This is a very effective Japanese conversion of the great US, 16-bit classic, Dungeon Master, by FTL and Software Heaven.
The conversion was handled by JVC Interactive and was first released in Japan in 1992, before being translated and released in North America and Europe later.
First released in 2015, CD Projekt Red‘s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a third-person, open world Role-Playing Game that is based on a series of novels by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
Obviously it is the third instalment in the series (and last, according to the developers), and in it you play a monster-hunting detective badass called Geralt – a Witcher; a carrier of two swords (one steel, for killing humans, and one silver, for killing monsters); and a superhuman solver of problems with acute senses and no emotions.
Konami‘s Cave Noire is a smart little handheld ‘Roguelike’ dungeon crawler for the Nintendo Game Boy that was first released in Japan in 1991. Cave Noire did not receive a release outside of its native country, which is a pity because it’s an excellent game.
Resident Evil 6 continues Capcom‘s infamous survival horror series in such a high-octane fashion, that its fifteen minute pre-title action sequence would shame even a James Bond film.
The first in the Resident Evil series to feature simultaneous cooperative play, Resident Evil 5 (2009) is a somewhat strange (but interesting) instalment that takes place in Africa.
This time you’re up against a virus, a corrupt corporation, local ‘zombie’ thugs, and black magic and superstition as well. All in broad daylight too, as the first part of the game seems to take every opportunity to kick you outdoors into the blazing sunshine (as though the developers were insisting that this episode would all be set outdoors, because we’d all been sat indoors playing games for too long in the dark).
Capcom‘s Resident Evil 2 really elevated the survival horror genre to great heights, way back in 1998 when it was first released.
Mostly because it was more gritty and serious than the first game, but also because it was a much more complex storyline in this one: with two different characters playing the same scenario, but from different perspectives (and provided on two different CD-ROMs). Effectively giving you two games in one. So you play one character on a ‘A’ game, and the other on a ‘B’ game, by loading your save in from having completed one half of the game.
And the actions of one character in the game have an effect on what the second character experiences in their game later.
This – in itself – is a dazzling feature, but there is so much more to Resident Evil 2 than that.
Time Bandit was first released in 1983 for the TRS-80, but is far better known for its 16-bit versions on the Atari ST and Amiga. These were released later, in 1985, and featured vastly improved graphics.
This is the one: Dungeon Master – the Atari ST original. One of the best games ever made, and among my favourite games of all time…
The spiritual successor to Smash TV (in the same way that Smash TV was the spiritual predecessor to Robotron 2084), and a brilliant overhead shooter with 360 degree blasting action.
The second of two ground-breaking Ultima Underworld games made by Blue Sky Productions (later to become Looking Glass Technologies) and Origin Systems.
Labyrinth of Worlds, first released in 1993, again features a very early (and successful) attempt to create a Role-Playing Game with a fully-explorable 3D environment. Both this – and its predecessor, The Stygian Abyss – were developed concurrently, and were a significant leap forward in terms of software technology at the time.
Continue reading Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, PC
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