Impossible Mission

Impossible Mission

Published in 1984, this is a title that slipped under my radar at the time.  All I knew going into it was that it was some kind of platformer where you play a spy infiltrating the underground base of an evil genius.

NOT Mission Impossible!

That brief description really doesn't do this game justice though.  Yes, it's a platformer, but it's also a Rogue-like, and an adventure game, and a puzzle game.  I'll try to explain.  As I mentioned, you are a spy infiltrating the underground base of an evil genius.  You start in an elevator and, at each stop, you move left or right to enter a room.  Each room contains several elements.  First are the robots.  They guard the rooms in the underground base and behave according to several scripts.  Some stand in place, some move back and forth repeatedly and some follow your movement.  Additionally, any of the above can come equipped with death-rays.  These shoot out a short distance in front of the robots.  The robots are guarding, loosely, the several pieces of furniture scattered around on various platforms around the room.  You must search this furniture to find puzzle pieces that combine to create the master password or codes to disable the robots or move some of the lifts in the room.

Death ray

Each room appears to be generated somewhat randomly and can contains any of several layouts along with random placement of furniture and robots with random scripts.  Occasionally, this can create layouts that are all but impossible without the robot disable codes.  This makes the game something of a rogue-like, where the rooms are procedurally generated and each game is unique.  Your only weapons are those codes and the ability to jump.  Beyond that, you have no offensive capability.

Searching the furniture, not peeing on it.

Once you've collected the puzzle pieces (all 36 of them) you can begin combining them into the master password.  You have to figure out which pieces combine to make a punchcard,  4 to a card, 1 letter per card, making a 9-letter word.  The pieces can be horizontally and/or vertically flipped as well as colored any of 4 colors.  This makes the puzzle almost as difficult as the rest of the game, if not more so.  Once you've solved the puzzle you can enter the evil genius' room to complete the game.

Stay a while... stay FOREVER!!

Technically, you have 6 hours to complete the game.  The clock counts down in real time.  However, each time you die, either to robots or falling, you lose 10 minutes.  Each time you use a hint in the puzzle mode, you lose 2 minutes.  I would guess that you could complete the exploration part of the game, if you made no mistakes, in about 20-30 minutes.  Allowing another 10-20 minutes for the puzzle (again, I'm being generous here), you could complete the game in about an hour.  The other 5 hours allow for about 30 lives lost.  Of course, you probably won't complete the game with no errors, so this number is, realistically, a lot less.

Out of time... fail.

My first few playthroughs (okay more than a few) ended with me simply dying too much.  Never even explored the whole base.  Eventually, I was able to collect all the puzzle pieces but I ran out of time at least twice.  Finally, I was able to gather the pieces, put the puzzle together and finish the game with time to spare.  I felt, justifiably, proud.  This game is hard.

Did it!!

Overall, this game was surprisingly, quite good.  Yes, the graphics are a bit dated and the voice synthesis, while novel at the time, is pretty cheesy now.  But, the controls, once you get used to them, are very responsive, the randomness of the rooms gives it quite a lot of replay value, and the variety of gameplay (platforming, puzzle solving, etc), though sometimes ridiculously hard, keeps things fresh.  I don't think that I'll be coming back to play it again anytime soon, but I'd rather play this than Lode Runner and I'm really glad I played it.  It's definitely one of the better early platforms and, if it's already on your list, give it a try.  Don't feel bad if you can't solve the end puzzle though...

Tutankham

Title screen with points

Fun note:  It's called Tutankham because the full name, Tutankhamun, was too long for the marquee.  So they renamed the game instead.

Tutankham was released in arcades in 1982 with an Atari 2600 port following in 1983.  I never actually played the arcade version but I played the Atari version extensively.  The Atari version is much simpler but gets the main idea right.  The arcade version has much better graphics and sound and a bit more complicated gameplay.  It's a maze-shooter game where you have try to find the treasure at the end of each level, hopefully finding the keys along the way to unlock the gates blocking the exit.  Both versions have 4 different levels and then repeat them at a harder difficulty.  I decided that "beating the game" this time would be finishing each level up to the point where they start repeating (level 5).  Also, I wouldn't be able to skip any of the treasures along the way.  At first I was only going to do the Atari version, but that turned out to be a bit too easy so I decided to give the arcade version a try as well.

