CD-Man Download and Review

CD-Man was published by Creative Dimensions in 1989. It is the first game I saw that uses high resolution 16-color 640x350 EGA mode, which give CD-Man the sharpest graphics among all other games around that time.



CD-Man gameplay resembles closely with Pac-Man, but comes with superbly done graphics and some extras. Like Pac-Man, we control a ball shape creature to eat all small dots on the screen. There are a few monsters hanging around, we can either avoid them, or eat them after we get the power ups scattered around the screen.



The few extras in CD-Man is tunnel that allow us to jump from one location to another location, getting key to unlock special area, some fruits and foods that appear from time to time for us to get extra points.



CD-Man is still a fun game to play even until today. You can get CD-Man here.

Tetris (Original Version) Download and Review

Tetris, who never play a Tetris? It's hard to find one around me at least. While most people have play a few version of Tetris, I think it's very hard to find a person that know how the original version looks like. And I would like to present you the original Tetris here.



The original Tetris is a puzzle video game designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in June 1985. Pajitnov designed Tetris while working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow. He derived its name from the Greek numerical prefix "tetra-", as all of the pieces contain four segments, and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport.



The original Tetris was developed on an Elektronika 60 computer system, and was later ported to IBM PC in 1986. The original IBM PC version run in text mode, and fortunately enough it is the color text mode.



I won't spend time explaining how to play Tetris, as if you never play a Tetris previously, you won't be reading my website at all. Let's have a feel on the original Tetris now. You can download the original Tetris here.

Alien Carnage (a.k.a. Halloween Harry) Download and Review

Alien Carnage, also known as Halloween Harry, is a side-scrolling platform game written by SubZero Software and distributed by Apogee Software. The original name when it was first released in 1993 is Halloween Harry, but later being renamed to Alien Carnage when it was re-released in 1994.



Alien Carnage is very well polished in term of its graphics, soundtracks and sound effects. It even comes with a detail introduction that tell us the background of the story.



The game set in 2030, when a mysterious alien ship land on planet Earth and launch mass attack on human race. Many human are kept captive and the alien leader threaten to transform all of them into mindless zombie is we do not submit planet Earth to them. We play Harry, the elite force of the human defensive, who has been sent to Earth to rescue the captive and to destroy the aliens.



In the game, we has to shoot zombies and aliens with our flamethrowe and rescuing hostages along the way. Instead of jumping, we uses a jetpack to reach higher platforms. Our jetpack shares ammo with our flamethrower, which means it is best for us to use both sparingly.



We can eat and drink junk food to gain health, and upgrade to different kinds of ammo by using ammo dispensers. We need to collect coins dropped by killed enemies to buy this ammo. We can also pick up other power-ups with various effects. We can use computer terminals scattered across the levels to save our progress.



There are four levels in Alien Carnage, which three of them can be accessible at the beginning of the game. For the forth level, we are required to complete the first three before being able to access it.



Alien Carnage is a fun and light platform game that shouldn't be missed by all platform game lover. You can download Alien Carnage here.

JetPack Download and Review

Jetpack is a platform game published by Software Creations in 1993 and is currently available as freeware. It supports 256-color VGA graphics and digitized sound effect.



On the first look, the level design of JetPack really looks like Lode Runner, but it isn't. There are no bricks for us to hack in JetPack.



In JetPack, our mission is to collect all of the green emeralds scattered around the level while avoiding obstacles and enemies. Once accomplished, a door opens which we must go through in order to advance to the next level.



The game is named JetPack, so definitely there is JetPack for us to use. To use a JetPack, we must first collect it in the level. The JetPack comes with fuel limit, therefore we have to use the JetPack carefully so that we won't be run out of fuel when we need it.



JetPack also comes with a level editor, which allow us to design the level if, say, if we don't have enough JetPack after completing all the 100 levels.



Overall, JetPack is still a nice game to play. You can download JetPack here.

Abuse Download and Review

Abuse is a platform cum shoot'em up game developed by Crack dot Com and released in 1996. If you remember, 1995 is the year when Microsoft launched Windows 95, and it really weird for Crack dot Com to release it as a DOS game.



It support gorgeous 256-color VGA graphics and wide range of sound cards, and it cleverly uses the limited 256-color palette to create the lighting effect.



We play Nick Vrenna, who has been unjustly incarcerated in a prison where the staff are performing unethical medical experiments upon the inmates. A prison riot occurs and an experiment goes horribly wrong.



The people inside the prison, except for Nick, who seems to be immune, get infected with a substance called Abuse that transforms them into monsters. Nick takes a laser gun and goes on to single-handedly destroy all mutants, stop the substance from spreading further, and escape from the prison complex.



The one thing I notice immediately after playing Abuse is the innovative control system. Unlike other platform games, we need to use both keyboard and mouse to play. We move around using the arrow keys, and aim the gun using the mouse. It is a usual configuration for 3D-shooter, but Abuse is the first to use this in a Platform game.



In Abuse, we always have to fight a whole group of monsters at once. 1-to-10 is pretty usual. And also on the traps, normally the setting is 10-to-1, meaning 10 turrets will be shooting at us simultanously. Luckily, there are plenty of health supply throughout the levels. Also, even if we die, we will start off from the saving point, not beginning of the game.



To assist us in fighting tremendously high number of monsters and traps, there are also a number of weapon upgrades available for our consumption, like grenade, flame thrower, straight laser, etc.



In conclusion, Abuse is a great platform game with good atmosphere setup and attractive gameplay. You can download the original version of Abuse here.

Xargon Full Version Download and Review

Xargon was published by Epic Megagames in 1993. It is a side-scrolling platform game similar to Gods, but with totally different style of graphics.



