Sword of Fargoal (2003)
by Paul Pridham and Elias Pschernig (2003) . (Download)
playable under Ubuntu: go to fargoal/scr -> make (needs liballegro-dev) -> go to fargoal -> ./sword
I just wanted to give this game a try, since I had some spare time and needed something short to play. I was hooked in no time. Sword of Fargoal is a roguelike, but whereupon modern variants (I’m not talking about Diablo or its clones, but rather the myriad ascii roguelikes) slay newcomers with too much, Sword of Fargoal is simplicity pure. You start, you explore, you level up, you go deeper into the dungeon. And yet, despite such a simple gameplay, it’s incredibly fun.
Part of what makes Sword of Fargoal so much fun for me is the exploration of every level. One thing that has always drawn me to the RPGs is when you can explore a map and slowly uncover the unknown parts (here there be monsters). That’s why I like mapping features in RPGs so much, or even better when can lift the cloud of darkness by walking around. Makes me feel a bit like an explorer.
As I’ve already said, Sword of Fargoal’s gameplay is very simple. Every aspect of the game is just the essentials. No complex skill system, only the fighting skill, HPs, six spells that can be found in treasure chests and money that can be exchanged for experience points. Fighting is automated, but engaging the enemy or fleeing is in your hands. If you find the Sword of Fargoal deep down in the dungeons, head back to the surface as fast as you can, but beware. There are enemies who steal it from you.
Rating: 5/5
Hurrican (2007)
made by poke53280 . (Download, Cheat Codes)
Hurrican is basically Turrican remade. Instead of pixel graphics the sprites are all pre-rendered, but overall Hurrican captures the original style and gameplay perfectly. Implied is that it captures both, the good and the bad. I was never a fan of the original, which relied too much on overwhelming waves of dumb enemies and big, but generic levels. If you lose a live, your present weapon gets downgraded, and since the base levels of the four shoot modes are basically useless against most enemies, this (downgrading) can be a very annoying feature. Another problems is that you can’t shoot downwards, which is really extremely annoying in many situations, and avoiding hostile fire is sometimes impossible. And I hate time counters in platformers.
This isn’t to say that the game is bad, just that the raving fan crowd aside the game does have gameplay issues, and since the remake replicates them, they are there as well. Even on normal mode it’s frustrating to beat the game. So, what’s good about the game? It’s a fast paced, non-stop action fest with some ingenious boss designs (even if the last one is the easiest to beat, which is rather strange) and nice graphics. Just don’t expect to get very far without some proficiency in mastering the game mechanics.
Rating: 3/5
