Game Dungeon Wish List

[okasion]

This is a must for Game Dungeon, specially for AMIGA users: Lemmings 2 The Tribes.

 

I know, Lemmings is a super mainstream game, virtually ported to every computer and console, but this is not the case with The Tribes; it's rather a underrated title that somehow managed to became somewhat forgotten and obscure, I don't know really why. I have the fondest memories of this game rocking on my IBM PC with my new Sound Blaster Pro / Adlib compatible with the best MOD (or MIDI?) soundtracks I have ever listen in my 32 years, up there with Lotus 3 Turbo Challenge; my god those soundtracks will bring a smile to anyone who actually sits and listen to it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPEd4pWF_E [Amiga music: Lemmings 2 (compilation - Dolby Headphone)] (can't embed the YT link for some reason)

 

The game was a little shorter than the original Lemmings/Oh no more Lemmings!, but the difficulty was more balanced overall- this didn't stop the developers from making some stages much harder than others for no apparent reason (if my childhood memories I hated the Space stage but loved the Classic one, for example).

Probably one of the best games that came from Psygnosis. And that's saying a lot. Plus being the less known of the Lemmings franchise (even more than that Lemmings platformer released lately) is quite a feat.

Ross, if you listen to the soundtrack of this game while figuring the puzzles of this game you'll know what I mean.

 

[Kaiosama TLJ]

This is a must for Game Dungeon, specially for AMIGA users: Lemmings 2 The Tribes.

 

(...)

 

The game was a little shorter than the original Lemmings/Oh no more Lemmings!, but the difficulty was more balanced overall- this didn't stop the developers from making some stages much harder than others for no apparent reason (if my childhood memories I hated the Space stage but loved the Classic one, for example).

Probably one of the best games that came from Psygnosis. And that's saying a lot. Plus being the less known of the Lemmings franchise (even more than that Lemmings platformer released lately) is quite a feat.

Ross, if you listen to the soundtrack of this game while figuring the puzzles of this game you'll know what I mean.

 

I was going to suggest that one too. Actually, I was going to suggest a Lemmings marathon.

 

Lemmings is a very odd case. It's a old game, so very few people of the current generations don't know about it, but since it was as famous as Mario or Sonic, it isn't obscure either. However, even people that are aware of it don't know it was a franchise, I mean, there are Lemmings games that even I didn't knew existed, like Lemmings Revolution.

 

Lemmings Paintball is one that I have vague memories of playing the demo as a kid. And the platformer you mentioned... I think you mean The Adventures of Lomax.

 

 

Fun facts: When I was a kid, I though this was a Lemmings rip-off, NOT an actual Lemmings game. And if I'm not mistaken, the guys who worked in this game were also responsible for The Misadventures of Flink, a underrated Genesis/Sega-CD game.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I will take this opportunity to recommend some more games:

 

Alien Carnage/Halloween Harry

 

 

A old DOS platformer. The objective is to rescue hostages in a maze-like level and go to the exit.

 

The only distinguable feature this game has compared to others is that your character flies with a jetpack instead of jumping, but the fuel also counts as ammo for the basic weapon, a flamethrower. You can buy ammo for other weapons like homing missiles in vending machines (fuel is free of charge) with coins the enemies drop. Some of the enemies respawn, which can be frustrating at times, especially the zombies since they are the only enemies that do not drop coins again when they respawn.

 

To be honest, this is not a very obscure game, and it's being sold on GOG and Steam nowadays. But the reason why I'm recommending it is because...

 

Zombie Wars

 

 

...Of the sequel, Zombie Wars.

 

This was NOT published by Apogee, but it was made by the same people. Very few people know about this one, and I feel that it will be buried even further because when I was seaching for a screenshot, I discovered there is a movie and a cellphone game called Zombie Wars also, and none as any relation with each other.

 

Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold

 

 

A Wolfenstein clone published by Apogee. This one had some success on inital release, but one week later Id Software released Doom, and them this game really got buried. Talk about bad timing.

