All-Time Most Popular Games Tagged 'DOS' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/alltime/DOS/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> All-Time Most Popular Games Tagged 'DOS' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg All-Time Most Popular Games Tagged 'DOS' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/alltime/DOS/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> en-us Quake Rage through 32 single player levels and 6 deathmatch levels of sheer terror and fully immersive sound and lighting. Arm yourself against the cannibalistic Ogre, fiendish Vore and indestructible Schambler using letal nails, fierce Thunderbolts and abominable Rocket and Grenade Launchers.
]]> 26 Nov 2006 04:48:39 Prince of Persia The Grand Vizier Jaffar has thrown you into a dark dungeon and plans to marry the girl of your dreams in an hour. You're not going to let that happen are you? Try to escape from the dungeon, take out Jaffar's guards, find your way through the sultan's palace and defeat Jaffar himself. Now go, you've got 60 minutes!

Prince of Persia is a 2D action-adventure / platformer with run & jump gameplay. Avoid deadly traps, solve some puzzles and engage in sword fights. The player has an infinite amount of lives but has to restart at the beginning of a level each time he dies and must complete the game within an hour. An especially noteworthy aspect of the game is the very fluent animation of your character.

from the (Moby Games Price of Persia page)
]]> 24 Dec 2006 08:39:15 Lemmings Lemmings, a computer game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and published by Psygnosis in 1991, was one of the most popular computer games of its time. Several games magazines of the time awarded the game maximum review scores.

Psygnosis, also known for the Wipeout series, had its greatest success in Lemmings. Famously, the concept for Lemmings came from an animation created by Mike Dailly over a lunchtime, to prove a point about how small a character could be on screen. [1]

The game was unique and based around a concept previously untried. In the original Commodore Amiga version, there are 120 levels, and on each level, the player must guide a group of up to 100 lemmings (or 80 in many versions, such as DOS and Windows) home by giving individual lemmings various commands. The "lemmings" of the game are small, green-haired humanoid beings that mindlessly walk en masse into any danger in their path, following the popular myth that real lemmings behave in a similarly suicidal fashion.

Of the numerous sequels the only one to achieve the success of the first was Lemmings 2: The Tribes, which added twelve specialist tribes of lemmings, each with their own type of level and specialist workers.

The game briefly gave rise to a new genre, described in magazines at the time as the "save 'em up", a joking reference to other popular genres like beat 'em up and shoot 'em up.


Source: wikipedia.com
]]> 15 Jan 2007 07:43:50 Commander Keen Vol. 4
Moby Games said,
This is the first of the two episodes of the second series of Commander Keen called "Commander Keen: Goodbye, Galaxy!"

In this episode you, again, play the role of Billy Blaze, an 8 year-old genius who's already managed to bring the Vorticons' invasion to a stop. This time, Billy receives an interstellar transmission while working on a Photachyon Transceiver (a radio that can receive signals anywhere in the galaxy). While the transmission is choppy, Billy manages to figure out that the galaxy is once again in danger, and sets out to bring and end to the Shikadi's evil plans.
]]> 30 Nov 2006 03:23:20 Heretic Raven Software teamed up with Id Software for the second time in its creation of the hit fantasy action game Heretic. Based on a modified DooM engine, Heretic pioneered a revolutionary new inventory system for character item use that has become commonplace in the FPS genre. Id Software published the game under its flag and it was distributed by GT Interactive.

Players took the role of Corvus, an Elven hero whose race was nearly eliminated by a horde of evil monsters from another dimension. The first episode of Heretic was released as Shareware as a precursor to the full version of the game, Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Heretic won several awards for excellence, appeared in such notable publications as USA Today and Playboy, and opened many new doors in the computer gaming software industry for Raven Software and its team of developers. Heretic was Raven Software's most popular, highest acclaimed, biggest selling game to that point.

(from the Raven Software Heretic page)
]]> 13 Dec 2006 01:18:12 Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat was the first entry in the famous Mortal Kombat fighting game series by Midway, released in arcades in 1992. It was later picked up by Acclaim Games for the home version, then later returned to Midway. It centers on the first Mortal Kombat tournament and the ultimate defeat of the evil Shang Tsung by the monk Liu Kang.

Versions of the original Mortal Kombat game appeared on several different formats, most notably the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Nintendo's SNES. When the first game in the series was released for the SNES in North America, Nintendo of America had a strict "Family Friendly" policy towards the content of the games released on their systems which required the removal of graphic violence, religious imagery and themes, mentions of death, sexual themes, and other sensitive subjects. Hence, the first Mortal Kombat game on the SNES had the blood recolored gray in an attempt to pass it off as sweat, and the various Fatality moves were graphically changed to be less gruesome. The SNES version was graphically superior to the Mega Drive/Genesis port, but all violence was censored.

The game was a response by Midway to Capcom's successful Street Fighter II, which spawned a number of fighting games. However, it used a distinctly different fighting system from the Street Fighter formula, which was used in all subsequent sequels until Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The controls consisted of five buttons arranged in an "X" pattern: a high punch, a high kick, a low punch, a low kick, and a block button, as well as an eight-way joystick. If the two fighters were standing next to each other, hitting any of the attack buttons would result in a modified strike: a low punch turned into a throw, a high punch turned into a heavy elbow, headbutt, or backhand, and either kick turned into a knee strike. Crouching and hitting either punch resulted in an uppercut, which was the most damaging attack of the game. Jump kicking and crouch-kicking were executed in a similar fashion to Street Fighter, although leg sweeps and roundhouse kicks were performed by holding away while pressing the appropriate kick button.

