Aridas reviews... a shareware CD(s)! (Updated 14/12)

[Aridas]

Because of the ungodly amount of old games ranging from the year the CD was created to the early 90's and the lack of sanity on my part, as well as the need to stay out of trouble on the forum... It seemed like a good idea to find out for people what's good and what isn't of this old set of games. After all, this is "The Complete Encyclopedia of Games", after all... Two cds of madness. Maybe I can get people interested in old games. (PS. Any mistakes I make, like the definition of gameplay, or where I split my reviews into paragraphs, I would like to have pointed out so I can correct them.. I'm actually trying to do it.)

Note: I'm omitting most or all card games and games with "cards" in the title. especially the ones with no nag screen but expect you in the "about" dialog to register if you had it for a month. poor, naive software creators...

First up...

1993 Tris

Ugh. What a generic name. I hope the game's as good.

Let's see... It's a generic tetris clone... seems to require a "micro soft mouse" and I have no time to go to the pet store... Oh well. I'll see if I can do it anyway. The game is littered with Engrish, and the guy who made it is named "Young K. Chung", which instantly makes him the funniest game developer alive.

The game seems to be a clone of columns, with a square, 4-tile block rather than a straight 3-tile block. The object of the game is to "kill flies" which is done by matching 3 or more like colored flies horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. It's a challenging alternative to Columns, but it adds a twist: There are items that drop in that have the potential to help you. For instance, during my playthrough, a gun block dropped. Basically, what that does is shoot at whatever's on the right of it whenever you double tap enter. Also, this unregistered version allows you to see the next 2 pieces, but the registered version allows you to see 6. you may change it between 1 and 6, though unregistered users may only choose 1 or 2 preview pieces.

There seems to be a good chunk of the right side of the screen almost as big as the playfield itself, showing off what must be various other things besides the gun... But I haven't encountered them in my short time with this version. I also haven't made it to the second level yet. Thankfully, there seems to be a password system?

All in all, it was a nice game, but I doubt it was worth the $20 registration Mr. Chung wanted. However, he left a couple phone numbers... Maybe I'll ring him up someday if he's still alive. I wish the game screen wasn't so cramped though - my own game ended shortly because there wasn't much room up to the top of the screen since there's only room for 6 or 7 blocks from top to bottom, and they're easy to pile up with a mistake... I may have missed a few things to explain, since the game doesn't do the best job of explaining it either. 7/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
Oh, to hell with it. Kill bugs. There's your story. Like a puzzle game ever needed a story to be good. N/A

Graphics:
For a game made back in 1993, it doesn't do a bad job of making use of detail and color. It's not professionally done, but it's best to be lenient on a game that was apparently made by just one or two people. 8/10

Sound:
The game offers pc speaker blips for your actions, and a rising blip when you make matches. Better matches only result in a slightly longer, higher rising blip. Not my favorite thing to listen to, especially when they could've added real sound. There's a program on the side which has been set up to play some good-quality korean songs in MOD format, but there's no such offer in the game itself. The registered version promises 5 more of those songs, but I'd rather not pay to listen to someone else's songs... especially ones that aren't going to be playing during the game. 6/10

Controls:
The controls respond on time, and while the game may not play smoothly, it's easy to get into. Action key isn't too difficult to reach while rotating and moving the blocks, but it loses some extra points for seemingly only being able to rotate in one direction. 7/10

Gameplay:
For a columns clone, it still seems to come out fresh. It adds odd and creative  "powerups" to change up the game (fish?? I'd like to see what that does...) and the new block shape. In the end, it's just another columns clone, but at least something's new. 7/10

Replayability:
Like any puzzle game, replayability depends largely on the fun factor, and while I can't say I really enjoyed the game, I was tempted to play it a few more times anyway. For intriguing me enough to get me to pick up a game I sucked at, 7/10

1994 Pool

I take that back, there are plenty of games with generic names... Let's see what this one has to offer... Hey wait a minute, this is made by the same guy! o.o

