Home of Retro PC Gaming
Currently hosting 12 strategy games!
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Home of Retro PC Gaming Currently hosting 12 strategy games! |
| Banyon Wars 1990 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (full version) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: CGA 320×200×4c | |||||||||||||||
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Banyon Wars is a game of global domination, like Risk. Instead of a world map, battle takes place among 35 cities divided between 8 islands of varying size. Occupying an entire island gives you bonus armies based on the size of the island. Random flooding, seismic activity and revolution can destroy armies, and distribution centers, which are randomly distributed across the map, occasionally double the number of troops residing in them. The game features CGA graphics and pits you against 2 computer opponents. There are 7 difficulty levels and a random difficulty level, and you can set the maximum number of armies that each city can have at the beginning of the game. The shareware version isn't limited in any way compared to the full version.
Soleau Software no longer sells this game.
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| Battle for Atlantis 1990 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: EGA 640×350×16c | |||||||||||||||
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Battle for Atlantis is a game of global domination, like Risk. Based on Banyon Wars, this game adds EGA graphics and has four factions. Battle takes place among 43 cities divided between 8 islands of varying size, which collectively make up the atoll of Atlantis. Occupying an entire island gives you bonus armies based on the size of the island. Random flooding, seismic activity and revolution can destroy armies, and distribution centers, which are randomly distributed across the map, occasionally double the number of troops residing in them. The maximum number of armies that can be in a city is 9999. The game pits you against 3 computer opponents, and has 7 difficulty levels and a random difficulty level, and you can set the maximum number of armies that each city can have at the beginning of the game. The registered version loads and exits faster. Battle for Atlantis v2.2 Shareware (138k) Soleau Software no longer sells this game.
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| Blind Wars 1992 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: EGA 640×350×16c | |||||||||||||||
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Blind Wars is a game of global domination, like Risk. Based on Isle Wars, Blind Wars takes away the bonus cards and doesn't let you see your opponent's armies. It works quite well, and adds a new element to a familiar game: bluffing. You can leave a critical area undefended and your opponents may assume that enough armies are present to make victory impossible. Instead of a world map, battle takes place on a land mass with 77 cities divided between 10 countries. Occupying an entire country adds to the number of armies you receive each turn. Random flooding, volcanic activity and revolution can destroy armies, and unexpected plenty, such as record crop yields, can add armies to a region. Distribution centers are randomly distributed across the map, which occasionally double the number of troops residing in them, making them strategically desirable, and making the strategy somewhat different each game. The maximum number of armies that can be in a city is 99. The shareware version pits you against 3 computer opponents, and allows customization of difficulty level and the maximum number of armies that each city can have at the beginning of the game. The registered version allows up to four humans to play. Complete version history:
Soleau Software still sells the registered version of this game for $12 by download only.
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| Cell War 1992 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | Win16 Shareware (full version) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Al Funk | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Al Funk | |||||||||||||||
| Screenshot | |||||||||||||||
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The easiest way to describe Cell War is that it's the game of Go played with the rules of Conway's Game of Life. Actually, the rules for when cells live, die, and reproduce had to be tweaked so that the two sides would fight each other – which, in itself, would have been an interesting simulation – and for the fact that both sides are actively adding live cells to the grid. If you're totally lost by this description, here is everything that you need to know. A small group of green and purple cells are placed randomly on the grid at the beginning of the game, and players take turns placing new ones on the board. At regular intervals, an algorithm checks the entire board and takes the following actions: any cell not touching another cell will die of loneliness; any cell touching four friendly cells will die of overcrowding; any cell touching three unfriendly cells horizontally or vertically will die from poisoning; a new cell will be created when the square is surrounded by two or three friendly cells horizontally or vertically. The strategy becomes much like Go: surround territory and limit your opponent's territory. Cells that are too far away from friendly cells will die of loneliness or get surrounded by unfriendly cells, while any sufficiently large group will become impossible to poison because invading cells can't survive in an "eye" inside a group of unfriendly cells. You can play against a human or the computer but, sadly, you can't watch two computers duke it out. Computer opponents can be assigned two different intelligence levels.
I have found no ordering information for this game.
