Okay, it’s that time of the weekend again. I’ve got two great games for you today. The first is a Polish made game called Retrofire an unusual space shooter that is much harder than most space shooters I know and the second game is a remake of a classic arcade game from the very early 80’s called Gauntlet Revisited.
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Retrofire:
This has a full installer, but no shortcut is placed on the desktop. You can access the shortcut from the start menu. It’s easy enough to create a desktop shortcut by right clicking on the shortcut in the start menu applications list then selecting send to, from the drop down menu select desktop (create shortcut).
All the menus are in Polish, so there’s a little bit of a learning curve, but it’s well worth the effort, for an unusual shooter that requires a little bit of strategy and careful management of ammunition and fuel. I will be posting translations of all the menus that I found as well as a few other words, but I haven’t the time to complete it tonight and I really want to get this posted, so you’ll have to bear with me on that one. It isn’t hard however to work out whats what. For example, from the main menu the first two lines are for the two different types of game you can play; incidentally when I say there are 99 levels, that’s 99 levels for each mode of play, though I think the levels are basically the same, you just have to either rescue or attack. The third line down I haven’t worked out yet, the fourth is high scores and the last line is your close game. It was hard to decipher the Polish translation that I made from the authors description of the game. (using Googles translator) So I’ll just summarize what I found. There are 99 levels, which comprise of two basic types of missions, both of which start on a mother ship. The first type are rescue missions which can sometimes involve you running the gauntlet of enemy fire several times because your ship has limited carrying capacity and you may have to rescue several of your own pilots, but you cannot carry them all at once. The second type of mission involves attacking enemy forces. As you progress through the levels the enemies increase in numbers.
If you are running out of ammunition you can only replenish your stocks by going back to the mother ship; where you can also refuel your ship and carry out repairs. This is done simply by landing safly. If you land too fast you’ll blow up. In addition to the standard scenario, you can select additional missions or pass random missions that are generated on a regular basis; each time these are different. However I’ve not played enough of the game to come across these, or I missed the Polish prompt.
There’s even a levels editor to add more scenarios, and there are lots of different planet types to visit, though you don’t fly between planets, that’s imaginary, lol. I’ve taken quite a few screenshots because although the game isn’t graphically great, it has some appeal; enough for me to have invested quite a bit of time playing it.
Personally I think this game would be well worth translating into English.
All on one page:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Forum%20Games/Retrofire/?albumview=grid
As a slideshow:
At the end of a level you will be taken towhat I thnk is a shop where you can spend your money on various power ups. Looks like that, but this is another area that I intend translating and will post the appropriate information when I’ve done it. You have five lives.
Controls
Menus:
Space bar - Menu
Arrow up and Down select from menu
Q – Quit
Esc – Pause
In Game:
Z – Standard Thrusters
X – Powerful Thrusters (useful for breaking a decent that’s too fast)
Q – Nose thrusters (helps you to descend)
A – Side Thrusters (helps you to manoeuvre away from the mothership and along the planets terrain, though watch out because the terrain is rough and you can easily smash into the side of a hill
D - Guns
S – Missiles
You can get codes for immortality and infinite fuel and ammunition stocks by emailing the author. You can find the Email by following download link
Requires open GL, which you can get for free. Just Google it if you don’t have it. Most computers will probably have it, so you can probably ignore this; however if the game doesn’t play properly then try downloading and installing it.
Download link:
http://gad.art.pl/opis.php?i=348&kat=0&od=0&srt=1
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Gauntlet Revisited:
This is probably the first computer game that ever fascinated me and was also the first one that I ever played multiplayer as that was the only way it could be played effectively. It was one of those games where you actually sat down at a table with three other players and controlled four characters A warrior, a Valkyrie a wizard or a ranger. You had to play one of either, but if someone else wanted to be a warrior and you did then you’d have to fight for it lol, as the characters were set. You then proceeded to travel as a group through mazes rife with monsters, vaults, traps, hidden treasure and reliquaries. This game has tried to recapture some of the elements from that game and includes a basic stats system. Completing the game opens up Champion mode, and for every five levels that you pass there are more entries in the bestiary. There are 30 levels to work through, though I really can’t remember whether there was a levels system in the original arcade game. This game can be played singleplayer though. :)
Download Link
http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/games/51922-gauntlet-revisited
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