1994 Pool is a deceptive name for most people. Despite the fact you play it in a shaped field with bumpers and extra balls, the similarities end there. For one, there aren't any holes. The object of 1994 Pool is to score points by aiming and bouncing your ball into red balls, and the borders of the playing field, while avoiding letting your ball hit the randomly placed fireball. In beginner mode, You get  a point for hitting a ball and knocking it into another ball, 2 points for having hit two balls with your own ball, and extra points for rebounding your ball first. The intermediate mode introduces a penalty for red balls hitting each other, meaning you will get no points and lose a life. Master is the toughest difficulty, with the rules of intermediate mode plus a requirement to hit three cushions before any points. You have to earn a certain score within the amount of lives you're given.

This game is a creative take on pool in that while throwing away all the challenge of pool, it manages to add a whole new challenge. in how you strategize. Reading the help file though, I found out this type of game actually exists in several parts of the world. Reality is thrown out the window though, with several different types of tools (called "weapons" by the game) to adjust your shot. Some of them involve creating a multi-point path for your ball, using a bezier curve, lagrange curve, or a hermite curve to shoot. I guess this game would appeal to people who liked to play with them, and may even count as a learning tool... But it's in no way realistic to pool games. You're also able to choose a position on the ball to "hit" from, much more like regular pool. The game is apparently very accurate about the way it acts though, and efficient for its time (the author mentions it being too slow on a 286 because of the precise calculations, but works good on a 386)

As you progress in levels, the rules change. For instance, in the second level, the obstacle changes. The rules are basically the same, and although they're simple, this can be a challenging game. 8/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
No. N/A

Graphics:
The graphics are simple and reasonably comfortable to look at. Most ingame icons are easy to figure out their use without looking at the help file. The animated cheerleader-girl-thing at the end of a level (win or lose) could be better though, and is not quite the reward I was looking for. 7/10

Sound:
The sound in this game is minimal, and though it does have digital sound, the win/lose song is plain and slow, and the ingame sounds don't quite match their use. This doesn't detract from the game experience, though. 8/10

Controls:
You use the mouse to aim, which means losing is all up to user error and miscalculations. Unfortunately, look forward to seeing a lot of that since this is more difficult than ordinary pool. 8/10

Gameplay:
I'm not sure what to say about this in this case. The game is alright, but the added "weapons", jerky power meter, and awkward-looking results of some shots can make the game seem less appealing to those of you looking for a "realistic" game. The right audience will find some fun6/10

Replayability:
This game will be different every time you play it. That being said, if you enjoy this type of game, you will want to come back later to see how far you get again. 8/10

Now... Since I suck at reviews and this is already driving me insane, that's enough for now. ;>.>
Expect the other 900-some-odd games to be reviewed sometime near the end of this century.

[Kitsune Ascendant]

Are you doing requests? I'd like to hear about the gravis cd (don't remember exactly what it's called and I don't have it with me right now, but it had shareware versions of raptor: call of the shadows, jazz jackrabbit, some star wars game, one must fall 2091, and some point and click I can't rightly remember the name of.

[bill]

I think I had that one... Raptor was such an awesome game.

[Aridas]

Are you doing requests? I'd like to hear about the gravis cd (don't remember exactly what it's called and I don't have it with me right now, but it had shareware versions of raptor: call of the shadows, jazz jackrabbit, some star wars game, one must fall 2091, and some point and click I can't rightly remember the name of.

I have a few gravis CDs, but you're probably referring to the one that came with the original gravis gamepad? I'll see what I can do, since most of those games are covered in my shareware cd... I've been a bit lazy with my reviews but i'll get back into it ASAP.

[Zedd]

Dont forget Doom! THat was the best Shareware moment of all time!

[bill]

The Doom shareware release has to be the second most brilliant decision in the history of computer gaming, right after someone putting a computer in a box, attaching a coin slot, and putting it in a restaurant.

[Kitsune Ascendant]

I think I had that one... Raptor was such an awesome game.

true. tyrian was better, though, in my opinion. and the full version's freeware now.

