Shot97 Retro

  Heroes of Might and Magic A Strategic Quest MS-DOS, 1995 New World Computing $69.95 *My video review for Heroes of Might and Magic *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings *Game played/shown on DOS/CRT hardware, original 4:3 aspect ratio Sometimes it takes but a name change. At times I've wondered why certain European games received rehashed titles in America. Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix became World Circuit here, Another World adjusted to Out of this World . In the case of World Circuit, this meant adjustments to all 168 pages of the manual, though often the biggest changes were just in the games title screen. Successful in both territories, how is one to judge if these minor alterations held any impact?  On the other hand, it's easier to discern when something fails. 1990 saw the release of a unique strategy and role playing hybrid from New World Computing called King's Bounty . Reviewers of the era appeared befuddled by th...

   Hero's Quest / Quest for Glory Amiga, 1990 (Original DOS 1989) Sierra $59.95 *My video review for Hero's Quest *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings *Game played/shown in its designed NTSC mode with 4:3 aspect ratio From their first games released for the Apple II in 1980, Sierra (then known as On-line Systems) gave the text adventure a twist with graphics. While they would publish all kinds of games throughout their history, the heart of their in-house development would long remain the adventure game. With their beginnings from Mystery House, they were also pioneers in recycling their previous works, each new adventure often based on the game engine technology of the previous ones. Their "Hi-Res Adventure" engine being used in multiple titles through 1984 prior to IBM contracting them to create launch titles for the PC-JR. King's Quest and the resulting AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) engine would spawn over fifteen of Sierra'...

  Amiga, 1989 (Europe), 1990 (U.S.) Infograms (Europe) / DataEast (U.S.) $44.95,  £24.99 *My video review for North & South *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings *Game shown and best played in NTSC mode with 4:3 aspect ratio (Atari ST original) Often with fans of a particular genera you'll find yourself met with snobby senses of what they've come to associate with excellence in a given category of games. In the console world a platformer should be like Mario, though you're not allowed to rip it off! Differ too greatly and you could find a game which might be loved on a computer system utterly dismissed as too hard on the consoles. In the realm of computers, simulations were supposed to be as close to the real thing as possible. If you mixed a little arcade into that sim, perhaps you'd sell a bucket load to consumers, but you'd find that game mocked as for the kiddies in many magazines of the era. If you ever found yourself screaming...