I'll be adding more images later today. Need to go back to bed for a few hours.
Soldiers at War
The game was created by SSI, the same developer who brought us Wages of war, which was the prequel to this game. It was released when Win 95 systems were all the rage; so once you’ve followed the instructions below, I cannot guarantee that the game will still work on your computer; it will depend upon how you have it set up. What I can say is that if you do get it to work it’s well worth the effort. Try selecting compatibility mode if all else fails.
The downloadable file is an iso so you’ll need to copy the file to a disc. The unpacked file is just under 1Gb so you’ll need to use a DVD.
"The game is based around a series of around 15 missions in which you take a pool of 32 men through the war fighting special operations as and when directed by your superiors. There's plenty of options to select, such as hidden movement and general difficulty settings. You'll have to manage your equipment and troops, the focus of the game is on the tactical action. For game balance purposes many weapons are in short supply (at any of the difficulty levels) though you can recover some useful items within missions. Each mission sees you pick up to eight men, equip them, then jump into the heart of the action. In addition you can also make your own custom scenarios with the superb editor. This lets you create 7 level maps and missions with relative ease and is probably the best editor of its type that I've seen.
The level editors only flaws are that "mass corrections" are hard to do (ie. delete only applies to one tile at a time as far as I can tell) and the designer window doesn't autoscroll when you're drawing out a big terrain block. But being able to build small villages, churches, vineyards, and much more is very satisfying. You can load and edit with any of a dozen or more tilesets.
From the people who brought us such great strategy tittles as the Steel Panthers series, comes another hit, a turn based strategy game, Soldiers at War. Lead your GI’s through a campaign that recreates some of the greatest firefights and battles of the Second World War. Also included in the package is a custom mission editor and multiplayer support. As if this were not enough, they also include many more single player scenarios, some of which are even playable from the German perspective.
Which eight of my thirty-two GI’s will I send? It is an important consideration as your GI’s improve with every mission they survive. Should I use my rockets or artillery support to clear a German compound building by building? Do I want to lob a grenade at that patrol or spray round after round of rifle fire at them? Oh neat a tank . . . and I can get in it . . . I wonder what happens if I push this button? Uh, do you suppose that there any landmines nearby . . . click . . . oops. It is these kinds of decisions that make the game an interesting challenge to play, not to mention the four levels of difficulty.I was pleasantly surprised by the graphics. From what I read before getting the game I was not expecting it to be any good at all. For the most part the animations were smooth though I found it helps to move the animation file (400mb file called anim) to the hard drive. The graphics are on par with X-Com: Apocalypse but improved a bit. The characters are well animated for a strategic simulation and almost everything in the game environment can be manipulated in some form or fashion.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Soldiers at War is the game’s interface. Many people dislike it, and I do not believe any body is raving about it. The first and worst thing about the interface is that it takes up just over ½ the screen when engaged. Then you have to wait for it to pop back up after the enemy’s "Hidden Movement" phase. It also leaves the player with the feeling that Microprose was experimenting when they chose this style interface over a proven one such as the popular X-Com style. Lastly the mini map is functionally useless, as it requires a magnifying glass to read. There are however some redeeming qualities to the new style of interface. The action menu can be brought up by clicking anywhere on the map. Also you can quickly cycle through your squad by left or right clicking on their portrait in the main interface. The main interface can also be brought up or hidden quickly to aid in the targeting of weapons. The nicest feature to me was the ability to scroll through a GI’s weapons and select one by clicking on the weapon silhouette in the main interface. Though I concede that Soldiers at War’s interface certainly is not the greatest I have ever used, I can honestly say it is neither the worst I ever user either. The qualities it lacks do not detract from the enjoyment and fun factor enough to warrant not playing the game. If given a chance it is a lot of fun to play.