The blocking in Mortal Kombat I by itself greatly changed the flow of fighting in comparison to contemporary games which used Street Fighter conventions. Characters do not block while retreating or crouching, but only block when the block button is pushed. Even then, characters take (reduced) damage from any hit while blocking. However, successfully blocking moves is simple – a crouching block can successfully defend against all moves, even aerial attacks such as jumpkicks – and blocking characters give very little ground when struck rather than sliding backwards. This style of blocking rewarded dodging to avoid damage but also made counterattacks much easier after a successful block, and the ultimate result was an environment which rewards a more furtive playing style than contemporary games.

Another of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a special finishing move executed against a beaten opponent to kill them in a gruesome fashion. For example, one character (Sub-Zero) would grasp a defeated opponent by the head, then rip out the head and spine while the body crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood.

Finally, Mortal Kombat also changed the way special moves were performed. Street Fighter (and many other fighting games) performed most special moves in fractions of circles (usually full, half or one-quarter) on the joystick followed by a button press (such as a quarter-circle forward, plus punch). Mortal Kombat was the first to introduce moves that did not require a button press (such as tap back, tap back, then forward), and only a few of the special moves required circular joystick movement.
]]> 02 Mar 2007 07:14:32 Rampage This is easy. You're a scientist and you "accidentally" became an abominable monster a la King Kong or Godzilla. What's life like as a monster? Well, there's a lot of destruction involved. You fight off tanks and helicopters, destroy buildings, eat people (and their food), and generally wreak havok on the world. All in a day's work.

]]> 28 Nov 2006 05:54:11 Maniac Mansion At the start of the game, the hero, Dave Miller, finds that his girlfriend, Sandy Pantz, has been abducted by Dr. Fred Edison, and sets out to save her, with two of his friends. The player could select the friends from a group of six, and the game would play somewhat differently depending on which friends were selected.
]]> 30 Dec 2006 08:02:38 Mechwarrior 2 31st Century Combat

You are the genetically engineered Clan Mechwarrior. The Clans are invading the Inner Sphere. Join either the Wolf Clan or the Jade Falcon Clan as they pursue their own agenda against the Inner Sphere and other Clans. Take your advanced Omnimechs into battle against all comers. Win high warrior ratings (by using less mech or smaller mechs than needed, completing objectives, etc.) and you'll get chance at a promotion trial where you face superior odds in an arena. If you win, you advance in rank. If you are very successfully, you can make it all the way up to Khan, leader of the Clan!



Ghost Bear's Legacy

From beyond the firery ruins of a bitter war between Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon, Clan Ghost Bear emerges from its icy refuge to retake the Legacy that was stolen from it.

You are a MechWarrior in Clan Ghost Bear and must help return the Legacy home. Can you do it? Or will you die in battle as so many have before you?



Mercenaries

Activision's followup to Mechwarrior 2, Mercenaries puts you in command of a small company of 'mechs whose only loyalty is to money. As there is a brutal war between 2 tribes underway, your goal is to cash in by doing tough jobs for both sides.

Buy and equip your 'mechs, hire pilots, and fight in a wide array of campaigns against rebels, pirates, the Clans, and even other houses of the Inner Sphere. In the Merc mode you will have to keep an eye on stocks of salvageable material, and use this to designate which Mercs are built next, while Story Mode plays like a straight-ahead action game. Internet options include play with up to 15 others around the world.
]]> 21 Nov 2006 06:23:17 HeXeN Raven Software's HeXen actually began development as an expansion for Heretic that was originally slated to hit the shelves as "Heretic II." However, the game design so expanded beyond the original game that this proposed the expansion of the Heretic universe took on a bold new identity of its own...HeXen: Beyond Heretic.

HeXen was developed over a period of 8 months, published by Id Software and distributed by GT Interactive in 1995. The game introduced the 3-D gaming world to the "hub system" of level progression, rotating polygonal brushes and multiple character classes that were available in both single player and multiplayer. All of this combined to help HeXen raise the bar for the first-person shooter genre. HeXen pushed Id Software's DooM engine to its absolute limits and surpassed Heretic as Raven Software's most popular, highly acclaimed title.

The success of HeXen prompted a mission pack, Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, and several ports to home console gaming systems including the Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64 and the Sony PlayStation. HeXen also became the first Raven Software game made available for the Macintosh.

(from the Raven Software Hexen page)
]]> 13 Dec 2006 01:40:26 X-COM: Ufo Defense Turn-based strategy game that seamlessly combines two different elements- tactical squad battles and resource management.
]]> 22 Nov 2006 04:38:58 Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares Master of Orion II is like Civilization. Rather than take over the world, you focus on the galaxy, taking worlds instead of cities. Pick or create your own race, pursue technologies, employ strategic fleet deployments, and engage in extremely advanced diplomacy.

Various paths to victory.
]]> 02 Feb 2007 04:54:21 Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss You are the Avatar. Once again you return to Britannia. Upon your arrival, you witness the kidnapping of Baron Almric's daughter. Found guilty of the crime, you are thrown into the Great Stygian Abyss with the choice of either finding the girl or rotting in the dungeon. On your journey you have to get along with the many inhabitants of the dungeon, who are survivors of a failed colony, and eventually find out that there's much more to this kidnapping than meets the eye.

