This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'classic, action' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/month/classic/action/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'classic, action' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'classic, action' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/month/classic/action/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> en-us Marathon Marathon is a classic sci-fi shooter created for MacOS. It spawned two sequels - Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity.

Bungie went on to create one of the most successful games of all time: Halo: Combat Evolved.

Developer: Bungie Software
Released: 1994
]]> 01 Dec 2006 12:15:30 Marathon 2: Durandal Marathon 2: Durandal is the second game in the classic sci-fi shooter trilogy. It continues the story started in Marathon and is followed by Marathon Infinity.

Bungie went on to create one of the most successful games of all time: Halo: Combat Evolved.

Developer: Bungie Software
Released: 1995 [Mac], 1996 [Windows]
]]> 02 Dec 2006 01:38:19 Marathon Infinity Final installment of the classic sci-fi shooter series. Follows Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal.

Bungie went on to create one of the most successful games of all time: Halo: Combat Evolved.

Developer: Bungie Software
Released: 1996
]]> 03 Dec 2006 09:50:33 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 Blaster Master Developed by SunSoft in 1988, this game was one of the best games of its time.

It had action, adventure, powerUps, a very clever world design, and some very cool innovative gameplay. The only thing missing was the story.

Boy has pet frog, pet frog runs away and mysteriously runs into radioactive material sitting on the back yard. Frog eats some radioactive material, grows into giant frog, digs a hole in the ground and runs away. Boy runs after frog, jumps into hole in the ground (and this is where it really gets weird) finds a state of the art high-powered military vehicle complete with matching full body suit, which happens to fit him just right. And so he begins a great adventure in search for his pet frog.
]]> 18 Dec 2006 01:14:50 Digger Digger was released by Windmill Software in 1983, popular in the era of the IBM PC with a CGA graphics card and monitor. Digger was resurrected by Andrew Jenner in 1998, when he reverse engineered it to run using VGA on fast Pentium based computers. The source code of the remastered version was released under the GPL with permission of the original author Rob Sleath.
]]> 24 Dec 2006 02:53:39 Crash Bandicoot Crash Bandicoot is a platform game made by Naughty Dog in 1996 for the PlayStation, featuring the character by the same name. In it, Crash must fight Dr. Neo Cortex's henchmen in order to save Tawna, his beloved bandicoot girlfriend for revenge on Cortex.

Evil dr. Neo Cortex and his sidekick dr. Nitrus Brio have captured Crash and his girlfriend Tawna to experiment on them. Crash was rejected as a failiure, but Tawna is still at the clutches of evil scientist Cortex. It is up to Crash to rescue her.

In Crash' first appearance on the Playstation, you must run, jump and spin your way through this part 3D platform/part Side Scroller/part Mario 64 style adventure.
]]> 03 Mar 2007 02:03:56 karateka One of the first martial arts fighting games, Karateka set the standard for graphics and sound in the mid-80s. The developer, Jordan Mechner, went on to develop Prince of Persia and its sequels.

In Karateka, Princess Mariko has been kidnapped by Akuma. You play the hero, a karate master, who must fight your way into Akuma's fortess and save the princess. Along the way, you'll have to defeat Akuma's henchmen and his eagle...

High atop a craggy cliff, guarded by an army of fierce warriors, stands the fortress of the evil warlord Akuma. Deep in the darkest dungeon of the castle, Akuma gloats over his lovely captive, the princess Mariko.

You are one trained in the way of karate: a karateka. Alone and unarmed, you must defeat Akuma and rescue the beautiful Mariko.

Put fear and self-concern behind you. Focus your will on your objective, accepting death as a possibility. This is the way of the karateka.

Developer: Jordan Mechner
Released: 1984
]]> 03 Mar 2007 11:38:07 Spheres of Chaos Spheres of Chaos is a space shooter created by Iain McLeod, the basic gameplay being similar to the game Asteroids. The game uses very bright, psychedelic colours and patterns, with many enemies on screen at once. The audio is similar to that of Robotron: 2084 and Defender. The game was originally written for RISC OS on the Acorn Archimedes. Ports exist for Linux, Windows and PS2 Linux.

The player controls a small grey spaceship and levels are completed by eradicating all enemies from the screen. The difficulty and amount of enemies increase along with the level number. Enemies will typically split up into smaller versions when hit. Black holes also appear during gameplay and either attract or repel the spaceship. Many black holes at once can mean that space becomes unnavigatable.

Some enemies will provide power-ups when defeated. The colour of the power-up when found will affect the ability of the power-up.

There are various options which can be modified to change features such as the amount of enemies and power-ups as well as in-game visuals. The game can be played in single player or in multi-player with up to 8 players.
]]> 07 Mar 2007 05:54:22 Final Fight Final Fight is a classic beat 'em up series from Capcom. It is considered to be Street Fighter's "cousin", and the two series are set in the same universe (characters like Guy, Hugo Andore, Rolento, Cody Travers and Poison have all appeared in later Street Fighter installments). Final Fight was originally released as an arcade game and was ported to several platforms, including the Super NES, Sega Mega-CD, Sharp X68000 and Game Boy Advance. It features former wrestler (as seen in Saturday Night Slam Masters), and mayor of Metro City (Capcom's fictitious city, modeled after New York City), Mike Haggar.

