Retro Game Friday: Indiana Jones The Infernal Machine

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game that I can barely remember playing. It’s Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine!

Plot Synopsis: The story of the game is set in 1947 and depicts archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones returning to his digging career after his involvement in World War II. Sophia Hapgood, an old friend of Indiana and now a member of the Central Intelligence Agency, visits him at his dig site in the Canyonlands, and informs him that the Russians are excavating the ruins of Babylon.

Plot: I’ll be frank I don’t remember much of this game. I remember having fun, but that’s about it.

Gameplay: I played the 2D version of this that was made for the GameBoy Color, so despite it being a port it was actually the full game. It was however really frustrating to die and have to restart a level, and I’ll be honest puzzle clues were pretty non-existent. These are pretty much the only things I remember, probably because I got so annoyed at the game.

Art: It was purely 2D so it’s aged alright, but it’s also not that amazing.

Music: I don’t remember it at all, sorry.

Overall: Probably worth skipping playing, but if you want the story you can probably watch a Let’s Play on YouTube or something.

For those who like: Puzzles, Frustration, Indiana Jones.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Panzer Dragoon

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a real classic. It’s Panzer Dragoon!

Plot Synopsis: In the distant future, thousands of years after a great war between humans and their biologically engineered weapons, humans live in everything from small tribes to large nations. One nation, the Empire, has discovered a black tower in the middle of a lake near their capital, which gave them access to large amounts of ancient weapons which they used to beat back and control the ever present monsters in the world. The Imperials were corrupted by this power and became conquerors of others as opposed to liberators from a violent world.

Keil Fluge (unnamed in the North American version), is hunting in a canyon. After seeing an Imperial flying battleship in the sky, he is attacked by two creatures and chases one of them to a large, ancient complex built directly into the rock. He explores the ruin, and sees relics of old technology still hanging from the ceilings. Another gigantic creature suddenly attacks him, and though his weapon is useless against the armored creature, a rumbling triggers a cave in, which crushes the monster and saves Keil. From the newly created hole, an armored, blue dragon flies down the cavern with a rider across its shoulders, being chased by an even bigger black dragon as the cavern is destroyed in an explosion. Regaining consciousness outside, Keil sees the two dragons locked in combat in the air before him. Dodging a blast from the black dragon, the blue dragon’s rider is then hit by single shot to the chest, and the black dragon flies away. The blue dragon flies towards Keil. A psychic connection is made between the rider and Keil, who is told not to let the black dragon reach the black tower. The rider then dies and Keil picks up his fallen gun, climbs atop the dragon and flies away, determined to finish the rider’s quest.

Plot: The plot is okay, not super amazing though.

Gameplay: This plays a lot like a Star Fox game, by which I mean it plays like any Rail Shooter game.

Art: The art has aged terribly, but that isn’t a surprise considering it’s a 3D game.

Overall: Worth a play if you really want to, but you could probably skip this.

For those who like: Rail Shooters, Star Fox, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dragons

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: SkiFree

 

This week for Retro Game Friday, I’m talking about a game that was a contemporary to Chip’s Challenge, it’s SkiFree!

Plot Synopsis: There is no plot to this game.

Gameplay: In what is probably the very first “Endless Runner” style of game, you control a skier who tries to complete a course on the slopes, but even after the course you can keep going, until big fat and ugly pictured above eats you, skis and all. The gameplay was very simple, you controlled it with your mouse or keyboard, and after completing the course the goal was to see how long you could flee from the Yeti.

Music: I honestly don’t remember if this had music.

Overall: It’s a fairly simple game, but if you love endless runners, you should at least try to find a flash version of this game to play.

For those who like: Impossible Games, Endless Runners, Repeated failures.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.