 

It's very straightfoward except for one detail: There are scientists in each level, and while some are your enemy (they are pretty weak though), others are your allies and will give you tokens (that you can use on vending machines to recover health) and ammo when you talk to them. there is a set number of good and bad scientists in each level, but their positions are randomized each game. You can identify them by paying attention to their speech.

 

Captain Claw

 

 

As far as PC platformers go, I think this is one of the best. It's nothing special, but it's a good game. (at least I think it is, dunno what Ross will think)

 

And for a game that has MIDI music, I don't think it has a bad soundtrack either. Although, I will admit that modern reinditions of them would be welcome.

 

Fun Fact: The main character, Captain Claw, is voiced by the same guy who did Caleb in Blood.

 

Gearheads

 

 

This is a wacky game, and for some time one of it's songs got stuck in my brain since childhood but couldn't make nothing of it because only now I remembered the name of the game. The main goal is to send toys against the enemy side to score points, while the enemy is trying to do the same thing. The toys can also "die" halfway through, and you need to send a hand (literally) to rewind them. Very hard to explain because I only played the demo a loooong time ago...

[Watterson]

CYBERSWINE

https://www.giantbomb.com/cyberswine/3030-20171/

CYBERSWINE

[Tychobob]

You might like The Residents games. There are two that I know of and another that may or may not exist.

The Residents: Freakshow

The Residents:Bad Day on the Midway

 

The third is a Cd rom I think of another album they released called Gingerbread Man.

Freak Show is really weir.... both games are weird as fuck.

I don't know how to explain them without spoiling it for you.

It's at times more sinister than Bip-Bop & cryptic than Helious.

 

It's best to enter these games with surface level research & then digging in as the confusion takes hold.

As far as Gingerbread Man goes I remember playing a pinball like game based on that story.

I experienced these as a child & is a strangely formative gaming experience of my youth.

I don't know what's wrong with my parents but I feel I turned out well...

 

Bad Day at the Midway is my favorite in terms of tone & story & I made it through Freakshow but always got freaked out as a kid on the story about the dog fights. This band went through a lot of interesting stuff as far as promotional material in the 90's. I'm gonna shut up now and post this. Enter these games with caution, you've been warned.

 

-Tycho Bob

P.s... Do the Marathon Games (They Free AF)

[Kaiosama TLJ]

When searching Youtube for the "unknown" games that I mentioned at page 15 of this thread, I accidentaly stumbled upon a game that not only I was unaware of it's existence, but also I think would be perfect for Game Dungeon.

 

The name of the game is Three Dirty Dwarves.

 

 

It's a side-scrolling beat 'en up that was launched for both the PC and the Sega Saturn. It's unique in the way that there's no life meter in this game and the characters can "die" in one hit, but you have three characters at your disposal, and when one is knocked down the other goes foward, and you can get the fallen ones back up. And as far as I know, this game also allow three simultanious players.

 

This game is also extremely crazy, from the visuals to the plot. It's about four kids that are genetically-altered, and are being forced by the military to use their inteligence to create super soldiers. However, they ended up devising a plan for escape, that involves OPENING A PORTAL FOR THEIR RPG CHARACTERS TO ENTER THEIR WORLD AND RESCUE THEM.

 

I'm not joking, this game is so "out there" that it's hard to not only explain the plot properly, but also with a straight face. The enemies are wacky too, along the way the dwarfs face not only some orcs that followed them, but also some other crazy enemies, like NAKED NINJAS. Again, I'm not joking...

 

There's a playthrough of it here:

[Guest]

Oh wow, it's funny seeing weird stuff that I remember from the demo disc that came with my second-hand Sega Saturn that I bought a couple years ago being dug up again now. Not just Three Dirty Dwarves, but also Mr. Bones, which I saw covered recently by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO6_BBPYF2g.

 

CiuEjoHBDYg

 

While certainly not as strange from the basic concept perspective as Three Dirty Dwarves, Mr. Bones is much more of an oddity for its gameplay. Specifically, because of how incredibly simple and bare-bones (whether by today's standards or those of 1996), yet strangely unique it all manages to be.

