All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'Windows, Pocket, DOS' on The Great Games Experiment All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'Windows, Pocket, DOS' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'Windows, Pocket, DOS' on The Great Games Experiment en-us Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos Developed by classic developer house Westwood Studios, Lands of Lore is a role playing game (RPG) that was originally released for the PC back in 1994! Since then it has won numerous awards and received much acclaim. At the time, it was one of the biggest and most detailed games available. It took full advantage of the new CD-ROM format with full voice digitization including voicing done by Patrick Stewart portraying King Richard.

The game interface is superbly done, by far the easiest and smoothest I have ever played. Many RPGs tend to have complicated interfaces that take hours of learning to master. But not here, simply click on the sword or magic symbol to use it. Other features include a compass, and a very nice auto-mapper which is a necessity in such a huge world.

Unlike some RPGs, Lands of Lore places more emphasis on adventure and less on the complexities of character and party selection. This allows you to be able to get into the game quickly without squabbling over the unnecessary details in some games, like the color of your pants.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 02:06:11 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 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 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 Star Wars: X-Wing From Wikipedia: Star Wars: X-Wing is the first LucasArts DOS computer game set in the Star Wars universe, as well as the lead title in the X-Wing computer game series. It attempts to "realistically" simulate the experience of combat in the A-wing, X-wing, and Y-wing starfighters of the Rebel Alliance. Fans of the Wing Commander series of games often put forward the mistaken notion that X-Wing was somehow inspired by, or derivative of Wing Commander, but the truth is that X-Wing was built on an evolution of the same game engine that underlay the Air Combat Classics series of World War II flight combat games, (Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain, and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe), that were developed by Lawrence Holland for Lucasfilm Games. In fact, Larry Holland has reported that Chris Roberts approached him at a trade show to boast that he had reverse-engineered Battlehawks 1942 to create the Wing Commander game engine which he then attempted to pitch to Lucasarts as the basis for a Star Wars flight combat game! The failure of that pitch led to creation of Wing Commander.

X-Wing's main advance was that it featured a fully 3-D engine instead of bitmaps and sprites. The game also demonstrated a significant step forward in the AI and mission scripting so that players felt immersed in a believable simulation of the Star Wars universe, and faced intelligent adversaries that seemed responsive to the player's tactics. This was in stark contrast to the simple-minded AI of the Wing Commander series that was essentially an arcade shooter for gamers who wanted to experience the fantasy of being a starfighter pilot without requiring anything resembling the necessary skills. X-Wing was a flight combat simulator that required a high level of situational awareness, and some semblance of actual dogfighting skills. The X-Wing series appealed more to "hardcore" gamers and in its original floppy disk version was often found to be too difficult for more casual gamers.
]]> 17 May 2007 03:06:27 Raptor: Call of the Shadows Raptor: Call of the Shadows (often Raptor for short) is a 2D raster graphics vertical scrolling shoot 'em up single player game for the x86 PC written for MS-DOS, by Cygnus Studios (which has since changed its name to Mountain King Studios).

Raptor: Call of the Shadows was originally released on April 1, 1994. There is a shareware version available for this game which includes the first sector, the Bravo Sector. The full version can still be bought today

As in all shoot 'em up games of this genre, there is a vast number of enemies to kill, both on the ground and in the air. At the end of each wave, and often halfway through the more difficult waves, there is a "boss" which is a single enemy of great size and whom can take a lot of fire before succumbing.

For each target destroyed the player earns credits, with the amount of credits earned per enemy destroyed is proportional to how tough the enemy ship is. Most of the ground objects (buildings, vehicles, turrets) can be destroyed as well. Between new waves and sectors the player can use credits to select among 16 different equipment upgrades (various weapons, "shield-packs", bombs, etc) to be bought for his own aircraft.

The game is divided into three "sectors": Bravo Sector, Tango Sector, and Outer Regions, all of which have nine sub-missions called "waves", making for a total of 27 levels.

