Talisman is a platform and puzzle game in which the player is sent on a mission by a king to retrieve a sacred Talisman. The evil baron Zaldremon, whose forces are terrorizing the land, has broken it into six pieces. The player, who is a wizard, has to recover all the pieces, reassemble the Talisman and rid the land of the evil forces.
The gameplay is similar to the Dizzy series, and focuses more on puzzle solving and exploration than on combat. The enemies that appear cannot be fought and must be avoided, as any contact with them will cause you to lose energy. When the energy bar is empty you lose one of your five lives. Puzzle solving consists of picking up objects (you can carry two at a time) and combining or using them in the right place. Objects can be combined logically or using magic. With the right ingredients it is possible to cast spells that transform the wizard into a mouse or a bird. As a mouse it is possible to enter small places but not to jump while as a bird it is possible to reach high places but not to go through doors or use objects.
Alien Invasion is a fixed screen shooter game based on Space Invaders but with some additions to the gameplay. There are twelve different invaders in the game, including one that takes two hits to kill. The invaders have three different types of bombs: normal bombs, which drop straight down, spinning bombs, which drop diagonally, and homing bombs, which seek out the player. One notable difference from Space Invaders is that the old shields are gone. Instead, the laser base has a built-in shield that can be activated for protection. The player starts with two shields and gets new ones at the beginning of each new wave. The UFOs act as supply ships and randomly drop power-ups that the player can pick up. The power-ups include extra lives and shields, impeding the movement of invaders or dropping mobile bombs and rockets. There is also a power-up that makes invaders invisible.
The game also comes with editors that allow the player to change sprites and wave formations.
Asylum is a platform game in which the player enters the brain of a young man named Sigmund. Sigmund has his share of problems and the player has to solve his mental instability by exploring the surreal world of his inner mind and shutting down malfunctioning brain cells. The game plays like any traditional platformer and consists of jumping and shooting the abstract enemies roaming around. The player can pick up different weapons, such as a bazooka, a mini-gun and others. The game has three levels (called mental zones): ego, psyche and id. Ego is the easiest and must be completed before unlocking id. Each level is large and requires exploration. The levels are filled with objects that the player can collect and score points. The bottom right corner displays a bonus symbol and when collected the symbol will advance to get a star. The player will then be transported to a bonus room. The objective of each level is simply to find the eight brain cells and turn them off.
Bug Hunter in Space is a sequel to the original Bug Hunter game. Once again, the player controls the Hysteron Proteron, which this time is sent to take on a fleet of alien spaceships. Each ship consists of a number of levels in which the player has to kill all the aliens before entering a teleport to move on to the next one. If the ship is flying it is also necessary to shut down its engines and in the last level of each ship the player has to activate the ship's reactor and escape before it explodes.
The game plays largely the same as its predecessor, but features larger scrolling levels. The Hysteron Proteron has no weapons (except for some that can be picked up in certain places) but can walk on walls and ceilings and pick up certain objects. These objects have to be thrown on the aliens to kill them. In addition, it is possible to jump and activate devices, but only when not carrying an object. The player has three lives and one is lost when making contact with an alien.
Zool is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Gremlin Graphics and published by Team17 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS in 1993. The game stars an anthropomorphic creature called Zool who must stop the evil Ninja from taking over the world.
The game is set in the year 2020, in a world where creatures called Ninjas have taken over the world. Zool is a creature from another world who is sent to stop the Ninja's from taking over. The game is a side-scrolling platformer, where the player must guide Zool through various levels, avoiding enemies and obstacles, and collecting items.
The levels in the game are set in a variety of locations, including a city, a jungle, and an ice world. In each level, the player must reach the end, while avoiding enemies and collecting items. The game is split into two parts, with the first part being a set of tutorial levels, and the second part being the main game.
Zool is a fun and challenging game that is sure to keep you entertained for hours. With its unique setting and engaging gameplay, Zool is a must-play for any fans of platformers.