Soldiers at War has very basic sound effects, music and audio messages. It’s not the greatest in the world but the gunfire and in game effects sound real enough for me with the exception of the Captain’s mission briefing, which is a bit corny, but entertaining as he reminds me of Sargent Carter from television’s Gomer Pyle. The music in the game is adequate, not good and not bad, but I like to turn it off so I can hear what is going on in the mission area easier. After all, most players I know would rather listen to the radio then the soundtracks of most of their strategy games, excluding the awesome music tracks that have accompanied Westwood Studios Command and Conquer series of course.There are many different actions that your soldiers can perform ranging from standing, kneeling, running, and crawling to tossing grenades into tanks, setting demolition charges, kicking in doors, and hand to hand combat. If you toss a grenade between two guys not only do the not just fall down dead; they sail out away from the detonation. I also enjoyed the sounds in the game, in my opinion they are well done, the only exception being the Sarge’s briefing before missions can be a bit corny but I must admit it does give the game a atmosphere similar to some of those old war movies on TV.
You can lead you chosen across into fierce house to house fighting near Anzio, or into commando style raids on POW camps, airfields, and rocket bases. If playing the Campaign you’ll face SS Troopers and officers, German and Italian army regulars and officers, all while liberating captured French soldiers, Resistance fighters and civilians caught in the crossfire. What about weapons you say? What kind of firepower do I get to pack? Well let us just say there are a variety of weapons including pistols, rifles, submachine guns, heavy machine guns, rockets launchers, and my personal favorite the flame-thrower. Not to mention the satisfaction gained from capturing and enemy tank and turning it back on him.There are a total of fifteen missions in the campaign, which are also playable as single player missions and ten extra missions, several playable as the Germans, it is also possible to download many more from sites on the Internet. Another option is to design your own mission with the incredibly flexible mission editor. The editor allows you to create missions for one to four players, which its supports for both network and Internet play.
So you want to be a hero, huh? If you like blowing things up and doing as much damage to the environment as humanly possible, all while dodging bullets and bombs yourself then pick this one up, you’ll love it. I would even recommend it to people who are not really into strategic games; it could change your mind. It’s just a lot of fun to have as much freedom as you do in Soldiers to execute the mission however you see fit and who doesn’t like blowing massive chunks out of buildings and bad guys with large bore rockets?
Reference: http://www.strategy-gaming.com/reviews/soldiers_at_war/index.shtml accessed 26th Feb 2010
Pros: Detailed maps, shooting bad guys, zapping your buddies in multiplayer, employing massive amounts of explosives and assorted pyrotechnics to accomplish your objectives, collecting and using all the various weapons at your disposal, and large bore tank guns.
Cons: Opportunity fire is a bit odd at times, spotting ranges should be drastically reduced, the large animation file needing to be relocated to speed up gameplay a bit, accuracy is set too high – you can hit anything you can see practically and so can the enemy.
Review:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/soldiers-at-war
Download:
http://www.gameswin.org/indexen.php?busca=soldiers+at+war
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Zaxxon Retro remake
Good old Zaxxon. It was a groundbreaking game, mostly because of its isometric projection, which is something of a three-quarter viewing perspective. The effect simulated three dimensions from a third-person viewpoint. And in case you are up for another history lesson, Zaxxon was originally released in 1982 by Sega.
And here we are now, 2009. And yet Zaxxon still lives, in the form of Zaxxon Remake. Playing this arcade goodie again was very cool, and it reminded me of the old arcade machines of yore.
While Zaxxon Remake will not likely keep you playing for hours on end, it does do something no other game will. It allows you to play classic Zaxxon, with the great sound effects and very accurate graphics, on your PC. Without an emulator.
Zaxxon Remake's gameplay is simple, fly a fighter craft through a fortress while shooting at different enemies. Your job is to hit as many targets as possible without being shot down or running out of fuel. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Zaxxon Remake keeps to its classic arcade roots. Trying to fly lower, then higher to avoid incoming missiles, all the while shooting at opposing starcrafts is not easy. It all comes down to your hand-eye coordination.
