Game-a-day #56...Age of Adventure - The Return of Heracles

Ok, "The Return of Heracles" is an RPG/adventure that is based on Greek mythology.  It's not the best RPG in the world, but there is something retro cool about how simple and 8 bit it's RPG experience is.  The Greek font that the game uses is very creative and gives "The Return of Heracles" the ancient Greek feel it's going for.  You can play one or more mythological Greek heroes, and the goal is to complete 12 tasks (like the 12 Labours of Hercules).  I'm not over fond of the game play, it's clunky and slow.  The graphics are meh, but I see the creativity in it, and I like that it's not knights and dragons.  Perhaps a little more time spent playing this game would glean a love for it... only time will tell.

The Return of Heracles on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #57...Accolade Comics.

"Accolade Comics", I like this game a lot, it's funny, has great artwork, and game play is cool and always interesting.  It all takes place in the world of wisecracking secret agent Steve Keene, and his world is a comic book.  The creators took great pains to make this game feel like an actual comic book and make it playable at the same time.  Mini-games that are all action break up the choose your own adventure style play that dominates the experience.  Accolade made some of the most advanced games that I owned in the 80's and this one did not disappoint.  The only thing that was a tiny bit annoying about "Accolade Comics", was the very long load times between sequences.  I mean, it was the 80's and computer technology wasn't fast, so couple that with a game that was a little too advanced for the technology it was running on (Commodore 64) and you get a few long waits.  Now, as a kid I had quite a tolerance for computer wait times because that was what we had in that era.  However, today I find myself getting a little squirmy if I have to wait for anything longer than a millisecond.  How times have changed.

Accolade Comics on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #58...Alter Ego.

Want to live an entire life from birth to death in 8 bits and with very limited choices?  You can!  "Alter Ego" makes it possible.  This game is actually fun to play, but very limited as far as an actual life simulation, and that is what it tries to be... a life simulator.  Now, obviously the complicated nature of a human life (any life for that matter) is hard to simulate on an 8 bit computer like the C64, I know we can't do it with the supercomputers of today, but "Alter Ego" plays less like a simulator and more like, I know I say this a lot... A choose your own adventure.  Ok, so it's a choose your own adventure of a life, and you can live a Male or Female life.  The C64 had two separate versions for Male and Female, so you had to decide what version you wanted and buy that one back in the day.  I did own this game as a kid, and I did like it.  I like it still because it's easy and entertaining to be presented with situations, choose a path, and then see what the results of your choices are... OMG, it IS a life simulator.  You get to choose what phase of life you want to start at from infancy to old age, and you can have the computer choose a base personality for you, or you can make a custom personality.  If you choose to do the custom thing you will have to complete a short psychological test that asks some questions you might have seen on a personality test in Psychology 101.  This game has no graphics to speak of and is almost all text, it is three floppies large, so that's a lot of text.  It's worth a play if you like something a little more serious and pensive in your vintage game experience. 

Alter Ego: Male on Gamebase64

Alter Ego: Female on Gambase64

Game-a-day #59...Dylan Dog - The Full Moon Nights

Wait...what?  Never heard of it... That's what I thought when I came across this obscure title on The Gamebase64.  "Dylan Dog" is an Italian horror comic from the 80's so it's no wonder I didn't know who Dylan Dog is, and the game was unpublished anyhow so even if I did know about the comic I would probably not know about the game anyway.  That said, "Dylan Dog" the game for C64 is just a Choose Your Own Adventure with music playing in the background.  It does have cool graphics but it's not a true text adventure as it only gives you two choices at every choice point.  It was also, I guess, originally in Italian, and the English version lacks a good translation so that makes this game a little less good than it already isn't (Does that make sense?).  One thing about "Dylan Dog", it's LOW commitment on the playing, so it's good if you just feel like reading a story.  If it seems like something you want to check out here's the info.

Dylan Dog - The Full Moon Nights on Gamebase64

Dylan Dog Comics on Wikipedia

Game-a-day #60...Ghostbusters.