(Quoted from Wikipedia)
]]> 11 Jun 2007 11:15:52 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 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 Quakeworld Team Fortress Team Fortress (TF or QWTF/Quakeworld TF for this specific version) was a popular multiplayer modification for id Software's "Quake". It featured teams of players choosing from 9 different classes in matches of capture the flag, VIP escort, territorial control, and many other missions.

Team Fortress 1.0 was released July 25th, 1996 for the original Quake, and the first release for QuakeWorld (v2.0) came on December 22, 1996 taking advantage of the enhanced multiplayer functionality of the new client.

It was sufficiently successful that the developers formed TeamFortress Software to then develop "Team Fortress 2" as a commercial mod for Quake II. TF would instead be rewritten for the Half-Life engine.

Over ten years later, TF still enjoys a small community of active players, and several variations on the original TF formula have helped keep peoples interest, including CustomTF, which introduced the ability to configure your own custom class by trading frags scored as cash to purchase abilities.

[adapted and extended from Wikipedia]
]]> 05 Jun 2007 11:12:49 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 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 Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire Directly following from the events of the first game, the newly-proclaimed Hero of Spielburg travels by flying carpet with his friends Abdulla Doo, Shameen and Shema to the desert city of Shapeir. The city is threatened by magical elementals, while the Emir Arus al-Din of Shapier's sister city Raseir is missing and his city fallen under tyranny.

After defeating the four elementals that threaten Shapeir, the Hero travels to the city of Raseir. There, he is imprisoned by Khaveen and under hypnosis helps the evil tyrannous wizard Ad Avis to resurrect the evil genie Iblis. In the final fight, the Hero attacks the palace and battles with Ad Avis, who falls to his presumed death begging for assistance from his Dark Master. As thanks for the Hero's success in liberating Raseir and restoring its lost splendor, the Sultan of Shapeir, Harun al-Rashid, rewards the Hero by adopting him as his son.
- from Wikipedia
]]> 22 Apr 2007 07:55:46 ToME - Tales of Middle Earth ToME (The Troubles/Tales of Middle Earth) is a rogue-like based on angband. It features several races, classes, spells, powers, monsters, artifacts, quests, etc. The list could go on and on.

Unlike vanilla angband, ToME has several cities based on a map fitting for J.R.R. Tolkien's works. There are several dungeons you can explore, their levels are randomly generated from their design to contents and quests, but not everything is random, there are special rooms, quests, unique artifacts and unique monsters players can hunt for.

ToME is also an unique rogue-like by the fact that it's not entirely level based, players can customise their characters by increasing skills which range from weaponmastery to necromancy and summoning, just to name a few.

Because it's constantly in development, ToME has a very active community and several MODs player can create and use.
]]> 26 Jun 2007 05:21:09 Sword of Jade Sword of Jade is a full-length RPG which took over six years to complete. It's a story of those who choose not to give up on their dreams, and those who do, and the epic struggle for the world that the two groups engage in.
]]> 28 Jan 2007 03:11:25 Wing Commander II: Special Operations Wing Commander II: Special Operations is a continuation from the storyline told in Wing Commander II.

"If you thought you could snatch a few Zs after that victory at K'tithrak Mang, you'd better look for another line of work!


The cats are restless and rebellion is brewing throughout Kilrathi slave worlds. As a show of force, the Emperor plans a brutal assault on the rebel populations. Millions of lives are in jeopardy until you and the Special Operations team can blunt the attack."





Having had great success with the Secret Missions distribution model, two expansion packs were planned out for Wing Commander II. Blair, Paladin and Hobbes were engaged in covert operations when they became entangled in the mutiny aboard the TCS Gettysburg. They meet up with ace pilot Jason Bondarevsky and begin to learn about the rival factions that have developed among the mutineers. To make matters worse, the Gettysburg was testing an experimental new bomber. The special ops team must defeat ruthless Kilrath and bring the rogue members of the Gettysburg crew to justice. Bondarevsky later goes on to become one of the main characters in several Wing Commander novels.





Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 27 May 2007 11:36:29 Wing Commander II: Special Operations 2 Wing Commander: Special Operations 2 is the second mission add-on pack for Wing Commander II."The Confederation's electronic grapevine is running amok with rumors that vital intelligence has been withheld from the High Command. Luckily, Special Operations has its own sources of information, and they say the waiting game just won't cut it any longer. Someone has to lead the way, and you're getting the call!"

Special Operations 2 brought Blair into contact with Maniac's Wild Eagles Squadron and their prototype Morningstar fighters. The special ops team had to also contend with mounting pressure from the traitorous Society of the Mandarins seeking to sell out the Confederation to the Kilrathi. Secrets were revealed and Blair engaged in a final showdown with Jazz Colson.





Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 27 May 2007 11:52:56 Quest For Glory: So You Want to be a Hero "Quest for Glory: So You Want to be a Hero" is the first game, and a
]]> 11 Apr 2007 05:04:40 Ancient Domains of Mystery Ancient Domains of Mystery is a roguelike, where the players quest is to stop the forces of Chaos which are invading the world of Ancardia.
ADOM has ASCII graphics, like most other roguelikes, and a fixed overworld, while all dungeons are randomly generated.
]]> 01 Jan 2007 03:57:24 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 Wing Commander II Released in 1991, Wing Commander 2 is a sci-fi space simulation that is a continuation of the storyline that was told in the original Wing Commander.






"Ten years ago, you were the Hero of Vega Sector, idol of millions - the starfighter pilot who single-handedly turned the tide of a major Kilrathi invasion. Then something went wrong.


You were disgraced, court-martialed and transferred to a backwater outpost. For years, your lightning-quick reflexes and instinctive dogfighting tactics went to waste while the Kilrathi killed your closest friends on the front lines.


But Mankind still needs a hero, now more than ever before. And you're still the best pilot in the Galaxy. You've got just one chance to prove yourself, just one chance to keep the Terran homeworlds from falling to the massed armada of the Empire of Kilrah."



Think you can handle it, flyboy?"





Again most of the game is spent flying missions in space for the Confederation in the continuing war effort against the fearsome Kilrathi Empire. When not flying missions, the player is also able to explore the "TCS Concordia" and talk to fellow crew-mates. A greater emphasis has been placed on storytelling, which gives the player a greater scope on the people fighting this war. The mood is darker than the original, mainly due to the fact that the Humans are in fact losing the war.


Wing Commander 2 bettered the original in every regard, from the updated graphics engine to the detailed script. It is considered an all-time classic within the gaming world.








Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 18 Feb 2007 11:05:29 Syndicate Controversial at its time of release ('93), Syndicate is a violent, real-time tactical game with cyborg agents performing missions all over the world ranging from political assassinations to abductions and rescues.
]]> 01 Dec 2006 02:15:43 Frontier: First Encounters First Encounters is the sequel to Frontier (1993), which itself was a sequel to the seminal 1984 game Elite. The game was created by David Braben’s company, Frontier Developments. Many fans of the game refer to it by the shortened title of FFE.

Like Frontier, First Encounters features realistic Newtonian physics and the ability to land on planets. It has graphics that are an improvement over Frontier (the main difference being Gouraud shading) and, as well as employing the same open-ended gameplay of its predecessors, it also features a storyline concerning an alien race called the Thargoids.

Like the other two Elite games, it has been re-released as shareware and can be freely downloaded from the Elite Club site.

Being a DOS game, First Encounters has difficulty running with Windows XP or Windows 2000 machines, although the official site does offer solutions to get the game running. A recreated game engine called JJFFE allows playing the game on Linux, Windows and DOS.

