September 30, 2007
Note: Some of you may want to skip reading the review and just download Age of Empires by following the instructions at the bottom of this page. If you like this game you may also be interrested in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome.
Overview
It’s rapidly becoming apparent that there are fewer and fewer truly well-designed games on the market, especially in the real-time strategy category. This genre seems to have fallen prey over the last year to the get-rich-quick mentality that has produced a whole host of mediocre Command and Conquer wannabes, but few real winners. With the high standards getting ever higher, the arrival of an RTS game from a company best known for such pulse-pounding titles as DOS 5.0 and Visual C++ might lead you to dismiss Microsoft’s Age of Empires without a second look. That would be your loss. This is an absolutely stellar old game — our leading contender for Strategy Game of the Year by a good distance, even over the impressive recent releases of Total Annihilation and Dark Reign.
What makes Age of Empires great? A lot of things. Most importantly, it is incredibly fun and addictive. We’ve had the beta for going on three months and we’ve been hard pressed to stop playing it long enough to review other games. Add to the great gameplay absolutely superb graphics, the most balanced and intelligent economic model we’ve yet seen, and a truly innovative tech tree that builds on the best of Civilization, and you’ve got yourself a really amazing game.
Download and Read the whole Age of Empires review
September 24, 2007
Overview
Are you looking for fast-and-furious arcade-style fighting? Do you like bloodshed? Need to let out some serious aggression? Do you get a kick out of multiple flying dismembered limbs? Do you like bloodshed? Enjoy frustration? Well, step right up: we’ve got the game for you. Did I mention bloodshed?
This game, like all others in the series, is really not about the storyline, as any Mortal Kombat fan will tell you. This appears to me to be a translation of Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate from the arcade. It contains virtually everything from the first three old games in the series plus some new surprises. There are thirty-two immediately playable characters, including the boss characters, and five hidden ones. A new “Aggressor” mode allows your character to become even stronger and fiercer. There are also lots of new moves that are not available in the arcade version.
Continue reading the Mortal Kombat review
September 24, 2007
Overview
Motorcycle racing games have been a favorite in old arcades for several years. You know which games I mean — the ones where there’s an actual motorcycle body you can sit on and you really have to lean into the turns. The illusion of racing a bullet bike at breakneck speeds is sometimes irresistible. Even better are the arcades that have several machines linked for multiplayer racing. This style of game has been mostly an arcade-only experience until now. Moto Racer brings the adrenaline rush to the PC, and even though it still has a long way to go to match the full arcade machines it was still lots of fun to play, especially with friends.
Read the full game review
August 24, 2007
Blasting onto the scene of real-time combat games is the Bitmap Brothers’ latest shooter, Z. The time is in the not-so-distant future. The place is on various fictional planets where you are in command of a league of ruthless, party-animal, twisted, cowboy-looking robots primed and ready to take over the galaxy. That’s about the extent of the story line, as Z is geared for Duke Nukem-caliber bloodfests and humor. Z has the same feel as games like Command & Conquer and Close Combat, but with a few interesting twists. While other games of this genre have tried hard to make combat realistic and believable, Z adds a little spice and humor to the slaughtering of masses. Compared to the other games in its class, Z is simple and easy to play, and it is obvious that the main goal is to get the player into some major slaughterfests as soon as possible. The storyline is really just for laughs and the characters are cartoonish robots who act like they are always partying between massive bloodbaths. It is your job to progress through a multitude of missions (C&C style) to eventually wipe your worthless foe from the reaches of the universe. Each mission gets harder and lots of interesting weapons are obtained before you finally win the ultimate battle. Or … if you are not into beating up on your poor computer, you can work on your relationships with your friends as you smash their little robot faces to dust. Z supports a four-player network mode or connection via modem. Hopefully you are getting the idea; Z is high on action and low on storyline … a real planetary ego-romp.
Gameplay
The gameplay and interface for Z is very similar to that of Command & Conquer, and there are no surprises here. You look down on your overhead map and select units to take to battle; it’s very easy to pick up, and you shouldn’t need the manual. 