Day One:

I started the up the Atari version and was immediately taken back to 1983.  It took a while to get back up to speed which meant repeating the early levels quite a few times.  After a couple of hours, I managed to complete my goals and got to level 6, which is the same as level 2, but harder.  Since I beat it so easily, I decided to try out the arcade version next.

The four levels of the Atari 2600 version

Day Two:

I started the arcade version of the game.  My emulator warns of incomplete graphics emulation so let's hope it isn't game-breaking.  Wow!  This version is far harder than the Atari version.  Where the console version seems limited to one or two enemies on the screen this one throws as many enemies as possible at you.  You'll hear them spawning wave after wave then they all head toward you.  I managed level one pretty quickly but level 2 was a challenge.  Unlike the console port which is fairly linear, the arcade version sometimes requires you to grab a key, unlock a door, then backtrack to find another key to unlock the next door.  You cannot carry more than one at a time, so you'll be going back and forth a bit.  It definitely increases the challenge as the areas between the keys and the locked doors are very difficult and you'll have to traverse them multiple times.

Dead again!

Day Three:

Finally completed level 2 and started level 3.  Wow again!  So many enemies...  I've become overwhelmed a few times and had to use my "flash bomb" to wipe out all the enemies on-screen.  This nuke is handy, but you don't get many and, so far, I've found that I could use a few more.  I'd use the nuke to get through an area, but then I have to come back to get the next key where I'd get swamped again.  I tried a lot of times, but I'm hitting a wall.  I'll give it another try tomorrow, maybe we'll get lucky.  I'm getting better at the first couple levels now and can make it to level 3 without dying about 50% of the time, even gaining an extra man at 30,000 points along the way.  Level 3 is brutal though and I end up dying there a lot.

Treasure!

Day Four:

Still hard as nails!  I've been able to beat level 3 a few times but end up dying on level 4.  Level 4 seems a bit easier than level 3, but I get there with so few lives, etc. that I just can't make it.  I'll probably just have to get lucky and get here with more lives.

So many enemies!

Day Five:

I did it!!!  I finally managed to get to level 4 with 2 lives left.  I then used my flash bomb early and made it to the first lock.  Then I died on my way back to the second key.  Fortunately, it spawned me back in a little further back than I had managed to get so I got the key and worked my way back to the last lock.  It was pretty intense getting back through the most difficult parts, but I managed some lucky runs and opened the last gate.  Level 5 was just like level 1, except it had two gates and two keys.  I lost my final life on this level and called it quits.

Mission Complete!

Conclusion:

I'm really glad I played the arcade version of this game.  I had only played the Atari port before and it was very much simplified from the original.  The addition of multiple keys and locks to pass levels and the hugely greater number of enemies on-screen made this game much, much harder.  The graphics, etc are not too bad, it looks to me like 8-bit graphics, but I'm not completely sure.  Most of what the game does could probably be done on an NES but it might be a stretch.  Either way, if you like frantic action and potentially very frustrating gameplay, this game is for you.  It's difficult enough to make completion very satisfying, but not so hard that it seems impossible.  I think this might have climbed to become one of my favorite old arcade games, along with Jungle Hunt and Elevator Action.

Deathsplosion!

As another side-note: there are several elements of this game that seem directly lifted from Defender.  The "laser" that you use as your primary weapon is exactly like the one shot from the ship in Defender.  The death animation is also the same, where you explode radially outward, pushing the other pixels with you.  Finally, it seems that the radar might also be the same, though it's considerably less useful than in Defender.  I couldn't find out much about it, but I'd be interested in how that came about.

Ultima III

Ultima, third of its kind.

Well, well, well.  The third installment of the Ultima series.  I have to admit, I'm wasn't much of a fan of the first two.  As examples of very early RPGs they are interesting, but as games in and of themselves, they are lacking.  But then, in 1983, Ultima III is released.  My main experience with Ultima III is from the NES.  It is probably one of the first few computer RPGs I ever came across.  There was The Bard's Tale and Wasteland on the C64 then Dragon Quest and Ultima III (Ultima:Exodus) on the NES.  For nostalgia's sake, I'm playing through the NES version this time.  I did some research and it appears that the differences between the PC and console versions are negligible and do not affect the core game.

An audience with the king.

Continuing, loosely, from Ultima I and II, a being known as Exodus is now threatening Sosaria, the world from the first game.  Exodus is creation of Mondain (Ultima I) and Minax (Ultima II) and he is now summoning creatures to threaten humanity (and others, I guess).  Lord British summons "you" to begin your quest and defeat Exodus.

Adventurers, party of four!

