Tag Archives: traps

ASCII Corporation, FromSoftware, PlayStation

King’s Field III, PlayStation

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King’s Field III is the second sequel in FromSoftware‘s classic first-person RPG series and was first released in Japan in 1996. It was published in North America by ASCII Entertainment under the title of “King’s Field II” (because the original King’s Field was only released in Japan).

For my money, King’s Field III is the best of the three PlayStation King’s Field games, with larger, more interesting environments, and a bigger scope than the previous two games. The graphics are still borderline laughable, and the controls are still cumbersome, but the gameplay has evolved reasonably well in the space of a couple of years.

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ASCII Corporation, FromSoftware, PlayStation

King’s Field II, PlayStation

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FromSoftware‘s King’s Field II was initially released in Japan in 1995 and it is another first-person RPG with open world exploration, dodgy graphics and challenging combat. It was later published under the title “King’s Field” by ASCII Entertainment in North America and Sony in Europe in 1996, which does cause some confusion as the western titling ignores the actual first game in the series. For clarity: the official English language “King’s Field” is actually King’s Field II – the sequel.

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FromSoftware, PlayStation

King’s Field, PlayStation

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With Elden Ring currently wowing gamers I thought I’d take a look at the series that began FromSoftware‘s journey into the action RPG genre, and that would be King’s Field – released in Japan only in 1994 for the Sony PlayStation – and, to be honest, it couldn’t be any further removed from Elden Ring in terms of presentation…

I’ve played a lot of RPGs in my time, and I would go so far as to say that it’s my favourite genre of video game, but King’s Field came as a bit of a shock to me. Yes, King’s Field was an early 3D RPG on the PlayStation, releasing the same year as the PS1 was launched, but it post-dates Ultima Underworld by two years and is archaic in comparison.

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Factor 5, JVC, LucasArts, Super Nintendo

Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures, Super Nintendo

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Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures is a run-and-gun platform/action game developed by Factor 5 (the German team who made Super Turrican, among others), with the supervision of LucasArts, and published by JVC in 1994.

The game features sequences based on the first three Indiana Jones films; the first being Raiders of the Lost Ark obviously; the second being Temple of Doom (my favourite), and the third being The Last Crusade.

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Atari 8-bit, Automated Simulations, Epyx

Jumpman Junior, Atari 8-bit

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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.

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Amiga, Invictus Games, Sadeness Software

OnEscapee, Amiga

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This rather obscure Prince of Persia/Another World/Flashback tribute was created by Hungarian developer Invictus Games exclusively for the Amiga 1200 in 1997. It was initially released on CD-ROM only, which is strange as the Amiga 1200 didn’t come with a CD drive, so players had to purchase an external CD-ROM drive or somehow transfer the game to a hard drive and play it that way. Invictus later re-released the game as freeware for Windows, in 2004, to coincide with the company’s 10th anniversary.

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Bits Studios, Hiro, NES/Famicom, Triffix Entertainment

Castelian, NES

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Castelian is the Nintendo Entertainment System port of John Phillips‘ classic Commodore 64 game, Nebulus. It was developed by Bits Studios and published by Triffix Entertainment in 1991.

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Commodore 64, New Generation Software

Cliff Hanger, Commodore 64

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Written by James Day and initially published by New Generation Software in 1984, Cliff Hanger is a Wild West-themed game based on the popular ‘Looney Tunes‘ cartoon Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.

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Activision, PC, Raven Software, Windows

Heretic II, PC

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Heretic II is the de-facto sequel to Heretic, developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998. It is a third-person fantasy action game that uses a modified version of the Quake II engine.

Heretic II sees the return of Corvus in a new adventure in the land of Parthoris. Upon arriving in Parthoris Corvus discovers that the town has been swept with a mysterious plague, so he sets out to investigate. He soon wishes he hadn’t as he discovers that he too is infected, so embarks on a quest to cure himself. This takes him through a variety of different environments, all filled with dangerous traps and monsters.

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Activision, gog.com, id Software, PC, Raven Software, Windows

Hexen II, PC

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Hexen II is the direct sequel to Hexen and uses a modified version of the Quake engine to create the game world. It was developed by Raven Software, published by id Software and distributed by Activision on PC CD-ROM in 1997.

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