Ultima Underworld was the first RPG that had fluid first-person movement in a 3D environment, revolutionizing the genre. Unlike earlier first-person RPGs like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder, the player can move in every direction and the graphics are updated continually. The dungeon also is not made entirely of corridors and rooms arranged in a rectangular fashion but has a lot of variety: slopes, stairs, bridges and more.

Underworld's combat system is action-oriented. The player has to draw his weapon and aim at his opponent in real time. The magic system is based on runes that can be found in the Abyss. If combined in the right order, they produce a magical effect. As the Abyss is populated by more than just monsters, there are also various dialogue sequences with NPCs, who one can also barter with.

(from the Moby Games UW page)
]]> 02 Dec 2006 01:23:49 Commander Keen Vol. 2
Moby Games said,
his is the second game in the first trilogy of Commander Keen, called Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons.

In this episode a Vorticon Mothership is poised above Earth, preparing to destroy every major city within their deadly Tantalus Ray!

Keen's mission is to sneak aboard the ship and stop these evil Vorticons from blowing up the Earth. In order to do this you need to find and destroy each X-14 Tantalus Ray, powered by cells from the big purple Space Amoeba. You need to find your way in the ship to each Tantaulus Control Room. You start in the ship's galley, and must find items to help you on your quest. You already have a Vorticion Hyper-Pistol, which has almost no ammunition at all and, of course, the trusty pogo stick from your Mars adventure.
]]> 30 Nov 2006 03:15:27 Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods Populous II is a direct sequel to Populous. In this sequel you have to take your people to victory against the ancient Greek gods.
]]> 10 Feb 2007 05:56:03 Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds takes place one year after the events of Ultima VII: The Black Gate. To celebrate the defeat of the Guardian, Lord British invites the Avatar and his companions to his castle. However, in the night of the feast the Guardian attacks again, encasing the castle in a giant gem of blackrock. Deep in the sewers of the castle, another blackrock gem is found, created as an aftereffect of the attack. This gem is a teleporter to other worlds controlled by the Guardian. Now you, the Avatar, must travel to these worlds in order to free the castle from the Guardian's spell.

This sequel to Ultima Underworld plays almost exactly as the original, with its 3D world, action-oriented combat, and magic and dialogue systems. The storyline is more connected to the main Ultima series and the game world is larger and has more variety: besides the usual castles and dungeons there are such diverse locations as an ice world, a totally alien place called Talorus and the enigmatic Ethereal Void. Graphics and sound have also been improved: the size of the viewing window has been increased, there are all-new monster graphics and the game now features digitized sound effects.

from the (Moby Games UW2 page)
]]> 24 Dec 2006 07:00:00 Spy Hunter Spy Hunter is an action/driving game. It places the player as the driver of a "spy" vehicle. The object of the game is to travel the freeways and hunt down and destroy as many enemy vehicles as possible, while protecting and not harming innocent civilian vehicles.

The view is aerial, much like a helicopter vantage point. The screen scrolls vertically underneath the player's car. An arrangement of the Peter Gunn theme music plays throughout.

The game begins with the player driving a vehicle, the G-6155 Interceptor (fictitious, but modelled on a 1983 Z28; its name derives from the date of birth of game designer George Gomez). Soon, the player starts to encounter enemy vehicles which try to force the player's car off the road and crash. Each enemy vehicle has its own special feature, such as tire slashers or bulletproof armor.

Points are scored for distance travelled (a counter increments the score while the player is driving) and destroying enemy vehicles, however these points are not added for several seconds should an innocent civilian car be destroyed. There is a lead-in time where the player has an initial endless supply of cars. After the lead-in time expires, the player must earn extra cars with high scores. The first extra car is earned at a default value of 30,000 points, but this value can vary depending on settings; up to 3 additional cars are awarded at similar increments.

The player must be careful to avoid harming innocent civilian vehicles. There are three types of such vehicles — two automobiles (one pink in color, the other light blue) and a motorcycle. Destroying these vehicles causes the score meter to halt for a few seconds (in effect subtracting points from the player's score) and will result in the weapons van (see below) arriving only once instead of twice in that sequence (it is also possible to inadvertently destroy the weapons van itself; doing so produces the same consequences as destroying a civilian vehicle). A very hard, direct crash with a civilian vehicle can result in the player losing a car.

Initially, the only weapons the player's car has available are two front-mounted machine guns with an endless supply of ammunition. Early on, these guns and the player's driving skill (the player can attempt to force or ram enemy cars off the road) are his only means of defense against the "bad guy" hordes. Eventually, however, the player encounters an ally, the Weapons Van. The player drives past the weapons van — which is bright red in color — parked on the side of the road. The van accelerates past the player's car and drops a ramp. The player can then drive up the ramp and enter the back of the van. The van then pulls to the side of the road and the spy car is equipped with a new weapon. A symbol atop the weapons van indicates which type of special weapon it carries. The weapons van appears twice in each sequence, or "territory" (forks in the road, where the player must bear either to the right or to the left, marking the boundary between one territory and the next). The player is not compelled to use the weapon supplied by the van; if uninterested, the player can simply ignore the van and drive past it.