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| Command & Conquer 1995 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: 8 | DOS Freeware (former commercial) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Westwood Studios (Virgin Interactive) | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Virgin Interactive | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: VGA 320×200×256c | |||||||||||||||
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Command & Conquer is the first game in one of the most popular real-time strategy series of all time. Two factions, the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod, fight to control an extraterrestrial element called Tiberium. You choose one side to command, build factories to process Tiberium, and build vehicles and weapons to destroy the enemy. The levels are imaginatively designed, and there is a great variety of vehicles and attacks at your disposal. Developed by Westwood Studios, a Virgin Interactive company since 1992. There are only 3 levels in the shareware demo, all of them GDI levels. In order, they are levels 1, 10 and 6. Command & Conquer Shareware Demo v1.0a (9149k) Copyright holder Electronic Arts generously declared Command & Conquer Gold, a Windows 95 version of this game with a Windows XP patch, freeware on 31 August 2007.
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| Isle Wars 1991 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Soleau Software | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: EGA 640×350×16c | |||||||||||||||
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Isle Wars is a game of global domination, like Risk. Based on Battle for Atlantis, Isle Wars is played with a mouse, reduces the number of difficulty levels to four, and uses cards to add a new element to the gameplay. Battle takes place among 46 countries divided between 9 continents of varying size. Occupying an entire continent gives you bonus armies based on the size of the continent. Random flooding, seismic activity and revolution can destroy armies, and distribution centers, which are randomly distributed across the map, occasionally double the number of troops residing in them. After every turn in which at least one country has been conquered, the invading army receives a card. Unlike Risk, there are a great variety of different bonuses awarded by the cards, and there is no guarantee of having a set of three after receiving 5 cards. If cards can't be played, or if the player elects not to use them, he must discard a card of his choosing before collecting another card once he has 5. Cards can be used to add 5, 8, 15, or double the number of armies that can be assigned at the beginning of the turn, bomb a city, protect the player from being bombed, or airlift armies to a non-adjacent country. The shareware version pits you against 3 computer opponents, and allows customization of difficulty level and the number of armies at the beginning of the game. The registered version allows up to four humans to play.
Soleau Software still sells the registered version of this game for $12 by download only.
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| Oil Baron 1992 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | Win16 Shareware (full version) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Al Funk | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Al Funk | |||||||||||||||
| Screenshot | |||||||||||||||
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Oil Baron is a game of investment and corporate acquisition for up to six human or computer players. That sounds a bit boring, but the game really isn't. Each turn, players may play a card onto the grid or discard one. If there are no cards adjacent to that card, either horizontally or vertically, it is an independent oil company with no insignia. Play a card next to a blank card and a new company is born. You get to choose the company from a list of eight, which vary by initial stock price and dividend. More expensive companies have larger dividends, but less growth potential in their stock price. Playing cards next to existing companies causes those companies to grow and increase their stock price. If a move causes two companies to be attached to each other, the more valuable company takes over the less valuable company and the defunct company's shares can be sold, traded in, or held into the company is re-created in the future. After making a move in each turn, players can buy stocks that they think will become more valuable, or sell shares in order to increase their cash reserves in order to purchase something else. Computer opponents can be assigned two different intelligence levels.
I have found no ordering information for this game.
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| World Empire 1991 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: EGA 320×200×16c | |||||||||||||||
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World Empire is a game of global domination, like Risk, except that there are no cards to award bonus armies. The key difference is the introduction of "ideologies". Each player chooses an ideology to support: Populist, Militarist, Socialist or Realist. The world is divided into 71 nations, each of which supports one of the players' ideologies. When you conquer a nation that supports your ideology, they greet you as liberators and require only 1 army to hold them, whereas nations that support rival ideologies need additional armies to remain in order to prevent a revolution. When a nation revolts, the player whose ideology they support receives 5 armies in that country. Otherwise combat is similar to other games in the genre, with invisible dice being thrown to determine the outcome of each battle. Ties go to the defender but, starting in v1.50, ties go to the attacker if the defending nation supports the attacker's ideology. Armies are awarded at the beginning of each turn based on the number of nations held, plus bonus armies for holding an entire continent. The overall progress can be viewed on the world map, while combat takes place on detailed continent maps that also show each nation's ideology. The shareware version can be played by one to four players, with the computer serving as the opponent in a one player game. The registered version can be played against up to six computer opponents.
Viable Software Alternatives still sells World Empire V Deluxe, a Win32 version of the game, for $18 by download or CD-ROM.