[Kaiosama TLJ]

(...)

 

While certainly not as strange from the basic concept perspective as Three Dirty Dwarves, Mr. Bones is much more of an oddity for its gameplay. Specifically, because of how incredibly simple and bare-bones (whether by today's standards or those of 1996), yet strangely unique it all manages to be.

 

Heh, "bare-bones". I see what you did there.

 

Jokes aside, I will agree that Mr. Bones is a very unique concept. I kinda want to see it on Game Dungeon also, but the problem is that Mr. Bones is a Saturn exclusive, and even though Ross is used to change settings on his PC to run extremely temperamental games, I've heard that Saturn emulators are a bitch to run properly. So it's more probable that Three Dirty Dwarves appears on GD.

 

Speaking of which, other game that was on Saturn and also on PC that I can think of is Bug!

 

 

This one I remember actually playing on the PC as a kid (admitelly, a pirated copy), but didn't got far. But I do remember it being kind of bland.

 

And a fun trivia: This game was designed to replace Sonic as a mascot for the Saturn. And this is not the first time they tried something like that. You guys remeber Dynamite Heady for the Mega Drive/Genesis? That was also pitched as a replacement for Sonic. Heh, guess even them they knew that, eventualy, Sonic would become Sega's death sentence.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Alright, some more suggestions:

 

Any of the other Christian Boutin's games

 

Ross, you helped

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLUkA0QVK98, but aren't you forgotting about something?

Yes, I'm talking about the other games by the same guy who created Construction Bob, and you already own them since they came in the same package. Yeah, after the Bob games I don't expect much, but I think you still have some unfinished business.

 

I mean, one is called Xyfud Plasfoc's Earth Invasion, you shouldn't miss the opportunity to cover a game with a name like THAT!

 

Beasts and Bumpkins

 

 

Ah, this one. This is another of those who I remember from demo disks, but I think this one deserves to be here above all of the ones I remember from demo disks.

 

It's a strategy game where you build a village, and you also need to defend it from monsters like giant bees, undead, and even go against rival lords.

 

It's unique since you don't downright mine resources to "produce" soldiers like other strategy games. You need to breed your population and even herd cows and create a farm to have milk and bread otherwise they will starve. You also need to build "guilds" to convert your male villagers into more useful guys like soldiers, mages, and even better builders.

 

Duke Nukem platformers

 

 

I know that Duke Nukem is a gaming icon (although I could say it's a fallen one), so you guys may think this is a bad idea for Game Dungeon. Well... He exploded in popularity because of Duke Nukem 3D, so how many Duke fans remember that he started as a character in a platformer game? And that he was more family friendly back then? And that he was (or maybe still is) a big fan of Oprah?

 

A Game Dungeon on the games before Duke Nukem 3D would be a interesting look on how some franchises really change along the way. Also, the first one is a game that I have a big chunk of nostagia value, EXCEPT FOR THOSE FUCKING ROTATING PILLARS. Admittely, the platformers didn't age that well compared to 3D gameplay-wise, but they have their own charm compared to the "edgy" Duke we know today.

 

Sacred series

 

 

This is not much for me, but I'm making this suggestion thinking more on gaming history purposes.

 

You see, my only contact with this series was Sacred 3, and I feel that game put the series on the map in a bad way... My reactions, from the perspective of a guy that never played any Sacred prior and had no knowledge about them was like this: Boring beat 'en up, made even worse by the fact it tries to have "humor".

 

When I've heard that it was actually a ARPG series that was gutted to please console gamers, I can actually feel the the pain of the old-school fans. I think Ross should cover the previous Sacred games for them.

[scootykart]

I would love Ross to review Cry of Fear and Afraid of Monsters by Team Psykskallar

 

It would be great if it was an October episode, but I wouldn't care when it comes out. I believe that Ross will like Cry of Fear more than Afraid of Monsters. They both are story driven and have horror elements, though it's on the jumpscare side of horror games. Sadly Cry of Fear has a chronic condition of not knowing if It wants to be a horror survival game or a horror action game. It also has a Co-op mode, so if Ross wanted to drag his friends along on the co-op campaign he could. I would recommend doing single player first though. They both run on the Goldsource engine. Afraid of Monsters: Director's cut looks possible, but its original mod has a lot of retextures on normal mobs. Cry of Fear looks a lot better than the two. The best part of the two games is the fact that they're free! I could include screenshots of the game if anyone wanted.

