Paper Mario is a brilliant combat-based RPG developed by Intelligent Systems and released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000.
Tag Archives: exploration
Redguard, PC
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard is a third-person action/adventure set in the world of Bethesda‘s famous The Elder Scrolls series. It was initially released in 1998 for the PC, running under MS-DOS.
Shadow Warrior 2, PC
A modern remake of the classic 3D Realms shooter is a great idea – the original adventures of Lo Wang (the lead character in the Shadow Warrior games, and the character you play in this) were a lot of fun.
Mercenary: The Second City, Commodore 64
Not a sequel, but a ‘data disk’ add-on that you load through the original Mercenary. The Second City starts off pretty much the same as Mercenary – crashing on a planet (this time the other side of the one you explored in Mercenary, and also a different colour) and having to explore to get on and eventually escape.
Mercenary: The Second City, Atari ST
A 16-bit conversion of Paul Woakes‘ classic 8-bit exploration sequel to Mercenary. Well, not really a sequel – more a continuation… The real sequel came later.
The Atari ST‘s power (relative to the Commodore 64) means smoother, faster 3D graphics; more colours (useful, when colours are used to identify rooms and places underground); and more sensitive controls.
Mercenary, Atari ST
A fine 16-bit conversion of the classic Mercenary by Paul Woakes, written by Woakes himself it seems. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s a great game and deserves doing right, so who better to code it than the original creator?
Planescape: Torment, PC
Created by Black Isle Studios using the BioWare‘s acclaimed Infinity Engine, Planescape: Torment is a classic Role-Playing Game with isometric graphics and a simple point-and-click interface.
Dark Side, Atari ST
Dark Side is the second Freescape game from Major Developments and was published by Incentive Software (Microprose in the US).
Freescape was one of the earliest (if not THE earliest) 3D game engine and was used to make a series of significant games in the mid Eighties.
Amberstar, Atari ST
Amberstar is a huge, sprawling Role-Playing Game that was first released by German developer Thalion in 1992. It’s a game that certainly does owe a debt or two to Richard Garriott‘s famous Ultima series, although Amberstar is unique (and good) enough to stand on its proverbial own two feet.
Frontier: Elite II, Atari ST
While all the other space exploration and combat games on 16-bit home computers flail around in their own mucky diapers, Frontier: Elite II makes a mockery of everything else in its class by not only being a staggering piece of programming, but also a damn fine, playable game too.