Narco Police

Drugs... Guns... Violence!

I've always had a soft spot for Dinamic. It might be because they were one of those companies releasing games during my twilight ZX Spectrum years, just before playing their Atari ST games. Along with games like Army Moves, they went on to make some belters, one of which is their 1991 hit shooter Narco Police.

In the future... or rather... back in 2003, most of us were apparently heavily dependent on hardcore drugs, and this addiction made the dealers rich and powerful. Actually, I'm getting a whiff of the recent scamdemic now! Anyhow, the various nations of the world all got together to form an elite anti-drug unit: The A-Team. No, I meant NARCO POLICE who have been trained to rid this filth from existence. Yeah!!

Three Narco units are deployed to infiltrate the drug lord's hive located on an island off Colombia. It won't be easy because they have invested in security, including marines and combat soldiers. You start with the 'option' of choosing your team's equipment and weaponry. Also, a map of the island lets you view the landscape and choose the best entrance to its network of underground tunnels. Dare you enter?

Of course, you do, so let's take a look at some earlier screenshots...

Don't forget to visit the armoury before heading out into no-man's land!

There's little to plan, but at least we get to tunnel in like killer worm cops!

Walk... Shoot... Kill

In the tunnels, we encounter henchmen, security systems, and artillery. As we venture deeper, the enemy will surprise us by jumping out from hidden sidewalls or falling down from the ceiling to ambush us. Use the joystick to direct gunfire at their location and unleash a revenge onslaught!! Controls can take a little getting used to, with movement feeling inelegant, but you will get used to dodging grenades in no time.

Other defences cannot be destroyed easily and require a tactical approach. (It's now that you realise your team needed the correct equipment). A terminal is available to enter basic control commands, such as 'C' (which stands for 'chopper'), to display information about your team. The 'K' command restores vitality. The 'M1' command is entertaining in sticky situations! A command list can be displayed using 'DIR'.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a simple shooter; hold fire and blindly kill everything? Far from it, and you will need to practice to make any kind of progress. After a few games, I found the controls great, which helped me make headway deeper into the game. Very rewarding, but reading the manual is essential O_o

Is this too demanding for a 16-bit computer to handle? Think again...

Tell me you're not impressed by this floppy disk-based computer from 1985!!!

Aesthetics, long before Doom!

Visually, this is gorgeous, with captivating locations and huge enemy sprites animated beautifully. Our soldier is stunning as we patrol the corridors - even with our suspect limp. It's not all perfect, as some soldiers almost look like cardboard cutouts waiting to be shot. Other soldiers roll across your screen in slo-mo!

I've always had a passion for 3D shooters (especially the first-person variety) and, even though this is third-person, it's one I have enjoyed since the 90s. Narco Police actually uses a pseudo-3D engine that pushes our 8MHz CPU by using clipped graphics that increase as you walk, giving the illusion of movement. I remember drooling over my ST's keyboard the first time I saw it in action!

The audio is fantastic with a stomping theme tune for an 80s retro-styled title screen. All in-game sound effects are made from high-quality samples; however, it's odd to walk without hearing my footsteps. Maybe I'm being picky, and perhaps our hero is just too stealthy for his own good!!

This game looks and sounds brilliant, so, erm, here are a couple more screenshots...

Hands up who would love a job as a Narco Policeman? No, me neither! lol

The perspective used in this game is impressive, but that doesn't stop me from dying!

The CryptO'pinion?

This is a Christmas Cracker stuffed full of mayhem to get the blood flowing - all over the walls, usually! Who doesn't enjoy killing henchmen and repetitive tunnel exploration? Sadly, Dinamic made yet another ludicrously tough game. Perhaps too tough? Maybe the Spanish are hardcore gamers, but I need a trainer.

Having said that, I'm always drawn back into the tunnels, time & time again, because Narco Police is a seriously addictive shooter. Sure, it's always predictable, but in a good way. And, even though it's insanely tough, I cannot help but recommend it to those who love guns, loud explosions, and plenty of killing!!

A fistful of fun, and I love it. It's tough, but this is an excellent shooter.

Narco Police floppies & hard drive.

Resolution 101

Let's kill bad guys!