If C&C is your favorite game, you will be disappointed with Z. There is no base building in the game; in fact, you can’t build any structures, which makes it obvious that the Bitmap Brothers wanted to remove everything that got in the way of pure death and destruction. So you are limited to units (troops and armor) and the bases and structures supplied when you start each new mission. There are flags posted at various strategic points on the battlefield (usually where there are structures), the capture of which should be the player’s goal. Once you capture a flag, the associated building is yours to use, but beware—the enemy lurks near to snatch it back from you. The ultimate goal is to lay siege on the enemy’s base (located at the opposite end of the battlefield, of course) and destroy it, causing your robots to tap a victory keg and act like tin egomaniacs as they party their way to the next mission. There are four missions per planet, then you fly off to a new planet (with new planetary graphics) to cause more death and destruction. I am an avid C&C player, and by far that is my favorite overhead war sim. But Z has its good points, and it does some things that I found to be a refreshing change. For instance, the simplicity is great, especially if you just want to cause havoc for a half-hour, then move on to something else. The missions are not really that long, and the simple idea of "capture the flag" kept me playing longer than I would have expected. On the other hand, unlike C&C, you can’t sit down for hours and engross yourself in strategic and interesting scenarios. In the long run, Z is dry, and the humor and cut scenes are repetitive and get old after a while. Of course, you can remedy this with some good old-fashioned network play … fire up those modems!
Graphics
The graphics are great, done in SVGA, and are very smooth. When structures and units explode, the particles fly up in the air, giving the player a really neat 3D effect. Of course, realism gives way to Wile E. Coyote-style fluff at this point and you realize just how fragile the battlefield really is. In fact, there is a setting where the player can decide just how much explosion debris he/she wants during the game. I found it amusing to blow through canyons and cliffs and watch the debris fly into the air,only to land on and squish my unsuspecting foe. The cut-scenes in Z are nicely done, but they get repetitive fast, and you won’t be amused by them for long. Overall, the graphics are nicely done.
Audio
Standard fare here. Good sound, lots of shooting and dying, etc. Nothing much to say here … or to write home about.
Documentation
Just fine for the simplicity of this game. I used it mostly to look up the different units to see which ones were better for certain situations, etc. I really liked the detail in this area. 
System Requirements
486-66 MHZ processor, 8 MB RAM, MS-DOS 6.0 or greater, VGA Graphics Adapter, 20 MB free hard disk space, 2X CD ROM, Microsoft compatible mouse. The game ran fine on my P-100 with 32 MB of RAM.
Bottom Line
Z is fun, Z is amusing, Z is simple, Z made me laugh (albeit momentarily); Z is action-packed, Z has nice graphics, Z was on my hard drive for more than a week. But Z is not Command & Conquer — case closed. I just can’t get all that juiced over a game that inevitably gets pitted against the ultimate. For its good points, I give Z a 78 out of 100, and hey, if you just want to kill something, go get Z. Who needs to build a base anyway?
Download Z
You can download Bitmap Brother’s Zed from 486games.net compressed in a Rar archive. File size: 10.1 MB (10,556,117 bytes). To run the game you must extract the Z folder contained in the archive to C:\Z otherwise you have to change some settings manually. Also for the sound to work properly in the Zed game you have to run SETSOUND.EXE and select your card model. I did the following: Select and configure digital audio driver -> Creative Labs Sound Blaster or 100% compatible -> Attempt to configure manually.
At last, double click(run) Z.BAT and the game will start. Enjoy!
August 23, 2007
Command & Conquer is a real-time action-strategy game that tests your reflexes as well as your planning and strategic skills. The game takes place in the near future, and the story line is clearly told via cinematics. There are main characters that play large roles as the game unfolds, but most of your time will be spent battling it out with your enemy. The interface of the game is a top-down perspective so you can see all of your units moving about and (hopefully) accomplishing their tasks. From this view you can control every aspect of the game. The view only shifts when you win a battle (this could take hours), and a nicely-done cut-scene expands on the story and prepares you for your next mission. After you have completed all the missions for either side (15 or so), you win the game. There are two sides to play — GDI or NOD — and the story is different for each. I played both sides all the way through, and the game was still fun after I finished. The best part about C&C is the multiplayer capability where you can have up to four players battling it out at once. Although it’s not without flaws, Command & Conquer is one of the best games I’ve ever played; check out my review and find out why.