Iron Lord is a 1990 DOS game developed by Epyx and published by Bro/derbund. It is a real-time strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world where the player controls a kingdom beset by neighboring rivals. The player must expand their kingdom by conquering enemy territory and constructing new buildings. There are three difficulty levels to choose from, and the game can be played in either single-player or multiplayer mode.
Iron Lord was well-received upon release, with critics praising its addictive gameplay and strategic depth. However, some reviewers found the game to be too difficult, and noted that it was easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things to do. Nevertheless, Iron Lord is considered a classic of the genre, and is still remembered fondly by many gamers today.
3037. FedNet is now in control of the federation, and in an attempt to gain the trust of the populace after decades of corruption and war, the FedNet Space Corps were sent to the farthest planets to crush the petty warlords still running the show there. After being 'convinced' to join them on a tour of duty, you are assigned to an elite flying group for the sole purpose of testing cutting-edge technology.
A re-release of the original game of the same title released a few years earlier for the Acorn Archimedes platform, Starfighter 3000 features more detailed graphics (all surfaces are now texture mapped and a fog filter reduces clipping). With 15 levels in 4 worlds, the player controls the Predator Mark-IV, a fighter craft capable of space and atmospheric flight. However, apart from the handy boost button, the player has no control over the throttle, (unless using a flight stick with push controls such as 3DO's CH Pro stick) and must keep moving at all times.
In versions after 3DO, only two viewpoints are available: the back view (best for aerobatics and flight in general) and the cockpit view (for precise aiming and NOE flight). The 3DO version contained several more, such as a TV-style flight camera, weapon cameras, and enemy cameras that could show the viewpoint of nearby enemies.
By collecting crystals, the player could upgrade his ship and obtain more ammunition, and by combining colors, obtain more powerful weapons, some of which could also be obtained by parachute drops sent by FedNet.
One of the defining features of the game is the use of the laser (basic weapon) to terraform the map. As the game map is composed of tiles, some with higher or lower vertices, they can be leveled by simply firing repeatedly at the same area. This allows players to strategically avoid heavy defense turrets by simply collapsing a hill, or destroy a heavier turret by simply digging up the ground beneath it.
The player starts the game with three lives, and gains one life every 250k points. Losing all lives means ending the game, but as there is no profile for each pilot (as in Tie Fighter), the game can be resumed freely from the last saved game.
James Pond' is (obviously) a parody of the famous Agent 007 stories. You control Pond, a fish-like creature, who has to complete various missions, while making his way through levels full of dangers and hostile creatures. It's not your typical 'jump and run' game: instead of traversing large levels, Pond has to complete missions unique to each area of the game: free hostages, detonate a structure, find keys, etc. It is only possible to exit a level after completing the objective. Many missions are timed.
Tower Toppler, released in 1988, is an action-packed 2D side-scrolling platformer game for the DOS platform. The objective of the game is for the player to climb up eight towers, each with its own unique set of obstacles and enemies, in order to reach the top of the final tower and defeat the ultimate enemy – the evil Nape.
The game is incredibly challenging and requires a lot of skill and strategy. The player must make their way up the towers while avoiding and defeating enemies and obstacles. The obstacles range from simple obstacles such as spikes and blocks to more difficult ones like conveyor belts and teleports. There are also enemies that the player must avoid or defeat, and these range from simple monsters to more challenging bosses.
The visuals of the game are quite basic but suit the game’s theme perfectly. The characters and enemies are all designed in a very simplistic yet effective way and the overall look of the game is quite pleasing to the eye.
The controls of the game are quite straightforward, and the game is easy to pick up and play. The game also offers a variety of difficulty levels, making it accessible to all players.
Overall, Tower Toppler is an enjoyable and challenging game that is sure to provide hours of entertainment. The visuals are simple but effective, the controls are straightforward and the difficulty levels make it accessible to all. If you’re looking for an action-packed platformer game for DOS, Tower Toppler is definitely worth a look.