And while Zaxxon Remake might be short, the game isn't about reaching that final level. Instead, it's about racking up points, and finishing on top of the highscore list.
I did notice an error message that will sometimes appear on start-up, but it is nothing, since the game loads fine after that. It might just be my computer.
So if your feeling nostalgic, and want to shoot up some alien starcraft, then download the Zaxxon Remake. And because it's only 1 MB, you have nothing to lose. Enjoy the game earthlings.
Download
http://www.pankhurst.uklinux.net/zaxxon.html
or
http://www.reloaded.org/rate/479/1/
Image of the original game:
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DROD 12.6Mb
The comically-titled puzzle game/dungeon hack Deadly Rooms of Death: Architects' Edition (more commonly referred to as DROD:AE) is an open-source remake of Webfoot Technologies' 1997 original Deadly Rooms of Death (which was abandoned due to lack of sales - the author, Erik Hermansen, began the remake in 2002). It has been followed by a commercial sequel, DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold, while DROD: The City Beneath is currently in production, and the original has also been remade for the new engine as DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon (worth the expense just to hear Beethro's voice, which is reminiscent of the inexplicably Jewish anteater from the Pink Panther cartoons). Caravel Games' forums have built up an impressive community of DROD addicts along the way, offering help to those who are stuck on puzzles and challenging each other with new collections of levels (known as "holds") and new ways of playing existing ones. The slightly daft sense of humour found in the game is also out in force at the forums, which are very welcoming to new players.
DROD stars Beethro Budkin, fifth generation dungeon exterminator, who has been hired by the corpulent King Dugan to rid his dungeon of the many creatures infesting it. These enemies range from the simple-minded Roaches and their Queens to Evil Eyes, Living Tar and intelligent Goblins, with the unpredictable Serpents and cowardly Wraithwings thrown in. Using only his enormous sword, his wits and the dungeon's various features, Beethro must battle through over 350 rooms before the King will let him return to the surface.
The game is turn-based and is played from a top-down perspective, affording the player a complete view of each room of the most colourful and best-lit dungeon in the history of subterranean construction. Beethro can be moved in 8 directions on the grid, or stand still, by using the number pad in classic roguelike style, and can swing his sword around by changing his facing - pressing Q or W will rotate him by 45 degrees, which also takes a turn (meaning that enemies coming from more than one direction are often impossible to defeat). Most enemies will be killed if Beethro's sword enters the square they occupy; there are two methods of battling foes, where the sword is moved either by swinging or stepping, and you will need to master both in order to get very far in the game. It is also worth noting that Beethro moves before his foes, and that his sword can be used to block monsters' movement. Each level in DROD consists of a number of rooms which must be cleared before the stairs to the next level become accessible, and new features and enemies are steadily introduced to the player as Beethro descends. Some rooms can be solved in a matter of seconds, while other puzzles will have you tearing your hair out for hours. Luckily, there are a number of scrolls scattered about the place, some providing hints and others mocking Beethro's incompetence.
At first glance, some DROD puzzles appear to be impossible until a flash of inspiration reveals the solution, while the method for clearing other rooms is obvious, even if the execution proves trickier. The dungeon levels are arranged thematically (the eleventh level, for instance, is filled with tar and trapdoors, while the sixth consists of a number of variations on the same three rooms), and there is a great sense of achievement to be felt on completing one. While most puzzle games have a tendency to become repetitive, DROD's few dozen elements can be used in an almost endless number of ways, meaning that the game never becomes stale and allowing a huge range of player-created holds to be made. A powerful level editor is included, with the capacity for basic monster scripting as well as straightforward room creation tools. There are also a number of players at the DROD forums who will be happy to help you test your creations and iron out any mistakes.