Resolution 101 was developed by Astral, who made Horror Zombies From The Crypt and Archipelagos. They portray a future that is a crime-ridden hellhole, displayed using gorgeous vectors for a grim scenario. We are an ex-criminal turned good, and it's our job to hunt down the baddies in our antigravity squad car.

Just like any Van Damme or Stallone movie, expect action and explosions! Use your radar to help map this urban jungle. Whenever you kill anything, they drop their stash for you to collect, which angers the drug lords that will pop up on your monitor display. It's now that you realise your job is to eliminate everyone!!

Control is best with the mouse: use it to view your crazy world; the left button accelerates, and the right fires a weapon. This is excellent and works perfectly; far better than the joystick. The graphics are superb, powered by a fast, smooth 3D engine. I must say, it's great when the face of a drug lord appears - so comical. The sound effects are great, as is the music, which I love (you can hit F7 to flip between them).

This is one of the best first-person shooters for the Atari ST. It's fantastic, with no overly complex objectives to get in the way of the enjoyment. I love zooming through the city, which is always speedy for a satisfying chase. Resolution 101 is one of the most frantic and thrilling shooters I have ever played.

Play this fantastic shooter - floppy & hard disk

This baddie looks like something from Dr Who, so let's zoom away!

That guy looks like my old Computer Studies tutor from college. Spooky!

Each level features great animations of the drug (developers) lords taking a hit!

The map of our drug-dealer world!

Annex

DM meets Doom!

Annex is a first-person shooter published by LAPD in 1995, and attempts to blend together the action of Doom with a little Dungeon Master thrown in. Nasty aliens have taken control of the science space station, Annex. Guess what? It's our job to kill every last one of them whilst fixing the life support reactors.

At first, I didn't think this would work using 90° turns, but it works out very nicely. Movement is performed using a combination of the keyboard and mouse: the keyboard walks and activates switches with the used mouse to aim and shoot. As you can imagine, this works well, and whenever a bad guy sees you, they actually speak. This conveniently acts as a nifty "heads-up" alert so you're not taken by surprise.

The graphics are great, but lack variety in both colour and texture, so things tend to look samey after a while. Sadly, there is also no map function to help - the docs suggest making your own. A very good idea.

I like the way it combines action with adventure, but you need a pen and paper to map as you explore. Far from perfect, but fans of the first-person shooter genre should definitely take a look at this. Annex is fantastic!

• AtariMania has a download available from their Atari ST database.
• Zogging Hell has a nice selection of the LAPD library.

Substation

You'll need a 25MHz PC

I remember the days when the ST was getting on a bit and, ahem, the Falcon didn't quite cut it. Not only that, but all my mates had left behind their Atari STs and Amigas for overly expensive slabs of grey metal towers. I think they are called PCs. Anyhow, they were bulky and incredibly ugly, but I remember how (secretly) gutted I felt when I saw Wolfenstein, and how I almost died of shock when I saw Doom in 1993.

Hey, we had our moments of glory. The Atari ST had a decent selection of first-person shooters by the mid-90s, and in 1995, a company called Unique Development Sweden decided that our computer wasn't quite dead. They graced us with Substation, which was about to change everything we thought possible.

The story goes that Mitushi Industries has developed a new form of energy that can be extracted from beneath the seas. All seemed well until communication was lost with their underwater substation base. Oh no... I think I might know what comes next. So, they contracted the help of a Multi-Environment Marine from the American government. In case you are wondering - yes, this is you. I knew it was gonna be me lol.

That's the storyline, that wasn't really needed, but let's take a gander at the first screenshot...

The mission update screens are superb with tons of information.

When a 1989 computer blows you away!

Upon starting your first game, it's a good idea to ditch the knife. Come on, a knife, really? Anyhow, press key "2", which switches to a rather sufficient Doom-style pistol. Collect all the goodies you see lying on the floor and open the door; outside is access to more essential goodies, but there's also a couple of ghouls lurking! Will you risk a fight or run away scared down that seemingly empty corridor like a big girl?

Movement is actioned with the keyboard: arrow keys are used to walk/turn around with Insert and Clr Home keys for convenient sidestepping - this works brilliantly when using a real computer!! Control key fires any weapon, the Spacebar opens doors, and pressing TAB drops a bomb. Don't forget the map at the bottom of the screen, which automatically tracks your movements, and the keypad, which can be used to examine the explored areas. Absolutely, killer configuration that works so well.