First Encounters plays much like its immediate predecessor Frontier: the game is a combination of trading, fighting and a variety of other activitiesâ€â€
]]> 03 Mar 2007 01:23:22 Wing Commander I Set in the year 2654, Wing Commander tells a tale of mankind's struggle for survival in a ferocious war between the Human Confederation and the warmongering Kilrathi Empire, a fierce bi-pedal feline race.





"You're a starfighter pilot, the best of the best, but nothing in your training prepared you for action this hot. Deep space dogfights against Kilrathi aces are deadly, and the future of humanity is on the line each time you fly!


Wing Commander puts you in the middle of the most intense starship action you've ever experienced outside of a movie theatre. But in Wing Commander, you're the star!"





The majority of the game takes place within the cockpit of various space fighters. Depending on how well one performs while in action, the player may find themselves on the winning or losing path thus altering the plot accordingly. Medals and the respect of your wingmen are gained if performance is exemplary, in turn leading to a more effective attack wing. In between space-flight missions the player is free to roam the legendary carrier "TCS Tiger's Claw" and have conversations with their fellow crew mates, learning more about the horrors and triumphs of the bloody war that is now being fought.


When Wing Commander was released in 1990, the in-game graphics and space-combat engine were a step above all other products during that period. The game was even one of the first to use the new Sound Blaster for PC's, adding to the already cinematic feel of the game.


The strong script and characters which has been a staple through out the series are the primary reason why the Wing Commander has gained such a strong following over the years. That combined with movie-like presentation and strong gameplay has made the venerable Wing Commander a classic among gamers and critics.





Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 11 Feb 2007 07:47:45 The Last Express Paris, 1914. The world is on the brink of war and your life is about to change forever.

You are Robert Cath, a young American who is urgently summoned by his friend Tyler Whitney to join him on the train departing the Gare de l'Est, Paris, 24 July for Constantinople.

Arriving late, you are overcome with the heavy feeling of danger. Something has gone terribly wrong. Before you can grab hold of your senses, the adventure overtakes you, and you are plunged into a world of suspense, romance, international intrigue, and murder.

The Last Express allows you to move freely through the rich and detailed 3D environment of the world's most luxurious train, circa 1914, during its final European crossing prior to the outbreak of WWI.

Gameplay involves interacting with characters, exploring objects, engaging in action sequences and uncovering multiple story threads--with your perspective shifting from 1st person to 3rd person for maximum dramatic effect.

The fluid, constantly-changing way the other characters react to you--and the fact that the train moves relentlessly onward--creates a sense of real-time suspense and unpredictability beyond that of a traditional adventure game.

Information gained is used to piece together a series of interrelated puzzles which advance you through the story. If you are clever enough, you ultimately discover the shocking secrets of The Last Express... before it's too late!
]]> 10 Feb 2007 05:40:35 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 Street Rod Street Rod is one of the finest dos racing games of the late 80s. It allows you to tune up and trick out your 50s or 60s era ride and then drag or street race them for money or pink slips. Beef up your cars to eventually challenge the King and his black Corvette.
]]> 27 Nov 2006 01:51:54 Dark Legions A beautiful mix of strategy and action.
]]> 09 Dec 2006 07:53:55 Iter Vehemens ad Necem Fellow adventurer, turn back while you can! For here begins the roguelike Iter Vehemens ad Necem, a Violent Road to Death. If you choose to travel along it, you will dive into countless exciting adventures to gain items of great magic, attain powerful equipment made of mysterious materials, bathe in the blessings of mighty gods and recruit loyal allies of various shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, along the way you will also often be dangerously injured, poisoned, catch numerous diseases, lose several limbs and transform into manifold different kinds of pitiful creatures in the darkest depths of hostile dungeons. And, at the end of the road, you are bound to perish in a most gruesome and painful way. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Iter Vehemens ad Necem (IVAN) is a free graphical roguelike game, which currently runs in Windows, DOS and Linux. Unlike most roguelikes, which use ASCII graphics, IVAN uses an SDL-based tile graphics engine. This allows much more information to be displayed in the level map. For example, when the player or some monsters wield a weapon or wear armor, it's normally visible on the map. Also, several types of fluids (such as acid, blood, vomit, etc.) are visible on the map. This makes it possible to track a wounded monster by following a trail of blood across the dungeon.

