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More Old-School PC Games - With Downloads!
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(I currently don't have much ambition to
write, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Even
if the review sucks, you can at least enjoy the games.)
SCORCHED EARTH (1991) by Wendell
Hicken
(My video card doesn't seem to want to take
screenshots of DOS games, so no pictures for this one. You'll just
have to use your imagination - or better yet, download the game).
Here's
a fine example of what a classic DOS game should be. Nostalgia?
Check. Turn-based multiplayer action? Checkity check. Pixilated tanks? You
betcha.
Scorched
Earth contains enough explosions to satisfy the bloodlust of the modern
gamer, but at the same time, it possesses a sort of innocence (try
saying that with a lisp) which allows you to play against family
members without offending them and/or being disowned. I've played against my
mother, who is opposed to violence in any form (unless it involved
sticks, wooden spoons and/or belts against myself and my siblings.
Heh. There was no problem with that, was there?) Come to
think of it, I've actually played this game with both of
my parents (over a 12 year period, anyway).
10
Freaking Players: Let's
start with the turn-based fun. The game supports (dig this!) up to
10 players on one PC. I can definitely see this as a party game
way back in 1991, before all this fancy Halo 2 stuff with all the
banshees and warthogs and doohickeys. Never mind
how you get 10 people to share a keyboard, but there you have it.
10 people can play, which reminds me of a movie I saw on a motel TV late
one lonely winter night around 1997 or so.
Your
Tank: Each tank is assigned its own color, and you can tell the
game whether it'll be a computer (AI) or a human (Asshole) player.
The object of the game is to kill your opponents with your tank.
You control the angle of your tank's turret along with your chosen
projectile's velocity (The game also takes gravity and wind speed
into account). You have a wonderful variety of weapons and
tools to choose from.
Weapons: Okay, let's go over a few weapons.
- Baby Missile, Missile - These are the default
tank weapons. They shoot. They explode.
- Nuke, Baby Nuke - That's what I'm talking about!
My personal favorite is the Nuke. Made of a
red/orange radial gradient, it destroys a good portion of the
screen. I remember actually, um, being impressed by the
nuke's graphics when I first played this game back in the day.
- Leapfrog - Bounce, bounce, BANG!
- Funky Bomb - On impact, this bomb releases
several independent bombs in a seemingly random pattern.
There are many other weapons such as the MIRV, Death's Head,
and Napalm which blow things up and/or set objects on fire. There
are also dirt weapons that can dig through the landscape (making
your opponent fall) or you can bury your enemy in a mountain of
mud (Using Dirt Clod, Dirt Ball, Ton of Dirt, Liquid Dirt). It can
take a long time to dig somebody out (so you can finally get a shot at them), so I
don't recommend using these very often.
Gameplay:
You set up your tank's turret and cannon velocity, and then you choose your weapon.
Everything's set? Hit Enter. Now get a drink as your pixel slowly
floats across the screen. Come back and see if it landed anywhere
near your enemy.
Talking
Tanks: Just thought I'd mention it. There
is an option called "Talking Tanks" where the tanks
spout one-liners before they fire, and speak final words before
they explode. There is a .CFG file that you can edit yourself, to
add personalized insult value to your game.
Some
of the one-liners are charming in the fact that they remind us of
a better, simpler time: The early 1990's. A few decidedly 1990's
quotes from the game:
"Eat my shorts!"
"I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it."
"Hasta la vista, Baby!"
"Mama said knock you out!" (Was that 90's, or late 80's?)
I love this stuff, and that's not sarcasm folks.
It's pop culture!
If you want any more specific information, you
can go ahead and read the manual. All I can say is that I love
this game. If you want to check it out, you can download
the shareware version here
(634 KB).
Enjoy!
(One quick note: Scorched Earth's animations can
play unreasonably fast on modern machines. Some of you may need a
"slowdown" utility to play the game properly.)
QUENZAR'S CAVERNS (1993) by
Pulse Ventures Ltd.
