Tag Archives: vehicles

Syndicate, Atari Jaguar

Bullfrog‘s classic tactical action game, Syndicate, was published for the Atari Jaguar by Ocean Software in 1995, and while the game works well enough it does suffer a bit from the switch from mouse to gamepad controls.

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Cannon Fodder, Atari Jaguar

Sensible Software‘s classic ‘titchy man’ overhead scrolling shooter, Cannon Fodder, is well-represented on the Jaguar, having been ported by a company called The Dome Software Developments, who did a worthy job with the conversion.

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Syndicate, Amiga

The Amiga version of Bullfrog‘s classic tactical action game, Syndicate, came out at more or less the same time as the original PC version, and – as good as the game is – I have to say that it is not as good as the MS-DOS version, and I’ll explain why…

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Crysis, PC

Crysis is a futuristic first-person shooter developed by German company Crytek and published by Electronic Arts in 2007. It is the first game in the Crysis series and is known as a game that – at the time of its original release – had relatively high-end system requirements. It’s also quite similar to Crytek‘s previous game, Far Cry, in that it is predominantly combat based in a jungle environment, with vehicles like jeeps, trucks, cars, hovercraft and boats that can be commandeered and driven.

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Duke Nukem Forever, PC

Duke Nukem Forever is the long-awaited sequel to Duke Nukem 3D that was in “development hell” for over a decade and was finally released in 2011. It was developed by 3D Realms and Gearbox Software (with contributions from Triptych Games and Piranha Games) and published by Take-Two Interactive. The game is a first-person shooter that satirises all-American action heroes, with over-the-top weapons, giant explosions, and puerile humour. Jon St. John once again returns to voice Duke himself.

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Duke Nukem II, PC

Duke Nukem II is the sequel to 1991’s Duke Nukem and is another side-scrolling, platform-based shooter, only this time with larger, bolder graphics and jerkier scrolling. It was once again developed and published by Apogee Software, and was first released in 1993.

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Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, PC

The first game in the Ultima series was initially released for the Apple II in 1981 by California Pacific Computer and was later completely re-coded and re-named as “Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness” for a re-release through Origin Systems. The 1987 MS-DOS re-code – shown here – is still available to buy as part of an Ultima 1+2+3 package on GOG.com (at the time of writing).

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Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, Commodore 64

Although the first Ultima game was an Apple II original, the Commodore 64 version of this early RPG is arguably the best-known. Re-made and released in 1986, the C64 version of Ultima [one] features colourful graphics and absorbing gameplay that is pretty much identical to the Apple II remake.

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Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, Apple II

This first game in Richard Garriott‘s Ultima series was initially released for the Apple II in 1981 by California Pacific Computer and was originally called just “Ultima“. It was later re-named as “Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness” when it was re-made and re-released by Origin Systems in 1986. This 1986 re-code features improved graphics and gameplay, with a number of significant changes made to bring the game up-to-date with market conditions in the mid 1980s, and that is the version I’m featuring here. If you want to see the original 1981 version (and an explanation of how to play the game), click here.

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Ultima, Atari 8-Bit

Released in 1983 by Sierra On-Line, Ultima on the Atari 8-bit is more archaic and frustrating than the original Apple II version. And it looks pretty awful too, with a real lack of colour – especially in towns where the game is in monochrome unless you play on a machine (and monitor) that supports “artifacting“. In artifacting mode the dungeon and town graphics look similar to Apple II graphics, but they don’t really take advantage of the Atari‘s superior graphics capabilities.

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