One of DROD's best features is its Restore function, which allows you to revisit any room or level you've already conquered in order to search for secret rooms or attempt to solve it with greater efficiency, and the game also supports multiple profiles for those who want to share the game with one or more other players. These profiles can also be exported, allowing you to transfer your progress to another computer (or even between the Windows and Linux versions of the game). If you want to show off your progress or demonstrate a room's solution to another player you can also record a demo in-game.
The Architects' Edition of DROD does have a few small problems, not least its addictive nature. Some puzzles can be rather frustrating, especially given the lack of an "undo last move" button (which gives small mis-steps the potential to wipe out a lot of effort, and is highlighted after playing the commercial versions of DROD, which do include this feature). These niggles aside, though, DROD is easily the best puzzle game I've ever played, and probably the best puzzle game of all time, combining elements of dungeon-hack titles with intelligent, challenging puzzles and loving design to create a unique, addictive experience which is further enhanced by the game's community of loyal weirdos and its sense of humour.
DROD: Architects' Edition
Grab your sword and start chopping your way to the bottom of a vast dungeon! Learning how to play is simple--you move Beethro in one of eight directions or rotate his sword clockwise or counter-clockwise. Examine a detailed overhead view of an underground room and plan Beethro's movements with care, always keeping his sword between him and the critters. You can wait as long as you like before moving. Logical problem-solving is paramount, but the game still has a sense of action as you lay waste to hordes of nasties.
Each room of the dungeon is a handcrafted challenge for you to complete, with chambers and corridors purposefully designed to befuddle. In DROD you will find numerous game elements, some of which I can guarantee you've never seen in any other game. There is a huge amount of exploration in wait for you, but if you should complete Dugan's Dungeon or would simply like a break from it, you can also try your hand at architecting your own dungeons with the new level editor. DROD has been praised by many for its originality and has enjoyed a growing cult following since 1997. If you've never played the game, well... you just have to! Caravel has made the entire game available to you for free.
Download:
http://www.reloaded.org/download/Deadly-Rooms-Death-Architects-Edition/187/
or from the authors site (where you can buy other versions of the game.)
http://caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/DownloadAE.html
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I have a copy of this; it was bundled with a game called Mortyr several years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any images of the game and there were only two very low res images I could find on the web.
L.E..D Wars
L.E.D. Wars is an above-average real-time strategy game that in the end plays like a low-cost alternative to Westwood's famous Command & Conquer series. The plot: in the 21st century cyberpunk world, people can't survive without liquid evolution drugs, or L.E.D. Your job is to secure your megacorporation's production of L.E.D. pills, eliminating your enemy, and confiscating his L.E.D. too. You go through a series of 14 missions, each requiring the completion of several objectives, which always includes the elimination of all enemy forces. The gameplay is similar to Dune 2, although it is slightly more complicated. Three important resources are crucial to your success: L.E.D., power, and oil. L.E.D. is obtained by cultivating and planting seeds, then harvesting the crops when they are ready and returning them to the refinery. Power is produced through Quantum Plants and provides energy for buildings. Oil is obtained by building drills and then is used to construct buildings and all vehicles. To plant more crops, which can be used to produce more L.E.D. pills, you have to produce seeds which can be spread by a seeder on fertile land, and then harvested when the time is right. You can build around twenty buildings in the game, ranging from barracks to seed factories and refineries. In contrast to Dune 2, you can set up buildings just about anywhere on the map, making it much easier to expand and make use of L.E.D. fields far away from your 'main base.' Although each of the 14 missions requires you to finish different objectives, they are not very different from each other. You always start with a given number of buildings or units or both, and your task is to survive and eliminate all opposition. The game does have a storyline that moves you from one mission to the next, but the story itself is not very interesting. All in all, L.E.D. Wars is simply just another real-time strategy game that introduces no new elements to the genre. Recommended only for anyone looking for a "poor's man version" of C&C, or a quick RTS that supports multiplayer in DirectPlay mode.