You begin the game by creating your party.  It's a bit confusing as there are a lot of options to choose from: 11 classes and 5 races.  The classes are mostly combinations of the standard Warrior, Thief, Priest and Mage classes and the races determine your maximum stats.  For example, a Paladin is a Warrior/Priest while a Ranger is a Thief/Mage type and a "Fuzzy" might make the best mage with higher max intelligence and a "Elf" might make the best Thief with highest max. dexterity.    It's the first time you're granted a party in the Ultima series, the previous incarnations have been solo affairs.  On the NES you will see all four members of the party trailing behind the leader.

Ahead on our way!

Once you've gathered your party, you are on your way.  Beginning with Lord British's Castle and the local village (Britain) you need to explore the world and talk to as many people as possible.  Each town you come across has important information for proceeding on your quest.  From locations of hidden towns and equipment to learning some extra skills, it's important to talk to them all.  Some locations will require you to use the 'moongates' in order to get there.  These gates move location and destination according to the phases of the world's two moons.  Figuring them out is important to proceed in the game.  One town is invisible until a particular combination of moon phases is present.  Then the town appears and you can enter to purchase some of the best equipment of the game.

Have at you!

Along the way, you'll fight many, many enemies.  The enemies are visible on the map still and you can usually avoid them if you'd rather.  In the NES version, with your train of party members, avoiding some of the encounters is tricky as contact with enemies anywhere along your "train" will initiate combat.  Combat has also been overhauled.  Instead of the "exchanging hits until one dies" method of combat, each encounter takes you to a combat screen which allows a simple, more strategic battle.  Dungeons have the same 3D view but look a bit better and are actually important this time around as you must explore almost all of them to procure "marks" (tattoos that provide immunities) and other information needed to beat the game.

Into the underdark.

Fighting enemies and exploring dungeons will net you experience and gold which you can use to level up and buy gear, but skill points can only be increased at the shrines in Ambrosia.  Ambrosia is a separate map that can only be accessed by boat.  Specifically, by driving your boat into the ominous whirlpool which wanders the oceans.  When you wake up, you'll be there.  There are few enemies in Ambrosia and you can explore fairly easily.  The four shrines (one for each stat) are there and donating money to them will increase the relevant stat for your characters.  It's an expensive process but necessary.  Once you have all the marks, all the cards, all the clues you need and your stats and equipment are good enough, you can assault Castle Exodus and face Exodus himself.

Tranquil Ambrosia.

I chose to try Paladin, Ranger, Thief and Lark for my party.  This gave me access to low-level spells from both Priest and Mage schools while giving me a good amount of melee damage as well.  I probably would have done things slightly differently playing through again, though, as some of the equipment selections are quite limited with this combination, esp. the Thief and Lark had limited ranged weapon selection.

Castle Exodus!

The game was engaging from the first and I enjoyed exploring the local continent.  Eventually, I procured a boat from some off-shore pirates and explored the wider world out on the oceans.  One of my biggest sticking points was cash.  You need a lot of money in the game and it doesn't come easily.  The dungeons will often cost you more than you find and you also have to keep your party fed at all times. Buying food is not expensive, but you have to constantly keep enough cash on hand for it.  The gear starts out fairly expensive, but the second tier weapons and armor (found in the hidden city) are incredibly expensive.  I found a town that had a ton of treasure chests hidden behind a store and was able to "farm" it to gain lots of gold.  Even this, however, was a long, tedious grind. It basically involved entering the town, heading to the back of the shop, stealing everything in sight (while avoiding guards), teleporting back to Castle Britain, then heading to Ambrosia to increase stats or Dawn to purchase gear.  Occassionally, you'd have to restock your teleport items, keys, food or other items.  It took hours of grinding to make enough money.  The rest of the game, however, became much easier afterward and I considered it worthwhile.

Loot, loot, loot, repeat!

Overall, I found the game very enjoyable.

The plot was a bit thin and the NPCs were a bit shallow but exploring and finding bits of information scattered throughout the game world was fun.  The selection of classes to choose from was good and your choices matter.  If you pick the wrong combination of classes in the beginning, you're going to have a rough time.  My picks were not terrible, but I think the game would have been easier had I picked others.  No class is particularly bad, but combinations of classes can be.  Party makeup is important.

I found the layout of the world and the way it gradually expanded as you acquired new travel means to be much better done than the previous Ultima games.  The scifi elements are mostly gone as are the references to Earth.  The towns and dungeons were fairly generic, but they all were unique and had different layouts and items.