One of the most iconic movies of the 80's was "Ghostbusters".  The C64 game is no less iconic, it's the perfect companion to the movie, a real 80's computer game for a real 80's movie.  Game play is fun, it's story driven, and like all good games and movies it has an end.  You start with some cash and you are The Ghostbusters.  You have to buy a car outfit your HQ and guys, then you catch ghosts around town and try to collect them before they all gather and bring the PKG energy to a head.  There's a keymaster and a gatekeeper and everything.  I like this game, and it was ported to other systems as well.  It's probably the best computer game based on a movie that they made in the 80's.  It's funny, now they make movies based on computer games.

Ghostbusters on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #61...Transformers.

So "Transformers" seems like a cool game, but I don't know how to play it, and I don't have time to figure it out at the moment.  I will say that it has a kick ass introduction that takes up the ENTIRE b side of the floppy.  A lot of talking in the intro, and fantastic graphics... but then I try to play it and because I have no instructions, find I can't figure it out very well.  I mean I'm sure it's a fun game once you find out how to play it, it seems to have a bunch of options and transformers to play.  The Transformers were super popular in my kid years, I mean we tried to be the first one on the block to have the newest one, and I know they weren't cheap.  My favorite was the laser gun who was a purple color.  The new movies in my mind are a travesty, and in no way capture the REAL transformer spirit.  I would go ahead and Netflix or rent or torrent the old cartoon movie "Transformers: The Movie" 1986.  It's a cool anime style cartoon designed to sell toys, but way better than the new horrible series of movies.  Anyhow, none of this get's me closer to knowing how to play this game... If you know how or can send me the instructions I'll be in your debt.

Transformers on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #62... Nosferatu the Vampyre.

Isometric... that is the word to describe this game.  For some reason isometric games are always cool to me regardless of game play.  However, in my brief time playing "Nosferatu the Vampyre" I have discovered that I would like this game even without the Iso graphics.  It's based on the actual Dracula book by Bram Stoker, and you play the three main characters, Jonathan, Lucy, and Van Helsing.  I guess the idea of the game is to ultimately destroy the vampire, but first you have to escape from the castle, then lure the vampire (with Lucy) to wherever you have to kill him.  The music in this game is cool and creepy and of coarse very C64.  "Nosferatu" is the type of vintage game I like the best, a graphical adventure that's more than hack and slash based on a book I read.  What more do you want?

Nosferatu the Vampyre on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #63...The Three Stooges.

For the C64 this game has probably the best all around graphics to my knowledge.  That includes the actual playable mini-games and the still screenshots.  Not only does "Three Stooges" have incredible graphics for it's day, it also has talking!  I think I've mentioned that anything that talked in the 80's was considered a cut above in terms of technology.  I think in 1983 Chrysler introduced EVA (Electronic Voice Alert) to some of their high end cars that gave something like 25 Speak and Spell voiced alerts about doors being open, or oil being low...anyhow.  So back to The Stooges.  This game is fun, you play the Stooges, and the point of the game is to make enough money to save the orphanage from the evil land lord.  It's set up like a board game where you sort of spin the wheel and see what mini-game you're going to play.  The cool mini-games include a pie fight, a soup eating game, a run down the street avoiding stuff, a trivia game, and a couple other cool things.  "Three Three Stooges" is a good, straightforward, very fun game.  It's intense graphics and "talking" does make it a three floppy disk endeavor, and you have to switch your disk (they call them reels in the game) kind of often, but it's worth it.

The Three Stooges on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #64...The Movie Monster Game.

How about an expanded version of the arcade hit "Rampage" with cool isometric graphics?  That's "Movie Monsters" in a nutshell.  This game is sweet, you select one of six monsters... Godzilla, Tarantus (giant spider), Mechatron (giant robot, my favorite), The Glob (giant blob), Spectra (giant ant), or Mr. Meringue (like the Stay Puff man from Ghostbusters).  Next you select the city you want the movie to take place in... San Francisco, Moscow, NYC, London, Paris, or Tokyo.  Last, you decide what objective you want...Escape, Berserk, Destroy Landmark (my favorite), Search, or Lunch.  The game starts off in a movie theater where you see some adds for popcorn then  read the story you are about to play.  This game is fun and well put together, the graphics are fantastic, and the game play is smooth.  If you love movie monsters and classic computer game play this is a good choice for your vintage game time.

