Number 10.

Before the countdown begins, I'll explain how the games made it into the top 10. Basically, these are the ten games I've most enjoyed discovering (or in one case, rediscovering) in the time I've been writing the blog. If I've specifically picked it for a feature, I'm not going to count it, but anything else stands a chance of making it in. Or should I say, stood a chance... the top 10 is already picked and ready to go.

So, without further ado...

Number 10 - Rock Star Ate My Hamster (Commodore 64).

If you'd told me a year ago that after more than two hundred posts, Rock Star Ate My Hamster would have been in my top ten blog games, I'd have thrown a telly out of the window. It seems ridiculous to suggest that... it's not even a very good game.

Doesn't matter. For all its flaws and lack of any sort of long-term play, Rock Star Ate My Hamster will give you two solid hours of pure addiction as you try to manage your mismatched band of reprobate rock stars to the top.

Here's what I originally thought of it...


Three days? I suspect that three months wouldn't knock my lot into shape.

I think the appeal with this game lies in the fact that everyone wants to be a rock star or pop star. There's nothing that seems more attractive than being top of the charts... why else do you see film stars or sports stars releasing records? It's not enough that they're famous and have glamorous careers, they want the adulation that only crowds of concert-goers can give.

Rock Star Ate My Hamster doesn't let you become a rock star, but managing them is incredibly addictive... up to a point. That point being when you manage to have a hit record. Really, once that happens, there's nowhere else for this game to go. It's a shame, but back in those days, games were often a lot more limited. With the likes of Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Singstar and Lips out there now, the music game market is on a real high (or has been... it might have reached a saturation point by now). I wonder if there would be any market for a much deeper version of this game now?

I don't know. Maybe it's best left in the Eighties. What I can say is that, in terms of pure enjoyment, the two hours of glued-to-my-screen clicking that ensued upon loading Rock Star Ate My Hamster are enough to make this my tenth favourite blog game.