There are three special weapons in all and they can all be equipped simultaneously (though this is rare). The special weapons consist of an oil slick, a smoke screen and missiles. Each special weapon has a limited number of uses, for example, the smoke screen can be used four times (three times in some game versions). The special weapons are activated via dedicated buttons on the steering wheel. Once weapons are depleted, the car can be refitted with a new supply from the weapons van (the ammunition can be refilled in this manner before it is totally depleted, and entering the weapons van and receiving the same type of weapon twice in the same territory results in the supply of ammunition being doubled - this does not apply for all game versions). If the car is destroyed, either by being forced off the road or shot, all weapons other than the machine guns are lost when the car returns to the road.

There are four enemy vehicles in all, each dark blue in color and possessing its own special characteristic:

  • Switchblade (subtitled Never To Be Trusted) with tire slashers (knives pop out of this car's tires and can force the player's car to crash if they touch his tires)
  • The Road Lord (subtitled Bullet Proof Bully) with bulletproof armor plating (the machine guns are ineffective against these cars)
  • Limousines called The Enforcer (equipped with Double Barrel Action) featuring a shotgun-toting thug who attempts to shoot the player's car
  • Helicopters called The Mad Bomber (subtitled Master Of The Sky) which attempts to take out the player with bombs. This enemy can only be destroyed with missiles (these can also unintentionally destroy the other enemies — and conceivably, the player's car itself — if they miss the helicopter, as missing shots can fall back onto the roadway - Missiles do not fall back in some game versions).

    • It is possible for the player to convert his car into a boat by voluntarily driving through a special boathouse located infrequently alongside the road; or at certain intervals the player will be compelled to enter the water, with the words "Bridge Out" appearing on the screen a few seconds before such forced entry. The boat driving sequence is very similar to the normal driving sequence, but provides a break from the regular action. In the water, the three enemies besides the helicopter are replaced by two others: The Barrel Dumper, which travels ahead of the boat and throws barrels into the water which must be evaded, and Doctor Torpedo, which shoots projectiles at the boat (using the oil slick on either of these characters results in their destruction by burning). At the end of this sequence, the player drives through another boathouse and his vehicle is instantly changed back into a car.

    Also, at irregular intervals the words "Icy Road Ahead" will appear on the screen; a few seconds later the scene changes to a "Winter Wonderland," and driving becomes more treacherous; however, some of the weapons — particularly the oil slick — will become more effective in destroying the enemy vehicles.
    ]]>     13 Jan 2007 03:17:18     Transport Tycoon Deluxe In Transport Tycoon Deluxe you control a transport company, where you try to make as much profit as possible by transporting people ad goods by road, rail, sea or by air.
    ]]>     18 Dec 2006 09:13:33     The Secret of Monkey Island
    I cursed my luck again as I slid down the monkey's throat. Have my dreams of guzzling grog and plundering galleons been reduced to this. "Three small trials and you're a pirate like us." Fair enough. If only I could stomach the foul brew these scurvy seadogs swilled, the rest would be easy. How could I have known I'd meet a powerful and beautiful woman with a jealous suitor too stupid to realize he'd been dead for years? And how can I crawl through this great stone monkey to find a man who walks three inches above the ground and sets fire to his beard every morning?

    -The Memoirs of Guybrush Threepwood: The Monkey Island Years
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 04:24:31     Populous In Populous you play a god, who has to watch over a people and make them stronger, so that eventually your people can conquer another group of people which are controlled by another god.
    ]]>     10 Feb 2007 05:37:35     Commander Keen Vol. 6
    Moby Games said,
    Kid genius Billy Blaze aka Commander Keen returns. This time, aliens called the Bloogs have kidnapped his baby sitter Molly and want to have her for dinner. Keen flies to the planet Fribbulus Xax to rescue her. Keen 6 uses the same graphics engine as parts 4 and 5, but has 15 new levels.
    ]]>     30 Nov 2006 03:33:03     Redneck Rampage This game is a first person shooter of the old era where you are sent to save the world from rednecks and alien babes with machine guns in their bossoms.
    ]]>     28 Jan 2007 12:29:53     SimCity

    History

    SimCity was first developed on the Commodore 64 in 1985 by Will Wright. It gained much of its popularity after it was released on the PC and MAC in 1989. It spawned a legacy of "Sim" games, some successful, and others not so, that are still enjoyed by players today. Sometime after the release of SimCity 4, SimCity Classic Live was made available by EA games to registered members.


    Game Summary

    SimCity is a city simulation game. The player plays the roll of god and mayor, building a city from the ground up. This requires careful balance of expansion and budget management. Players can change everything from taxes to education funding. There are no legal restrictions as well, players may levy huge taxes, as well as drop police funding down to 0 in order to raise money, but they also must deal with the effects of their actions. SimCity also has a number of disasters that can occur in your city, ranging from fires, to nuclear melt-downs, even alien invasions. SimCity uses a top-down view.

    Purchase Details

    The game is no longer in production. You may be able to find copies on amazon or Ebay, as well as your local used games store. Also, you can play SimCity Classic Live for free.
    ]]>     31 Dec 2006 09:30:39     Worms Worms is is a classic strategy game where each player controls a team of four worms, trying to destroy each other. The worms have a wide array of weapons at their disposal, many of them which are subject to influences from wind and gravity.