On a personal note, this is the game that first made me aware
of Visual Basic (I do some VC++ and Flash as well, but I am quite
fond of VB). This game was included on "The Ultimate Windows Set"
CD I got for my first computer in 1995 or so, along with Castle of
the Winds (which I mentioned earlier). This is one of the
better games from that CD. Quenzar features simple RPG-style gameplay. You basically travel on a small dungeon grid,
and the game gives you a text description of the area along with any
objects you can grab or any enemies in the room. Battles are won
and lost using the traditional RPG random die rolls and hit
points.
Maps: The maps are randomly generated, and each unique
game is made to be beaten in about an hour, so the replay value is
fairly high. I'm not saying it WILL be beaten in an hour because,
well, you'll die a lot.
Enemies: The enemy icons remind me once again of Castle
of the Winds, in the fact that they are 32x32 icons. There aren't
very many enemy types as far as I can tell.
Bullets: Here's the part where I get lazy. Instead of
writing a "real" review like a "normal
person", I've decided to just play the game. I'll make bullet
points as I go.
- If you don't think you can defeat a monster,
you can try to bribe them into letting you go, which isn't
often seen in games. This adds an element of strategy. I
encountered a bug, however. I offered a Giant 0 gold pieces.
That's right, none. No money for you, Giant. I expected him to get angry, but no. I
received a message "You have successfully negotiated with the giant."
Maybe it has something to do with the giant's intelligence?
- I keep stepping into magical traps. It's been
several years since I've played this game, so I can't recall
if there's a way to check for traps or not. I hope I don't end
up having to read the instructions or anything. That would be
humiliating.
- The very next room, I actually notice a
"Falling Rock Trap" and the game asks me if I want
to disarm it. No. I like being buried in rubble. Of course I
want to disarm it! Ooh. Now I have a mirrored helmet. Shiny! I
am now harder to hit!
- I casually step into the next room, and I get
this message box!

- That was cheap. So I click Replay.
- When you find Quenzar's Sanctum, you get a
message: "The stairway down to Quenzar's sanctum is here.
Do you wish to enter the sanctum?" This is important,
because if you're not ready, Quenzar with beat the snot out of
you. You'll also need the key, which is located somewhere on the
grid.
- The game will not let you search furniture or
move if a monster is in the room. Hey, sounds fair.
- You can equip and unequip items on the fly
using a straightforward inventory system.
- The game also earns major geek points by
including the "Holy Hand Grenade" as an item. Good
job! Ni! (Hoarse nerd laugh)
- You can use your gold to pay Healing Spirits
to heal your wounds. One gold coin can heal one hit point's
worth of damage.
- I am currently afraid of the Slithering
Horror. A black shape, surrounded by shadows, red eyes
penetrating the gloom. He cannot be reasoned with. He cannot
be bribed. Oh, he can be killed with grenades. Okay. Never
mind what I just wrote.
- Potions are identified by color. If you play
the game for a while, you begin to understand what each one
is. I won't give them away here.
- I'm not sure if there is an Identify spell in
this game. I just found an amulet. I thought to myself
"Cool. I'll try it on." It's an Amulet of Life
Drain. Darn.
- You can find a compass of Guiding which will
tell you the exact grid location of Quenzar's sanctum.
- Spiders are hard to hit.
- Your weapons and armor can break. Uh oh. I
found this out right in the middle of a battle with a Giant
Lizard.
- Damnit! My sword broke again, this time on a
Cave Troll's head!
- Note: If you find an Amulet of Life, be sure to
equip it!
- I found a lens of Identity! It tells me what
these items actually are! No more cursed necklaces for me! No
more Death Potions!
- The Pack of Carrying allows you to carry more
items (duh).
Well, I beat the game after playing for about 45
minutes. I won't give away the climatic ending (I beat Quenzar.
Oops). Quenzar's Caverns features simple yet
addictive gameplay. It possesses a "board game-like"
quality that will keep you playing despite its repetitive
nature.
Download the shareware version here
(373 KB).
I'm out.
-Michael |