 

CoF Steam Download: http://store.steampowered.com/app/223710/Cry_of_Fear/

 

AoMDC Mod Db Download: http://www.moddb.com/mods/afraid-of-monsters-dc

 

AoM Mod Db Download: http://www.moddb.com/mods/afraid-of-monsters

 

That's all I have to say on the topic. Hopefully, Ross will consider it.

[Kaiosama TLJ]

Alien Rampage

 

 

Did you guys know that this game was going to be Duke Nukem Forever at some point? It's doesn't look like it at first glance, even if you consider Duke's origin as a platformer.

 

Or maybe it's because it has a Predator look-a-like instead of a blond macho guy that steals quotes from movies, but this game is ultra-violent also.

 

Bio Menace

 

 

Not that obscure, but weird nonetheless. (at least I find it weird)

 

It's a old platformer published by Apogee where you play as a C.I.A. agent trying to stop a evil scientist to rule the world with a army of mutants... That look extremely cartoony and could belong to a kid's show... Aaaaand you still reduce them to small chunks of meat and eyeballs... Aaaaaaaaaand there's also bloodied corpses in some levels... Did I mention that I find this game weird?

 

I've finished this one also, and I can say it's not bad, despite having some flaws commonly found in old PC platformers.

 

Although I can say, from the bottom of my heart, that the first level in Episode 3 CAN GO FUCK ITSELF! It was not uncommon for shareware games to make the first level of the last episode have a gimmick that makes it ultra-hard for newcomers to force them to play the content prior to become more experienced in the game (for example, Hocus Pocus first level in the last episode has no healing items AT ALL), but this game drops the ball. The level has mines hidden in the grass that can only be identified by A TINY CYAN PIXEL, AND THE GRASS IS LIGHT GREEN. And after that you need to pass through many suicidal enemies to get the only non-hidden healing item in the level. But the real bullshit is that there's a TIGHT corridor you need to pass through that have shooting lasers THAT HAVE A RANDOM PATTERN, with is almost impossible because there's A LOT of lasers. The solution: There's a invincibility potion HIDDEN ABOVE THE CHECKPOINT. How do you suppose to figure this shit by yourself? I HAD TO check a video on Youtube in frustration to figure that one out.

 

The other levels after that are brutally hard, but manageable and less frustrating compared to that dick move.

 

Blood & Magic

 

 

This one I have lot of experience with. It's a Dungeons & Dragons licensed RTS game where the basic concept is that you create a unit called Basal Golem. This Basal Golem, when idle, can become a obelisk that generates Mana, that's in turn used to create MORE Basal Golems, AND to convert them into combat units like Fighters, Clerics, and even Gargoyles. And you convert them in buildings that you can build in specific points of the map, using 4 Basal Golems as a foundation. Yeah, Basal Golems are everything...

 

It's a unique concept for a RTS, and there's also some maps that have their own gimmics like one where the walkings paths are tight, and you need to activate/decativate bridges by pressing pressure plates (and you can even kill ground enemies with that). The big problem this game have is that since there's no unit cap, you can produce as much Basals Golems as you want, breaking the Mana "economy" eventually. There's a Mana cap, but it doesn't stop you to practically have nigh-infinite Mana due to the amount of Basal Golems generating it (they generate up to 10 Mana, and it become stored in them for you to manually collect, and it also auto-collects after a while). Good thing the AI doesn't know about this exploit.