    Each game takes place on a randomly generated level in one of the ten available styles, ranging from forests and deserts to Candy land and the moon (complete with affected gravity).

    The way the level looks at the start is never what it looks like at the end, since almost all weapons leave considerable marks in the terrains.
    ]]>     17 Feb 2007 06:23:42     Commander Keen Vol. 1
    Moby Games said,
    In game you play the role of Commander Keen: an eight year-old genius by the name of Billy Blaze, who builds an interstellar spaceship from his mom's vacuum cleaner. When Billy learns that the Earth is in danger, he dons his brother's football helmet to become Commander Keen -- Defender of the Earth!
    ]]>     30 Nov 2006 03:04:03     Flashback The year is 2142. You play as Conrad B. Hart, a man who has lost his memory. After barely escaping from hostile aliens, Conrad's bike crashes on an unknown planet. Conrad finds himself in the jungle, and from now on his quest for survival and his lost identity begins.
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 03:49:44     Chip's Challenge Chip is willing to do anything for Melinda the Mental Marvel, more than anything, because he wants to join melinda's exlusive computer club, the Bit Busters. Finally Melinda has offered him membership, but on one condition! Chip must find his way from one end of Melinda's magical clubhouse to the other, picking up cosmic computer chips along the way.
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 07:49:36     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 1989 platformer video game for the NES by Ultra Games/Konami based on the popular animated series and comic books. It is also the first video game ever to be based on the series. The same year, Konami released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, an arcade game by the same name but unrelated to this NES title. The game was converted for many home computers. In February 2007, the game would appear on the ESRB site as a Virtual Console title.

    The game begins with all four Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael, who can be rotated through at any time during gameplay. The turtles are practically identical except for their weapons, which differ in attack speed, range, and damage (i.e. Donatello's bo has the best damage and range, but the worst speed). The player travels through the first 5 levels using an overview map to enter various sewers, warehouses, and other areas which lead to the goal of each level. Along the way the player fights various enemies which range from Foot Soldiers and Rat Kings to bomb dropping-blimps and chainsaw-wielding baddies. Each turtle serves as a life, and there are only 2 continues. Later in the game, the player is given several opportunities to rescue those who been captured after failing in combat.

    Donatello: Has great reach, but his weapon is slow and doesn't hit small targets with a standing swing. His Bo does the most damage of all the turtles and is the best for boss fights.

    Raphael: The Sais have the worst reach and flexibility of all the weapons in the game. They are noticeably slow, but he does most damage to some enemies - especially on later levels.

    Michelangelo: Average character all around. Doesn't have a downward attack like Donatello or Leonardo, and while his nunchaku weapon is weak, once he has taken half damage his weapon becomes as strong as Donatello's.

    Leonardo: With his ninja swords he has long reach and the greatest weapon range when swinging, but doesn't do much damage. Fortunately, he seems to take less damage from smaller creatures as well.
    ]]>     03 Mar 2007 01:33:16     Lode Runner The Bungeling Empire has stolen a huge cache of gold from its rightful owners, and your mission is to infiltrate its treasury and recapture it. This entails progressing through 150 screens of platforms, ladders and ropes.

    The Empire has sent robotic guards down to protect the gold, and contact with any of these will cost you a life. Your method of escaping them is to press fire to dig a hole in their line of movement, thus causing them to fall in briefly, allowing you to move across the gap safely. Once all the gold has been collected, a ladder allowing you to move onto the next screen is added. Completing these screens often requires forward planning and precision.
    ]]>     09 Feb 2007 06:28:37     Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny Ultima V continues the story of the Avatar begun in Ultima IV. The game begins with Lord British captured on a mission of exploration in a newly discovered Underworld. The Avatar (player) is called back through a portal to Britannia, where tyrant Lord Blackthorn rules with an iron fist and is backed by 3 mysterious "shadow lords".

    With a deep plot and rich interactive world, Ultima V substantially raised the bar for RPGs of the day.
    ]]>     06 Jan 2007 10:26:41     Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    I thought I'd killed the Ghost Pirate LeChuck for good. Wrong. How many times can that bloated old fool die? Other pirates tell me there's no escape. "When LeChuck wants you dead, you're dead", they say. Legend has it that the treasure of Big Whoop holds the key to great power... I must find it before LeChuck finds me.

    -The Memoirs of Guybrush Threepwood: The Monkey Island Years
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 04:45:44     Day of the Tentacle One day, Purple Tentacle and Green Tentacle are out for a walk when Purple Tentacle decides to drink toxic waste. The waste causes him to grow arms, become evil, and eventually take over the world. It is up to Bernard, Hoagie, and Laverne to travel back in time and turn off the Sludge'o'Matic before Purple Tentacle can drink the ooze and become evil. Because Dr. Fred used an imitation diamond in his time machine, it breaks and sends Hoagie 200 years in the past and Laverne 200 years in the future. You must get everyone back to the present and save the world!
    ]]>     26 Nov 2006 01:03:10     Commander Keen Vol. 3
    Moby Games said,
    This is the direct sequel to Commander Keen: The Earth Explodes - it's the third and final Commander Keen adventure in his first trilogy titled Invasion of the Vorticons.

    In the last episode Commander Keen destroyed all the Tantalus Rays and disabled the Vorticon Mothership and watched as it limped home, back to where it came from - the planet Vorticon VI.