The graphics are standard 8-bit in the NES version and glorified ASCII art in the PC version.  Nothing to write home about, but it's still and improvement from the previous Ultimas.  One of the more interesting additions is the line-of-sight restrictions.  You'll notice in some of the screenshots areas of black behind walls, trees, etc.  It shifts around as you move and adds some difficulty to exploring.  It's a concept I've only seen very rarely in games.  The sound in both versions is better as well and I'm fairly partial to the NES version here as well as it has a nostalgia factor for me.

Ship, with status windows, moon phases and line-of-sight visible.

The base mechanics of skill points, damage, health and experience was underwhelming and easily exploited.  I didn't do it much this time (other than the gold farming) but it wouldn't be too hard to create some super characters early in the game and cruise your way through it.  Levels increase every 100 experience and skills increase at a rate of 1 per 100 gold donated.  It's a linear scale so it tends to speed up near the end rather than the typical exponential systems that slow down leveling later in the game.

Some might find grinding experience and/or gold a bit boring and I can relate to that.  The game is also still pretty rudimentary as it is early in videogame history.  The lack of depth in plot and world building might dissuade modern players as it can seem pretty casual and light for an RPG.  However, if I were advising someone wanting to experience the Ultima series, I would probably recommend they start here.  The first two were forgettable and I don't think you'd miss anything from skipping them.  Ultima III, though, has a lot of unique qualities that you'd do well to experience for yourselves.

You bet you will!  Good game!

Boulder Dash

Boulder Dash!

Time for some Boulder Dash, an old favorite! I played this one on a C64 emulator.  It was a pain to get it configured, too.  Eventually, I had to turn off auto-load and boot it up manually.  load"*",8,1 for the win!  The only problem is that the colors are a bit off on my version of the game.  It looks too bright.  It was definitely the right version though, because I remembered several of the levels.  Originally, I played Boulder Dash on my brother's Commodore when I was probably about 11 or 12.  Since it was released in 1983 that would be about right.  I wasn't very good at it and I only beat the first few levels but, this time, I was able to beat the game (on the easiest difficulty).

The boulder-strewn caves.

Boulder Dash is something of an adventure-puzzle game.  You are "Rockford" digging tunnels in search of diamonds.  Along the way, you need to avoid falling boulders (and falling diamonds) and the beasties living underground.  Once you collect the required amount of diamonds for the level, within the time allowed, a door will open and you can escape.  You start with 3 lives and gain another every 500 points.  The levels are labeled with letters and the difficulty is noted by numbers.  So, A/1 is the easiest, whereas P/4 would be the hardest.  A/2 is very similar to A/1 with the same color palette but with less time and more and faster enemies.

Gaining an extra life.

The first few levels are pretty straightforward: collect the diamonds, avoid the enemies.  There are some problems with how to get to each diamond without trapping others behind unmovable boulders or getting yourself stuck in an avalanche, but it's mostly just figuring out what pattern to use to be most efficient.  Later they introduce more enemies.  The "butterfly" flits around the edges of the screen and turns into diamonds when destroyed.  The "firefly" just runs around the edges as a hazard.  Both will kill you on contact.  After this, you have to start using the enemies to progress.  A level might require you to kill the butterflies to get enough gems, while some require you to destroy fireflies, too, in order to blow holes in walls or other obstacles.  The last couple levels were hideous races to setup boulders, arrange enemies, gather diamonds and race for the exit.  I escaped with less than 3-4 seconds on multiple occasions.

That bowtie is a "butterfly"

and the square is a "firefly"

At first, I was starting over each time I lost all my lives.  This resulted in getting pretty good at the first few levels, but it also meant that sometimes I wouldn't even make it back to the level I died on before dying again.  Eventually, I decided to cheat.  I saved my progress before each level and reloaded it if I ran out of lives.  In this way, I completed each stage legitimately but I didn't have to go back and repeat all the previous stages if I failed.  It was a bit faster this way, but still preserved the difficulty of each stage.  Still took a long time to master, though.  This game is hard!

Completing a level.