[Zedd]

Anyone rember the incredable machine?

[Aridas]

I remember The Incredible Machine, The Even More Incredible Machine, and whatever they named the windows version, the 3.0 one or whatever with the CD music... and a few incrediblemachinesque games from the same company

[Zedd]

I remember The Incredible Machine, The Even More Incredible Machine, and whatever they named the windows version, the 3.0 one or whatever with the CD music... and a few incrediblemachinesque games from the same company

Oh like messing with the super bouncey balls?

[insanekaosx]

Gravis CDs, eh? I know I had a cd with those games on it, and a number more, I only remember it as my "Best of 3D Action Games"

I loved Raptor, it made me happy inside.

It also had Descent, and Doom I think, both=<3...

I need to load that bugger up and see if I can twist it in Linux...

They had the Incredible Machine on the computers at my Middle School, I remember during classes we'd just randomly start mesing with that for fun. The good old days

[Aridas]

Shaking my DS addiction long enough to churn out some more reviews, Here we go... A few more for now.


3D Cyber Blaster

I decided to skip over a few of the stranger games when I saw this one.

This was definitely one of my favorites... This demo doesn't appear to have any music even though it's an option. The sound is minimal, though... Not that you need a lot of sound to enjoy the game. This game is a little bit like a sport with some strange triangular vehicles. There's an arena, you, your opponent, and a ball that's always in motion. The object is to score 5 points by getting the ball (by getting near enough to it), then try to shoot it into your opponent's net without him knocking your ball away. Worrying about your own goal is important too. There's also a shop before each match where you can buy helpful items and upgrades.

There are three difficulties and network play. With the difficulties, shop items become more expensive and your opponent is faster and more aggressive. Speaking of the shop items, there are several things you can look forward to. Half of the items are unbuyable in the shareware version, but the other half should be good enough to get you through the demo. You can increase your catching radius, your speed when you have the ball, your punch strength, and shields to keep your opponent from knocking your ball away. You can also have usable items, like mines and gravity wells to change the ball's direction, a wall that can deflect one hit from a ball, and a speed boost.

The game has a slippery anti-gravity feel about it, and if you can get past that, it shouldn't be hard to like. Most of the time the arena's general shape doesn't change much, but there are some clever designs that can do a good job of confusing you if you let them. I almost forgot to mention it, but you can get 2 points with one shot if you do it from far back enough. Let that be a lesson to me.

This game shouldn't be too hard to like unless you're really, really not into this type of thing. Give it a shot, it's a nice time waster. 8/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
To summarize the plot, I'll quote two parts of the game's short story: "It's the year 2212" and "The new sport motto is: Violence is OUT, fun and speed are IN." Bland, but this isn't the type of game to have a story, so I'll give it a break.4/10 +2

Graphics:
The game is mostly a 3D arena with some generic textures making up the walls. The ball is just a circle with a gradient, and the vehicles are just VERY slightly decorated 3D triangular prisms converted to sprites... But for a game made in 1994, I think it's probably forgivable. It's not quite as ugly as Hover looked.7/10

Sound:
There's very little sound at all. There seems to be music but that's not in the shareware version, apparently. Just a single sound for your actions, a few assorted silly voices when a goal is scored by either player, and some sound effects for the obstacles and such. The sound isn't all that great, but it's nothing to turn down the speakers for. 5/10

Controls:
The game is very playable, and once you get used to the way your vehicle handles, there should be no problem there. There's a button for your items, buttons to choose them, and your button to punch the opponent or shoot the ball. They're very easy to get used to.9/10

Gameplay:
This game offers a lot to make the game unique and involving. There are plenty of different items to use, each arena is unique, and there's plenty of screen room, almost half of it being put to use for your view. I can't say much for old games like these. 7/10

Replayability:
Not sure what to say about this one. I'd probably have to say your will to do the same things over again would determine the replayability score on this, not counting the three difficulties and network play. You be the judge. ?/10

