I still remember the first time I encountered Starflight on the Atari ST. Out of nowhere (and a fan of Star Trek) I was in charge of an upgradable spaceship and RPG like crew (can be anything from aliens to androids to humans), set to explore the galaxy, find new worlds and new civilizations, kill them, or talk to them and make a good profit, where no man has gone before. Very atmospheric game and at times for me the game was even more than the Elite series. I was there in unexplored space, trying to locate good enough planets for colonization while trying to save my home world (the relocated home planet of humans), while trying to find info about the ancient past and seeing what can be done about the future of humanity. Landing on strange new worlds, mining them or locating alien life forms and ancient ruins. Traveling between star systems at incredible speeds while choosing how to interact with alien species found out there. Some of them friendly, some of them hostile, all of them weird. Traveling and fighting is done in an almost real time format which never gets in the way or feels too fast. Just remember, when you get into a fight, RAISE SHIELDS, and before you try to land on a planet that the planet will not squash you due to extreme gravity! The game might not look like much today in the graphics department, but it was just right back then and I strongly suggest you buy it if you like sci-fi. If you ever felt like commanding your own spaceship with dedicated officers ala Star Trek, you will enjoy this. Starflight 1 is the game I played for many hours and I don't remember finishing! I have barely played Starflight 2, so I can't honestly comment on that, but the little I did I find more of the same goodness, but more improved. My review is for the first game.
My favourite futuristic arcade racer ever. Tons of problems to make it run in one way or the other, even near release, and with several versions depending on what hardware you had, glad to see it here. It's an arcade racer set on a distant doomed planet. In the "campaign" mode, a series of races to see who will become the champion and get the only ticket remaining out of the planet. Ok, the story is absurd, but no one plays racing games for the storyline. (hear me Codemasters?) Lots of tracks, which you can also play in reverse, and cars, which you can also change their attributes as much as you like, within certain limitations of course so that you don't get a super in everything car. :) You can play with or without damage, and even with "detailed" or more general damage model. No, don't think of a simulator type of damage, think arcade :) The tracks and cars are beautiful. Even today. Very good design and absolutely awesome in all respects. Most (IIRC) tracks also have shortcuts, which don't always lead to the best way, so it is a learning experience. Apart from championship (which IIRC is customizable too), you can also just play single races, time trials... The feeling you get of each car is very different and, in a way for the setting, believable. I don't know how else to say it, this is my favourite arcade racer and I am biased, but, buy this game, it is 100% worth the money.
If you like action shooters, space sims/"sims", or just a good sci fi story, stop reading this review, buy the game and play it, it's that good. You are a well known veteran pilot in a galactic war of basically the human race vs the kilrathi race. An alien species which are basically huge bipedal lions. Tremendous strength in melee, but more importantly, they are a huge military machine with the brain and the muscle ready to kick Earth's backside. You are part of a (space) carrier group, a pilot, going on a variety of missions (with some branching too!), mostly with other AI pilots as your wingmen (or wingwomen if you prefer). A usual variety of missions, though mostly of the kill everything in sight. There is a good backstory told both in game (while you pilot) with voiceovers, and with full motion video. NO! Don't run away! This is the good stuff! It's one of the few games where FMV actually not only works, but is done perfectly. It actually helps to set the mood and progress the story and it is not laughable. It helps that some serious money was thrown into it and has actually good and great actors in there. There is obviously your character, played by Luke Skywalker, I mean Mark Hamill, to the star of the show for me, Malcolm McDowell. And others, like the always great to watch John Rhys Davies (though not a huge part), Ginger Lynn Allen who took a break from her usual type of films, to the amazing looking Yolanda Jilot. Great space shooter/sim game. Get it. Oh, one last thing, the visual effects and costumes for the Kilrathi, still unsurpassed!!
A spiritual successor to the great Transport Tycoon. Unfortunately not as great as that one. It's a transport strategy/business simulator type of game. You have a company and you can build rail tracks, train depots, bus stations, airfields, ports, and their respective vehicles. With them you need to set routes to trade between the farms, industries, cities and villages of the map. The game has improvements, but it lacks some of the charm of its predecessor and that is not just wishful thinking. At times Locomotion feels like an extensive mod for Roller coaster Tycoon. I would say the game has gone 2 steps forward, 1 step back and 1 step to the side. It's good, just not as good as Transport Tycoon. If you haven't played that game and you can't find it or make it work, definitely check Locomotion. I still have it installed too.
When released this was one of the best, if not the best, at least PC, "kart racer". An arcade racer, in a near future/hovercrafts type of racing vehicles. Think of the pods in Star Wars 1 (and you don't want to think of anything else in that movie), only on Earth. You have a variety of vehicles and systems to use, targetting systems, ECM, weapons etc. They are not completely necessary, if you want to focus on the racing part you can just put any defensive systems you want and focus on speed to simply outrun the enemy. The tracks are about the right length and so is the over all action. It doesn't get too frustrated with fighting slowing you down all the time, but no one stops you from going all out war at the AI. The sound and graphics this day and age are servicable, nothing fancy and with enough pixelated goodness for old times sake. The game still looks cleaner than say Ridge Racer Type 4 for the PS1 from about the same era. The racing takes part in three dimensions so you will have to be careful not just with your turns but also with the altitude. Nothing as complicated as Pyroblaster, but it requires more skill/training to do well, than say Big Red Racing, or any other "kart racer" of the period. You unlock circuits by doing well in the previous one. Fully unlocking them all won't take too much, but it's not a game that you will only play once, that's for sure. If you like arcade racers with some fighting and you don't mind older graphics, get this, you won't regret it, as long as you are willing to not give up after one or two races before you are used to the controls. If of course you have played other 3 dimensional racers, you will be fine with that.
Basically a Commandos type of game, only done very well in a "Wild West" theme. If you liked any of the following games, you will probably like this one. Commandos series, Robin Hood:The legend of Sherwood. Real time, action, puzzle game with the use of a mouse in a Wild West game world. If you don't like the gameplay mechanics of them, then you better avoid this.
Simple controls, kill everything on sight, found the exit type of game. It takes about 10 min to get used to the controls, after which you will have a blast. Do not get cocky if you manage to get passed the first few levels without much trouble. The game gets hard, very hard and you will pay for it. Lots of weapons, huge number of aliens on every level, mindless shooting fun for the masses! (get it?)