I played through each level, A through P, once and a few of the first ones on difficulty 2 as well... after that point I lost the remainder of my lives and called it quits.  As with a lot of the games of this era, the sound is an integral part of the experience.  I love the sound of the boulders crashing around and the diamonds tinkling when they fall.  I hate the sounds of the explosions that happen when you die.  The graphics are nothing to look at now, but the challenge of the game still holds up well.  I found the controls to be the worst part of the experience.  You originally controlled the game with a joystick and I played on a PlayStation gamepad, but all the control schemes I tried were imprecise.  You could only control your movements to a certain degree of precision, sometimes you'd overshoot the spot you wanted to be on and sometimes you'd undershoot it.  Overshooting usually meant certain death from the fireflies or boulders you unleashed.  Sometimes, though, you'd just ruin the puzzle and have to start over.  It's possible, though, that more precise controls would lead to a game that was too easy.  It's hard to say... maybe it was a design choice.  Still, if I had one wish for the game, that would be it.

One of the more difficult puzzles.

Here's my overall synopsis:

There's not much story here, just digging and collecting.  Not much character development either, he's just Rockford.  There are only 3 enemies, two are hostile and one is neutral (the amoeba).  The hostiles just circle the perimeter of your cave while the amoeba slowly expands to fill the room.  Fairly predictable but challenging in circumstances, especially when you have to use them to pass the level.

Level design is probably the highlight of the game.  Each level is beatable in only a few different ways.  You can choose your own path for many of them, but some really only allow a single way which you just have to be fast enough to accomplish.  Quite challenging but once you've beaten it, you can do it again.

Graphics and interface are both quite dated.  Modern graphics snobs would be appalled at both the resolution and color depth.  Interface is very simple, a bar at the top shows number of diamonds needed to proceed, the number you've collected, the time remaining and your score.  Between levels it shows the number of lives you have left and what level you are on.  Informative, but very basic.

The sound and music is a highlight for me.  The sounds of the boulders and diamonds are satisfying.  The enemies don't make any noise, but the explosions on contact are startling as well as frustrating.  The amoeba's grumbling is nerve-racking.  And I even like the theme song.

All the rest combines to create the gameplay.  The physics are a large part of it as well as the level design and the obstacles thrown up in your way.  I really liked playing it again and, though it has it's limitations, I would play it again.

"Still a fun game" is my bottom line.  If you can get an emulator working that will play it, I would highly recommend it.  Especially for people you like puzzle games because that's what it is at heart.

Good luck with some of these levels... fiendishly hard!

Lode Runner

Glorious, 1983 graphics

Released in 1983, Lode Runner was another game I never really got very far into when I first played it.  It was probably too hard at the time.  I remember getting the main idea but being unable to get past the first few levels.  I played through it this time on a C64 emulator and I was getting nostalgic before even leaving the boot screen.

Load"*",8,1

You play as a stick dude trying to avoid the guards (other stick dudes) while collecting the gold on each level.  Once you've collected them all you can escape the level.  The guards are fairly easy to outsmart, but you can easily become trapped.  They can also pick up any gold bars that they happen across, so sometimes you have to kill them to release it (or make them fall).  There are a lot of different versions out there but mine was the cassette version for the C64.

Are they supposed to be stick dudes?

Most of the levels require multiple attempts to find the pattern to beat them.  The guards are fairly predictable and you can manipulate them into going where you want to some extent.  Some of the harder puzzles really require you to think ahead, especially when you have to dig down.  You can dig to the sides of you, but not straight down, so you have to figure out where to start in order to get where you want to be.  Eventually, I managed to pass the 19 levels in my version of the game and was satisfied.  It probably took 3-4 days of playing to get that far.

Get that gold!

The game is straightforward, but challenging.  The graphics and sounds are very simple and there's no soundtrack to speak of.  The guts of the gameplay comes from the levels and how to solve each.  As such, it's got a lot of replay value, especially when you consider all the user-made levels.  It was one of the first games to include a level editor and there are, literally, hundreds of levels out there.  There are also a couple sequels if you're really interested.

Lots and lots of levels

My overall impressions of the game are fairly average.  The graphics are simple, but functional.  The sounds and music are very basic.  The core mechanics are solid, however, so it's still a playable, fun game.  The enemy AI is simple, but effective.  They don't just follow set patterns but follow you and home in on your location.  It makes things more difficult, but learning to manipulate them is one of the keys to beating the levels.  And speaking of levels, with the level editor and the dozens of official and unofficial level packs for this game, you could probably continue playing it for months.  If that's your thing, go for it... personally, I found the game entertaining for a while, but it got stale fairly quickly.  I got to level 19, which was the max for this version, and was already ready to call it a day.  Fun game, but nothing spectacular.

Bye, Lode Runner!