Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

SimEarth: a life simulation game by Maxis

SimEarth is a simulation in which you can shape and mold a planet in almost every way you can imagine. In SimEarth our planet is simulated as a whole: life, climate, atmosphere are all aspects of a single Gaia-like Earth. SimEarth can be played in two modes: game and experimental. ...

Populous 2 Trials of the Olympian Gods: the perfect god-game?

Populous 2: Trials of the Olympian Gods is an old sandbox strategy god-game. As the title suggests, the setting is more of less ancient Greek mythology and you're a god (hence the god-game label). Populous 2 is the sequel of the much acclaimed Populous, designed by Peter Molineaux. Populous 2 was developed ...

Free Enterprise: build your small business from the ground up

Dehumanizing offices? Check. Depressing environment? Check. No windows in the whole place? Check. Good, I'm ready to exploit my workers and become great entrepreneur. All of this thanks to Free Enterprise, a simulation for Windows by Tsunami Media, published in 1996.More info:Genres: simulation, business simulationSystem: Windows ...

X-COM Apocalypse: a different X-COM

X-COM: Apocalypse is the third installment of the very popular X-COM franchise. After X-COM: Ufo Defence and Terror From the Deep, fans expected another smash hit. Apocalypse is quite different under many aspects, from gameplay to aesthetics. X-COM Apocalypse was designed by Julian Gollop (the same designer that brought the ...

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, ...

Play Elite online: the birth of space simulations

The very first Elite was the kind of game that starts a whole genre. Space sims - I'm talking about the trade-fight-explore kind of sims - started with the creation of David Braben and Ian Bell. Games like Freelancer and EVE Online owe Elite a great deal. The Elite series ...

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 ...

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, ...

Transport Tycoon: planes, trains, trucks

Transport Tycoon is a business simulation game that puts the player at the head of a transport company to compete against rival companies. The player can build stations, airports, railroads to transport passengers, mail and various goods using trucks, trains and planes. The game became a cult and a few ...

SimTower: build your own skyscraper

SimTower is an old Windows 3.x (1994) building and business simulation game where the player is tasked with the management of a skyscraper nonetheless. Raise floors, build apartments, shops, offices and try to avoid bankruptcy if you can.SimTower spawned some similar games for mobile devices, most notably the wonderful Tiny ...

Abandonware classic: Captain Blood

Exxos released Captain Blood for PC, Amiga and Atari ST in 1988. Captain Blood is a peculiar science fiction game developed by french ERE Informatique which defies genres: it's part adventure, part space exploration, part simulation."It's very slickly presented, with excellent sound and graphics but it's a bit... ...

Balance of the Planet: environmental simulation

Balance of the Planet is an environmental simulation game designed by Chris Crawford and self published under the Incredible technologies label in 1990. Its almost unique (for the time) and serious theme contributed to the game to stand out. Balance of the Planet is part of the Balance of Power series.

Princess Maker 2: a fantasy life simulation

Princess Maker 2 is a life simulation anime-style game developed by Gainax in 1993. In Princess Maker 2, the player is the father of a young princess and must tutor and raise her to the age of 18 by scheduling jobs, school classes and programming other activities. The princess is defined by attributes (strength, ...

Pharaoh: city building in ancient Egypt

Pharaoh is a city building strategy game that is part of a group of games that uses the same interface and the same gameplay style: Pharaoh, the Caesar series and Zeus. Here's a couple of excerpt from reviews of old video game magazines. "Controlling all the aspects of civilization can ...

Roller Coaster Tycoon 2: the perfect sim?

This is one of the favourite games of my childhood. Scrap that, it's one of my favourite games at all. There's something in the micromanagement of an amusement park, in the designing of a new roller coaster, that glued me for hours on my chair in front of the computer. ...

Abandoned games set in the 19th century

The 19th century was the age of steam, railroads and remarkable discoveries. It was the age of literary masterpieces like the Sherlock Holmes novels, Dracula and Jules Verne's sci-fi stories.Some of the most popular games set in the 19th centurey are:The Oregon TrailThe Lost Files of Sherlock HolmesMartian ...

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 ...

Business simulations: merchants, managers, CEOs

Business simulations (also called tycoon simulations) are video games that focus on the economic and the management side of running a business. In tycoon games the player can be in charge of any kind of business: a company, a sports team, an hospital, an amusement park, even a drug ...

David Braben: an Elite game designer

David Braben is a British game developer and designer, also founder and CEO of Frontier Developments plc. He's best known for co-creating Elite in 1984 (with Ian Bell), the space trading and exploration game that started a whole genre. Name: David Braben Born on: 02/01/1964Occupation: game designer, programmer and entrepreneurKnown for: ...