    Keen lands next to the city of Vortiville and continues on through various forts and cities, passing the incredible maze of the Caves of Oblivion. Eventually Keen will reach the Castle of the Grand Intellect. Just who is The Grand Intellect and can you stop him before he destroys Earth?

    The Vorticon Elder from episode 2 told you two things: the Vorticons are not evil - the Grand Intellect is controlling them with his "Mind-Belts". And the Grand Intellect is from Earth!

    Who could he be?
    ]]>     30 Nov 2006 03:20:01     Privateer Related to the Wing Commander series, but you are a free agent. You can take on missions to earn money. Some of the missions relate to the storyline, others are just for money. Use your money to upgrade your ship and trade cargo.
    ]]>     05 Dec 2006 11:35:04     Quest for Glory 3: Wages of War The third game in Quest for Glory series is set in the Africa-like world of Tarna, where you travel with your new liontaur friends you have met in the second game. Shortly after your arrival, you learn about the conflict between the liontaurs and the neighbor Simbani village, populated by the leopardmen. It is now time for our hero to become a skillful diplomat and to prevent an upcoming war between the two nations.

    The gameplay system of "Wages of War" is the same as in the two previous games. The game plays like an adventure, with puzzles to solve and characters to talk to, with the additional of RPG elements: combat (action-based) and character development. You can play as either a fighter, a thief, a mage, or a paladin, and raise your skills directly after battles or by performing various actions. Graphics and interface underwent a major change. This is the first 256-color Quest for Glory game, and the first one to utilize the new, icon-based interface.

    (from the Moby Games QFG3 page)
    ]]>     05 Dec 2006 11:32:14     Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure roughly follows the same plot as the movie it is based upon. Certain scenes are omitted, but it sticks close to the original plot for the most part. The game uses the SCUMM system that was used in Maniac Mansion before it. This system involves choosing certain verbs to interact with objects and people in the game. However, this game features something that no other adventure games of the time had. The "Indy Quotient" system gives the players points based on how they solve certain puzzles. This gives puzzles multiple solutions and adds replay value to the game. Also included in the game are action sequences where Indy must fight to get by guards.
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 06:09:19     Commander Keen Vol. 5
    Moby Games said,
    This game continues episode IV directly; Billy ends up in a huge space station, which the Shikadi plan to use in order to destroy the galaxy.

    You, being Billy of course, have to go through many parts of the space station in order to eventually thwart the Shikadi's evil plans.
    ]]>     30 Nov 2006 03:27:50     The Dig When a giant asteroid headed directly for Earth is discovered, a group of five scientists are sent to take a space shuttle to the asteroid and plant explosives on it knock it out of its course, and prevent it frome ver reaching Earth.

    The team is made up by Boston Low, a retired astronaut, Dr. Ludger Drunk, an archaeologist and geologist, Maggie Robbins, a reporter and linguistics expert, Ken Border, the shuttle pilot, and Cora Miles, NASA technician and political candidate.

    But the mission turns out to be far from what they expected.
    ]]>     09 Feb 2007 09:21:31     Betrayal at Krondor Based on Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga (and co-written with Feist himself) is Betrayal At Krondor, a new tale in the Riftwar universe. Exploration in a 3D world and turn-based combat complement the story, which is divided up into nine chapters. Each chapter has a goal to achieve before moving on to the next chapter, but how that goal is met is up to you.

    (from the Moby Games Betrayal at Krondor page)
    ]]>     09 Dec 2006 09:11:56     Alone in the Dark Jeremy Hartwood, owner of Derceto has died recently. As either Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, explore the now abandoned mansion to discover why Jeremy committed suicide and what terrible secret lies within the walls.

    Derceto is widely reputed to be haunted by an evil power. The case is quickly dealt with by the police and soon forgotten by the public. The player assumes the role of either Edward Carnby, a private detective who is to find a piano in the loft for an antique dealer's shop, or Emily Hartwood, a woman who also is to find the piano only for her because she believes a secret drawer in it has a note on which Jeremy explained his suicide, and either character goes to the mansion to investigate. As they enter the house, the doors mysteriously slam shut behind them, but they just continue up to the attic and nothing else seems to happen.

    Trapped with only your wits to continue, this is survival horror at it's very beginnings.
    ]]>     10 Feb 2007 02:09:12     Another World Another World, known as Out of this World in the US and Outer World in Japan, is a 1991 cinematic platformer designed and developed by Eric Chahi. The graphics and box art were designed by Chahi, while the music was composed by Jean-François Freitas.

    While not a great commercial success, Another World was innovative in its use of cinematic effects in the graphics, sound and cut scenes, with characters communicating through their facial features, gestures, and actions only. This cinematic style granted Another World cult status amongst critics and fans.

    The protagonist of the game is Lester Knight Chaykin; a young, athletic, red haired physicist. Lester arrives at his high-tech underground laboratory during a thunderstorm, and continues to work on his experiment using a particle accelerator. Right before the particles reach their intended destination, lightning strikes the lab and interferes with the accelerator causing the unforeseen teleportation of Lester to a barren alien planet.

