Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 17 December 2020, 10:29 pm
Brutal: Paws of Fury is a competitive fighting game created by GameTek for SEGA CD and Mega Drive/Genesis in 1994. The game was also ported and released for the Amiga, SNES, and MS-DOS.
Unlike Mortal Kombat with its hyper-realistic graphics, or Street Fighter II, which had human combatants (though with fantasy powers), Paws of Fury features a cast of animal fighters. Much like a Disney movie, you will have heroes such as Ivan the Bear, Tai Cheetah, Prince Leon of Kenya, Rhei Rat, and others. All drawn like cartoons. Not to mention Kung-Fu Bunny, which makes you wonder if Pixar didn't take inspiration from this game when they created Kung Fu Panda in 2008. Maybe. Funnily, the final boss to defeat is Dali Llama - a llama, as you can imagine. Hopefully, the religious leader didn't get offended by the reference.
Read More
Author: Adam - Published: 16 December 2020, 10:21 pm
Dragon Wars is a role-playing game created by Interplay for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1989. It was later released for MS-DOS, Amiga, and several other platforms starting in 1990.
The game puts you in charge of a party of heroes whose primary focus is to find a paradise named Dilmun. According to legend, Dilmun had streets paved with gold, and it was one of those places everyone would love to be a part of. However, trouble in paradise arrived very soon.
The king declared magic illegal, and magic users were exiled. Because of that, the enemy islands focused on protecting themselves with guardian dragons. The story's main hero is arrested because he is suspected of being a spellcaster.
Read More
Author: Adam - Published: 15 December 2020, 8:25 pm
Sensible Golf is a sports game created by Sensible Software, released in 1994 for Amiga, DOS, and Windows 3.x.
Sensible Golf is a 2D golf game built around the Cannon Fodder engine. The game also relies on some of the game models used for Sensible Soccer, another title created by the same developer. The game engine was not built for a sports sim, so for sure, it has some limitations for a golfing game. Clearly it's more an arcade golfing title instead of a simulation.
Sensible Golf comes with 4 difficulty levels and 25 courses. It covers 72 holes in total; however, the layout was deemed less than realistic for most players. Many courses felt very similar in design and challenge, making Sensible Golf a commercial failure. The mechanics are straightforward. All you had to do is select the direction you want to hit towards and the overall power. However, the engine didn’t translate well to a 2D golf gameplay. It was tough to put off a ball on the green; it was impossible to get a perfect score in many cases. It was more about luck rather than developing a skill for it.
Read More
Author: Adam - Published: 15 December 2020, 3:42 pm
1830: Railroads & Robber Barons is a conversion of a very popular game with the same name created by Avalon Hill. The game was developed by SimTex and released in 1995 for MS-DOS.
What makes this game unique is that it allows you to understand railroad economics and achieve success. You either win by earning a specific amount of money, or the AI goes bankrupt. Of course, you can easily lose if you don’t spend your money wisely and end up dealing with bankruptcy.
The game is created by a (now defunct) developer named Simtex. The company, created by Steve Barcia in 1988, was focused on creating a turn-based strategy game. Some of their best titles are Master of Orion and Master of Magic. 1830: Railroads & Robber Barons was a different game for them because it was focused more on the macroeconomic space rather than being a railroad tycoon title.
Read More
Author: Gustavo - Published: 13 December 2020, 6:07 pm
Project Nomad is a space exploration game developed by Intense! Interactive and published by GameTek in 1993.
I'm going to be straightforward about this, I don't know what to think about Nomad. On the one hand, I see the game in theory, a mix of genres tied together with a complex and interesting story that honors other adventures of the same genre, with deep characters and innovative designs. Something like Oblivion in its time. On the other hand, I also see a title that aged badly. The mechanics of the game are very demanding and unfriendly, the combination of genres is simply confusing and there is a recycling of characters that seem to be made to become memes. But this is a title with many personalities that we will revisit for better or worst.
Read More
Author: Gustavo - Published: 12 December 2020, 2:58 pm
Companions of Xanth is an adventure game published in 1993 by Legend Entertainment.
Making a video game based on a book is really a risk. The title is not judged by its quality as a videogame only but also by its fidelity to the source material. Besides, even if these two things are met, there is always the fan's subjective view of the developers, which can cause a conflict that can ruin the first ones' experience. How could a game based on such a particular style as Piers Anthony's go with all the ingredients for disaster? Ladies and gentlemen, this is Companions of Xanth.
Read More