IVAN employs an advanced bodypart handling system. In battle, one loses only if the head, torso, or groin is destroyed. If one's arms or legs take too much damage, they become severed, and the player will merely become disabled, and unable to wield a weapon with that hand, or have to bear greater burden. Many monsters can lose body parts as well. There are several ways to replace or reattach a lost limb, such as drinking healing potions or praying.

Another unique feature is the handling of materials. Each item, including body parts, has a material associated with it. There are several ways to change materials, such as scrolls or praying. For example, a hardened leather body armour may become significantly stronger if transmuted into a meteoric iron one. As this applies to body parts, one could harden a severed limb into stone or metal before reattaching it, thereby gaining a massive strength boost of strength at the cost of dexterity.
]]> 03 Mar 2007 08:58:46 Wing Commander I: The Secret Missions 2: Crusade Wing Commander I: The Secret Missions 2: Crusade is the second mission add-on pack for Wing Commander I.





"The Secret Missions 2: Crusade, another exciting chapter in the saga of the Tiger's Claw! In this campaign, a huge Kilrathi fleet maneuvers toward a planet of peaceful, primitive natives. After a Kilrathi renegade defects with the crew of a small destroyer, you'll fly one of their fighterships in undercover missions.


In these new secret missions, you must discover the truth behind the Kilrathi "holy war" before the Warriors of Kilrah can destroy you and the Tiger's Claw!"





Wing Commander I was a huge success and Wing Commander II was in development during 1991. Origin used their experience with The Secret Missions to craft a second expansion pack, The Secret Missions 2: Crusade. WC2 was shaping up to be a huge story driven adventure, so the developers took this opportunity to establish a backstory with SM2. Characters such as Tolwyn, Thrakhath, Hobbes, Jazz and Doomsday were introduced. The TCS Austin appeared as a method for characters such as Angel to survive the impending doom facing the Tiger's Claw in the WC2 intro. In each Wing Commander game the character must face the potential death of wingmates, but in SM2 the first major scripted loss occurred when Bossman died. The tension and emotions were ratcheted up another level for this expansion, and the game created a great environment for Wing Commander II to launch into.





Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 27 May 2007 10:15:10 Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego There is a popular line of educational software mystery games based on Carmen Sandiego. Each game of the series has a particular theme and subject, where the player must use his or her knowledge to find Carmen or any of her innumerable henchmen. This series was originally produced by Broderbund, but it is now produced by The Learning Company.

from wikipedia.com
]]> 15 Jan 2007 07:29:55 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 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 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 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 Linley's Dungeon Crawl Linley's Dungeon Crawl is a free and portable roguelike molded in the tradition of the early greats of the genre: Rogue, Hack, and Moria. The player guides a single character deep into a subterranean complex to retrieve the Orb of Zot, fending off many horrible and hideous creatures along the way. Once retrieved, the player must return both character and Orb safely to the surface world. Easier said than done, but fun all the same.

Initiated in 1995 by Linley Henzell as a personal project, refinement of Crawl continues today through collaborative effort among a small group of developers. Free to play and distribute, hours of gameplay await adventurers on several popular platforms, including: MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris, MacOS (both Classic and OS X), OS/2, and AmigaOS.
]]> 23 Jun 2007 05:08:55 Liero Liero battle game between two worms armed with heavy weapons of all kinds. It is capable of both single player action against the computer or against a friend in a hot seat game. The game was created in 1999 but still has a strong following by dedicated fans.
]]> 22 Dec 2006 03:57:10 Wing Commander - Armada Wing Commander: Armada is a multiplayer action-strategy game set in the Wing Commander universe.