Gameplay
The first thing you do after you install the game is watch the nicely-done introduction. This sets the stage for the entire game and allows the player to really get into the storyline. Westwood did a great job with storyline and cut-scenes in Command & Conquer, which (for me) made this game one of the best ever. Most games for me don’t have that extra frosting like C&C does, with the smooth transitions and well-done video. I admit, the videos and story elements of a game are not everything, but they sure polish a game up if done correctly. C&C gets an A+ in this area.
Gameplay and graphics are the most important elements in a game for me. C&C does both of these well. Standard VGA graphics are not the sharpest, but they do very well with what they have. Westwood will be upgrading to SVGA with their new release, Red Alert, due out in late September. Gameplay is great with C&C and I have just a few complaints which I will touch on later; first, the things I liked. I loved all the different units each side had and all the unique abilities available at the player’s disposal. I switched from one side to the other several times, trying to decide which one I liked better. Westwood did a good job at balancing the sides so one was not overpowering the other all the time. When you start the game, it is apparent that the NOD team is the devious, sneaky, no-good, third-world gonna-take-over-the-universe type. The GDI team is the fine, organized, sharp-looking, freedom-fighter, defend-the-earth-against-all-evil type. At first (if you do what I did) you may pick sides based on the type of person you are. So you have picked a side; now it’s time to wreck havoc on the enemy. 
The missions are laid out from very easy at first, to progressively more challenging. The player chooses from a world map which territory to attack, then the mission briefing begins. After the neat video, you are off and running in the heat of battle. An average mission will take about 2 or 3 hours to complete; that’s not counting the first 2 or 3 that will only take a few minutes at best. Mission by mission, the game and story progress until you have won that last victory and the game ends. Time to switch sides and start over! Orrrrr … call your friends and blow them off the face of the earth! That’s just what I did, and that’s where C&C shines the most. It’s a whole different game when suddenly you don’t know what the other player is going to do. My friends and I have played over the modem one-on-one or over a network with four of us at once; both ways are fun. The interface is easy, and modem gameplay is smooth and seamless on anything better than a 486 50. I played a friend who had a 486SX 25 and that was dog-slow, but who has those anymore? Overall, C&C is one of my all-time favorite games.
Computer AI/Design
Now I’ll get to the few things I did not like about the game. First of all, after a couple of weeks, I had figured out the computer AI and playing solo was not as rewarding anymore. I also got frustrated when my harvesters were being stupid and I had to baby-sit them while my base was getting crushed. There are a few things Westwood did not catch when designing the game that the player could use to his advantage, making the game unenjoyable. A few of these are:
- You can build sandbags all over the battlefield, into the enemy’s base, then build a turret or guard tower to crush him from the inside out.
- If you are NOD, to win you just have to build 20 or so recon bikes, put them in packs of 8, and say goodbye to whoever was dumb enough to play you.
- Tanks can’t destroy one little soldier with their 20MM cannons at point blank range. This frustrated me forever.
- Harvesters are stupid. Enough said.
- The battlefield is too small. (This will be corrected in Red Alert.)
- Once you go everywhere on the map, you can always see it. Now you can watch your enemy everywhere he goes.
- Helicopters can’t map. WHAT? That’s why I’d buy one anyway. Logically, I would think they would be the best mappers because they can FLY!
- Each time you make a commando SNEAK into the enemy’s base, he yells, "Ready to rock and roll!" and all players can hear it.
System Requirements
486-DX2 66, 8 MB RAM, VGA card (1 MB VRAM), mouse, SoundBlaster-compatible sound card, 14.4 modem (for network play) Reviewed On: P-133 MHz, 16 MG, SB 16, Diamond Stealth video w/ 2 MB DRAM.