In Xargon, we will play Malvineous Havershim. He is an archaeologist studying strange ruins in Madagascar. The ruins were built by an unknown ancient culture known as the 'Blue Builders'. While attempting to translate the glyphs on the walls of one Blue Builder structure, a strange gas was emitted, and Malvineous slowly lost consciousness.



Malvineous then had a dream-encounter with a talking Eagle, who gave him cryptic warnings. He then awoke in a strange land, the area in which the game takes place. He began exploring the world, finding hostile creatures and robots, while recording his findings in journal entries. He eventually encountered an evil entity named Xargon, who seems to have been a tyrannical ruler. Malvineous had to confront Xargon before returning home.



At the beginning, we will have only slow shooting laser bullet, which allow us to shoot one bullet at once. As it is very slow, we will really have hard time shooting down the enemies as most of them require several hits to be killed.



Fortunately, as with other platform games, we can collect weapon upgrades during the game. The upgrades include fireball, rapid-fire laser gun and rocks.



In one part of the game, we can also drive a submarine to venture under the water.



If you like to play platform games, Xargon is one that you shouldn't miss. You can download Xargon full version here. All three episodes are included in the package.

BlackThorne Download and Review

BlackThorne was developed by Blizzard and published by Interplay in 1994. BlackThornse uses a very weird 256-color 320x240 graphics mode instead of usual 320x200. As the game was released in 1994, it of course works well with major soundcards.



All Blizzard games was well polished, and BlackThorne is with no exception. The graphics is nicely designed and very clean. Clean in the sense that we can hardly spot any pixel run out of place or detect a visible edge of the animation.



Blackthorne is set on the planet Tuul, which has existed for hundreds of years without human knowledge. All of this time, Tuul's people have been ruled over by a single shaman who "was blessed with all knowledge". Years before the game begins, Thoros, the latest ruler, finds it near impossible to choose between his two sons as the next ruler. Believing it will solve the dilemma, he leads them to the deserts and kills himself. His body becomes two stones, light and dark, and he gives one to each boy to rule their own kingdoms respectively.



The people of the lightstone form the kingdom of Androth, and the people of the darkstone form Ka'dra'suul. But while Androth respects their stone, Ka'dra'suul reject theirs, and are eventually transformed into monsters by it. In this time, a ka'dra named Sarlac seizes power. He forms an army and leads them against Androth. Knowing of his people's doom, the ruler of Androth, King Vlaros, with the aid of the Androth magician Galadril, sends his son Kyle to Earth to save his life. Vlaros also gives Kyle the lightstone for safe keeping. He wishes that Kyle can one day return and use it to save their people.



20 years later, Kyle has become a renowned military captain and mercenary. After breaking out of prison facing court martial, Kyle begins having strange dreams, and eventually is reconfronted by Galadril. He is told that it is time to return to Tuul and save his people. The game begins here with Kyle setting out to kill Sarlac and reclaim his throne.



The game focuses around Kyle Vlaros who is known as the Blackthorne, out for revenge on Sarlac and his minions. The gameplay involves large platforming sequences similar to the Flashback, in which we can run and climb around the environment, find keys and items and progress to the end of each maze like level. Combat in Blackthorne takes the form of gunfights. The unique feature in these moments is the ability to prone the wall and dodge incoming bullets. This can make for some interesting gunfights, but can also be hard to beginner players not used to the controls.



The game has seventeen levels within four areas - the mines of Androth, the Karrellian forests/swamps, the Wasteland desert, and Shadow keep. As the game progresses through these areas, we become stronger and better armed, but so do the enemies.



You can download BlackThorne here. The full manual is included in the package.

Screamer Download and Review

Screamer is an arcade style racing game released in 1995 by Virgin. It is the first PC racing game that uses texture mapped polygon-modelled tracks and cars. The game looks pretty similar to the ultra famous Daytona arcade racing game released by Sega in 1993, and it immediately get my attention after its launch.



At 1995, most software titles do not support 3D-acceleration, so do Screamer. Although with no 3D-acceleration, Screamer's developers manage to squeeze enough performance from old school 486DX2 machine to make it playable. If we have a Pentium at that time, then only we will have the privalige to play it in 640x480 high resolution mode.



In Screamer, there are 6 cars for us to pick. They are based on real life cars, like Shadow (Lamborghini Diablo),Tiger (Ferrari F40),Hammer (Bugatti EB110),Rising Sun (Mitsubishi 3000GT),Panther (Porsche 911 turbo), and Yankee (Chevrolet Corvette C4).



Unlike Lotus III or OutRun, Screamer uses a real 3D engine. All tracks and cars are rendered in realtime. To make the 3D world more lively, a lot of details have been added. Beside the tracks, we can see the moving heavy lifters, turning wind mills, flying aeroplanes, shining lights, and many other surprises.



There are a total of 6 tracks for us to play, including one night track. The night track is beautifully designed with a lot of lightings and decorations. The desert track also quite nice, especially when we go into the canyon area.



Gameplay wise, Screamer is not difficult to play if we choose the Rookie level. If we play the Professional level (which is the highest out of 3), we need to perform almost perfectly, including perfect turns on all curvy roads, in order to win.



There are also a multiplayer mode in Screamer, where we can compete with up to 7 other human opponents. I'm not sure whether we can set it up in DoxBos, but I still remember the wonderful old day when I play with my friends in the school computer lab.



Overall, Screamer is a pretty well polished racing game, but requires a lot of raw CPU power to play it smoothly. If your PC cannot support DoxBox at 30000 CPU Cycles, then you might have problem playing it.



You can download Screamer here. It's a pretty big 23MB download. And also, please make sure you unzip it on "D:\SCREAMER". It's kind of hard coded after the installation.