Stunts

The late 80s and early 90s were filled with "true 3D" polygon-based first-person driving games. There was Hard Drivin' in the arcade by Atari, Geoff Crammond released Stunt Car Racer, Spectrum Holobyte published Stunt Driver, to name a few. But the one game that proved to capture the hearts of many and remains being played competitively to this very day is 1990's Stunts (aka 4D Sports Driving), developed by Distinctive Software ("DSi"), famous for making such games as Test Drive as well as Grand Prix Circuit, which we covered in episode 2 of this podcast.

We dove deep into the world of Stunts to see what sets it apart from the competition and why it still has an active following to this very day. That's why we're excited that hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are not only joined by DGC club members Rob ("Spoonboy") and newcomer Shawn ("DJ_HiP"), but also by two members of the Stunts forum over at stunts.hu. Lucas ("Cas") is the organiser of the Race For Kicks competition and has developed several tools and utilities for the game. Mark ("KyLiE") keeps a detailed list of custom cars on his website, has worked on custom cars of his own and helps out with hosting several Stunts projects. They're both keen racers and have been active in the Stunts community for years.

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (184 mins, 211 MB)

We got help from DGC member console, who edited the majority of this episode. Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

The original Speedball from 1988 was already a highly acclaimed futuristic sports game, lauded for its action-packed arcade-style gameplay and superb audiovisual presentation. But when the Bitmap Brothers released the sequel in 1990 for Amiga and Atari ST they truly outdid themselves. Both horizontal and vertical scrolling at a blistering pace was an achievement rarely seen on home computers at the time, let alone combined with an excellent AI. It's still remembered as one of the Amiga's greatest games.

But less well-known perhaps is the 1991 PC port, also by Bitmap Brothers. How does the DOS version hold up to its famous Amiga counterpart? That's what we're here for to find out!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") to talk about this game is DGC veteran Hannes ("MrCreosote") and DGC newcomer Jeremy ("ZorroBandito"), who both played tons of the Amiga version back in the day and know all the ins and outs of what makes this game great.

A big shout out to DGC member Niklas ("killershrew") who was previously on the Dark Forces episode and had planned to be on the Speedball episode as well. He's a big football games fan and we would have loved to have him on, but sadly he has suffered a sudden medical condition and is recovering from that for the foreseeable future. We all wish him the best and are thinking of him. We hope to see him back on for a future episode as soon as he his able. Take care, Niklas!

[ download mp3 ] (163 mins, 186 MB)

We got help from DGC member console editing this episode (again!). Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

Discworld

The official Terry Pratchett-approved Discworld point & click adventure game has been pinned on our forums for over two years, as April 2023 would have been his 75th birthday, had he lived to experience it.

Although Pratchett was initially apprehensive about the project, after been shown early demos he gave his approval and by 1995 the game was released to much fanfare. It was a big production, with famous British actors and comedians providing the voices, such as Eric Idle from Monty Python voicing Rincewind, the protagonist of the story.

All in all a very interesting game and a good moment for us to check it out!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we have DGC veterans Richard ("Pix") and Esko ("FireFyte"), as well as first-time guest Ben ("PS_Garak"), who is an avid adventure game streamer on Twitch.

On top of this we received two lovely voice messages: one from Ben Chandler, the game artist who was also on our Albion episode, and James Woodcock who is both an adventure game fan and music composer, and made an enhanced soundtrack for Discworld which is compatible with ScummVM (see the link in the list below the post).

[ download mp3 ] (154 mins, 176 MB)

We got help from DGC member console editing this episode (again!). Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

Star Wars: Dark Forces

"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, and space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet." - Sound familiar? Well, in our game of the month, you play Kyle Katarn for whom this theft of plans is such an easy task that he can do it as the first level!

But obviously, the Empire has other evil plans, or shall we say, "Dark" plans? They are working on a new type of battle droid and heavily armed storm trooper: The Dark Trooper. The Rebels cannot let that happen, so Kyle sets out to destroy this threat before it even becomes one.

This all sounds nice and well, but is Lucas Arts' 1995 hit game also a good game? Is it fun?

Discussing this game with host Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf"), we have returning member Björn ("TigerQuoll") and new member Niklas ("Killershrew") as well as a voice message by watchful, who has sent uncountable brilliant messages over the years.

[ download mp3 ] (99 mins, 113 MB)

We got help from DGC member console editing this episode (again!). Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

Alien Legacy

In 2119 the United Nations Seedship Calypso was launched. Headed for Beta Caeli, the farthest star yet attempted, this ark ship holds thousands of people in cryogenic sleep ready for colonising this remote system. Ever since the first interstellar war with the Centaurians broke out in 2043, the future of Earth and therefore the human race has been under threat. In 2135 the faster UNS Tantalus was launched with the same destination as the Calypso. Despite leaving years later, due to its faster engines it was projected to arrive 21 years before the Calypso would. But when the Calypso arrives and its crew is awakened, there is no sign the Tantalus was ever even here.

In Alien Legacy it's your job as head of the Calypso to find out what happened to the Tantalus, and more importantly ensure humanity's future by establishing a thriving colony far away from Earth. Developed by Ybarra Productions and published in 1994 by Sierra On-Line, this game offers a mix of management/strategy and narrative which is pretty unique.

Discussing this game with host Martijn ("Tijn") we have an interesting lineup of newcomers to the show for you! Sadly co-host Florian ("rnlf") couldn't make it, but he'll be back next time. First of all there's Tamsin ("TheLobdegg") who suggested we play this game. Then there's Chris, who's been a long-time fan of Alien Legacy and as Tamin's friend recommended it to them. And last but not least we have Brian ("SpaceGameJunkie") who got Alien Legacy on launch day back when it was originally released.

Tamsin is part of Hadrosaurus Software, who are working on Acronia, a newly made real DOS game we've talked about before in our episode about DOS Games Jam and modern DOS culture. They recently released The Aching, a Sierra AGI-style adventure game designed for Tandy 1000 computers and up. It's available on itch.io and Steam.

Brian has YouTube & Twitch channels dedicated to space games old & new and runs an active Discord community as well. Links can all be found in the list below.

[ download mp3 ] (115 mins, 132 MB)

We got help from DGC member console editing this episode. Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!