• Tag Archives PC

  • Arcia (Chaos Legion)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


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    Source: Girls of Gaming – Volume 1

    Chaos Legion is a 3D action adventure game that was released by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 and PC in 1997. You play the role of Sieg Wahrheit who is hunting down his former friend, Victor, who has stolen a forbidden book that will enable him to release the evil spirit Azrail who would do a bunch of really bad things. Typically you fight enemies in waves and must defeat all enemies in a given area before progressing to the next stage or level.

    Along the way you run across Arcia who is busy fighting for her life as the only surviving “Maiden of Silver” that was sent out to fight demons. She also happens to be hunting Victor for her own reasons. You two get to team up and have lots of fun slaughtering demons and eventually confronting Victor.

    The unique twist to this game is your ability to summon “Chaos Legions”. There are several different types with different powers and can be upgraded throughout the game. However, after a summoning you are left in a somewhat weakened state.

    On the surface, this game is somewhat like Devil May Cry. However, this was not one of Capcom’s better games. The PlayStation 2 version was mediocre at best and the PC version was quite a bit worse. There is little strategy involved and this is basically a button masher. The plot is relatively convoluted but yet it never really seems to advance much. It is also a relatively short game with little replayability. Not terrible necessarily but not worth the original price of admission. The PS2 version is definitely the one to look for. Fortunately, it is relatively modestly priced so picking up an original on eBay or elsewhere won’t be too hard. You can also choose emulation but there have been no official re-releases of this game as far as I know.

    Pictured at the top is Arcia from Girls of Gaming and the screen shots are from the PS2 version of the game.



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  • Blue Max / Das Boot

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

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    Source: PC Games – January February 1991

    Three-Sixty Pacific was known for their simulations and war games on the PC in the DOS days. Though they were only around for about nine years, they produced a number of popular and highly rated games in these genres. This ad is for two of their probably lesser known games.

    The first is Blue Max. Subtitled “The Aces of the Great War”, this isn’t the Blue Max you are probably thinking of if you owned a Commodore 64 or Atari 8-bit computer. That one was an isometric overhead shooter with a World War I theme. Though the theme is the same with this Blue Max, it is a simulator in which you get to fly various World War I era planes. Blue Max had a couple of very unique features. First, it allowed for two player split-screen play for cooperative or competitive play. This is pretty unusual for a simulator. Second, dogfights could optionally be played as turn-based strategy games. In this case a hexagonal map was shown but a frozen 3D view of the current action would also still be shown in a window.

    The second is Das Boot (literally translated “The Boat”). Also a simulator, Das Boot has you controlling a World War II German U-Boat. It was somewhat based on the novel of the same name. This was quite a realistic simulation of a Type VII German U-Boat in 1941 with the player having full control of engines, torpedoes (multiple types) and all other aspects of the submarine. It was far more complex than something like Silent Service.

    Blue Max was available for the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS based PCs. Das Boot was available for the Amiga and DOS. To play either one you’ll have to have an old computer handy or be willing to delve into something like Dosbox or an Amiga emulator.

    The above ad is from the January/February 1991 issue of PC Games magazine.


    📂This entry was posted in Amiga Atari ST Computer Arcana DOS 📎and tagged

  •  Myst (PC, Macintosh)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Myst (PC, Macintosh) – 1994




    Myst was one of the earliest “multimedia” games for PCs. In fact, this ad refers to the game being available for the Macintosh and “on MPC”. Confusing terminology if you ask me but they basically meant a PC with a CD-ROM drive.

    Myst was a 3D adventure game. It was basically a point-and-click type adventure with “photorealistic” graphics. The graphics were very good for the time and the game gave you an excellent sense of exploration. However, while I enjoy the older 2D point-and-click adventures, particularly the likes of Maniac Mansion, Myst always seemed to lack personality to me. I just never really cared for it or its sequels.

    Having said that, Myst was an immensely popular game and my opinion didn’t seem to be shared by most. In fact, it was the best selling PC game until the Sims came along almost a decade later and played a significant role in the popularization of the CD-ROM format. If you enjoy adventure games (or puzzle games), you may very well enjoy Myst. It’s certainly worth a try as it was an important evolutionary step in the genre.

    While initially developed for the Macintosh and ported to the PC, its popularity meant that there would be many other ports and sequels. The original was ported to the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PS3, PSP, Android, iPhone, 3DS, Jaguar CD, Amiga, CD-i and 3DO. There was also an unreleased Sega CD port. Myst has also been re-released on the PC and Mac multiple times with the most recent version being realMyst: Masterpiece Edition V2.0 which was released on Steam in 2015. In addition, there have also been four direct sequels as well as several spin-offs. If you like Myst, then there are plenty of ways to play it and plenty of sequels to keep you busy.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana DOS Macintosh Retro Games 📎and tagged