Game-a-day #65...Tass Times In Tonetown

What does it mean to be tass?  It means "cool" in Tone Town, and that's just what this game is.  "Tass Times" is like a weird playable 80's movie.  The story revolves around a transdimentional device, a talking celebrity dog, and a relative named Gramps.  This game is totaly awesome, it's a mix of the old text adventure with a clickable interface and comprehensive inventory and movement.  It's a rather advanced game for the C64, and it plays quite well.  The VERY 80's themes of punk rock and new wave are a big part of "Tass Times" and they are particularly genuine as the game was released in 86.  As far as 80's computer games go, this is where it's at.  I find it extremley fun because of the nostalgia it brings up and because it's very player friendly with all the clickable stuff, and the great graphics.  If you were born after 79, mabye you won't get this game.  I mean my sister was born in 84 and she doesn't like "Lost Boys"... nuff said.

Game-a-day #66... Pirates!

Aka. Sid Meier's Pirates has been ported to so many systems and has been re-made at least twice.  Why?  It may be the best game ever.  It has everything you need in a good computer game... Action, strategy, RPG, graphics, a map, treasure, ships, guns...  It's so cool.  I have played this game on the C64, PC, NES, my modern PC (new version).  I can't tell you how much I love this game.  You are the captain of a ship and can decide if you want to be a pirate, a privateer, a pirate hunter, or even a trader.  You sail about the Spanish Main plundering, or hunting pirates, getting all kinds of treasure.  You eventually have a fleet that you command and can attack villages or even big ports for country or plunder.  You get to pick from four nationalities English, French, Spanish, or Dutch.  You also get to pick your historical period from the 1640s up to the late 1700s.  I never get tired of playing this game, it's just a timeless classic that anyone who likes any kind of games must try as least once.  So get to it matey!

Pirates! on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #67... Dan Dare.

Dan Dare I have discovered was a real comic book character from England.  I guess he's the British Buck Rogers or something.  Anyhow, "Dan Dare" is also a C64 adventure game, and it's not bad.  Gameplay is easy, fighting is less than exciting, but it works, and the puzzles are fun.  I think not knowing the character or the world may be the reason I never finished it, or even played it all that much.  The graphics are good, and the side scroll type adventure interface is one of my favorite types for a game of this style.  It's futuristic in a 50's way, and for me that's perfect because all my favorite Science Fiction is 50's and 60's based.  There's this little elephphant alien thing that follows you around in the game and that's kind of fun.  So why not give it a play, and I'll include some info about the actual comic as well.

Dan Dare on Gamebase64

Dan Dare (The Comic) on Wikipedia

Game-a-day #68... The Boggit

This game was introduced to me by André, who is more expert even than me on Commodore lore, and also a huge supporter of "Deeds Of Yore".  After seeing my blog about "The Hobbit", he mentioned the existence of "The Boggit", a spoof of "The Hobbit" that is actually quite funny, and in some ways a little more advanced.  It's a spoof, Bilbo is now Bimbo, and Gandalf is Grandalf, and so on.  This game is funny, the writers did a nice job of making fun of stuff and making me laugh.  The graphics are pretty good too, especially the reaper image when you die. If you want a little comedy in your retro computer day I recommend "The Boggit".  Thanks André!

Game-a-day #69...Battletech

"Battletech" was a popular board/rpg/strategy game in the 80's, I'm talking about a pen and ink game, with books and dice and stuff.  So it figures that they made an RPG/strategy computer game based on this game series.  I bought "Battletech" late in my C64 career, it must have been 88 or 89, so to tell the truth I didn't play it all that much.  I think I got to the first training mission and then gave up because I had an NES at that point, and was playing games that I didn't have to wait to load.  I think I was also starting to spend less time on the computer and more time on the phone with girls I liked. Whatever the reasons I forsake "Battletech" and I'm sorry I did, because I started playing it the other day and find that it's a great game with all kinds of depth of play and story line.  It was published by Infocom, who at that point was the publisher of top of the line interactive fiction (text adventures), I guess it was like their entrance into the world of graphics.  It's a fun game, and I'm playing it in the tiny amount of spare time that I have.  If you have a tiny amount of spare time, give it a whirl.