"The life of a seasoned starfighter pilot isn't all glory and adventure. After years of following orders and losing ships and friends, you are now the sole commander, responsible for heading up a momentous strike against your enemy's homeland - either the Empire of Kilrah or the heart of the Confederation. This war requires real strategy, not just hotshot piloting, and you have to determine where to fight, how to fight, and what ships to build to get the job done. In Wing Commander Armada, you have the freedom to construct your own universe, your own missions and your own campaign."









Wing Commander Armada was at least half a decade ahead of its time. In the summer of 1994 it incorporated turn based strategy with 3D fighter combat. Armada was the testbed for the WC3 engine and therefore the first WC game to deploy fully three dimension ship models in flight. The strategic mode had eleven elaborate sectors to conquer, and the game could randomly generate sectors for unlimited gameplay options. Players mined ore, built shipyards and reinforced strategic systems. When clashes occured, the game could compute the possible results or pilots could pilot the fighters firsthand. All of this could be done over a modem or network with fellow fans. Hot seat and split screen options were also available. Players could even record taunts, send them to opponents and have their own voices key in during combat. The game had a fifteen mission storyline describing the TCS Lexington's desperate mission to circumvent the Kilrathi borders and destroy the Kilrathi homeworld. On top of all this, players could turn it around and play as the Kilrathi from start to finish. The narrated manual that was included describes the war from the Kilrathi perspective in some depth. Because of the immature state of the internet when it was released, Armada's multiplayer options don't yet live up to their full potential, but efforts are under way to discover ways to play online.




Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 28 May 2007 07:26:58 Earth 2140 As its name suggests, Earth 2140 takes place in the year 2140 AD. Previous wars have left much of the Earth a nuclear wasteland, forcing most of the world's population into underground bunkers. Tensions rise between the Earth's two major factions, the Eurasian Dynasty (ED) and the United Civilized States (UCS), as both sides vie for the world's steadily dwindling resources. A UCS raid on an ED base is enough to ignite the rivalry into full-scale war as the ED fails in its bid to control Mexico and the UCS counterattacks Scandinavia, Great Britain, France, and the Iberian Peninsula.

Two little known expansion packs were released for this game:
Earth 2140: Mission Pack 1
Earth 2140: Mission Pack 2 - Final Conflict

A package named Earth 2140 XP was released in August 2006 , it included the game, both expansions and was redone to work under Windows XP.
]]> 08 Mar 2007 09:25:43 Wing Commander Privateer: Righteous Fire Wing Commander Privateer: Righteous Fire is an add-on pack for the original release of Privateer.







"So you think you're a hotshot pilot. A clever entrepreneur. A notorious pirate. You've destroyed the Steltek Drone, secured the alien artifact, and outfought and outsmarted everyone in your way. Now, you're taking a well-deserved break on one of Gemini's pleasure worlds. But relaxation will soon be the last thing on your mind...


In Rightous Fire, you're once again transported to the seamy side of the universe, where you discover a fiendish plot that threatens the order and prosperity of Gemini Sector. Whether you're a merchant, pirate or mercenary, plenty of action awaits if you're willing to risk all you earned in Privateer."







Wing Commander Privateer: Righteous Fire continued with the protagonist Burrows on vacation. While away from his craft, cultists steal his prized Steltek gun to study and replicate it. The Church of Man cult used these replicas aboard ships supplied by the Kilrathi to mount a campaign against technology in the Gemini Sector. The player must make the rounds, check with all his various contacts and discover clues in order to bring the Retro plot down.







Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 28 May 2007 08:19:38 Toonstruck Toonstruck is a point-and-click adventure game featuring hand-drawn animation mixed with live action video - similar to the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

The story begins in the real world with the player learning of the main protagonist whom will be under their control: Drew Blanc is his name and he is the artist and original creator of the wildly popular animated "Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show". As the player will learn, Drew actually loathes the cutesy-pie antics of the show and prefers his other more adult creation of Flux Wildly, who has unfortunatley and unfairly been denied a chance at stardom. Forced by his employer, Drew must come up with a new character for the Bun Bun Show or his employment will be terminated. Exhausted and completely uninspired Drew falls asleep and is awoken in the early morning, just as he is being sucked into his TV, which to his horror is displaying the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show.....Welcome to the insanity of Toonstruck!



Toonstruck was an ambitious, fun and cleverly made adventure game that was neglected by its audience at the time of its 1996 release. Poor sales within the adventure game genre during that period prevented the planned sequel from ever being completed.
]]> 25 Apr 2007 12:09:25 Wing Commander I: The Secret Missions Wing Commander I: The Secret missions is the first mission add-on pack for the hugely succesful Wing Commander I.





"Wing Commander: The Secret Missions is another thrilling chapter in the continuing saga of the TCS Tiger's Claw. A human colony has been obliterated by the Kilrathi. Now they challenge the defenders of humanity to a deadly game of hide and go seek. You must cross into enemy space in pursuit of the Kilrathi strike fleet, only to face their latest secret weapon....a weapon capable of destroying an entire world."





With the incredible success of Wing Commander, Origin pioneered the concept of game expansions with the Secret Missions add-on disk. Fans of the first title in the series were treated to an intense campaign where the pilots of the Tiger's Claw were tasked with an important covert operation. A new Kilrathi superweapon was being tested aboard the Sivar Dreadnought. Although the Claw hurried in response to its distress call, the populous Goddard Colony was annihilated before help could arrive. The Claw was the only ship in position to penetrate deep behind enemy lines, pick apart the fleet that attacked Goddard and ultimately destroy the Kilrathi secret weapon.





Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 27 May 2007 09:26:37 Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny Imagine a world of intense beauty and mortal danger where your slightest move can trigger cataclysmic events, miraculous escaped or lethal battles. See magical cities rise out of great oceans. Enter the mysterious caverns of the Dracoid ruins. Discover gruesome altars and witness secret ceremonies never before seen by humans. This is the world of Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny.

Set in a reactive environment, this real-time, role playing/adventure game features animated 3D high resolution graphics developed by Westwood Studios.

This incredible world is now ready to be discovered. The question is, are you ready for it?
]]> 09 Feb 2007 06:49:30 Chex Quest Chex Quest is a total conversion of the computer game Doom (specifically Ultimate Doom). This game, notable for being the first video game ever to be included in cereal boxes as a prize, was found in boxes of Chex cereal in 1996.

Set on a distant planet named Bazoik, the game follows the Chex Warrior, a humanoid in an anthropomorphic piece of Chex cereal armor, as he fights to eradicate the Flemoid invasion. These slimy, green creatures have infested the planet and captured many helpless citizens whom the Chex Warrior must save. The game starts at the landing pad of the research facility on Bazoik, after which you are teleported to the storage facility. The other levels include the laboratory, the arboreum, and finally, the underground caverns of Bazoik, where the flemoids seem to be making a home for themselves.

(Quoted from Wikipedia)
]]> 03 Jun 2007 12:55:18 The Fox and the Eight-Six The Fox and the Eight-Six is an Ohrrpgce game by Charbile and Hachi-Roku, and it's based on the fables of Aesop. It's an overhead adventure game involving a series of puzzles. Solve the game!

Special note: "BE GENTLE on the menu script - holding down the up/down arrow keys floods the script beyond it's capabilities, and there's not much we can do about it. TAP the arrows and you should be fine."
]]> 11 Jun 2007 07:58:04 Dune Dune, by Cryo Interactive, was the first attempt of making a commercial game based on Frank Herbert's Dune universe.

