DARK EARTH

When a pen and paper RPG gets adapted for a video game, you'd expect it to follow certain conventions such as a complex fighting mechanic, character stats and the like. Based on the short-lived French series, Dark Earth by Kalisto Entertainment doesn't do that. It was released in 1997, the same year as the first Fallout, but by contrast, it ignores its stat-heavy origins and follows the formula of another one of its contemporaries: Resident Evil.

INNOCENT UNTIL CAUGHT 2: GUILTY

The crude grifter Jack T. Ladd returns for another space adventure. This time he's Guilty! Released in 1995, this sequel to Divide By Zero's Innocent Until Caught adds an unwitting companion by the name of Ysanne Andropath: Space Cop. Does this extra playable character add to the experience or just Jack's innate sexism?

LOTUS ESPRIT TURBO CHALLENGE TRILOGY

In the age before polygons were able to give us fully realised environments, I wasn't too keen on the racing genre. Back then, I felt the limitations of 2D weren't able to adequately recreate the sensation of driving a car, at least not in games that positioned the camera behind the vehicle instead of a top-down viewpoint. The one exception (at least in my collection) was Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge.

DISNEY MINI-GAMES

   

Disney were incredibly prolific in the 90s with their computer edutainment titles. Most followed a pre-set theme such as the Animated Storybooks, Activity Centres or Print Sudios but there were a few titles that stood on their own. Be Our Guest, Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games and Topsy Turvy Games compiled a collection of 5 mini-games each and tied them to a Disney animated classic (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame respectively).

NOIR: A SHADOWY THRILLER

Cyberdreams continuing ethos of publishing games with the clear voice of a named artist behind them was an admirable - if short-lived - one. In their fifth and final game released in 1996 a director by the name of Jeff Blyth joined the development crew of TSi to create Noir: A Shadowy Thriller. While his work isn't as well-known as H.R.Giger's alien landscapes or Harlan Ellison's sci-fi stories, he has had an interesting and rather unorthodox film career.