3-Demon

Uh. It's Pac Man. in 3D. And I can't see where the rest of the dots are. But the ghosts show up just fine on the radar. The game is in 4 colors. FROM 1984!!! What the HELL is this doing on a 1995 shareware cd? There's a map... But who WANTS to check a map when they're busy sluggishly crawling through a maze touching dots and crosses on the floor? I appreciate the fact this game uses actual graphics at that time, but I just can't take it anymore. This game bugs me. Check it out at your own risk, and I hope you have DOSBox, because it's going to take a severe crippling of your system to play it at its "normal" speed. Normal speed or not, it lacks the efficiency of pac man. You have to hold down the button to make yourself go, among other things... 3/10

Descent

This was supposed to be reviewed so soon, but the CD had this game listed as "3D Descent", which makes no sense.

Anyway... This is a real gem of a game, and one of the first to bring my attention to Interplay. It's your average game about robots going haywire... Not a new subject, but it's got a few good twists to it. This game is a bit big for an overall review, so I'll cut it short and get straight to the details.10/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
Robots gone haywire. Destory all robots. Destroy all mines. Save hostages. Now, I don't know why robots need hostages if they're just going to destroy things, but that's the designers' fault. Most of the storyline is composed of a one-sided conversation, with your "boring" briefings and your own usually wise-ass thoughts. Your own character's been issued a clear personality and feels more real than most of what gets put out back then, or even today. The story is decently planned and the basic plot behind it is enough to hook almost anyone's interest.9/10

Graphics:
Descent has an attractive menu and title, as well as cutscenes and other images. Ingame, 3D graphics are used to a stunning effect. The textures are very simple but well-used, proof that you don't need a huge file for graphics just to make something look good. Enemy models are good and somewhat imaginative, but I'm a little disappointed the items and hostages weren't also 3D. Excellent graphics for the time.9/10

Sound:
Other than a great soundtrack, you'll be looking forward to plenty different effects for everything, picked just right for the game's use. Some are a little grating, but I suppose they're naturally like that anyway. I used to get excited when I heard the boss robots nearby back when I had this as a kid, and they really did sound great back then. Maybe not as much now, but I'm sure anyone can agree it all adds to the experience. 8/10

Controls:
The game has some tough controls to learn, even tougher to master. Despite all that, the game gives you MANY choices to control your game and lets you configure all of your controls to your liking. Finding a setup you can get eased into will be the start of a great gameplay experience.10/10

Gameplay:
Speaking of gameplay experiences, This game covers all the bases. A nice realistic control system, your cockpid HUD, plenty of weapons and items to keep the game interesting... Descent was definitely a game with an atmosphere you could really get into.9/10

Replayability:
Descent has plenty of levels, so while it might be daunting to go through the game again, you may wish to try and better your scores, or try a higher difficulty. If you're like me, you'll want to find everything, and get the highest score possible, and there are plenty of secret areas, nooks and crannies to look for. The game is also fun to just play around with rather than to do anything seriously, and provides many ways to entertain the bored after all is said and done.10/10

And there you go... Now git offa my lawn!

[bill]

Descent was brilliant, one of the first computer games that I really got into. Great review.

[Aridas]

Here comes the bext batch... Watch out!

3D Mania

I really don't know... it's a clone of every other 3D tetris out there. It's on a 5x5 grid with a depth of 12. you can rotate the pieces on every axis and there are special things that happen that can help/hinder your progress. On the left side there's an indication of how many more squares on the 5x5 grid for that layer need to be filled to score any points. You go up levels by how many points you have, and there's also a shop you can access at any time to "buy" any of the random effects in with your points. I'm not sure why.

