Walker Title Screen

In early 1993, I got my wish when publishing powerhouse Psygnosis released DMA Design’s Walker on the Commodore Amiga. While it wasn’t exactly the AT-ST from Star Wars, it was close enough in function and destructive power to satisfy my sci-fi-fueled fantasies.

Interestingly, Walker’s genesis is closely tied to DMA Design’s first Amiga hit, Lemmings.

In actuality, the original concept of the walker appears in their first game with Psygnosis, a tough-as-nails shooter called Blood Money. DMA founder David Jones began working on the concept after Blood Money’s release, using the game’s walker design. Unfortunately, he couldn’t turn the concept into an effective game, so he abandoned the project for other development opportunities.

When DMA hired Ian Dunlop in 1990, he was tasked with completing the abandoned project. He was given few notes on how to proceed. The enemy soldiers needed to be much smaller than the walker, and the action needed to move left, unlike nearly every other horizontal-scrolling shooter, which scrolled from the right. They chose to scroll left because the existing walker animations were created with it facing left. The scale was intrinsically linked to Lemmings, because they modified and reused tests to render the tiny soldiers on screen for the tiny creatures in DMA’s puzzle legend.

Walker for Amiga Screenshot

The most unique part of Walker is the control scheme. Instead of sticking with only a joystick, as shooters traditionally do, DMA Design used a combination of joystick/mouse or keyboard/mouse controls for the Walker. The joystick or keyboard handled the character’s left-right movement, while the mouse moved a targeting reticule that in turn rotated the Walker’s head to face the target. The left mouse button fired, and the right button let the player lock onto a target while still moving the Walker back and forth. This made it easier to destroy more powerful enemies while dodging enemy fire.

The game also involved resource management. While you had a shield and, once depleted, a damage meter to watch, the heat level of your dual 30mm cannons was arguably more important. You could simply hold the mouse button down and fire a stream of bullets at the enemy, but your guns would eventually overheat. You would then be left defenseless as you waited for the weapons to cool down. This meant that it was more effective to fire in short bursts at the enemy infantry and vehicles, always keeping an eye on the guns’ heat level.

While Walker takes place exclusively on the surface in the titular vehicle, the game was originally going to include on-foot sections below ground, similar to the NES classic Blaster Master. Unfortunately, the team dropped this aspect late in development due to time constraints and budget concerns.

Walker for Amiga Screenshot

What DMA and Psygnosis eventually released in 1993 is probably one of the best gameplay experiences I’ve had on the platform. The dark and dingy graphics are gorgeous, which is par for the course for Psygnosis Amiga games. The Walker in particular is beautifully rendered, with smooth movement and animation. The scurrying military minions, which absolutely reminded me of Lemmings even before I knew about their history, are fun to watch and enjoyable to mow down with your 30mms. You can also squash them underfoot if they get too close, but be careful; some will climb onto your Walker and wreak havoc.

The levels revolve around a time-travel mechanic, with each of the four main areas representing a different era in military history. Time travel doesn’t really factor into the game’s overall narrative. It mainly serves as an excuse for the developers to throw a wide variety of enemy units at you throughout the game. It does keep the game from getting too repetitive, since you have to figure out how to take out each new enemy.

The sound is primarily machine gun fire, walker servos, and explosions, but it is well done and suitably high-quality, as expected for the Amiga at the time.

The game received consistently strong scores from reviewers at the time, with averages between 70 and 80 percent across the board. It’s a core memory of gaming on my Amiga 500, so it rates highly for me. If you are in the mood for some mindless wanton destruction, fire up your Amiga (or Amiga emulator) and give Walker a try. You won’t be disappointed.

The post Retro Review: Walker for the Amiga appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

While the original UFC game from EA Sports and THQ’s editions of the series weren’t terrible, they never captured the pugilistic poetry and enigmatic episodes of ground and pound and grappling the way that “UFC 2” does.

Although it’s an MMA game for everyone, “UFC 2” is simple enough to pick up, it’s ultimately an experience true lovers of the sport will appreciate for its depth and attention to detail. While its realism may, at times, make the game a challenge, it mirrors the spectacle, strategy and sexiness of a mixed martial arts bout wonderfully.

Graphically, “UFC 2” is beautiful, with awesome facial and cloth animations that bring each fight to life like never before. Solid commentary from Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan add the TV element the same way the NHL and FIFA games do. Simply put, from the aesthetics (thank you, yummy card girls in-between rounds, roar), a diverse soundtrack and TV realism, “UFC 2” does everything right before the fight starts.

