I think Star Ocean: The Last Hope (2009) is probably the heaviest sci-fi entry?

For me sci-fi is my favorite setting in anything and the 90's were filled to the brim with it everywhere. Hard to just think of a few things, the whole genre really applies to me.

I'm gonna focus on 5 for now...

Flashback: The Quest for Identity (1993)

This game was released on a lot of platforms. 3DO, Acorn 32-bit, Amiga, CD-i, DOS, Dreamcast, FM Towns, Genesis, iPhone, Jaguar, Macintosh, PC-98, SEGA CD, and SNES. A lot. I recommend the Genesis version, that's the version I beat back in '93. Flashback is an unbelievably ambitious platformer for its time. It takes a lot of inspiration from Another World (below), but ups the actual gameplay complexity considerably. Playing through this game is like experiencing an awesome sci-fi film, except the player is controlling the action (outside well rendered cutscenes). As much a work of art as it is transcendent gaming experience; not playing through Flashback at least once in your life is just silly.

Out of this World (1991)

This game is also known as Another World, and has been released on every platform throughout the history of mankind, including future platforms on mars. I'm pretty sure everyone knows about this game. If you don't, here's the Wikipedia page. I posted the SNES cover, because that's the version I had as a kid. Nowadays I imagine this is the best version. OotW/AW is the best cinematic platformer ever made, and it does the "show don't tell" method of story deliver better than any other game before or since. It's also got a great laser/shield battle system, ingenious environment puzzles, and death defying platforming. It's also really challenging if you actually figure out the game all by yourself. For science fiction loving retro gamers, Out of this World is required gaming.

MechWarrior 3 (1999)
The '90s were a haven for the mech sim genre, especially on PC. Of all those releases, MechWarrior 3 remains my favorite. I wish this game were easier to play today. Getting it to run on a modern system can be very tricky. MechWarrior 3 features detailed mechs (they limp when legs are hit, and destroyed limbs spark and trail wreckage) with slow and ponderous movements, as 100 ton mechs should. Firepower and precise application are the key in winning your engagements. Plenty of mechs are available. You start in a 55-ton Bushwhacker and work you way up to the really heavy stuff in a 20-mission campaign. There's an expansion called Pirate's Moon that I've still not played yet. If you enjoy giant robot combat sims, find a way to play MechWarrior 3.

Neuromancer (1990)
Based on the cyberpunk novel by William Gibson. In a grimy future, you play Case, a cyberspace cowboy who finds himself broke in Chiba City. Find yourself a laptop and the right software for it so you can hack into databases around the city to regain your access to cyberspace. Buy and upgrade brain implant chips to augment your computer skills, and sell your body parts to afford new technologies. When you get to cyberspace, you'll take on the nasty AIs that guard the most important databases. Within all this information is the bizarre secret of this world of inbred corporations. The most interesting well realized game of its type to this day.

Rise of the Dragon was released on a lot of platforms. A lot of people who've never played this assume that playing the SEGA CD version is a good idea. It's not. The SEGA CD version neuters the color palette, and makes some other non-optimal changes. I played the DOS version as a kid, and that's the version I recommend. You can get it here. Rise of the Dragon is a futuristic first-person adventure (with a few arcade sequences). The game's visuals are reminiscent of a comic book, with digitized photos of actors and hand-painted backgrounds. Unlike most other adventure games of the time, it relies less on inventory puzzles and more on specific choices made by the player. If you enjoy neonoir this is a must play. Rise of the Dragon kind of reminds of Snatcher in a lot of ways. Except Rise of the Dragon is the superior experience, from a plot and gameplay perspective at least.