Project Firestart for the C64
Rarely mentioned these days, a kind of proto-survival horror. Seems unique for the time it was made (late 80s).
One doesn't need to spend much time with Project Firestart to see how much of an influence it had on System Shock. The healthbars, the setting, the writing on the wall (literally), the general progress of the story, etc.
Since we're on a small 8-bit binge here, I want to bring up the first computer game I ever played...which upon examination has an odd series of versions.
Sorcery (1984)
You play the last of the Sorcerers who oppose the Great Necromancer for dominance of the land - but how you accomplish this depends on which version of the game you're playing. In some versions (C-64, Spectrum and MSX) you must fly/float around 20 screens of creepy scenery in a linear fashion, dodging evil-looking monsters and trying to determine which items will assist you in reaching Stonehenge and place an item there to win the game. In other versions (Amstrad CPC, Thomson TO), however, you must fly/float around a gameworld in a non-linear fashion, with around 60 screens of creepy scenery and evil-looking monsters, while trying to rescue the other 8 Sorcerers. The difference is so vast, one can claim that the former version is a demo for the latter.
The version I played, however, is Sorcery+, an Amstrad CPC-exclusive remaster of the game released in 1985 (which was then ported to the 16-bits 3 years later). This version plays almost identical to the original version, except once you've rescued the 8 Sorcerers you must then go to a new region of 28 screens and try to defeat the Great Necromancer once and for all.
For a 1985 game, Sorcery looks pretty good. The music comprises of one track played during the rolling titles that sounds like a variation of Dukas's
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, while the sound effects are pretty decent. You'll either learn to love or hate that creaking door sound.
I'm not gonna beat around the bush on one thing: Sorcery is a BRUTALLY hard game. You only have one life, which is only kept going by having enough energy, staying away from water, getting the job done on time and avoiding the built-in traps in the level design. Energy can be regained by sitting on various cauldrons, but not only are there cauldrons around that can drain your energy, the properties of each cauldron are randomly determined in each game. The time limit is generous, it's at least 30 minutes but probably closer to 60 minutes. (The C-64 version's timer is around 8 minutes, by comparison.) Water insta-kills you if touched, and finally there's the level design, which reveals the core aspect of the game - trial and error. And with this being an old 8-bit game, there's no such thing as saving your game...or passwords...or checkpoints. You have to beat the entire game in one go.
There are dozens of items in Sorcery, each with a specific use. What that use is, however, is never disclosed, you must discover their properties on your own. Some of the items make sense - door keys open doors and shooting stars shoot stars that kill any monsters they hit. But then it gets more confusing. Various weapons like longswords, axes and the ol' ball & chain only work on certain monsters, glass bottles are needed to open trap doors (?) and items such as coat of arms and candles are needed to use certain doors - but those doors may lead to dead ends with no items and require a different item than the one you're carrying in order to be used again - meaning that you've trapped yourself and need to either sit out the timer or reboot the computer. All that, and you still need to find out which items are needed to free the other Sorcerers, as their doors require special items, like a crescent moon, a spellbook or a jeweled crown.
And I haven't even mentioned the new region exclusive to the "+" version of the game, where enemies fire back at you, all the items has been switched out so you need to figure them all out all over again, and you'll be passing around Amstrad CPC User Manuals to Roland (from various old "Roland in XXX" games) while making a brief stop at Gatwick Airport.
So in order to beat Sorcery(+), you'll need to have memorized the map layout for both regions, knowing which doors require which items and which doors are dangerous, knowing the locations of monster-slaying items, know where the essential items needed for your quest are located and bring them to the 8 Sorcerers, all without having all your energy drained, all without ever falling into water, all within the specific timeframe, and all in one go - something I pulled off when I was 8 years old. Gamers harping on about how modern games like Dark Souls are tough can eat it for all I care.
One final note - Sorcery+ has an in-game advertisement for a game called Strangeloop+ - which I also owned and was coded by the same team. Strangeloop+ features a section where you activate some technological gizmo and end up being sent to another place and time - namely, several screens of Sorcery+ that ends at Stonehenge where you meet up with the Sorcerer you play in Sorcery, before returning back to the space station that Strangeloop+ takes place on. A neat touch of linking games together that I would like to see more of, but modern-day legal wranglings have all but killed off.
for ninja.