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| World Empire II Deluxe 1992 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | Win16 Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Screenshot | |||||||||||||||
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The World Empire series moved to Windows in the second game of the series. It's a game of global domination, like Risk, except that there are no cards to award bonus armies. Each player represents an ideology – Populist, Militarist, Socialist or Realist. The world is divided into 139 nations, each of which supports one of the players' ideologies. When you conquer a nation that supports your ideology, they greet you as liberators and require only 1 army to hold them, whereas nations that support rival ideologies need additional armies to remain in order to prevent a revolution. Armies are awarded at the beginning of each turn based on the number of nations held, plus bonus armies for holding an entire continent. World Empire II adds an "all nations conquered" option, in addition to the "all nations neutral" starting position of the original. Populations and national capitals are now listed for each country. Starting with v1.5, the game became "Deluxe" because it adds a real world simulation mode to the registered version, in which population and development are taken into account. Version 1.5 also adds an option to have all sides start with 30 armies instead of 56, and to check the status of all countries on the continent. The shareware version can be played by one to four players, with up to two computer players (one in v1.0). The registered version can be played against up to seven computer opponents, and adds three new ideologies.
Viable Software Alternatives still sells World Empire V Deluxe, a Win32 version of the game, for $18 by download or CD-ROM.
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| World Empire III 1994 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | Win16 Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Screenshot | |||||||||||||||
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The third game in the popular world domination series, World Empire III improves on World Empire II by adding a lot of new images and graphics, more attractive maps, and MIDI music, some of which is pretty catchy. It's also possible to see how many armies are in each nation on the map screen during gameplay, instead of having to check the Status screen. Otherwise the game is the same, except that you can no longer play against two computer opponents in the shareware version, and the "expert" option that starts players with 30 armies instead of 56 is now reserved for the registered version. The world is still divided into 139 nations, each of which supports one of the players' ideologies. Version numbers continue from where they left off in World Empire II, starting with v2.0 in World Empire III. The shareware version can be played by one to four players, with the computer serving as the opponent in a one player game. The registered version can be played against up to seven computer opponents, and adds four new ideologies.
Viable Software Alternatives still sells World Empire V Deluxe, a Win32 version of the game, for $18 by download or CD-ROM.
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| World Empire IV 1996 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | Win16 Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Viable Software Alternatives | |||||||||||||||
| Screenshot | |||||||||||||||
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The fourth game in the popular world domination series, World Empire IV improves on World Empire III by adding online play. It's also possible to see how many armies are in each nation by hovering the mouse pointer over a nation, and there are buttons for both regular and blitz (continuous) attacks instead of having to toggle between attack modes. Player images have been replaced with photographs. The world is still divided into 139 nations, each of which supports one of the players' ideologies. Version numbers continue from where they left off in World Empire III, starting with v3.01 in World Empire IV. The shareware version can be played by one to four players, with the computer serving as the opponent in a one player game. The registered version can be played against up to seven computer opponents, and adds four new ideologies.
Viable Software Alternatives still sells World Empire V Deluxe, a Win32 version of the game, for $18 by download or CD-ROM.
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| Z 1996 | |||||||||||||||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (partial game) | Strategy | |||||||||||||
| Developed by The Bitmap Brothers | |||||||||||||||
| Published by Renegade Software, Virgin Interactive | |||||||||||||||
| Graphics: VGA 320×200×256c SVGA 640×400×256c | |||||||||||||||
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Z is a realtime strategy (RTS) game in which you command a robot army and try to conquer the battlefield. There are at least four types of droid units to command, the difference being the type of weapons they carry, such as rockets capable of damaging tanks. Unmanned jeeps, tanks, and gun turrets are often located on the map at the beginning of the battle, and can be occupied by droids from either side. Vehicles aren't always destroyed in battle, leaving them to be occupied by the victor's droids. The battlefield is divided into regions, each marked with a flag. When a robot or vehicle touches the flag, it is controlled by that side's army, and any manufacturing facilities will create droids or vehicles loyal to that side. The more territories are occupied, the faster the factories produce units. Victory is often achieved by winning the race to occupy critical territories at the beginning of the battle, but the flag must still be adequately defended to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. There is a lot of voice in the game, and the droids acknowledge orders, respond humorously to suicide missions, celebrate victories, and call for help when overwhelmed in battle. VGA mode displays 25% of the map compared to SVGA mode and is not recommended. There are four levels in each of five zones in the game, and the environment is a factor in battle. Originally published by The Bitmap Brothers' own Renegade label, it was later published by Virgin Interactive. Only level 6 is playable in the shareware version.
Copyright holder The Bitmap Brothers no longer sells this game. It can be ordered from Amazon: Z.
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