Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

Hooligans: one of the most controversial games ever released

Apparently, Hooligans is one of the most controversial games ever made. I say apparently simply because I've never played Hooligans back then. A few weeks ago I spent half an hour playing the tutorial mission and I have to admit that I felt uncomfortable walking around thrashing benches and beating ...

Powermonger, by Bullfrog

Powermonger is a real time strategy game where the player must defeat the opponents by conquering towns and tipping the balance of power in his/her favor. This is done by giving orders to soldiers and captains and by accumulating enough resources (food and equipment) to survive and ultimately win.

Colonization: a Civilization spin-off

Colonization is a turn based strategy 4x game. The setting is the European colonization of the new world. Colonization gameplay and interface are similar to Civilization, another Sid Meier game. However, there are some differences between Civilization and Colonization: playable nations (the European powers of the time), resources and commodities, ...

Civilization 2: an improved sequel

Civilization 2, later renamed Sid Meier's Civilization II, is a turn based 4X strategy game developed and published by MicroProse in 1996. The gameplay is similar to the first Civilization, many aspects were improved and new features were introduced: a new isometric perspective, hit points for units, new civilizations, new wonders of ...

Post-apocalyptic RPGs: from Wasteland to Fallout

Wasteland was an early party-based top-down RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world that filled a gap in RPG video games at the time (we're talking about the late 1980s): sci fi RPGs weren't many and post-apocalyptic ones were even less.There are two series of games that are part to ...

X-COM: Terror from the Deep - The sequel

X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a DOS science fiction tactical strategy game, the sequel of one of the most popular DOS games in history X-COM Ufo Defense. Terror from the Deep was designed by Stephen Gross (the X-COM original being designed by Julian Gollop) and was published by MicroProse ...

Ascendancy: 4X turn-based strategy game

Ascendancy is a science fiction themed turn-based strategy game developed by The Logic Factory and released in 1995 for DOS. Ascendancy is a classic 4X game (eXpand, eXplore, eXploit, eXterminate), similar to Master of Orion, yet with a few differences such as a technology tree.More info about Ascendancy:Genres: strategy, 4...

DOS game spotlight: Battle Chess

Chess is a niche genre in video gaming. There were lots of chess simulations: black and white very old games, licensed games from chess champions, etc. No one ever attempted to broaden the audience until Interplay published Battle Chess. I'm a chess fan (I barely remember the rules), but I ...

Hail Caesar! For the second time

Caesar 2 is many things: a simulation set in ancient roman times, a city builder, a wonderful strategy game. Caesar 2 is all of this and more: it's one of the early games developed by Impressions that set the gameplay and quality standards later implemented in old strategy games like Zeus and ...

Retro game spotlight: Fantasy General by SSI

Fantasy General is a hex-based turn-based strategy fantasy wargame set in a D&D world. The player can duel either against a computer or a human opponent or even take part in a longer campaign. There are two sides to chose from, one good and one evil (no neutral!), ...

Jones in the Fast Lane: board game meets life simulation

Jones in the Fast Lane is the kind of game that you don't see often these days. It's a mix between a digital board game and a modern day life simulation. The goal of the game is to live the life of Jones, making choices about school, work, your home, ...

Utopia: The Creation of a Nation (1992)

I bet not many of you remember Utopia: The Creation of a Nation. It's a single-player strategy game with strong city building elements set in the future. In Utopia your goal is to build and manage a planetary colony in an open-ended gameplay.ACE magazine review "Seems a little daunting ...

1986 in retro gaming: Archon, Karateka, Space Quest

30 years ago, computer gaming was growing slowly. Computers like the C64 and the Spectrum were the main source of digital amusement among Home Computer owners. Finally after a few disappointing years, in 1986 a handful of interesting games began to conquer the PC public:Archon was an hybrid between an ...

Wargaming: The Perfect General

The Perfect General is a turn-based strategy military game developed by White Wolf Productions and released in 1991 by Quantun Quality Production. The Perfect General gameplay is quite simple compared to other wargames, but it's based on a solid set of rules and let the players progress at their own pace ...

1998 in PC gaming: Dune 2000, Axis and Allies, Railroad Tycoon 2

20 years ago PC gaming was thriving. Half-Life re-defined the game design of FPSs. Baldur's Gate and Fallout 2 gave hope to gamers who were waiting for the next generation of RPGs. Adventure gamers enjoyed Grim Fandango immensely. Real-time strategy fans spent countless hours playing StarCraft. And let's not forget&...

Supremacy: Your Will Be Done

Supremacy: You Will Be Done (also known simply as Overlord) is a rare example of mix between real-time strategy and science fiction themed 4X game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploid, eXterminate). Supremacy was developed by Probe Entertainment and published by Mastertronic in 1990.PC Review wrote about Supremacy in 1992: "Two huge civilisations battle ...

Retro company spotlight: Strategic Simulations Inc.

SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.) was one of the most prolific game companies of the 80s and the 90s. SSI was founded in 1979 and developed and/or published more than one hundred games. SSI was popular among video games players for two things: wargames and RPG goldbox games.Strategy games developed ...

Games set during the cold war period

There was a time when the two major political superpowers were at war, but nobody knew. U.S.A. and the former U.S.S.R. used spies, subterfuge, blockades, political and military influence all over the world. The so called "Cold War" era lasted decades and ended in 1989 with ...

Strategy games: Battle Bugs, Beyond Columns, Roadwar Europa and more

Lately I'm taking some time to update the info of some of the less popular games on Abandonware DOS. Here's a few:Beyond ColumnsFalling block puzzle - Released in 1989 for DOS. This blatant Columns clone is not much in terms of graphics, but it fills an empty spot in the ...

Chris Crawford: game designer

Chris Crawford is a computer game designer known for simulations and strategy games, including the popular Balance of Power. Among developers he became known for his passionate advocacy of game design as an art form, founding both The Journal of Computer Game Design and the Computer Game Developers Conference (now ...