Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995)

Date: 1995
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts

System Requirements:
 - 386/DX-33MHz
 - 8MB RAM
 - 3.5MB HDD space
 - MS DOS 5.0

Where to purchase?

• GOG.com
• Steam

Last week I played a game that was completely new to me (Alien Odyssey), so this week I am playing Dark Forces, a game which I know very well.  I purchased Dark Forces new when it was originally released and played it through to completion.  Since that time, I have played a number of custom levels, the sequel Jedi Knight, and Jedi Knight's sequels Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy.  So it is accurate to say I am familiar with this game and I am also a fan.  I'm really looking forward to going back and playing it again for RPDG.com.  For this playthrough, I'll be playing the Steam version, which means I'll be playing the original vanilla version through DOSBox.  I won't be using any modern updates or mods, of which there are many.  If you are interested, the most popular update for Dark Forces is the DarkXL engine, which can be found at its's website: XLengine.com.  

Dark Forces is an FPS (first person shooter) set in the Star Wars universe just prior to the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  To read about its development, my impressions on a playthrough, and my thoughts in a review at the end, read on!

Alien Odyssey (1995)

Date: 1995
Developer: Argonaut Software
Publisher: Phillips Interactive

System Requirements:

- IBM PC compatible 486/DX2-66MHz
- 8MB of RAM
- DOS 5.0 of higher
- 8MB HDD space

Where to purchase?

 - It is not sold digitally anywhere, so your options are limited to resellers like Amazon and Ebay.  Copies go for anywhere from $2 - $40, so it is pretty cheap


For the next game on RPDG, I'm playing a game that is completely new to me: Alien Odyssey by Argonaut Software.  Alien Odyssey is a game that is difficult to categorize, it is kind of a mix of genres.  Based on my reading about it, it supposedly combines FMV rail shooter sequences like Rebel Assault or Cyberia with third-person adventuring like Bioforge or Alone in the Dark.  As I mentioned, I've never played the game so this understanding is based on the background reading I've done on the game, I could be completely wrong.  But I'm curious to find out.

FMV or pre-rendered rail shooters had a period of brief popularity in the mid 90s as CD-ROM technology was first establishing itself on the market.  Games that combined rail shooting sequences with other genres like third person adventuring also seemed to be a popular niche in PC gaming for a short while from what I can remember.  I've played a few games that fit that description and I don't remember them being particularly fun, but maybe Alien Odyssey will change my mind.  Let's find out!

Crusader: No Remorse - Part 3

Crusader: No Remorse - Part 2

Crusader: No Remorse - Part 1

- Mission 3 -

I've realized that to keep posting the amount of detail I have for the previous two posts will result in my just playing and posting about Crusader for the next month.  While I don't mind playing Crusader, that will take up too much time and space on this site and I want to eventually get to other games.  So I'm going to try to cut down again on how much I post for each game going forward.  Like I've said before, this is new to me so I'm still trying to find a good middle ground.  

Crusader: No Remorse -- Part 2

Crusader: No Remorse - Part 1

Crusader: No Remorse - Part 3

- Mission 2 -

Before getting my briefing for mission 2, I walked around and explored the Resistance base.  It looks like it is an old subway station, and there is not much to explore.  There is the bar where I can interact with my fellow Resistance teammates, Col Ely's office where I can get my mission briefing, a small area with a health recharge station and shield recharge station, and one other room that looks like a clinic area where I can't interact with anyone right now.  Now that I've done that, let's meet our teammates at the bar.

Crusader: No Remorse

Date: 1995
Developer: Origin Systems
Publisher: Electronic Arts
System Requirements:
 - 486/DX2-66 MHz
 - 8 Megabytes of RAM
 - 2x CD-ROM
 - Video card that supports SVGA at 640x480
 - 30 Megabytes of HDD space

Where to purchase?

• Origin
• GOG.com

This week on RPDG, I'm going to be playing a PC DOS game that I played and loved when it first came out.  I have not played it since then, so this will be pretty close to a new experience for me as it has been 20 years(!) since I last played it.  The game is Crusader: No Remorse, an isometric third-person action game by one of the best development studios of the 80s and 90s: Origin Systems.  Almost every game Origin made was a classic, I can't think of a bad game by them.  They had a run from the release of Wing Commander in 1990 to Wing Commander Prophecy and Ultima Online in 1997 where basically every game they developed was fantastic and a competitor for being a game of the year.  Even the games they released as the publisher were great, such as Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, System Shock, and Shadowcaster.  

Crusader: No Remorse came out in 1995, right in the midst of Origin's peak.  It got great reviews at the time, but how does it play today?  Can a third-person action game, that was acknowledged to have somewhat cumbersome controls at the time of its release, overcome this issue to be still playable and fun?  I hope so!

Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3

Date: 1998
Developer: 7th Level/Ion Storm
Publisher: Eidos Interactive

Where to purchase?

 - It's not sold digitally anywhere, so Ebay or Amazon are going to be your best bet.  Looks like it can be a little pricey for an older game.  I see used jewel case copies going for $20.

For the second post ever on RPDG, I wanted to find a game that I have never played, was relatively obscure, and one that had an interesting development story.  Even though Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 came out in 1998, which makes it close to being too modern to fit with the theme of this site, it fits all the other criteria perfectly.  Between my brother and I, one of us bought the game at some point in the early 2000s (hopefully on sale) and the jewel case has been sitting in a drawer with other loose CDs for as long as I can remember.  The game does not have a good reputation, so I never really intended to play it.  But here we are...maybe it will be great.  I don't know much about it so I shouldn't just it ahead of time.  I remember seeing print advertisements for it in PCGamer magazine that had mechs fighting against soldiers riding giant bipedal camels.  Besides the game probably having giant bipedal camels and mechs, I know nothing else about the gameplay.   

What I DO know is that Dominion was developed at Ion Storm Texas during the infamous John Romero/Daikatana/"Make you his bitch" debacle.  That is a story that deserves its own long post, and plenty of people have already written about it, but it should make for a fun development intro for my second post here on RPDG.  I am hoping the game is at least half as interesting as the story of its development company...

Let's find out!

Blood

Date: 1997
Developer: Monolith
Publish: GT Interactive

Where to purchase?

• GOG.com
• Steam

The first post here on RPDG is one of the original Build engine games, Blood.  I have always been a fan of FPS games, but I never got into the Build engine games.  I played through the shareware episodes of Duke Nukem 3D and the first few levels of Shadow Warrior, but I never made it much past the first rooms of the Blood demo that came on a PC Gamer demo disk.  So this will be a brand new playthrough experience for me.  I'll be playing the version from GOG.com that includes the base game plus the two addon packs: Plasma Pak and Cryptic Passage.

As this is the first post, I'm not sure what the best format will be going forward for posts in the future.  I enjoy reading about the development stories behind these old games, so I will try starting with the development story, delving into my own playthrough, and then end with my brief review.  I have no experience in game development or professional writing, so please don't judge me too harshly.  But do leave comments, even if they are just to judge me!  On with the Blood-ing!