Once you tap gloves and the war in the octagon begins, you’ll quickly realize this is a different game from the first. While there are still too many punches and kicks thrown in each battle, the number has shrunk tremendously from last year, much closer to the UFC average over the past few years. And unlike EA Sports’ last attempt at the UFC, the strikes “feel” right. From in the clinch, to on the ground, you’ll scream in delight or wince in terror when the blows come down.

This is not the game to play while your wife is sound asleep on a Saturday morning. This is not a game to play while holding in the urge to hit the restroom. Much like a real fight, this is a game you’ve got to be prepared to play. This is an experience you’ve got to mentally train for. If you go into it expecting to win the same way you do in “Tekken” or “Street Fighter,” you’re going to make yourself miserable fast. If you learn the techniques you need succeed though, it’s a thrilling and rewarding time that never gets old.

However, where “UFC 2” distinguishes itself the most is the submission game and on the ground. The easiest way to describe the jujitsu elements of the game is playing and transitioning through chords on the guitar. At first, it’s difficult and even boring, but after time, it becomes so fluid and fun that you’ll want to take your opponent to the ground and choke him out with a Japanese Neck Tie. Casual gamers have no fear, though, there is a Knockout Mode where all you do is through fists and feet as well.

While the mechanics of each fight are smart and will keep you on the couch for hours, the Ultimate Team is where a bulk of your time will be submitted. Creating your own stable of fighters from scratch and taking them through the ranks of the UFC is a blast, but is a serious investment of time and difficult to boot. At the same time, with daily rewards and a ton of ways to improve your fighters, it’s just as fun as any of the other Ultimate Team modes in EA’s other games and more importantly, never feels forced.

Overall, with a hearty list of fighters, improved fight mechanics and the awesome Ultimate Team mode, “UFC 2” scores a tremendous first round knockout. In just two years, EA Sports has morphed the series from one that reveled in mediocrity, to the best MMA game ever released.

Pros:

Better Striking: In the original game, the punches and kicks would connect, but you wouldn’t “feel” it. This year, the Knockout Physics System has changed the hand-to-hand elements of the game dramatically, creating a tension-filled gameplay system where anything can happen.

More Intuitive Ground Work: “UFC 2” is a free-flowing experience and it’s evident from the ground game, changing positions fluidly and going from the guard to striking is a complete blast. The Next Level Submissions make it easier to pull off grapples from the clinch and perform nifty transitions. If you go through the tutorials and learn the proper way to play, you’ll feel like a pro after only a few bouts.

Awesome Visuals: From the lighting effects, real-time damage and awesome atmosphere, “UFC 2” does an excellent job of capturing the big-fight feel.

Cons:

CM Punk: He’s never fought in an MMA contest…why is he in this game? Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson are combat legends, influential to millions in the MMA world, while Punk is a professional wrestler. Does he belong in this game?

Final Thoughts:

With enhanced visuals and improved gameplay over the original, EA Sports’ “UFC 2” is the mixed-martial arts game you’ve been waiting for. 

The post Retro Review: UFC 2 (360) appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

As a 1994 release, the original Earthworm Jim is a fairly sophisticated 16-bit title, complex enough that it really shouldn’t be possible to shrink its gameplay down to 8 bits. Yet somehow, that was exactly what Eurocom managed to do back in 1995. The controls are remarkably responsive. The titular invertebrate handles exactly as I would expect. While the awkward timing and sometimes obtuse mechanics are still here, they’re virtually identical to the 16-bit versions. If anything, the 8-bit version plays more intuitively, precisely because I know there are only so many ways to progress when I only have two buttons and such a simple interface.

The Game Boy version isn’t all sunshine and roses, though. I think 90s era critics who maligned this conversion were mostly on-point, they were just on-point for reasons that Eurocom couldn’t really control. Namely, the limitations of the Game Boy itself. As it existed in 1995 without a backlight, there just wasn’t any good way for the typical player to make out the game’s graphic details, which are pretty critical for trying to figure out what to do next. The Game Boy’s need for batteries was also at cross-purposes with just how complete this version of the game is. Thirteen levels is a bit much to get through in a single sitting even setting aside the fact that Earthworm Jim is a notoriously difficult game.

