BAD BLOOD

Pulse-pounding arcade action! Radioactive Roleplaying!The Ultimate Post-Apocalypse Saga! Are you mutant enough to handle it? In a world devastated by nuclear holocaust, the pure-blooded humans have sword to exterminate their mutant cousins. Only you can prevent it!

You're the hottest slicer in the village - That's why the Himukk picked you. "If the humans attack," he said, "we're slag." See what's got 'em wadded up, an' try to fix it. You've been trekkin' for days, hammerin' buzzars and turkels, huntin' the Oracle. For all you know, you're already too late. With a blade in your hand and a oozee on your hip, you can take those snaky spuds. You hope...

• Eye popping graphics and bone-jarring music.
• Battle dozens of lethal foes in real-time arcade combat. Gun-toting slavers, airborne buzzars and the terrible Urse push your survival skills to the ragged edge
• Arm yourself to the teeth with weapons like sawed-off shotguns, rapid-fire oozees and high-powered buzzooks.
• Interact with the survivors in this blasted world using a fast-moving, menu-driven conversation system.
• Explore searing wastelands, ramshackle towns, ravaged cities, and hidden underground complexes seething with forgotten technology and mutated monsters. 

~ from the back of the box

Originally released in 1990, Bad Blood became the spiritual successor to Wasteland before Fallout took over that claim almost a decade later. There's some good pedigree behind the action-RPG. It was developed by Origin Systems, the same company behind the Ultima series. It boasts Chris Roberts (Wing Commander) as the director and lead designer and Warren Spector (Deus Ex) as the producer. That's quite a production team, even if most of their greatest achievements happened after Bad Blood's release.

You choose to play as one of three protagonists; Dekkar the human, Jakka the mutant or Varigg the green-skinned beast. Each have their own abilities with Dekkar being the middle ground being of average build and carrying a knife. Jakka is perhaps the most interesting character, even if she is the weakest of the three. She wears a cool-looking eye patch over her left eye leaving her right eye free to shoot lasers from it. Being the most obvious mutant, Varigg cannot easily pass for human and will be shunned from certain communities making his playthrough significantly different from the others. He has no weapon to begin with but is built like an ox to compensate.

The top-down world is entirely open for you to explore, though it is relegated to a small window presumably for technical purposes (the improved VGA version came a few years down the line). It's quite an interesting post-apocalyptic land too, with a variety of beasts both viscous and tame to come into contact with. If you do have to fight, it can be a little clunky, especially with close combat weapons. The controls aren't as responsive as you'd want them to be resulting in some cheap hits against you before the fight is over. Health isn't exactly abundant either. Food or sleep doesn't seem to replenish it, instead only helping out your hunger or stamina  Food also acting as the game's currency. The only way to heal is by consuming hearts - fresh ones or dried ones it doesn't matter. The only way to get them outside of stumbling across a peasant's personal hoard is to hunt turkels, perhaps losing as much life as you would gain in the process.

This doesn't make Bad Blood a bad game. It is actually pretty darn engrossing almost equalling the later games in the Ultima series. At the very least I found the setting to be much more interesting than the generic fantasy tropes of that classic series. If you like a good old-school PC RPG, then Bad Blood's the way to go.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Manual, Bestiary and Reference Guide included. Tested on and Windows 10.

File Size: 9.14 Mb.  Install Size: 11.7 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


Bad Blood is © Origin Systems
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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