 

One thing that's also unique is that this game plot is divided in mini-campaings with no relation with each other, and you can choose which side of the conflict you want to play. This (for me at least) is good and bad at the same time bacause while the writing is okay for most of them, they are short and some of them are generic at best. Nuts and Bolts is my least favorite because while it is intentionally cantoonish and silly, it feels completely out-of-place in tone compared to the other campaings. Howl of Vengeance is my favorite because despite being about a king defending his kingdom against a necromancer (which can be kind of cliche sometimes), it's more gray-on-gray morality. (the king in question actually was some sort of barbarian leader before that took the kingdom they reside now to save his starving clan, even if the previous king did nothing wrong against them. The necromancer just wants to help the daughter of the previous king to reclaim her throne)

 

After you play all the campaings, you play a mega-campaing where you create a custom character and the objective is to simply conquer the land, playing all the maps all over again. While it is a cool concept, it's practically more of the same at that point.

 

Cyberdogs

 

 

And old freeware top-down shooter. Every level is procedurally generated like a rogue-like and objectives to open the next level varies between killing all enemies or destroying certain designated objects. And you buy weapons and ammo (and even lives) between levels.

 

I've played this game a lot, but never got too much far since this game start to get really hard later on.

 

Daikatana

 

 

Yeah... You guys may be thinking that the only reason I'm recomending this is because I'm a sadist and want to see Ross suffer. And you guys are wrong. (but also right )

 

The main reason that I'm recomending this notorious bad game is for gaming history purposes, thanks to Mighty No. 9.

 

What Mighty No. 9 have to do with this? Well, after the colossal failure that was that game, I did a quick look at it's troubled development and I felt as if history repeated itself, and NO ONE that trashed the game made a comparison with Daikatana besides me. Besides having different problems, both games developments have some crucial similarities that, at least for me, it's uncanny.

 

For starters, both games were seen as apparently passionate projects from veterans of the industry that left their respective companies and were on their own, one big difference being that Kickstarter didn't existed at the time of Daikatana, but Romero had a lot of cash that he earned from his days at Id.

 

While both games generated hype in the beggining, it started to drop due to controversies, constant delays, and horrible mismanagement. And some of the mismanagement in both cases I can point to both Keiji Inafune and John Romero being used to work under the wing of a big company, but forgetting that they were practically on their own and even though they had a good budged, they needed to concentrate on their respective projects due to being small studios. (Inafune tried to push a animated series spin-off despite not having finished the game, and may the true gods of existence knows where the rest of the money went, and Romero irresponsibly spent part of it on Ferraris)

 

Mighty No. 9 had a controversy among the community related to a female moderator. Daikatana had a controversy related to Romero adding his girlfriend as a game designer to the team. (Yeah, maybe this connection is a bit forced, you can ignore that one)

 

Also, both have cringeworthy market slogans that became memes.

 

And when they came out, they were mediocre at best, but with a good chunk of technical problems, and outdated graphics (especially in the case of Daikatana). Both also had promoted gimmicks that hindered the game more than making it fresh: Mighty No 9 has the dash/absorve mechanic; Daikatana has the Save Gems and the AI companions (and since this is the first FPS that did it, and poorly, they were buggy and unreliable as hell). Both games also have terrible writing.

 

For me, Daikatana is the original Mighty No. 9. But I could also be a crackpot theorist and you guys can ignore this if you wish.

 

Hard Reset

 

 

Not a very old game compared to many games that Ross covered so far on Game Dungeon, but I think it could be worthy for the show.

 

This game is made by Flying Wild Hog studios before they rebooted Shadow Warrior, and if you guys played Hard Reset, you can agree that a lot of it got carried to that game, but this game is still different.

 

While Shadow Warrior focus on trying to create a interesting melee combat while being on roots with old FPS, Hard Reset main gimmick is that you have two guns: One is bullet based, and the other is energy based. And you unlock alternate fire modes to them, that could count as different weapons. (for example: one of the modes for the bullet gun is a shotgun mode)

 

The game also have a Blade Runner-esque plot. I find the story experimental at best, because while it seems to create a interesting setting, not much is explained and it ends in a cliffhanger. I will let Ross take his own conclusions on this one.

