Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 28 July 2021, 6:02 pm
Chip's Challenge is an arcade puzzler created by Epyx, with a team lead by Chuck Sommerville, originally for the Atari Lynx console. The game released in 1989 was one of the launch titles.
The game was much more successful than the console itself, and it was ported to several other platforms, including Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS. Most of the conversions were handled by Images Software. Microsoft also released Chip's Challenge in a Windows 3.1 version in 1992.
At first sight, it looks like an 8-bit title converted to 16-bit without improving the graphics, but, despite the simple visuals, the game design is fantastic. Gameplay involves collecting enough chips in the rooms to unlock the level. To do that, you will have to open the doors, using the right keys, avoid traps and enemies. There are 148 levels and most of them are really brilliant. Difficulty increases gradually, with a perfect balance. A useful password system will allow you to continue from the last level you solved, like Lemmings.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 20 July 2021, 7:27 pm
Spherical is a puzzler arcade game created by Rainbow Arts in 1989. It was initially released for the Atari ST and later ported to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.
The German studio, famous for the Turrican series, took inspiration from a popular Tecmo arcade called Solomon's Key. Spherical has many elements in common with this title, but despite the lack of innovation, the game designed by Stefan Preuss and Thorsten Mutschall is a small gem. Thanks to excellent graphics, perfect music, and an incredibly well-balanced difficulty level, it's a title that creates addiction. If this is not enough, consider that Spherical supports two simultaneous players. So cool.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 14 July 2021, 7:30 pm
Prison is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure developed and released by Krisalis Software in 1989 for the Atari ST and Amiga.
In this game created by Peter Harrap (author of Monty Mole) and Michael Hart, you are a prisoner on a desert planet, devastated by a nuclear war. Your goal is to find some ship pieces useful for repairing a vessel that crashed on the planet and finally escaping your prison.
For the most part, the game is a point-and-click adventure, with fixed screens and a bi-dimensional side view. But there are also some arcade sequences, where you will have to fight some aliens that will try to kill you. This mix of genres is not totally convincing. Still, the atmosphere is really great, with a sense of darkness and loneliness communicated with the graphics (better on the Amiga than the Atari ST version) and the excellent music.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 7 July 2021, 7:40 pm
Dimo's Quest is an arcade puzzler created by Infernal Bytes originally for the Amiga in 1993, then ported to MS-DOS and CD-i.
The game, designed by Tobias Prinz and Thomas B. Schulz, shares some elements with popular titles such as Boulder Dash, where collecting items is the primary goal. Still, the most similar game is clearly Chip's Challenge, a puzzler created by Epyx for the launch of the Atari Lynx. In Dimo's Quest, you don't collect "chips": the hero, a frog called Dimo, needs to collect sweets for the King. He can advance to the next level only when he has collected enough of them. Of course, enemies, traps, and dangers will try to make his life complicated. Not to mention the locked doors, which will require collecting several keys, all in the correct order. Not so easy.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 28 June 2021, 7:24 pm
Obitus is a role-playing game created by Scenario Developments and published by Psygnosis in 1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. A conversion for the SNES version was released in 1994.
At first sight, the game looks like a classic dungeon-crawler with a first-person perspective similar to Dungeon Master, but Obitus has several distinctive points in reality. First of all, you will notice several action-triggering buttons on the main screen, such as pick, drop, eat, talk, use. They will remind you of the classic LucasArts adventures (Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and more). You will have to use them properly to interact with objects and the environment. These actions can really add depth to the gameplay. Still, unfortunately, the developers didn't add a complete explanation in the manual (I suggest you find a tutorial before you start playing).
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Author: GN Team - Published: 25 June 2021, 1:45 pm
Warlords III: Reign of Heroes is the third chapter of the saga of fantasy turn-based strategy games created by Strategic Studies Group. The game was released in 1997, exclusively for Windows.
The saga designed by Steve Fawkner started on Amiga and MS-DOS in 1990 and then continued in 1993 with Warlords II, which added many new features to the original game. The release of Warlords 3 in 1997 marked an important milestone. Thanks to the increased memory and computational power of the new machines, the game could be improved in any aspect. Graphically, instead of a flat 2D background, we have a sort of isometric top-down view with many more details. All units are also fully animated. RPG elements are more important now, with heroes that will stay with you during different games of the same campaign. There also several classes to choose from, plus spells and the introduction of life points.
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