    The player can control Lester using the keyboard or gamepad using four directions buttons and two action buttons: one for main actions, and one for jumping. Depending on the player's current position, movement, and status, the main action key performs a variety of actions including attacking and interacting with Lester's environment. At the start of the game Lester can only kick to attack, but later he can acquire a gun. While the movement keys normally make Lester run, the game also features sections where the player must swim, roll, or drive a vehicle. The player only has one life, but there are multiple checkpoints he can return to by entering the relevant pass code given at each one.
    ]]>     10 Dec 2006 09:53:52     Elite Elite is a seminal space trading computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of 'Elite'. It was written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, who had met while they were both undergraduates at Jesus College, Cambridge. Non-Acorn versions of the game were published by Firebird.

    Elite was one of the first home computer games to utilise wireframe 3D graphics. Another novelty was the inclusion of The Dark Wheel, a novella by Robert Holdstock which influenced new players with insight into the moral and legal codes which they might aspire to. It elevated the technically complicated software beyond the pigeon-hole of "game".

    Elite's open ended game model, advanced game engine and revolutionary 3D graphics ensured that it was ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system, and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. Even now, over 20 years after it was published, Elite is frequently used as a yardstick by which any new space trading game is measured. It has often been said that "Elite has been imitated but never bettered". While this is perhaps somewhat hyperbolic, it is certainly true to say that Elite was a hugely influential game, serving as a model for more recent games such as EVE Online, Wing Commander: Privateer and the X series of space trading games.

    The Elite universe contains eight galaxies, each galaxy containing 256 planets to explore. Due to the limited capabilities of 8-bit computers, these worlds are procedurally generated: A single seed number run through a fixed algorithm the appropriate number of times and creates a sequence of numbers determining each planet's complete composition (position in the galaxy, prices of commodities, and even name and local details — text strings are chosen numerically from a lookup table and assembled to produce unique descriptions for each planet). This means that no extra memory is needed to store the characteristics of each planet, yet each is unique and has fixed properties. Each galaxy is also procedurally generated from the first.

    The player, initially Commander Jameson, starts at Lave Station with 100 Credits and a lightly armed trading ship, a Cobra Mark III. Most of the ships that the player encounters are similarly named after snakes, or other reptiles. Credits can be accumulated through a number of means. These include piracy, trade, military missions, bounty hunting and the mining of asteroids. The money generated by these enterprises allows the player to upgrade their ship with such enhancements as better weapons, shields, increased cargo capacity, an automated docking system, and more.

    Travel between planets is constrained to those within range of the ship's limited fuel capacity (7 light years); fuel can be replenished after docking with a space-station in orbit around a planet - a challenging task without a docking computer, as it requires matching the ship's rotation to that of the station. Players can upgrade their equipment with a fuel scoop, which allows raw fuel to be skimmed from the surface of stars - a dangerous and difficult activity - as well as collecting free-floating cargo canisters and escape capsules liberated after the destruction of other ships.
    ]]>     03 Mar 2007 12:00:49     Crusader: No Remorse
    Videogame Advisor said,
    Origin has created a masterpiece in the mission-based action game genre. This game is pure joy to play.

    An isometric action game set in the near future. Play as a Silencer in the Resistance and try to take down the World Economic Consortium.

    Take on 15 different missions that include helping your new friends escape from prison, blowing-up power generators, and finding top-secret intelligence. Thankfully, there are 13 different weapons to utilize. Will you be able to gain the confidence of the resistance? Can you stop the evil plans of the World Economic Consortium? Play CRUSADER: No Remorse and find the answers to these questions.

    Additional Game Features:

    • Origin's scrolling isometric sets let you explore refineries, military bases, government offices, rebel bases, labs and interstellar backgrounds that explode at every blast. Almost anything you see can be destroyed.
    • Incredibly high-detailed SVGA frames of bit mapped animation for the Crusader, let you run, jump and crouch, roll, side-step and ambush.
    • Live action video gives you fully detailed mission objectives to maximise your shooting efficiency.
    • Ingenious puzzles force you to take control of enemy vechicles and gun turrets.
    • Single player action game powered by the Enhanced Ultima VIII engine, and enhanced with fmv cutscenes.

    Developer: Origin Systems, Realtime Associates
    Publisher: Electronic Arts
    Released: Aug 31, 1995

    System Requirements
    MS-DOS 5.0 or higher, i486 DX2 66 MHz, 8 MB RAM, 65 MB hard disk space, Sound Blaster compatible sound card, VESA compatible SVGA video card
    ]]>     10 Dec 2006 01:45:36     Crusader: No Regret Isometric sci-fi action game, sequel to 1995's Crusader: No Remorse.
    ]]>     10 Dec 2006 01:56:59     Fade to Black Fade to Black is the sequel to Flashback, again letting the player control Conrad B., the hero from Flashback. Instead of the side view that Flashback had, Fade to Black features third person 3d gameplay, not unlike Tomb Raider (and in fact, this game predated Tomb Raider by a year).
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 04:35:08     The Incredible Machine From Wikipedia: Incredible Machine Article
    The general objective of the games is to create a series of Rube Goldberg devices: arrange a given collection of objects in a needlessly complex fashion so as to perform some simple task (for example, "put the ball into a box" or "light a candle"). Available objects ranged from simple ropes and pulleys to electrical generators, bowling balls and even cats and mice. The levels usually have some fixed objects that cannot be moved by the player, and so the only way to solve the puzzle is carefully arrange the given objects around the fixed items. There is also a "freeform" option that allows the user to "play" with all the objects with no set goal or to also build their own puzzles with goals for other players to attempt to solve.