The Chromatic hardware solves the technical problems involved with the game being difficult to parse. But this ModRetro version also makes one critical alteration to the software that gives a solid argument to this version of Earthworm Jim being one of the best ones. There’s an unlockable level select. What I mean by this is, every time you make it to a new stage, the game’s save battery adds it to the level select. So, you can turn the game off, put it down, and start right at Pod Race without having to go through all the previous levels again.

The trouble with most portable versions of Earthworm Jim now is that it’s too easy to cheat. There’s a decent chance you’re just emulating it after all, so why not just use save states for the most difficult parts? This ModRetro version softens the difficulty curve without getting rid of it entirely. Indeed, there’s even a nasty surprise at the end, in that the final level, Buttville, won’t unlock on the level select unless you beat Elevator in the same sitting. And Elevator is an ugly mess of the level, the worst in this conversion because it is far, far too easy to get stuck on spikes.

But is it really the authentic Earthworm Jim experience if you don’t feel at least a little bit of frustration having to repeatedly guess at the exact way you need to input the buttons to get past a particularly frustrating level? This helps Buttville feel genuinely suspenseful too, since despite being one of the easier levels of the game, you really, really don’t want to get sent back to the title screen, forcing you to replay Elevator again. The experience is tough, yet not impossible, and is thus a genuinely satisfying joy to complete.

I feel that even though I did cheat a little bit, albeit not on purpose. During the Pod Race level, I somehow managed to turn my pod into a glitchy mess, most likely because I shattered the glass at the same time the timer ran out. I could still land safely though and was lucky enough to be able to beat Bob the Goldfish without having to figure out how to reproduce the glitch. At this time, I was testing the game on the Super Game Boy, if anyone else wants to try. Earthworm Jim does have a custom palette, which helps quite a bit in terms of making it easier to distinguish Jim from his environment, but no custom border unfortunately.

As a final note, the instruction manual looks pretty great! It is, so far as I can tell, mostly just the original manual but in color. Still, it has all the irreverent backstory and humor you need to get into just how genuinely weird this game is. The 8 bit demake aesthetic of this version just adds another lovable layer of strange to this title which for so many reasons, could only have been made in the nineties.

The post A review of Earthworm Jim for the Chromatic appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

A more polished version of the original games, Pokemon Yellow is a less-glitchy and better-looking experience and one that features characters from the hit TV show, mainly Pikachu. Away from that, it’s virtually the same experience as its predecessors. 

The largest difference in Pokemon Yellow is the fact that Pikachu is your starter Pokemon and not Charmander, Bulbasaur or Squirtle. The fact that he follows you around Kanto and you can talk to him to see how he’s feeling adds another emotional to the game that wasn’t available in Red & Blue. However, the coolest part of Pokemon Yellow is that you’ll have the opportunity to pick up all of the original starter Pokemon along the way and build a powerful and diverse team of Pocket Monsters. Perfect for more of a loner-gamer, Pokemon Yellow allows you to get the team of your dreams, simply by playing, while Pokemon Red and Blue basically forced you to trade with friends to “catch em all.”

For that reason alone, Pokemon Yellow is the best version of the three recently-released Pokemon games and one that younger games will find a beefy, yet old-school version of their favorite series. At the same time, it’s a far different game than its far sexier two-screened children on the 3DS. Just like Pokemon Red & Blue, there’s no experience share, meaning there’s far more strategy than today’s version of the beloved RPG. Simply put, it takes a ton of time to get your team to Level 100 and battles are longer and far more stress-inducing, Even a wimpy Pokemon like Metapod can be a huge annoyance if battled incorrectly, especially early in the game.

However, by the end of this adventure, although not nearly as deep as today’s Pokemon games, the same feeling of success and accomplishment remains. You’ve traveled the world, originally by yourself, then joined by friends, who you’ve grown to love and nurture along the way and in the process, became something you’ve never dreamed possible. An experience like that doesn’t necessarily need widescreen support, 3D graphics or sexy gameplay. What it does have, in spades, is an emotional story and tried and true gaming mechanics that have been copied a hundred times over. That’s why the world and everything in it is still magical. In the end, even after all this time, Pokemon Yellow is the most refined version of quite possibly the best RPG series in gaming history.

Pros:

Fun: While Red and Blue were marvelous games, Yellow added just a few more refinements and a connection to the hit TV show that dedicated gamers at the time loved. Almost 20 years, later, it’s still a solid game that’s just a tad bit better than Red/Blue.