The baddies are intelligent and won't stupidly stand there or simply walk straight for you. Expect them to use some level of evasive tactics - so they might shoot a few rounds and then run away to take cover from returning fire. No dumb zombie marines here. So use that pistol to protect yourself, remembering to sidestep oncoming attacks. Other weapons can be found, and the chain gun is absolutely amazing - Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud. In fact, each weapon is superb - I only wish it were quicker to find them all (IDFA!?!).

Tell me you aren't excited to play this for yourself? Wait, come back, I've not finished...

I know what you're thinking, and no, there isn't anything wrong with the colour!

Aesthetics

Graphically, I'm both impressed and (hmm) slightly unimpressed. Firstly, let me say that Substation has a freakish amount of atmosphere - this game is scary when something nasty is lurking within its murky corridors. Your anxiety levels will skyrocket thanks to its superb design using amazing visual effects - like light-sourced sprites, which work incredibly well. Also, the frame rate needed to be smooth for a game like this to be properly playable, and the basic 8MHz Atari STe zooms along at 25fps - which is outstanding!!

Sadly, the lack of wall textures is due to UDS opting for Gouraud shading to maintain a smooth framerate. This is understandable but disappointing because games like Destruction Imminent and Wolfenstein 3D prove the ST is actually capable. I feel UDS missed an opportunity to enable optional textures.

The audio is spot-on perfect. And I do mean perfect. Substation utilises the enhanced hardware, so we hear distance and directional effects. This will help to identify where the baddies are coming from. Equally impressive are the excellent tunes played at 25KHz. You're gonna love it, so crank up the volume!

Imagine if this game had been released when the STe was younger? Ah, let's see a screenshot...

LOL, I love this screenshot that I managed to take just as he exploded!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Technically speaking, this is one of the most impressive games for ye olde Atari STe. Think about it, an 8MHz computer capable of running a first-person engine that maintains a brisk 25fps. We never saw a similar-spec PC do that back in the day. Not only that, but it also features distance- and direction-based stereo sound, 30 on-screen colours, light-source sprites, and intelligent enemy AI. Heck, you can even play against other people over a network! Finally, those with faster Atari computers will support smoother framerates.

Substation is magnificent. A fantastic shooter with great weapons, challenging AI, and superb maps. It's not easy; each mission is as tough as it is enjoyable. However, if you're expecting Substation to be "our" Doom, then you will be disappointed - it's more like a Wolfenstein. That is not a criticism.

This is a seriously awesome first-person shooter, so pick up your guns and have yourself some fun!!

This little zappy fellow is tough to hit and annoyingly badass!

- ESSENTIAL SUBSTATION LINKS -

Download on floppy or, best of all, for your hard drive.

ST Format featured a basic preview level on cover disk #72.
They also held a competition, and the winning game is on cover disk #75.
Fancy a trainer? ST Format cover disk #76 has all the answers!
[ ST Format coverdisks can be downloaded from Exxos ]

Substation tips and maps can be found in ST Format issues #74 / #75 / #76 / #77.

We all love cheat codes, and to get all weapons, just type "PUNK"
"NIRVANA" gets you extra health, and "PFLOYD" unlocks doors.
"SKRAPAN" credits extra bombs, and "FALUKORV" allows extra time.

Midi Maze

FPS - long before Doom!

Midi Maze is a multiplayer first-person shooter that hit the shelves in 1987, thanks to the talents of Xanth FX. This really is an early taste of multiplayer first-person gaming, similar to a typical deathmatch. It takes place inside a labyrinth of weird smilies that roam looking for blood. So ignore their happy faces because they're anything but nice - and need killing!! You could say, the last sphere "standing" wins?

Once inside the maze, it becomes a tense cat-and-mouse game. The design of the corridors offers very little opportunity to hide, so you're constantly listening and watching for movement around the next corner. Encounters are often sudden, forcing split-second reactions as you fire before your opponent does.

Learning the layout of a newly-generated labyrinth becomes just as important as having quick joystick reflexes. Better players will anticipate likely routes, set up ambushes in co-op, or make a speedy escape after a successful hit. Despite the simple presentation, matches remain surprisingly exciting and can become wonderfully frantic! Bring your MIDI cables; the more players roam the maze together, the better.