    Created at Dynamix by Jeff Tunnell (Director, designer) and Kevin Ryan (Programmer, designer)
    ]]>     18 Oct 2006 03:40:21     Red Baron Red Baron is a flight simulator set in WWI. You start as a new pilot in the war, and you work your way up to become one of the greatest fighters. There is a career mode as well as a single mission mode.
    ]]>     18 Jan 2007 04:32:05     Wing Commander 4 The Price of Freedom Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom stays true to the formula of WCIII, alternating interactive movie sequences with Origin's excellent space combat simulator. But WCIV manages to surpass even the excellence of its predecessor. This is due largely to its spellbinding story line, a tale of military corruption and relentless ambition much more complex than the “Us vs. Themâ€
    ]]>     03 Feb 2007 06:06:12     Kings Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow Sierra's King's Quest series is responsible for not only kickstarting the 3D adventure-game genre, but putting the company on the map. In the heyday of adventure gaming, when Sierra made most of the greats, it was King's Quest that paved the way for the Police Quests, Space Quests, and the Quest for Glory games. But originality wasn't even the series' greatest achievement. Over the years, the games continued to improve (until they stopped improving, that is), reaching their absolutely finest hour in the sixth iteration: King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. King's Quest VI was infused with the best aspects of all the previous games, including a backstory derived from the series' rich canon, a strong tie into mythology and fantasy, and the combined effort of two of the premier designers in adventure gaming, Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen. This clever, beautiful, and unique adventure game is truly one of the best games that the genre has ever had to offer, and reminds us sadly that adventure gaming may be dying rapidly, but it's never going to be forgotten.

    Though the games were originally text-driven, King's Quest V and VI abandoned the earlier mechanics in favor of a point-and-click system. Instead of having to adhere to a strict vocabulary in order to interact with the environments and the people around you, you were given the option to use an item, look at, touch, or speak with anything on the screen. You wouldn't be able to write dirty messages and get admonished by the clever auto-response box anymore, but it did make the games more accessible, and it did mean that you wouldn't have to spend any time attempting to rephrase yourself in order to accomplish something. King's Quest V also marked a huge drastic visual change for the series, including the abandonment of the looping map (now you couldn't go south to appear back at the top of the screen), support for 256 colors, and the use of rudimentary motion capture based on real actors. All of these techniques, which were developed for V, were improved even further in VI, including the addition of a fully 3D animated introduction.

    Of course, it wasn't just the appearance that made King's Quest VI stand out from its predecessors. The story in this game, and the puzzle solving elements, though always strong, were practically flawless in this game. The beginning picks up virtually where King's Quest V left off, and the young Prince Alexander is dreaming of the girl he met during his father's previous adventure, the lovely Princess Cassima, who's from an island nation so remote that nobody knows where it is. Thanks to the Kingdom of Daventry's magic mirror (the hardest working mirror in video gaming), a glimpse of the young maiden is revealed to Alexander, and he runs off to find her. Though the game is a traditional boy-meets-girl, boy-pines-for-girl, boy-wins-girl back love story; the tale is told in such an interesting, outstanding, and sometimes downright humiliating way that it holds much more appeal than typical damsel-in-distress stories. Alexander and Cassima don't always behave like typical heroes and maidens, a pleasant and expected result from having two female authors on a video game script.

    The characters that Alexander encounters along the way run the gamut of personality. From the bickering chessboard queens to the lost dangling participle who asks Alexander "where are you going to?" to the residents of the underworld that like to jam out to "Dem Bones", every NPC whether friendly or hostile offers a little bit of flavor, and often a very big clue as to what's next in store for the adventure. The game's puzzles require the perfect balance of creative thinking and knowledge of ancient mythology that makes them simultaneously challenging and rewarding. Of course, almost most notably, the game offers a number of optional puzzles including two entirely different endings, depending on whether or not you choose to turn young Alexander into a drag queen so that he can get closer to his true love. But the heart of the story leads players through familiar storylines like the tale of Beauty and the Beast, the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, and less familiar plotlines like encountering mysterious druids or going head-to-head against Death himself.

    The result of the epic collaboration of Gabriel Knight author Jane Jensen and King's Quest creator Roberta Williams is one of the wittiest, most heartwarming, and entertaining adventure games of all time, one whose puzzles will embed themselves on player's memories far beyond the time that anyone remembers that this game was released on floppy discs. -- Carrie Gouskos
    ]]>     15 Jan 2007 09:31:48     Loom Loom is a strange and beautiful adventure game set in a feudal past. The hero is Bobbin Threadbare, a weaver. In the world of Loom, everyone belongs to a guild. Apart from the weavers, there are sheperds, blacksmiths, glass makers.

    When Bobbin embarks on his quest, he has no inventory (very unusual in an adventure game), he will solve problems not with items, but with "drafts", spells consisting of four notes of music. These drafts can be written down in the beautiful Book of Patterns that is present even in later jewelcase editions.

    Loom first came out 1989 on floppies with EGA graphics and a 30-minute audio prologue on tape. The next year it was ported to Mac and Amiga. While the black & white Macintosh version is rather interesting, the color ports are rather crude. 1991 saw a new DOS CD version with VGA graphics and CD music.
    ]]>     08 Feb 2007 02:11:49