Bottom Line
Aside from these gripes, the game is great. I know Westwood is working on these items for their next release due out this fall, so I have full confidence I will enjoy Red Alert even more. If you are a fan of real time simulations, then C&C should be on the top of your list to get. But if you don’t like sweating, biting your nails and yelling at your computer screen, you’d better stay away from this one. Enjoy! Download Right now all i could find was a mininova torrent to download C&C, but attention the Red Alert 2 version. Download Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 from mininova I don’t like the comments there, but you should give it a shot. Here is what the mininova users said: Alright, at first on my PC nothing worked from this release even after extracting the Images to my hard disc using Alcohol 120%. However I tried burning the disc images to CDs and then the game ran perfectly from the CDs! but then my friend tried the exact same thing, and he needed to use a No-CD crack from www.gamecopyworld.com to get it to play after installing the game with the disc! The game file has been up for 921 days, with 92329 downloads and right now there are 98 seeds and 115 leechers so i guess the download location is good. Please post some feedback. Thanks.
July 17, 2007
Many strategy gamers’ first love was Sid Meier’s Civilization. Its configurability, open-endedness, and challenge simply blew people away when it came out five years ago, and its popularity hasn’t waned much over time. Now, finally, this game has received a much-needed overhaul and been made even bigger–and better–in Civilization II.
Never tried Civilization before? You’re in for a treat. Civ II is the ultimate computerized strategic gaming challenge. It features global competition with personalized computer and (via modem or null-modem cable) human opponents, struggling to build a dominant empire. Games span a period of 6,000 years, and each time you play, the world is different.
Civ II is complex and sophisticated, but it doesn’t require tedious micro-management–its seemingly endless number of options become second nature in a relatively short amount of time. All you need is a little patience (of course, using the excellent saved tutorial game won’t hurt either), and you’ll quickly learn the game’s essential features.
Basically, Civ II is a turn-based game of exploration, commerce, balance, and conquest. You discover the world as you settle it, gathering new resources and growing your population. More food means larger cities–or more cities, as you send out new explorers. Scientific research lets you make major technological advancements. Whatever scientific path you pursue causes several other, similar paths to be temporarily delayed. After studying the alphabet, for instance, you can choose to study map-making, code of law, writing, or mathematics. All four are equally important, but whichever one you choose first hinders your studying of the other three.
These repercussions hold true for your cities’ development as well. Will you add more buildings to increase production and bring other benefits? Create new units to protect yourself and attack your neighbors? Or devote a very long time to designing Wonders of the World, which offer major advantages to your entire civilization?
You can have as few as three or as many as seven other civilizations compete against your strategic might. You select opponents from a pool of 21 adversaries with varying attitudes and styles of play. You can choose to create alliances with opponents or declare war. Establish trade routes, send out spies, and steal technologies. There’s no single route to success. You’ll need to use all your resources and cunning to grow strong enough to turn your enemies into ancient memories.
For all the similarities to the original, Civ II is more than a minor update. Yes, the basic elements remain the same, but much has been added or tweaked. That goes beyond the fancier–but still disappointing–graphics.
For one, Civ II is, in many respects, much more realistic than its forebear. Consider combat, for instance. Remember how infuriating it was to have your Battleship bombard a city, only to see it destroyed by a single, ancient Phalanx unit hiding behind fortified walls? The chances of this occurring have nearly vanished thanks to a greatly extended range of offensive and defensive points. Even simple Musketeer units (musket bearers, not mouse cultists, silly) are far tougher than relatively similar Phalanx units, which magnifies the gap between the units’ respective technologies.
Battles used to be win-or-lose, all-or-nothing affairs, with victorious units emerging unscathed. Now, your units can emerge from victory sporting damage, resulting in reduced movement points and increased vulnerability to future attacks. The injuries heal over time, especially when your units are resting, and new city improvements speed the process even further.
New, more practical combat rules enhance this feeling of a strategic war game, rather than just a strategy game with combat units. For example, when air units attack ships in port, the attackers have doubled firepower, faithfully reflecting the vulnerability of their targets. These air units can now carry land units and paradrop forces into a well-defended enemy city, which adds more fun and paranoia to the game.
In terms of production, Civ II continues to evolve into a more challenging, realistic game. In the first Civ, you could instantly switch production from one type of Wonder to another, or to a different type of unit or city improvement, as circumstances warranted. (”Oh, that Rifleman unit is approaching my capitol? Let’s convert my work on Newton’s Laws into a Tank.”) Civ II assesses penalties for switching production types in midstream. You may lose some of your shields, for instance. (Shields are units that measure your building capacity. The more your cities produce, the more cool stuff you can build.)