[PlatinumJesus]

It'd be cool to see a Game Dungeon of Unreal Gold, I'm not sure if it's particularly obscure but it sure seems like nobody talks about it nowadays. I love the game to bits (the gunplay's great, most of the enemies are fun to fight, the atmosphere's pretty good despite the game's age) but there's definitely a good few things to gripe about (occasional maze-like level design, some enemies are pretty annoying at times, glitches, though infrequent, can screw with the way you progress through levels). Not sure if Ross has already played it considering he's mentioned it a few times, particularly in Deus Ex, but I'd still like an episode on it.

[amestria]

War Wind

A very unique and fairly obscure mid-90s strategy game. The gameplay is flawed and the enemy AI poor, but it's something of a visual and auditory treat. The developers really cared about the world they were creating and it definitely shows. This is all the more impressive because the story takes place on a completely alien planet. I'm reminded somewhat of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal.

 

It's abandonware now. There is practically no discussion about it online and most of the Youtube videos are from Continental Europe - so it seems pretty forgotten by English speaking audiences. So perfect for the Game Dungeon.

 

2TvvvQ1UNDU

 

mnxYwNhfsdY

 

8cq9adyPyGc

[Frederick Metzengerstein]

Hey there, love your voice and the things you say with it.

 

I would love if you could play and review Spinnortality, which is a strategy and management game where you play as the CEO of an evil giant ruthless cyberpunk megacorporation, develop and sell products with disturbing implications, try to take over the world, and live forever. There's a free beta which is in a highly advanced state.

 

Also there's a Kickstarter for it which ends in five days so if you wanted to review the game in like the next one or two days that would be swell

[Amayirot Akago]

War Wind

A very unique and fairly obscure mid-90s strategy game. The gameplay is flawed and the enemy AI poor, but it's something of a visual and auditory treat. The developers really cared about the world they were creating and it definitely shows. This is all the more impressive because the story takes place on a completely alien planet. I'm reminded somewhat of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal.

The game is actually on GOG now along with its sequel.

 

https://www.gog.com/game/war_wind

 

https://www.gog.com/game/war_wind_ii_human_onslaught

[amestria]

War Wind

A very unique and fairly obscure mid-90s strategy game. The gameplay is flawed and the enemy AI poor, but it's something of a visual and auditory treat. The developers really cared about the world they were creating and it definitely shows. This is all the more impressive because the story takes place on a completely alien planet. I'm reminded somewhat of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal.

The game is actually on GOG now along with its sequel.

 

https://www.gog.com/game/war_wind

 

https://www.gog.com/game/war_wind_ii_human_onslaught

Oh, that's good to see. Thank you for telling me ^_^

 

Though some of the description claims are a little inaccurate. Like, none of the races have a meaningfully unique AI. In fact, the AI is fairly primitive, underperforming the AI in other 90s strategy games like Warcraft II or Command and Conquer (though in all fairness it plays much the same as those games - build base, create big army, attack enemy). The developers somewhat overcame their AI weakness by making the campaign scripted and intentionally puzzle-like. Also, there is no real alliance mechanics - on certain maps there are units from different races who will join your Clan if they encounter you. This is handy, but it's not quite what comes to mind when someone says "alliances."

 

What makes the game stand out is that so much work went into its story, world-building, and art. Like, each race has its own distinct appearance, ideology, tactics, and language. The developers sketched an actual ecosystem, mapped out the continent, and named the various landmarks. There are reoccurring hero characters who appear via story and mission events - and you can select up to eight of your best soldiers to carry over from mission to mission, which makes you feel like a Clan leader. The mission maps have lots of intriguing features that have little to do with completing the objective - say a labyrinth that is the lair of a peaceful monster - and which seemingly exists for no other reason than to suggest a real landscape, with its own history. And of course everything is beautifully drawn and there are around 13 distinct and very atmospheric musical tracts for you to listen to.

 

Here's the title screen music:

 

0Uq720NHzag

 

Here's the race screen art/music:

 

kLBaTAezA94

 

They even made a musical score and landscape shot for the credits:

 

wKANVi29Gy0

 

And during battles you listen to stuff like this:

 

djg492L0_ME

 

f7wnx5EVwk4

 

It's things like this that really add up. There's nothing else quite like it, which is why it sticks in both my memory and my boyfriend's memory.

