Benefactor is an unusual platform/puzzle game developed for the Amiga by Swedish team Digital Illusions CE and published in 1994 by Psygnosis. It could be described as a “miniature Flashback“, because it has similar game mechanics to that game, but tinier graphics.
Tag Archives: ladders
Half-Life, PlayStation 2
This conversion of the classic PC game, Half-Life, to the PlayStation 2 was handled by Gearbox Software and it features the main single-player game, Half-Life: Decay (a cooperative multiplayer version of the main game), and a head-to-head deathmatch component that uses split screen. It was first published by Sierra On-line in 2001.
Half-Life, PC
Half-Life is a classic first-person shooter (FPS) that is regarded as one of the best video games ever made. It was Valve‘s first game and was first published in 1998 by Sierra On-line. Half-Life came out at a time when the market was becoming saturated by FPSes, and it completely changed the way video games were made by developers – and were perceived by the general public.
Judge Dredd, Megadrive/Genesis
This run-and-gun platform/action game is based on the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone, which in turn is based on the infamous comic strip from British science fiction periodical 2000AD. Judge Dredd was developed by Probe Software and published by Acclaim Entertainment not long after the film’s release.
Judge Dredd, Super Nintendo
Having been a 2000AD reader since the very first issue I’ve always been sceptical about Judge Dredd games, films, and other third-party uses of the character, mostly because they’ve all been failures. Failing to capture the spirit and tone of the original comic.
This Judge Dredd game is based on the 1995 film of the same name – the one starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by Danny Cannon. I’ve previously avoided it until now, having been one of those who went to see the film when it first came out and being unimpressed by it. To be honest: ever since they announced Stallone as Judge Dredd I’ve been disappointed by the process of bringing one of my favourite comic characters to the big screen. Of all the actors they could’ve chosen to play Judge Dredd: they chose one of my least favourite actors of all-time. So my hopes for this video game were low to begin with.
Deep Fear, Sega Saturn
Deep Fear is a Saturn exclusive survival horror game published by Sega in 1998. It’s basically a shameless Resident Evil clone, and someone obviously thought: “let’s cross Resident Evil with The Abyss” and came up with this underwater adventure.
You play an emergency chief on an underwater fuelling base and must investigate why a submarine has crashed into part of the rig, and why some people are suddenly transforming into disgusting monsters and attacking the crew.
Magician Lord, Neo Geo
Magician Lord is a bit of a rarity on the Neo Geo – it’s a scrolling action game based on fantasy characters. It’s like a run-and-gun game with magic, basically. Not the kind of game you see very often on the Neo Geo, and it’s a decent game to boot.
Karnov, Commodore 64
This arcade conversion of Data East‘s 1987 coin-op was highly controversial at the time of release, because it was viewed as a “lazy, direct port” of the ZX Spectrum version, which was not what Commodore 64 owners wanted to see.
Jumpman Junior, Atari 8-bit
Jumpman Junior is the Atari 8-bit cartridge version of Randy Glover‘s classic 8-bit platform game, Jumpman. It was first published by Epyx in 1983.
Since the game came on cartridge the number of levels has been reduced, down to 12, but they are at least all-new levels and not recycled levels from the disk version.
Orc Attack, Atari 8-bit
The classic Orc Attack was originally developed by Dean Lock for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and published by Thorn EMI in 1983.
You play a guy defending a castle rampart from attacking orcs that are trying to climb up using ladders. The orcs plant the base of the ladder on the ground then bring in sections to raise it up, taking just three connected sections to reach the top. You must run and grab rocks, placed at either side of the battlement, to throw down at the attackers. If the attackers reach the top of the rampart the stones temporarily turn into swords, which you must grab to hack down the invaders that are threatening your castle. When a round is complete you can throw burning oil onto them to torch the remainder.
The King of Grabs 