Hints:
Unlimited flower use:
When controlling the harvesters on the LED fields, only let them harvest 200 units from a full flower then have it harvest from a new flower. The first flower will never get empty and grow back. You will no longer need to replant the field. Use this tactic to get unlimited money from one LED field. You also do not need to use many seeders or wait for the fields to turn over.
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Before you can download the game you need to create a free account.
Download
http://oldergames.ru/file.php?id=477?game=
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Lemmings Paintball (3.57Mb)
Arguably the most short-lived and underrated of all Lemmings, Lemmings Paintball stars everyone's favorite furry animals, but this time around the challenging (but frustrating) puzzles in the first games are reduced to a version of "capture the flag" in which you must guide a team of 4 lemmings to capture the opposing team's flag. Lemmings can splatter their enemies with paintgun, and there are many obstacles they must overcome. It's still charming, but disappointing overall due to gameplay limitations and repetitive levels.
The levels are in the isomorphic view, which gives a 3D effect.
Download:
The download site is a French site. Look for the word telecharger le jeu, then the next page click on version disquette which brings up a smaller window. Click on the link under the moving green blocks where it says Pour lancer le telechargement, veuillez cliquer ici (click here):
http://www.abandonware-france.org/ltf_abandon/ltf_jeu.php?id=806
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Need For Speed Special Edition
This was one of the best racing games made at the time it was released. It actually set Need For Speed up as a brand for one the best racing car games around, with good locations and quality showcase pictures.
As with the other games I've posted today it may be susceptible to the way your system is set up, so you may have to fiddle around to get it to work. Well worth a try, especially if you love racing games. I’ve got a whole shelf full of the things and a page full on my steam account, yet can never get enough of them. By today’s standard its very dated, but it still holds some magic. Check out the videos below.
Electronic Arts' The Need For Speed Special Edition was basically an update to the original. The main differences between the two games were that the Special Edition has full 32 bit Windows 95 support, where as the original was more of a DOS based game. Other features include an updated soundtrack, in which you can actually choose your favorite song, unlike in the original where the game played whatever it felt like playing, and also it added on time of day and one new track. The time of day was basically limited to Morning, Noon, and Evening. Some tracks had Morning, the others had Evening. All of them had noon however. Both Morning and Evening settings had pretty much the same effect, but I don't think anything else in the way of racing games had an option like this at the time.This game, by far, was a very realistic game. Today, the time of fast computer growth and 3D hardware acceleration, the graphics may seem not so great. But back then, there were awesome, 640x480 was an incredible resolution for a game with these graphics. I for one think the tracks were the most realistic and best looking of all NFS games. Although Electronic Arts' most recent game, Porsche Unleashed/2000, may actually dethrone the original in that right. The physics were the best part. Keyboard players beware, the steering is slow with a keyboard. It's best to use a steering wheel to drive these cars. You read magazines on the old 993 Carrera's and it will tell you about the handling and it's surprise lift-off-throttle oversteer, you try the same manuever in the game, same result. This game was the most realistic racing simulation of it's kind (It's kind means supercars that are street legal. Papyrus' NASCAR games and Indy Car racing simulations, along with the Grand Prix series are all very realistic, but they're for pure racing cars, not exotic street legal cars.). This game was awesomely realistic in the way these cars performed. The only succeeding Need For Speed game to actually rival the realism of the original has been the newest game, Porsche Unleashed. Need For Speed 3 and 4 (III Hot Pursuit, and High Stakes, if you want the proper titles) were all out arcade racers they seemed. While they offered awesome graphics and great gameplay, especially in Hot Pursuit mode, and High Stakes' career mode, but they lacked the realism of the original. I still think the dashboards never looked better than they did in the original.
Reference accessed 25th Feb 2010 http://firstgennfs.rscsites.org/tnfsse.php
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWZNyKCD5RQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABDZDVmZ8zw
Download:
http://www.abandonware-paradise.org/abandonware-Need_For_Speed_Edition_Special-971-fichedejeu.html
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