[Aivearion]

WarCraft 1

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-ab&biw=1536&bih=753&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=aWk0WuPkMYbsjwO94oLIDw&q=Warcraft+1+Stop+Poking+ME%21&oq=Warcraft+1+Stop+Poking+ME%21&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1184.5050.0.5514.16.16.0.0.0.0.113.1337.14j2.16.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.4.376...0j0i30k1j0i24k1.0.g0ps7Rup5G0#imgrc=_

 

The Above link Takes you to pictures search of the game all the pictures are images from the game

 

Although it is an old 90s game BUILD YOUR ARMY AND CRUSH THE ENEMY

[Pops1918]

 

(...)

Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold

 

 

A Wolfenstein clone published by Apogee. This one had some success on inital release, but one week later Id Software released Doom, and them this game really got buried. Talk about bad timing.

 

It's very straightfoward except for one detail: There are scientists in each level, and while some are your enemy (they are pretty weak though), others are your allies and will give you tokens (that you can use on vending machines to recover health) and ammo when you talk to them. there is a set number of good and bad scientists in each level, but their positions are randomized each game. You can identify them by paying attention to their speech.

I remember that game! I think I still have the CD for it somewhere, but perhaps not. That was the first game I encountered that incentivized sticking with the starting weapon, since it wasn't completely terrible and had infinite ammunition. I mean, sure, its low power and low rate of fire meant you'd be trading health for (other weapons') ammo if you defaulted to it later, but spamming the fire button would see you through a lot of the game and not risk running dry on mooks.

 

That game laid the foundation for my joining the ranks of the Fallout hoarders: that habit of grabbing as much of "the good stuff" as I can get my grubby hands on... And never getting around to using it, because I might want it later. That sounds kind of bad, and it isn't helpful in FPS or RPG games, but then when you get into the survival-horror genre, who's laughing now, huh?

 

...I'm making excuses, aren't I? Moving on!

 

Captain Claw

 

 

As far as PC platformers go, I think this is one of the best. It's nothing special, but it's a good game. (at least I think it is, dunno what Ross will think)

 

And for a game that has MIDI music, I don't think it has a bad soundtrack either. Although, I will admit that modern reinditions of them would be welcome.

 

Fun Fact: The main character, Captain Claw, is voiced by the same guy who did Caleb in Blood.

I never played this one, but another fun fact: a Captain Claw doll makes an appearance as an optional minor item in Shogo!

Magic claw!

 

In the game of noisy doll versus shotgun... It's about as useful as you might expect.

[winterElf]

I suggest Piposh. It is an old Israeli adventure game that unlike Armed & Delirious is actually really good (at least if my memory is correct). It's about a guy boarding a ship full of insane people with a murder mystery going on. I'm not sure if all cultural references and jokes survive the english translation but it's unique and unknown, perfect for Game Dungeon.

 

The link (I hope it can be accessed by everyone): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bwqx7RiWdM3Ya2hFNHI0Y04xd2c

 

A picture:

 

The first five minutes in hebrew (plus a nice song intro):

joZUXq2ooKM

[Kaiosama TLJ]

Pops1918 said:

Kaiosama TLJ said:

Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold

I remember that game! I think I still have the CD for it somewhere, but perhaps not. That was the first game I encountered that incentivized sticking with the starting weapon, since it wasn't completely terrible and had infinite ammunition. I mean, sure, its low power and low rate of fire meant you'd be trading health for (other weapons') ammo if you defaulted to it later, but spamming the fire button would see you through a lot of the game and not risk running dry on mooks.

 

I will admit, Blake Stone initial weapon is waaaay more reliable than the knife from Wolfenstein, especially since it doesn't generate noise to alert enemies. But if we're going to talk about sticking to the initial weapon, I think the Mage from Hexen wins. His initial weapon is weak, but can continously fire and penetrate enemies.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will take this opportunity to suggest a few more games:

 

Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance

 

 

A D&D licensed strategy game in the same vein of Romance of Three Kingdoms. Not one that I have personal experience with, but it's one that is obscure nonetheless. In fact, I only know about this game because Kikoskia played it on his channel.

