1996

Bad Mojo

Description

The story takes place in July 1958 in a rundown bar owned by Eddie Battito. Roger, one of Eddie’s tenants, has stolen a million dollars worth of loan money from a science corporation he had previously worked for and is planning to leave for Mexico City to start a new life. But after a small argument with Eddie, he remembers a little trinket that he had gotten in his early childhood: a cockroach-patterned locket that belonged to his deceased mother, Angelina. Upon its discovery, the locket transforms Roger’s soul into a cockroach, and transports him to a mysterious sewer system connected to every section of the bar. His adventure takes him to the basement (which is also Eddie’s bedroom), the bathroom, the kitchen, the bar room, Roger’s room and finally his research room. As the roach (Roger) explores a world filled with danger at every turn, including rats, garbage disposals, and his own pet cat, Franz, he is constantly being guided by his mother’s spirit, who serves as an oracle.

The game explores the sad past of both Roger and Eddie, revealing that Roger had been abandoned to an abusive nun, was the center of bullying as a young man, and was never taken seriously by his superiors. Eddie has had just as bad a life, having his beloved wife die during childbirth and giving up his son out of grief and his livelihood stumbling. Eddie does not realize that his wife, Angelina, was Roger’s mother, nor does Roger know that Angelina was Eddie’s wife. During Roger’s exploration, he is forced to extinguish the pilot light to a gas stove in the kitchen to save a baby cockroach that, in turn, assists him in jamming the garbage disposal with a spoon. This act eventually causes the whole bar to be filled with gas. Roger must then set off a smoke detector to wake Eddie and then finally reach the locket in his own unconscious body’s hand. With both men safely out of the bar when it explodes, Roger and Eddie discover that they are, in fact, father and son, which was exactly as the oracle planned. …

Rocket Jockey

Description

Rocket Jockey is a Windows video game created by Rocket Science Games and published by SegaSoft in 1996. The game’s concept was developed by designer/lead programmer Sean Callahan, paired with an alternate reality 1930s America setting, conceived by VP of development/creative director Bill Davis. The player jets at high speed inside a grassy, enclosed sports arena on a rocket sled that is always in motion and chiefly steered with two grappling-hook guns mounted on its flanks. The rocket can change speeds but always flies about three feet off the ground unless it is engaged in one of the games’ frequent and often-comic collisions.
The soundtrack features legendary surf rock guitar player Dick Dale. Three different Rollerball-style game modes are available for competition.

Although it was well-reviewed by critics, the game was burdened by a general lack of pre-release press coverage, steep hardware requirements, and extensive delays of a patch which added LAN play, which together led to poor sales. As time passed it has suffered a classic example of software rot and compatibility issues have appeared, making it very difficult to install the game on modern systems. Some diehards have created workarounds for this, most notably a custom modified registry key. …

Tomb Raider (1996)

Description

Archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft is approached by Larson, who is working for the wealthy businesswoman Jacqueline Natla. Natla hires Lara to find a mysterious artefact known as the Scion in the tomb of Qualopec—a ruler of Atlantis—within the mountains of Peru. After recovering the Scion from Qualopec’s tomb, Lara is confronted by Larson, who reveals that she is holding a piece of the artefact and Natla has sent Pierre Dupont to retrieve the other pieces. Breaking into Natla’s offices to find out Pierre’s whereabouts, Lara discovers a medieval monk’s journal revealing that the next Scion piece is buried beneath an ancient monastery of St. Francis’ Folly.

Navigating the monastery, Lara finds the tomb of Tihocan, another ruler of Atlantis. There, Lara confronts Pierre and recovers the second piece of the Scion. After joining both pieces of the Scion, Lara sees a vision which reveals that the third and final piece of the Scion was hidden in Egypt after the third Atlantean ruler—the traitor who used the artefact to create a breed of mutants—was captured by Tihocan and Qualopec. Making her way through Egypt to the lost city of Khamoon, Lara kills Larson and recovers the third Scion piece. Emerging from the caves, Lara is ambushed by Natla, who takes the Scion. …

Final Doom

Description

Final Doom is a standalone game and does not require Doom II to run. The PC version is widely considered to be significantly more difficult than both Doom and Doom II.
The gameplay in the PlayStation version of Final Doom is nearly identical to that found in the PlayStation version of Doom, and, in addition, it was compatible with the PlayStation Mouse. Compared to the PC original, the PlayStation version’s overall difficulty was significantly reduced. Many of the harder levels were removed and those that remained often had enemies taken out (most noticeably the Cyberdemon being removed from the level ‘Baron’s Lair’). As in the original PlayStation version of Doom, many of the larger levels from the original PC versions of Final Doom and Master Levels for Doom II were removed, and both the Arch-vile and Spider Mastermind monsters were removed, due to technical constraints. This limited the PlayStation version to 30 levels in total. The more traditional rock tracks featured in Final Doom were replaced by a creepier ambient soundtrack by Aubrey Hodges, who later composed the music for Doom 64 in 1997.

There are several noticeable alterations to the presentation of Final Doom in the PlayStation version compared to the PC version. The simplistic title screens featured in the PC version have been replaced by a more elaborate title screen that features the animated flame-filled sky texture from the original PlayStation version of Doom. Many of the levels’ sky textures have been replaced by different ones; some levels’ skies are replaced by sky textures seen in previous Doom games, whereas others now feature a new starry sky texture. Finally, most of the level layouts are simplified, similar to previous Doom console ports, and the frame rate of the game is often lower than it was in the first PlayStation Doom game. …

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