Battletech on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #70... Adventure Creator

I love "Adventure Creator", it combines two of my favorite things, creating stuff, and adventure games.  You can create your own very simple adventure games and play them, save them, share them.  "Adventure Creator" was developed by Dale Dishroon, who also created "Alice in Wonderland" and "Below the Root", two of my all time favorites.  It's colorful and easy to create adventures.  I may even make an adventure and post it, maybe a "Deeds Of Yore" adventure... hmmmmmm.

Adventure Creator on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #71...Captain Blood

Weird is how I would describe "Captain Blood", weird and hard to play.  It is an interesting idea for a game.  You are an alien who has been cloned for 800 years and now you need to eliminate your clones for some reason.  They reside all over the universe, so you have to go places and talk to other beings with a strange language thing.  I'll be honest with you, this game is way over my head.  I mean I'm the type who loves "Fight Night" so "Captain Blood" is perhaps too rich for my taste, however, it strikes me as a fantastic game that I wish I was smart enough to play.  I tried it again twenty five years after the last time I tried to play it, and I'm still having trouble with it.  I'll let you know if I figure it out.  I also think this game might be a tad better on the Atari ST, or Amiga, because I think one of the strengths of it must have been awesome graphics that only kind of translate to the C64.

Captain Blood on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #72... The Wizard Of Oz.

Yet another text adventure under the Windham Classics label is "The Wizard Of Oz".  This game plays a lot like "Treasure Island" it's sister Windham game.  Text interface but a lot of graphics, music and sound effects bring the classic story to life.  This game is fun, and I found myself getting into it while playing it last night.  The puzzles are challenging but not impossible, and I personally like the artwork quite a bit.  The one thing that kind of bugs me about this game and "Treasure Island" is the weird font.  It's a little hard to read, and well, it's a text adventure and needs reading.  Other than that, I can't fault this game too much.  I had three of the Windham games as a kid, "Alice in wonderland", "Below the Root", and "Treasure Island", but I did not have "The Wizard Of Oz".  I'm very happy to discover it today and get a chance to to check it out.

The Wizard Of Oz on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #73...The Hobbit

Not everyone loves text adventures as much as I do, but I do so "The Hobbit" is fun to me.  Sure it's very simple, not as full featured at some of the Infocom games, but what sells me is the frequent pictures.  I'll overlook a lot of game play problems in a text adventure if it has pictures.  "The Hobbit" is a VERY light version of the book, it seems to follow the very basic story.  The main characters show up, and the puzzles are challenging.  If you're a J.R.R. Tolkien fan or have read the book, this game will be fun for you to type around in.  There are two versions, one from 1983 and an 85 version.  The 85 version has WAY better graphics, so get that one if you plan to play it.

Walkthrough

The Hobbit on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #74...R.M.S Titanic

As a kid I was fascinated with the Titanic.  They actually discovered the wreak of Titanic when I was in sixth grade in 1985.  Before they found it there was a lot of speculation about what would happen if it were ever found.  Would they raise it, would there be treasure on board?  Anyhow, The same year they found it this game came out, "R.M.S Titanic: The recovery mission".  The game revolves around an expedition to the shipwreck in a special submarine.  It's a complicated game, and the goal is to raise the ship through puzzle solving.  It's not an easy game at all, and sometimes not all that interesting to play.  I never finished it, but the graphics are great, and as a kid I liked how complicated the submarine controls were, and the fact that you had to use a robot arm.  There's even a press conference scenario where you answer questions.  It's a detailed game and you need time to play it, so it's not for the faint retro gamer, it's hard core.  Might as well mention that this month (April) marks the 100th anniversary of the launch and sinking of Titanic... "I'm the king of the world!"

R.M.S Titanic on Gamebase

Game-a-day #75...Desert Fox

"Desert Fox" is a WWII game that simulates what it might be like to be a British tank guy in 1941.  It revolves around defeating (personally) Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, better know during WWII as, you guessed it... The Desert Fox.  This is a very complete game that mixes a kind of map based simple strategy with action segments that include: Stuka Attack, Tank Duel, Mine Field, Ambush Attack, and Convoy Attack.  While all the scenarios are fun I think the thing that set this game apart from others like it for me is that it talks.  Yes, when you are forced into any of the segments, the game actually announces (in a German storm trooper voice) the name of what you are about to play.  So when you do the Ambush Attack Scenario, the game screams "AMBUSH!", but with a German accent.  I mean the game is fun too, but talking in the 80's was like time travel sooooooooo.