Dune blended adventure with economic and military strategy, and is considered by many the most immersive Dune computer game. Loosely following the story of the novel, the game casts the player as Paul Atreides, with the ultimate goal of driving the Harkonnen from Dune, while managing spice extraction, military, and later, ecology through the native Fremen tribes. As the player progresses, his troops are equipped with weapons from "krys knives" to atomics, tap into Paul's latent psychic powers, and get acquainted with such characters from the book as Chani and Liet Kynes.

The game, seen always through the eyes of Paul, is a mix between RTS and adventure gaming. While the basis of the game is the strategy component, dialog between characters and a linear plotline give the game more depth than most strategy games. The player is also required to do some miniquests involving talking to characters and traveling to locations, which adds a small adventure game element.



(loosely edited text from wikipedia)
]]> 13 Feb 2007 06:52:47 Angband Angband is a dungeon-crawling roguelike computer game derived from Umoria (a C port of a game called Moria). It is based on the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, in which Angband was the fortress of Morgoth. The current version of Angband is 3.0.6, and is available for all major operating systems (including Unix, Windows, the Macintosh, and DOS).

The game revolves around the exploring of a 100-level dungeon, in which the player seeks to amass enough power and equipment to ultimately defeat Morgoth. A new level is randomly generated each time the player changes levels, which gives Angband great replay value: no two games will be the same.

Angband is notable for spawning many derivatives. A family tree of around sixty (around a dozen of which are active) variants of Angband exist, each often greatly differing in purpose and depth of changes. The best known variants are OAngband, ToME (formerly PernAngband) and ZAngband.
]]> 25 Jan 2007 06:11:06 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 Stonekeep As the Stonekeep crumbles, your character Drake escapes to safety to learn that the castle's inhabitants have become undead. You return several years later for revenge. The sunken city of Stonekeep is now inhabited by monsters like throgs, snakes, and sorcerers.

This first-person 3D RPG involved treking through these dungeons and fighting monsters in real-time. The interface is almost completely mouse-driven.

- Digitized speech is use through the whole game, and NPCs and monsters are shown in full motion video.

- Stonekeep features an elaborate Magick system where four types of runes are inscribed onto a spellcaster: Mannish, Fae, Throggish, and Meta.

- Stonekeep's mythology revolves around a variety of Gods associated with planets of the solar system.
]]> 10 Feb 2007 03:03:10 I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream "I Have No Mouth, And I must Scream" is an adult adventure game based on Harlan Ellison's short story of the same name. The original story was written in one night during 1966 and went on to become one of the 10 most re-printed stories in history. It also won a Hugo award in 1968.









"More than a century before the story opens, a supercomputer called AM had already destroyed the entire human race save for the five protagonists. Before AM's present incarnation, there had been three separate American, Soviet and Chinese supercomputers, each programmed for fighting an increasingly complex global war against its two opponents. However, the computers evolved and connected to each other, gained sentience and subsequently annihilated all humanity. AM feels its own creation was an act of unimaginable cruelty because he possesses so much power and can do so little with it, and therefore possesses an extreme hatred for humanity. The machine's hatred combined with its godlike power resulted in the destruction of the human race, save for the five individuals whom AM trapped and then artificially sustained at their current ages indefinitely, solely for the purpose of tormenting them forever."
Source: Wikipedia





The game is played as a point'n'click adventure and has a unique story delving into the tormented souls of the remaining five people on Earth - Gorrister, Ellen, Benny, Nimdok and Ted. After the successful completion of each adventure a showdown with AM himself will occur. The game is incredibly well conceived and has had much input from the original author. The script, visuals and audio all add to the incredible atmosphere and help maintain the eerie and frightening premise that is laced with the horrors of insanity, selfishness, rape, racism, paranoia and genocide.


The script for the computer game differs slightly from the original to allow for the transition from literature to the interactive medium and was again penned by Harlan Ellison. Ellison even lends his vocal talent to the game, voicing the super-computer/super-villain "AM".
]]> 03 Mar 2007 12:34:57 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