The controls are rather straightforward and easy to master. You can use either the joystick or the mouse, but I think the joystick works much better (and I never expected to say that, since I figured the mouse would be best). Those without MIDI cables can play in Solo mode, which allows up to 15 computer-controlled bots with three levels of AI. Those with cables and ST friends can invite friends over and link up to 16 computers. Think about that, it is quite staggering for an '80s deathmatch. And this was 1987, folks!!

To set up a two-player game, you will need two MIDI cables to create a connection between your Atari ST computers. Connect the MIDI Out port of the first ST to the MIDI In port of the second, and then connect the MIDI Out port of the second ST to the MIDI In port of the first.

This "loop" allows both STs to send and receive game data simultaneously, with one serving as the Master and the other as the Slave. Your connection is simple, robust, and ready for play...

• Cable 1: ST A (MIDI Out) $\rightarrow$ ST B (MIDI In)
• Cable 2: ST B (MIDI Out) $\rightarrow$ ST A (MIDI In)

The graphics are understandably basic compared to later games. The walls appear to be "paper-thin" and without any texture or ambient lighting - but remember just how old this game is. Frame rates on any ST are fast and exceptionally smooth, and I was impressed to see the baddies have shadows, which adds to the 3D perspective. Sound effects aren't going to win any awards, but they do their job.

There is nothing I enjoy more than a good first-person shooter, and single-player works well, but this comes into its own when linked with other Atari computers. Few games can claim to have been ahead of their time, but Midi Maze certainly can. Years before LAN parties became popular on PCs, Atari ST owners could already link multiple machines together and enjoy frantic multiplayer battles over a local MIDI cable network.

Midi Maze is one of the best games I've featured and is easily a true Atari ST gaming legend!!

• Check out this Midi Maze fanzine (It's in German, but Google Translate will help!
• Here is a PDF document of the original game manual
• Atarimania lists all three games in their Atari ST database.
• Floppy disk images are available from Atari Legend.

Wolfenstein 3D

Brace yourself...

We are an Allied spy, William "B.J." Blazkowicz, who has been captured while attempting to uncover the Nazi regime’s dark experiments during World War II. Imprisoned within the heavily guarded Castle Wolfenstein, B.J. must fight his way through prison cells, secret labs, and fortified strongholds, battling soldiers, guard dogs, and twisted scientific creations. No, you're not dreaming. Rub your eyes in disbelief all you want because we have Wolfenstein 3D running on the Atari ST (enhanced for the STe using the DMA for samples).

The classic ID game has been converted to the Atari ST/e by Reimund Dratwa (The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation), and, in case you're wondering, the gameplay is authentic with ultra-responsive controls. It feels like the same game we remember playing, with everything just like in the PC game.

As you know, the gameplay revolves around navigating maze-like levels using a first-person perspective. We move through corridors and rooms, shooting enemies whilst keeping an eye on health and ammunition, which can all be replenished by collecting items left lying around. Keys are needed to unlock new areas, so exploration is essential. Plus, most levels often hide secret passages, treasure, and items behind pushable walls. So pick up a weapon, take no prisoners nd clear each level of the nasties before reaching the exit.

Wolfenstein features 32 colours, authentic texture mapping, and a high-detail mode (activated by pressing the asterisk key on the numeric keypad, but that's only for the Mega STe, Falcon, etc.). Sampled sound effects and chip music by Mathieu Stempell, and thus truly outstanding, as you would expect.

Sadly, this is incomplete with some missing levels, but the completed parts are polished and every bit as good as you'd want. Reimund stayed up most nights coding until 5am, and I'm positive he scraped together every last droplet of Atari ST power. I can only imagine what witchcraft was used for its development!

The Atari ST has Wolfenstein 3D. Take a moment to think about this. Wow, get it downloaded right away!

Download Wolf 3D via 8BitChip.

The menu system is clear and concise with incredible details and colour.

Sadly, some of the scenarios aren't available to play.

I love those hands coming out from the barrel, killer pixel artwork!

Please do remember that Wolf 3D is unfinished and stop moaning!

I had to laugh at these drawings, which are superb, especially the first one!!

Hey, I recorded a silly video ;o)