Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: Gustavo - Published: 31 May 2020, 12:00 pm
Hexen II is a dark-fantasy first-person shooter developed by Raven Software and published by id Software in 1997 for Windows and 2002 for Mac.
The development company founded in Wisconsin in 1990 was already known for the Amiga RPG Black Crypt. But its most significant success is the Heretic / Hexen saga, where Hexen II is the third entry of the series. Legendary John Romero, the co-founder of id Software, was involved in the design of the game, which was initially going to be called Hecatomb. When Romero left the company, Activision, that had the rights for the distribution of the game, pressured Raven Software to divide it into two parts: they became Hexen II and Heretic II.
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Author: Gustavo - Published: 29 May 2020, 6:35 pm
Pools of Darkness is an RPG game published and developed by Strategic Simulations Inc. The title was released in 1991 for DOS, 1992 on Amiga and Mac, and in 1993 for NEC PC-9801.
Pools of Darkness is the third and last installment of the Pool of Radiance series started in 1988, probably the most famous saga of the SSI "Gold Box" collection, that includes also Buck Rogers and the Krynn series.
The game uses the Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Setting of Forgotten Realms. The history is initially set in the city of Phian. While the current council is on a diplomatic mission with the protagonists, an evil god called Bane takes over the land of Faerun. Furious at the success of the main characters in the previous entries, Bane rips the cities from the ground and covers them with a mantle of darkness and several storms. The player's goal is to finish off both the tyrant and his lieutenants, to bring peace and light back to the city.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 27 May 2020, 11:16 pm
Civilization II: Test of Time is an enhanced version of Civilization II, created by MPS Labs and released in 1999 for PC.
As we know, the first Sid Meier's Civilization, the turn-based strategy game created by Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley, was a huge success. The series saw a sequel in 1996, with Sid Meier's Civilization II (not mentioning the spin-off Sid Meier's Colonization, released in 1994). Civ II, faithful to the formula, but with improved isometric graphics, compared to the top-down 2D view of the first title, was again a hit. However, in 1999, the situation was not so good for MicroProse. After several legal issues, Activision released its own "Civ-style" game called Civilization: Call to Power, while Civilization 3 was not on the radar yet. So MPS decided to create this extended version of the original Civilization II, compatible with the new 32-bit Windows and, most importantly, enriched with several unique scenarios.
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Author: Gustavo - Published: 27 May 2020, 12:22 pm
Frontier: First Encounters is a space combat and trading sim created by David Braben with his company Frontier Developments.
First Encounters is the third installment of the Elite saga, where its direct predecessor is the masterpiece Frontier: Elite II. GameTek published the game in 1995 for DOS. Unlike Elite and Frontier, First Encounters was not released on the Amiga or other platforms. There was a plan for an Amiga1200 port, but it never happened.
The story is based on a distant future, where humanity is at war with an alien race of insects called Thargoids. After being defeated in the previous installment of the saga, the enemies of humanity decide to launch a new attack. The main character, who pilots a below-average ship and has no alliances, is one nothing more than a pawn of the bigger groups and gets involved in the war.
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Author: Gustavo - Published: 23 May 2020, 5:51 pm
Murder! is a game designed by Creative Materials and published by US Gold in 1990 for the Amiga. The isometric adventure title was also ported for the Atari ST and MS-DOS.
This is not the only title where Creative Materials explores the theme of crime. But it stands on the other side of the threshold in The Godfather (1991), where the player is part of the criminal world. On the other hand, the game was written and designed by the renowned Grant Harrison and Jason Kinglsey. Kinglsey is well known now since he is the founder of Rebellion!
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Author: GN Team - Published: 22 May 2020, 7:37 pm
Battlehawks 1942 is a historical flight sim set in the Pacific during World War II. The game was created by LucasArts and released between 1988 and 1989 for MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST.
The title was designed and programmed by Lawrence Holland, who would become famous for the great LucasGames flight sims. In fact, his name is associated not only with Their Finest Hour and Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe (which form with Battlehawks 1942, the so-called Lucasfilm WWII Air Combat trilogy) but also Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: TIE Fighter.
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