All About Pikachu: Unlike Red/Blue, having Pikachu walk around with you makes you form the type of relationship the future Pokemon games thrived on. While he’s not the strongest Pokemon, he’s a fan favorite for a reason. This is kind of where his legend started.

Still Challenging: Just like Red/Blue, if you’re not a master of strategy, you can and will be defeated. After all these years, balance is still key to defeating any team you face.

Cons:

Slow: The sheer amount of random encounters and lack of an experience share slow down the development of your team incredibly, making you wish a few updates could have been made to speed up gameplay.

Final Thoughts:

Of the first three Pokemon games, Yellow has the least amount of glitches and has the best visuals. More polished and refined, it’s probably the best option among the three for those that have never played them before.

The post Retro Review: Pokemon Yellow: All About Pikachu appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Powered by a myriad of classic games and aided by frenetic button-mashing and beat the clock gameplay, “NES Remix” is an old-school blast.

For decades, there’s been no real way to measure how good someone is in “Super Mario Bros.” or Excitebike.” Aside from the fun gameplay, the objective-based nature of “NES Remix” will put your skills to the test in a way those classic games never could. Often times, you’ll have to replay games to get a better score and enough stars to unlock the next challenge. For this reason alone, “NES Remix” is able to revitalize those classic games you grew up on and make them fun all over again.

From the second that you fire up the Wii U, “NES Remix,” drenches you in old-school nostalgia. From the sound effects to control, everything that you loved about your favorite Nintendo Entertainment games is fully-intact. While many of those classic levels remain the same, the objective-fueled gameplay, although rather simple at first, becomes much more difficult than you think.

Once you progress far enough to see your favorite games remixed, well, that’s when the game truly begins.

Don’t think seeing Link traverse through a level of “Donkey Kong” isn’t cool? Think again. Like Nintendo usually does, they manage to take a successful and simple formula and put enough of a twist on it to make the new experience just new enough to warrant our full attention.

The gameplay in “NES Remix” also sets the table for youngsters who never experienced them the first time around. By the time you’re fist deep into the game, they’ll have the same type of appreciation for these classics as gamers twice their age.

At the same time, getting to experience the remixed stages with those same tikes is also the type of fun that can’t be explained and is a redeeming quality that can’t be taken for granted. A big dose of something old, with a nice slab of something new, witty and equally as charming goes a long way here.

Again, while it’s never a revolution, it’s the type of experience you’ll remember and enjoy.

Pros:

Old is New Again Gameplay: The objective-based gameplay mechanics make your favorite childhood games fun again.

So Many Games to Choose From: From “The Legend Of Zelda” to “Balloon Fight,” there’s something here for everyone.

Remix Modes Rock: Imaginative, yet logical, the remixed levels are a great alternative to the standard game but also manage to add a level of wonder to what would have otherwise been a fun, yet simple rehash of classic games.

Bottom Line: With so many things to do and experience, “NES Remix” is a blast from the past that works wonderfully on the WIi U. Although it doesn’t challenge the system hardware in any way, it’s a title that accomplishes Nintendo’s main objective of getting families and friends to play together.

The post Retro Review: NES REMIX (Wii U) appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

But with new sprites, a new tutorial level, new voice work by the original cast and updated controls, this DuckTales can hold its own with a plethora of platformers on the 360. Although it does show its age at times, many of the problems arise from the same faults as the original, such as flimsy and unresponsive controls, making anyone who first experienced it in 1989 much more forgiving.

One other problem is the story, which has a much larger hold of the game than the original. Newcomers won’t find this a problem, as the original voice of Scrooge McDuck, Allen Young, handles the workload wonderfully. Veteran gamers however will wonder why the game stops every 10 minutes or so for story elements that aren’t necessarily needed.

Either way you look at it however, it’s obvious that more attention to the story makes for a “fuller” title this time around. Newer gamers will find it an interesting piece of nostalgia and just like old-school gamers, find the HD coat of graphical paint a nice touch.

The Final Verdict: “DuckTales: Remastered” is still a worthwhile holiday purchase a few months later. At a fan-friendly price point, it’s essentially a low-risk high reward purchase.

The post Retro Review: DuckTales ReMastered (360) appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

IGN admitted they weren’t too excited about the project, but now find themselves as big fans.