 

Just like in Romance of Three Kingdoms, you choose one of the kingdoms with set territories, and must win through war and diplomacy. Some big diferentials however, is that this game also have dungeon crawling side-quests you can do with your heroes, and the Gorgon, who is a non-playable ruler that's the main nemesis of the game, and either defeating him or conquering most of his (and his equally monstruous allies) territories is some of the ways you can beat the game.

 

It has a lot of drawbacks though, and I can asociate that with the game trying to be to many things at once. Still, it's ambition makes me consider it a worthy candidate for Game Dungeon.

 

Creeper World series

 

 

It's not that old, it has a following, and a fourth game is being developed. But it's not that spoken compared to other indie titles, and it is a extremely unique concept, so I think Ross should give this series a go.

 

I only played the third game (and it's spin-off Particle Fleet: Emergence), but the main theme of the series is simple: It's a single player RTS where you need to build a infrastructure to repel not a horde of enemies, but a "liquid" refered as the Creeper. It has a good variety of weapons to deal with the different hazards the game presents, and the difficulty of each level is usualy associated with it's level design and the enemies present. (sometimes it's not just Emmiters that continuously spew Creeper that are the problem, there's also aerial spores that can bombard your base with Creeper if you don't have the necessary counter)

 

Mystery of the Druids

 

 

I know that Retsupurae already took a shot on it, but I still think Ross should review this one because the memetastic boxart is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

For those who don't know it, it's a old point-and-click adventure game where you are a british detective trying to solve a series of murders where there's nothing left from the victims besides the bones, and he later discovers a old conspiracy involving evil druids. A really cool concept, but moon logic is the least of this game's problems.

 

This game features one of the most unlikeable protagonist in gaming, and it's even worse since the game tries to force simpathy by making everyone else an asshole towards him. The plot has more holes than a swiss cheese, it has cringeworthy puzzles (one of the puzzles involves poisoning a hobo with alchohol stolen from the forensic department to steal his change to use a phone boot), AND it has (in my opinion) a WORSE love story than Twilight.

 

The only reedemeable quality of this game is that the story and dialogue is so bad that it can go into "so bad, it's good" territory.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Kaiosama TLJ
The post became a mess with embedded link errors because it was made before the forum overhaul. (see edit history)

[bicycle repair man]

Boiling Point Road to Hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npmp8haf95M

 

 

I'd like to see a video for Boiling Point Road to Hell. I played it years ago when it came out and found it very compelling even if it frustrated me in equal measures.

Looking back on the game now it seems like a mixture of Deus Ex and the Stalker series set in a fictional South American country to me.

It had some nice quirks to it like developing an addiction to the medkits you would eventually have to use. You had to manually fill gas into your car. You had to eat and sleep.

And you could become addicted to alcohol and illegal substances. There were also multiple factions to side with like the revolutionaries, the government, the C.I.A, the cartell, bandits and the native tribes. (and the civilians but they were not really a faction i suppose)

It had a reputation system that meant if you chose a certain faction you could not go to certain places. I think you were hunted down if you entered any of the big cities if you were a communist revolutionary. The game had an open world with a day night cycle and random events and side quests and multiple ways to approach missions. You could upgrade your car, buy a new car, customize weapons and learn skills.

You were able to break your legs if i recall correctly.

The development studio behind Boiling Point also made the Xenus games and Precursor but these games look rather poorly (more so than Boiling Point..?) and even more "low budget" compared to Boiling Point. (probably?)

sadly Boiling Point is now abandonware. It was released in a very buggy state and felt clunky. Thats all i remember really..

Oh and there is also a guy in a bar who talks about Nikola Tesla all the time.

[FishyCase]

Seconded bicycle repair man, although I can recommend the reviews of TehSnakerer who has a pretty good review of the game and the predecessors (yeah there where 2 sequels!).