Diplomacy is also emphasized more heavily the second time around. You can now declare ceasefires and take a breather before resuming your attacks on another civilization. If you’re the huggy-feely type, choose a permanent alliance instead of a simple peace treaty and move your units without regard for your partner’s zone of control. But if you follow up with an attack, watch out. Computerized opponents have excellent memories, and they carry grudges loaded with neutron bombs.
There’s more of everything in Civilization II. Different terrain types now have two associated resources rather than one. Some swamp squares in Civilization, for instance, used to produce oil, generating four shields. Now some produce peat as well (four shields) while others have spice (four trade arrows). Some units can even transform terrain types. Settlers and engineer units can also improve farmland, preparing high-yield market gardens.
Expect many new and tweaked city improvements and World Wonders. And there are no more dead-end advances; anything you study leads to something very useful. There’s an additional government type, too: Fundamentalism (others include Anarchy, Despotism, Monarchy, Communism, Republic, and Democracy). Under this rule, citizens are always happy, there’s very low waste, and every city can support up to 10 military units. Budding theocrats take note, however: All scientific research is halved.
Still not enough of a challenge? Try out the new Deity mode, which surpasses the Emperor mode of old. Conversely, if the challenge ever seems too great, try the new Cheat menu, and build a Wonder or add a unit improvement instantly.
This help system is vastly more attractive, but then, you’d expect that from a sequel. The graphics are naturally more distinguished–Super VGA vs. VGA is no contest. But retaining the overall look of the old game has forced some sacrifices, and Civilization II is essentially the same visual icon-based game of old.
That shouldn’t blind you to what MicroProse and Sid Meier have accomplished in Civilization II. It’s a considerable achievement, significantly improving a very complex classic without losing the flavor of the original. At a time when so many airhead games with motion-picture visuals are hitting the streets, newcomers and veterans alike will welcome Civ II’s imagination, depth, and fun. Civilization II is a must-have.
Download the free version of Civilization game: FreeCiv
Download Civilization II from mininova. Right now, July 17, 2007, this has 27 seeds, 15 leechers and has been downloaded 3348 times. Hope it lasts. Torrent Description:
“As requested, I proudly present Sid Meier’s Civilization II. (Civilization 2, if you didn’t learn Roman numerals) Just a pure, clean iso. Mount it, burn it, do whatever. And try to save Paris in WWII. That’s…that’s about it. Enjoy. Check out my other torrents as well (Including Civilization II: Test of Time)”
Disclaimer: None of the files shown here are actually hosted or transmitted by this server.
July 17, 2007
SimCity 2000 (Maxis) is the updated version of that venerable classic, SimCity the granddaddy of all simulation games.
Although this newer version has been around for awhile, its still one of the most entertaining simulation programs you can buy. Start out with little more than cow pastures, and in no time you can be ruling a megalopolis if you know how to manage a city, that is. The issues you must consider and control are numerous zoning, development, mass transit, education, recreation, utilities, and on and on. Your potential problems are even more numerous illiteracy, urban blight, riots, declining land values, gridlock, and an aging infrastructure, to name just a few. We’ve always been fans of this game, mostly because it strikes a perfect balance between giving you control over the minute details a good simulation requires and keeping things simple enough to be fun. The initial learning curve is a bit steep we’d like to see a tutorial like the one included with Gazillionaire, but we must admit that in traditional Maxis style the manual is at least an entertaining read. SimCity 2000 will hold your interest longer than just about any other CD-ROM game, mainly because the simulation is so challenging. But if you can stay on top of things, keep crime and pollution low and maybe float some successful bond issues, you’ll be rewarded with throngs of your little Sim-citizens erecting a statue in your honor. What more could anyone ask for?
Download SimCity 2000 - 2.3 MB (2,396,857 bytes) ZIP archive.
If the above download link doesn’t work (403 Forbidden), copy the follwowing URL and paste it in your address bar:
May 31, 2007
With this website I will try to review some of the old games from the past, starting with the 1980’s when the computer games era began. Older people know that Old Games are called “Oldies but Goldies”. UFO - ENEMY UNKNOWN, DUNE 1 and 2, ALBION, TRANSPORT TYCOON, MDK and many more old game titles.
More information about gamegoldies.org and abandonware…