“Having seen the entire first season, I can say that Golden Axe is certainly doing what you’d expect, as it takes the characters and concepts from the 1989 SEGA game and its sequels and remixes them into a decidedly wacky, high energy cartoon,” IGN’s Eric Goldman said in his review. “But after some initial bumps in the road, the series gradually grew on me through its ten episodes thanks to some solid laughs, great voice acting, and its overall good nature.”

Just like IGN, JoBlo wasn’t a fan through the first few episodes, but that’s not the case anymore.

However, as the plot progressed, the method to the madness became clear,” JoBlo’s Steve Seigh said. “By the mid-season mark, the show had fully found its footing and had me completely along for the ride.

Of all of the praise though, Grant Hermanns from Screen Rant was the most positive.

“Arguably, the best way that Golden Axe incites its gut-busting laughs is through its meta humor and Easter eggs from the classic SEGA franchise,” he said.

Have you watched Golden Axe on Paramount+ yet? If so, what did you think? Sound off in the comment section below and let us know!

The post Golden Axe Cartoon Getting Rave Early Reviews appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Earlier this year, Broke Studio provided a physical release of The Echoes of Worlds, based on the Game Boy Studio project of the same name by TC Studio. It’s perhaps the most fiendish Game Boy release in recent memory, and I’m not just saying that because one of the many characters you play is a devil scrounging up coins in hell. This is a deviously difficult game, where even just getting across a small room can result in many, many deaths.

The Echoes of Worlds has a lot of charm. Our unnamed hero chases a mysterious portal jumping menace to try and recover his stolen cat, while his moocher of a best friend stays home and doesn’t really know what to do with himself. Every time you load up the game, we see what the moocher is up to before the action flips back to the hero. Annoyingly, the game keeps track of how many moocher cutscenes you’ve seen even if you start a new game.

Minor annoyances like this are unfortunately a fairly frequent presence in The Echoes of Worlds. Though the game does keep track of how many moocher cutscenes you’ve seen, it does not keep track of how many times you’ve spoken to characters at the police station hub world. This is important because you get skill points from reading every single dialog, but you’re forced to cycle through all of them before leaving the room, so instead of pacing yourself with the toxic office drama, you end up stuck with almost all of the exposition at the beginning of the game, through to a mostly uninterrupted stretch of gameplay leading to a mostly unsatisfying ending.

I might not have been quite so disappointed by the ending except for the fact that the characterization is so well done up until that point that the anticlimax is more than a little insulting. The game had teased all these mysteries and doesn’t really answer any of them. I did find myself wondering whether there was a better ending if I could 100% the game, but in the first place, there was no indication in or outside of the game that this was true. And in the second place, by the time I was finished with The Echoes of Worlds, I was more than a little sick of it.

The main gameplay problem revolves around the skill tree. For getting certain achievements in-game, you get skill points that make the game easier by offering extra lives or items or increasing how much money you can buy with the items. Special skills are very expensive and also tend to be the most useful. The trouble comes from the fact that getting skill points in usable quantities requires that you 100% every level, a task which is harder than it sounds because The Echoes of Worlds is a roguelite, which means you do not have control over which levels you play in the main game. They’re selected at random.

After a certain point, The Echoes of Worlds is unplayable without a hefty supply of skill points, and I had to replay Level 2 a lot in order to finally finish off the last stage and earn the majority of the unlockable skill points. By the time I finished Level 3, I was just grateful I had enough coins to unlock the checkpoint, so I didn’t need to try and 100% it too. I barely even played Level 4, I just abused the skill points I had to brute force my way to the end, an accomplishment thoroughly deflated by the lousy ending.

It’s a shame I can only really think of negative things to say about The Echoes of Worlds, because the game is genuinely a lot of fun. I loved the blend of platformer with roguelite. The worldbuilding is great, and the art is delightful. Unfortunately, none of these elements work well with the collectathon style of gameplay that The Echoes of Worlds ultimately treats as a core mechanic, and a skill system that’s clunky both in execution as well as just plain tedious to micromanage in the menus, a surprising contrast to the challenging, fast-paced gameplay that’s not unfair so much as it is unforgiving.

The post A review of The Echoes of Worlds appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Roguecraft DX for Windows Title

The development of Roguecraft from Badger Punch Games and Thalamus Digital Publishing has been an interesting one. Starting off as a Commodore 64 game developed for a 4 KB coding competition, Rogue4k was expanded into Rogue64, a full-fledged Rogue clone. Shortly after, they developed a version for the Amiga 16-bit computer. Roguecraft took the basic formula from the Commodore 64 version and added advanced graphics and animation, additional creatures, and more potions to pick up.