Before you start the game you have plenty of options. You can turn on/off music and sound, choose your sound device (pc speaker/adlib/soundblaster), choose the keyboard, mouse, or joystick, change the depth (6, 9, or 12), the start level, or even choose from 4 figure sets, featuring more and different, even irregular looking pieces. There's not much else to say, so onwards! 6/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
Don't kid me.N/A

Graphics:
The gameplay area is 3D, while everything else is 2D with some nice generic graphics. For a tetris game, the angle at which your play area is at is a bit odd (right overhead) making some pieces at certain angles near the middle of the field hard to distinguish as they drop. As for the pieces themselves, they're wireframe, while the pieces that have already dropped have their segments color coded to show which level the segments are on. Another nice thing is that the borders of the play area are in the form of a grid, so you can line up your pieces a bit easier before dropping them. The game makes effective use of its simplistic design, and I'm willing to bet it runs smoothly most old computers. What makes this great is the 3D mode, which allows the use of the blue/red 3D glasses to see the game in 3D. I couldn't play test it myself, but it probably looks great. 9/10

Sound:
I heard adlib music... It was probably some public domain or something, as I heard some of it in yet another game. I didn't quite have the other game on hand to check creators, but in any case the music wasn't bad at all. Sound was just some kind of bleeps and bloops, as far as my game showed. 6/10

Controls:
Having played only in the keyboard mode, I can't say exactly how good these controls may or may not be.. I just found using Q/A W/S E/D to rotate the pieces a bit confusing. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong, though.7/10

Gameplay:
There are plenty of different special effects in this game that may or may not help hold interest in this game, but they're all offset by the painfully slow scoring and levelling, which is worse than in any other 3D tetris title I've been introduced to. 4/10

Replayability:
Like I said above, the painfully slow levelling may make this game unappealing for any lengthy amount of play in any mode. If you have the patience to sit for several minutes without going up a level, this may be an alright game for you. 3/10

3D Maze (Windows)

Quite an old game, Windows 3.1 compatible by the looks of the screenshots. You can use the keyboard or click the buttons to move around the maze.

The object is to look for and step on the red square. "Elf" will tell you if the direction you stepped in is relatively closer or farther away from the objective, but won't say if the hallway you're in leads there. Once you find the red square, you must backtrack to the start in the same way, which is a blue square. Once you've done this, an ugly green blob-thing (I'm assuming this is Elf) will appear and tell you to try another maze. There are four types of mazes: 12x12, 20x20, 30x30, and 50x50. There is no difference for winning any of them, but go ahead and pat yourself on the back for finishing them. 6/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
N/A

Graphics:
The graphics are very simplistic. The floors and ceilings seem to be just black, while the walls seem to be just squares bent in whatever direction makes it look 3D. Not very high tech, but this is an early Windows game from 1991. It was likely meant to run in only 16 or 256 colors. Elf seems to be drawn in the primitive way that you'd expect from a solo developer or a small freeware company, but that'd be nitpicking about a simple maze game. In addition though, there's a nifty little simple compass showing you the direction you're facing. not TOO helpful, but it adds to it.6/10

Sound:
N/A

Controls:
Kid stuff. Just use the arrows. Nothing to worry about.10/10

Gameplay:
I don't know waht counts as gameplay for a maze like this... There isn't all that much going for it except the first-person 3D-ish view... ?/10

Replayability:
There are few mazes from each difficulty to keep you interested enough in this time-waster. It's better off being played when there's just nothing better to do. 2/10

3D Pong

It's pong. in 3 dimensions. It's not as good as it sounds. It also requires a fairly slow computer or you won't even see it go. 1/10

Individual ratings:

Story:
b]N/A[/b]

Graphics:
It's all made up of lines and squares that have to get redrawn every time they move for some reason. The ball has a shadow on the ground that looks oddly like the ball itself, but nothing to show you where it is vertically. 1/10

Sound:
I don't think there was any... N/A

Controls:
Usual keyboard/mouse/joystick fare, as far as I can remember from the intro screen... but somewhat sluggish on my PC. 7/10

Gameplay:
There isn't much in this game at all, other than pre-play options like your paddle size or ball speed... The game doesn't look all that great either.3/10

Replayability:
You don't even want to START playing this. I have the sneaking suspicion this was programmed for some guy's class project in Qbasic... 1/10

And that's all I can stands, and I can't stands no more (til another time)