The story of Final Fight involves the abduction of Haggar's daughter, Jessica, because he would not work with Mad Gear to ensure their dominance of the streets. When the Mad Gear thug Damnd contacts Haggar and informs him, Haggar calls up his daughter's boyfriend Cody and his sparring partner Guy, and the three vigilantes head into the streets to bust Mad Gear's skulls, fighting their way through the hordes of goons littering the city (including the Rastafarian thug Damnd, the "Japanophile" Sodom, former Red Beret and militia leader Rolento, corrupt cop Edi. E, and the ill-tempered Abigail), to get to Mad Gear's boss, Belger.

Final Fight, whilst following in the footsteps of Double Dragon, was an innovative and balanced game. Unlike several beat 'em ups before it, Final Fight featured very large and detailed sprites for its day, and the controls were quite fluid and simple. Beginners could take to the game quickly, yet the game was balanced and difficult enough to ensure even experts could always expect a challenge for every new play. The game also began the strength-based, speed-based, and average character variety that countless other beat 'em up and other genres derived, as one controls Haggar (very powerful yet very slow and vulnerable to attack), Guy (very agile and can use hit-and-run, yet has weak offensive power), or Cody (who balances strength and speed, being an excellent choice for beginners). It also featured very long levels and various powerful enemies that could easily crowd the screen and had several fighting tactics against the player. It was not uncommon to hear people talk of how crowds would gather to watch whoever was playing the machine at the time.
]]> 05 Apr 2007 11:59:05 Final Fight 2 Final Fight 2 is a 1993 beat 'em up for the Super NES and the second game in Capcom's Final Fight series. Unlike the original Final Fight, Final Fight 2 was not an arcade game, but was made specifically for the home market. The game features the return of Mike Haggar from the original game and introduces Maki Genryusai and Carlos Miyamoto.

Set sometime after the events of the original Final Fight, the Mad Gear gang has been revived under the leadership of a man named Retu in Japan. In retaliation for their early defeat, they had kidnapped Guy's fiancee, Rena and her father (Guy's master), Genryusai.

Two days after the abduction, Haggar receives a phone call from Maki (Rena's sister) informing him of the situation and tells him to meet up with her in Hong Kong. With Cody supposedly "on vacation with Jessica" (Cody would most likely be in jail by this time) and Guy away on a training mission, Haggar enlists the help of Carlos Miyamoto, a swordsman and boarder who is staying with Haggar. The two meet with Maki and decide to travel through various parts of Eurasia in search of Mad Gear's new hideout.

The game can be considered as an attempt by Capcom compensate for the earlier SNES version of Final Fight (as well as Final Fight Guy). The gameplay is not very different from the original game in terms of changes. However, the 2 player cooperative game mode that was missing from the first SNES is restored in the sequel and the game offers three playable characters (instead of two). Though neither Guy nor Cody are playable characters in this game, Maki and Carlos are essentially their replacements (this is further emphasized by the fact that Maki uses the same fighting style as Guy). The only returning enemy (besides the Andore family) is Rolento, a boss character from the original arcade game who was missing in the SNES version. The new enemies are also analogues to the ones from the first game, with virtually all of the new Mad Gear members (Elias, Eleck, Mary) having similar fighting styles to their counterparts from the first game (El Gado, G. Oriber, Poison).

Instead of an American city like Metro City, the game takes place primarily in various European and Asian cities and landmarks, thereby giving the game its own distinct look.
]]> 05 Apr 2007 12:11:02 Final Fight 3 Final Fight 3, known in Japan as Final Fight Tough, is the third game in the Final Fight series. Like Final Fight 2, Final Fight 3 was exclusively for home systems, and was not released in arcades. This game introduces two new characters; Lucia Morgan and Dean.

Following the Mad Gear gang's defeat in Final Fight 2, a gang war erupted in Metro City, with the Skull Cross gang eventually reigning supreme. Guy returns to Metro City following his training and meets with Mayor Haggar. The Skull Cross gang then detonates a bomb and incite a riot in downtown Metro City, freeing their leader, Black, from prison. Joined by Metro City Special Crimes Unit officer Lucia Morgan and a mysterious street fighter named Dean, Guy and Haggar fight to take down the Skull Cross gang.

The game's engine is greatly modified from that of its predecessors. Borrowing from Street Fighter series, special attacks and super moves were included. Running, running attacks and running leap attacks similar to those in Captain Commando were included. Players could also grab opponents from behind, much like rival series Streets of Rage. Players had weapon combos with their weapon of preference instead of a single power blow. However, if a player used any weapon other than their weapon of preference, it would be used with a single power blow. Additionally, the game's stages feature several multiple routes. All the players have an advantage in either speed or power, with Guy being the most balanced in both terms of speed and strength.
]]> 05 Apr 2007 12:19:15 Tetrageddon Although the controls take on the basic "pentomino" controls (Up, Down, Left, Right, Space for "drop", and Q to submit your high-score), the game-play takes a very unusual spin that tickles the "nonsense" nerve. You are presented with a quiet city scene where you control heaps of rubble dropped from the sky by a tiny alien (Minibyte), who decided to "pick on the big people" by planting his "Portable Entertainment System" (a giant crane) over Earth. The goal of the game comes in three tiers: to score by squishing people, play pentomino, and challenge your reflexes as blocks fall at random speeds. The traditional set of blocks are mixed with "surprise blocks" which you have to quickly find a place for in the grid. Even the individual block tiles are purposefully vague and hard to distinguish to add to the chaos. The game is very challenging to ones reflexes. The goal is to keep your grid under control as long as possible so that you can continue scoring on pedestrians. Only those with quick fingers can survive.
]]> 07 Jun 2007 06:06:37 NecroSPACE 2
]]> 26 Jul 2007 12:15:44 Uber Zombie
]]> 21 Aug 2007 10:18:00