Desert Fox on Gambase64

Game-a-day #76...Fight Night

"Fight Night".... Simple, no nonsense boxing action.  The best thing about this game... The ability to create your own boxers to play or fight against.  You can even adjust the ability of the computer boxers you create.  As far as sports games go, I have always been more of an NES 8bit Golf guy, but "Fight Night" is still an old favorite.  It also had the advantage back in the day of loading up quick so you could get right to fighting.  Now, who cares, the emulator is so fast it makes no difference, but in 1986 it was a thing.  This game is no commitment, you can treat it like a one night stand... A one "Fight Night" stand!

Fight Night on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #77..."Treasure Island"

As a kid this was by far my favorite text adventure.  Although it is almost all text,  it has quite a bit of artwork, sound effects and even a little music.  So for a text adventure "Treasure Island" is fancy.  This game also keeps pretty well with the actual book (by Robert Louis Stevenson), so you might even call it educational.  I love all things Treasure Island.  One of my all time favorite movies is the 1934 version with Jackie Cooper, I just read the book (and love it), I even like the casino in Vegas, so this game is easy for me to enjoy.  All that bias under consideration "Treasure Island" is a good play, and if you like a good text adventure the puzzles are fun and it's easy to solve.  So out to sea!  Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!  Forget "Pirates of The Caribbean", this is the original pirate story.

Treasure Island on Gamebase64

Game-a-day #78... Express Raider

Ah yes, "Express Raider"... It's a classic beat em up, set in the old west on a moving train.  The goal is to rob the train.  It's simple, fun, and full of action.  One of the reasons I like this game is that in my opinion the Western has been and is still overlooked as a computer game genre.  It's a super great setting for fun and adventure but because it has no aliens or swords they don't use it enough.  Anyhow, fun game, good graphics, you don't need a lot of time to play it so why not try it.?

Express Raider on Gamebase64

Game-a-day Countdown #79... The Pawn

I bought this game I think when I was about 11 with Christmas money.  The dang thing cost $40!  In 85, that was a huge amount of money for a game.  So why did I buy "The Pawn" for $40?  Like all kids my age I would look at the back of the box and check out the graphics.  "The Pawn" had goooooood graphics, they didn't move, they were static pictures, but for the day and on a C64 they were awesome.  The game itself is quite good although super hard.  It's a text adventure with some wit and humor that takes place in a fantasy type world with wizards and magic stuff.  If you have a decade to solve the puzzles it's worth a play, otherwise you can find a lot of walkthroughs on the net and just enjoy the story line.  I'm not kidding when I say the puzzles are hard.  The items that you find are cryptic, and not the usual potions and swords of most adventure style games.  I don't think I got very far in this game as a kid,  however, years later I did cheat my way through it using the walkthrough below.


The Pawn on Gambase64

The Pawn Walkthrough on Lemonamiga.com

Game-a-day Countdown 80

There are 80 days till the series reboot of "Deeds Of Yore".  In honor of the 80's and as a fun way to countdown to the reboot, I'm posting a short C64 game review each day for the next 80 days.  All will be games I've played at least once, all games are guaranteed to be at least almost awesome.  Let's get to it...

 #80  Portal.  Ok, portal is not so much a game as it is a novel, in fact they call it an "interactive novel".  It's not all that interactive. You are an astronaut who goes on one of the first deep space missions and comes back, and because of the whole relativity time thing over a hundred years have passed.  You land back on Earth and everyone is gone.  All that remains is a computer network with and AI interface that seeks answers to why everyone is gone.  You have to go through the network to various locations and find information such as time lines, transcripts, and narratives that eventually piece the story together.  To play Portal you need to be hardcore Sci-Fi, and willing to put up with a future network interface that is particularly low tech.  Like all of us in the 80's the creators of Portal didn't expect smart phones, and i pads and stuff like that.  Nobody back then (short of a few visionaries) actually imagined the Internet as it is today.  So Portal is dated, it's slow, and there is no action, but it's a good story, and it's told in a creative way.  I loved it as a kid, I still like to boot it up just to check out the 80's version of  a  "future" OS.  It's worth a look if you have time.