Roguecraft DX was the next development milestone, originally released for the Evercade ecosystem of retro consoles. While the basic game was unchanged, the graphics were enhanced, additional dungeon layouts were added, and even more creatures and potions were added to this version. The full run was expanded from 10 levels to 15, with the addition of an above-ground starting level. It soon became one of Evercade’s most popular single-game cartridge releases.

After the success of the Evercade version, Badger Punch has worked hard to bring the DX version to other platforms. It has been released on the Amiga and Mega65. Windows users now have a version of the game, and it is by far the most evolved to date.

Roguecraft DX for Windows

Again, the basic gameplay remains largely unchanged from the original Amiga version. You enter a dungeon. Using turn-based movement and attack, you dispatch the creatures found within, pick up potions and gold, and try to make it to the final level alive.  One of the key additions in the DX versions is the different player characters, which serve as a difficulty selector. The fighter is the easiest. Its health and strength can be increased more than any other character. The rogue is the mid-range difficulty level. Lower maximum health and strength than the fighter, but it gains the ability to teleport, which triggers a powerful back-stab buff when performed. The mage is the most difficult character. It has the lowest maximum health and strength of all of the characters, but is the only one capable of performing a ranged attack on enemies. This lets the player clear the level of monsters without ever getting into range of their melee attacks.

Roguecraft DX for Windows adds even more graphical enhancements, with more detailed characters and level tiles, and additional animations. Along with health and strength pickups, there are now three different potions in each level, up from two in the original game and DX versions, chosen at random from an even longer list of possibilities. Teleportation, stoneskin, and a room-clearing electrical spell are among the possible potions you could encounter on your runs. While the potion choices are static for each run, they change with every new game. This is one of the features that makes each playthrough truly unique. The main selling point is that each dungeon is procedurally generated for every game.

Roguecraft DX for Windows

The biggest addition to the Windows version of DX is two new game modes: Endless Dungeon and Chicken Run. Endless Dungeon is similar to the classic game mode, but instead of playing through the standard 15 dungeon levels, you are faced with an infinite number of levels to tackle. As you move down, each level becomes progressively harder than the last. Try to make it as deep as you can before the challenge becomes overwhelming.

Chicken Run is… weird. For context, one of the first creatures that you will meet in the game, and one that you will be constantly fighting throughout the game, is the chicken. You will kill many, many chickens in the game. Well, Chicken Run is where the chicken gets to have its day. Instead of a fighter, rogue, or mage, you play as one of the chickens. Your health and strength max out at just two levels, so locating healing eggs and eggs that temporarily increase your strength will be extremely important. Personally, I never made it past the second level of this version, but it is definitely a unique take on the classic formula.

Roguecraft DX for Windows

As I said, Roguecraft DX for Windows is truly the culmination of every version of the game that has come before. While some may balk at purchasing multiple versions of the same game, it has been very interesting seeing the development of this title throughout the various iterations, particularly from the original Amiga version to the Evercade DX release, to this latest version. Interestingly, Badger Punch and Thalamus have announced a version of the game for the ZX Spectrum Next retro system, which may be the most interesting version yet.

At $15 (on sale for 20% off until September 24th on Steam), the Windows version of Roguecraft DX is an easy recommendation. The game is addictive, and the procedurally generated runs and new game modes will keep you coming back again and again, as you try to make it just one more level deeper into the dungeon. Just watch out for the chickens.

The post Review: Roguecraft DX for Windows appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

If you’ve played the series before, the gameplay is similar in the fact that you’ll explore by yourself and in your mech. There’s a heck of a lot of third-person shooting to be had and if you’re the kind of gamer that enjoys the “Gears of War” series, these gameplay sections will be fun and intuitive.

While the enemies and gameplay are cool, but it’s the characters and graphics and story that’ll hook you the most. Like a James Cameron film, you’ll be taken to a far-away world with plenty of friends and unknown alien enemies. The interaction between the characters and plot development in the end is what really sets the game apart from its predecessors.

The Final Verdict: The “Avatar” inspired story is not a bad one and the mech-battling holds up well too. There isn’t a moment however that truly inspires or makes you say, “Wow.” That being said, fans of the original will still find this a worthwhile romp through the backstory of the series.

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