Tag Archives: weapons

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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Ultima, Apple II

The original 1981 Apple II version of Richard Garriott‘s Ultima was the first version of Ultima ever released. It was published by California Pacific Computer and is a stripped-down version of the more widespread re-release version put out by Origin Systems in 1986 (which can be seen here).

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Fallout: New Vegas: Lonesome Road, PC

Lonesome Road is the fourth and final story-based DLC for the classic RPG/shooter, Fallout: New Vegas, and was first released in September 2011. It’s meant for players who are level 25 or higher and begins with you being contacted by the original Courier Six – a man called Ulysses – who promises to tell you important information about the Platinum Chip and why he refused to deliver it.

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Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues, PC

Old World Blues was the third story-based DLC to be released for Fallout: New Vegas and first came out on 19th July 2011. It is definitely the weirdest and funniest of the FNV DLCs and contains some hilarious dialogue, bizarre enemies, and strange settings, and it is considered by many Fallout: New Vegas players to be the best of the DLCs (I’d disagree, though – I think Dead Money is better).

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Fallout: New Vegas: Honest Hearts, PC

One of six DLCs released for Fallout: New Vegas, Honest Hearts was initially released in May 2011 and sees The Courier setting out on a trading expedition to Utah’s Zion National Park with the Happy Trails Caravan crew.

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Fallout: New Vegas: Dead Money, PC

Dead Money is a DLC for Fallout: New Vegas that was first released in 2010 for the XBox 360, and later for PC and PlayStation 3 in 2011. It was one of six DLCs released for Fallout: New Vegas, and for my (dead) money it is by far the best.

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Operation Thunderbolt, Arcade

Operation Thunderbolt is the sequel to the classic 1987 arcade game Operation Wolf. It was developed by Taito and first released in 1988, and is a first-person, simultaneous two-player shoot ’em up that uses cabinet-mounted positional gun controllers to shoot at the screen.

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Operation Wolf, Atari ST

Taito‘s classic mounted gun arcade shooter, Operation Wolf, was ported to the Atari ST and Amiga by Ocean Software and first published in 1988. At the time it reviewed quite well, but my feeling has always been that it was never really any good to begin with. I had an Atari ST back in 1988 and remember not being that impressed with the game, even though magazines at the time were generally praising it.

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Operation Wolf, Amiga

The 1988 Amiga conversion of Taito‘s classic gun-based arcade game, Operation Wolf, was developed by Ocean Software and was reasonably well recieved at the time of release, but the fact is: it hasn’t stood the test of time that well, and it isn’t anywhere near as good as the original reviews made out. It’s just merely okay.

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