Portal on Gamebase64

LAweb fest 2012

 

The "Deeds Of Yore" crew attended the LAweb fest this weekend.  We met a lot of people, watched a bunch of great stuff, and even won an award for something ( I don't remember what)  I'm not into awards.  The webfest offered a great venue to meet other people like ourselves who are trying to make their web series some sort of success in the entertainment world.  It's at least a few years away by my calculation.  If the webfest is any indication, there is a great deal of enthusiasm, but a lack of organization.  I think that's where the web series industry is at in general, but it will mature and the medium will improve as time goes on.  The webfest was fantastic for what it was,  but it has a lot of room for improvement.  We wore our Deeds hats, and they were a great success!

Deep Retro... Moria

Moria... It's a rouglike, or dungeon crawl adventure created in 1983.  Moria was not the first dungeon crawl (the first was pedit5 in 1974), but it was the first I ever discovered.  For anyone wondering what the heck a dungeon crawl is, it's a kind of hack and slash computer RPG marked by random labyrinthine levels and lots of treasure to be found.  I discovered Moria back in the early 90's when I had my first laptop (a Powerbook 520c).  I remember downloading Mora to my Mac via some sort of FTP through the text only Unix shell account I used for Internet.  I remember being a little disappointed that there were no graphics, only ascii art.  It was only when I started to play this remarkable game that it became a fast favorite.  Years later a desire to once again surf the net via Unix shell led me to open an account on the venerable SDF Public Access UNIX System.  On a hunch I typed "moria" into the command line, and to my happy surprise found it was there.  It was this re-discovery of Moria that started the base idea for Deeds.  Why not make an animated movie or series that takes place in a simple game?  I didn't go as simple on the visuals as Moria (that might be a little too high art), but it was a giant in the inspiration department.  There are a lot of versions of Moria and other great dungeon crawls available for free on the net.  If you crave some deep retro fun check them out.

Moria on Wikipedia

Agnband - This is probably my favorite crawl.

Moria - The one this blog is about.

Rogue - For C64 on Gamebase64

Inspirations for Deeds... Ultima I



The Ultima RPG series were games like no other of their time.  They might have been the most epic and complete RPG computer games of the 80's.  A little complicated but super fun with incredible story lines, they were made for several platforms, and a version of one of them even found it's way to NES (I own a copy).  There were Six Ultimas in the 80's starting in 81 with my favorite of the series Ultima I.  I will be honest, i didn't play this game until I discovered emulation in the late 90's but I did own a Pirate copy of Ultima IV as a kid, and played it to no end.  I never finished IV, however, thanks to the magic of emulation, I did manage to finish I.  I remember quite well the day I completed Ultima I.  I had just broken up with some girlfriend, and being a bit more youthful than I am today, I was upset.  I retreated to a friends home in the mountains of Southern California, and at an altitude of over 7000 feet, I played Ultima for three days straight.  Maybe it was the breakup or the thin air, but for some reason to this day finishing Ultima I is one of my personal favorite memories.  This game had it all... Castles and swords, monsters, ships, towns, a hot air balloon, and even a space shuttle and adventures in space.  What more could an RPG fan want?  Such a simple game with so much depth.  I can say with certainty that Ultima I is the game that most influenced "Deeds Of Yore".  It's the feeling I wanted to get across in the artwork.  The feeling of a world that is more than it seems on the surface, a world where a black background means infinite possibility and imagination.  If you have any love of vintage games just get a C64 emulator and play this one for a little while.  You don't have to finish it, but I do recommend that you see what it's like.

Ultima I on Gambase64

Ultima I on Wikipedia

Memories: Our December Series Premiere Party

It's hard to believe that only a few months ago that we had our series premiere party at Hi-De-Ho Comics in Santa Monica.  It seems like yesterday and forever that we had our party.  Since then we have released 13 episodes, acquired a Blip showpage, have been selected for LA Webfest, got an IMDB account, and have met and worked with a variety of new faces.  I'm very happy with our progress as a new web series and look forward to our presentation of the second half starting in July. The series will finish in September, will we have a finale party?  I'm thinking about it.

Here's a link to the old deedsofyore.com back in December.

Old deedsofyore.com