Metro 2033 Redux (PC)

Developer:

4A Games

|

Release Date:

2014 (Original: 2010)

|

Systems:

Win, Xbone, PS4, Stadia, Switch, macOS, Linux (Original: Win, X360)

---

Metro 2033 is getting a free next-gen update tomorrow with higher-quality lighting, more environmental detail, 4K textures... all kinds of stuff. Though I didn't learn about this until after I'd played and written about the game. Whoops.

So this week on Super Adventures, I'll be checking out the 2014 Redux version of post-apocalyptic first-person shooter Metro 2033, by Ukrainian developer 4A Games. This was their very first game, though a bunch of them had worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, so they had a bit of experience. It was based on journalist Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel of the same name, but it was his very first book, so you don't have to read the other 2,032 Metro novels to understand what's going on.

Metro 2033 originally came out for Windows and Xbox 360 and that's it. That wasn't much fun for the PlayStation and Nintendo owners who wanted to go get mauled in a spooky cold subway tunnel too, but their turn eventually came around when the game got a reworked Redux re-release. Funny thing is, Redux was released in 2014, one year after the calamity in the backstory that left the world in ruins, so it had become an alternate history story in the meantime. Though, as the title indicates, the action takes place in 2033. Wow, if I'd just waited seven more years I could've published this on the actual date. I really did play the game too early.

I was kind of eager to finally try this and also dreading it, as I'd heard that it's harsh and challenging, and I'd played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. so I could believe it. Even typing in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." is arduous, that's how uncompromising that game is. But I'd been replaying some Half-Life 2 and it got me in the mood for an hour or two of post-apocalyptic shooting, so I decided to finally pull the trigger.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 35: Gold Box - Buck Rogers XXVc: Matrix Cubed (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I just need to play a few more hours of Matrix Cubed before I can be satisfied that I know how it plays. They could've made any kind of Buck Rogers XXVc game they wanted, they could've made this a platformer or a shoot 'em up and I could've been done with it in 20 minutes, but no, they had to make it a massive RPG and give me all this extra work!

Also, Matrix Cubed is a terrible title in my opinion. The Matrix is a good name for a sci-fi movie, Cube is a good name for an indie sci-fi thriller, but stick them together and it's just meaningless. Worse, it isn't evocative; it doesn't make you imagine the threat you're fighting or the places you'll visit. And that text looks bad.

I'm not claiming I could do any better though. Based on my track record, I'd end up calling it Buck Rogers' Super Sci-Fi Adventure or something. 

This is the second and final part. If you want to check out PART ONE, click the text. If you want SPOILERS, then just keep reading.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 34: Gold Box - Buck Rogers XXVc: Matrix Cubed (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1992

|

Systems:

DOS

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Buck Rogers XXVc: Matrix Cubed - Science Fiction Role-Playing Game, Vol II, for MS-DOS. It's nice to get back to science fiction for a bit. I like fantasy, but sci-fi's where my heart is.

DOS has its moments too, especially now that I'm in the VGA/Sound Blaster era, though it's a shame that the game was entirely bound to it. Volume I came out for C64, Amiga and even the Mega Drive/Genesis, but this is DOS exclusive.

This is the second and last of the Buck Rogers XXVc Gold Box RPGs made by Strategic Simulations Inc., though the theme music makes it sound like it should be a Wing Commander game. It wasn't a huge shock when I saw Wing Commander composer The Fat Man credited (along with Ralph Thomas), and I won't be surprised if this is all the music I get either. I've already played a few Gold Box games at this point, in fact I've played almost all of them, so I know what they're like.

If you're wondering why I've labelled a Buck Rogers game as "Dungeons & Dragons", it's because it's based on a tabletop game by D&D publisher TSR, it's made by D&D video game developer SSI, and it runs on the Gold Box D&D engine, so I'm including it as a special bonus to finish off my articles on the first decade of D&D video games: 1982-1991. Even though it came out in 1992.

As usual I've no plans to finish the game, but I'll play it for long enough for there to be SPOILERS, probably, so be aware of what you're getting into.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 33: Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (MS-DOS) - Part 4

You're reading Super Adventures and I'm playing Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon. Not for much longer though.

This is part 4 of this epic 4-part saga, but if you'd rather read PART 1, PART 2 or PART 3, then click the text.

This is also part 33 of my attempt to play the first 10 years of Dungeons & Dragons video games, spanning 1982 to 1991. Hang on, this is the last game of 1991. That means I've done it, I've played everything on the list! It's over!

It's a bit of an awkward place to end things though, seeing as there's still another Eye of the Beholder game left to play, along with a bunch of Gold Box RPGs. On the plus side, Eye of the Beholder III apparently sucks, so maybe it'll work out for the best if I quit while I'm ahead.

SPOILER WARNING: whatever happens, you're going to know about it.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 32: Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, it's been pretty much nothing but Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon. Version 1.1, apparently.

You're reading part 3 of 4, but if you'd prefer to be reading PART 1 or PART 2, then those links will get you where you want to be.

Here's a bit of insight into how bad I am at estimating how much I'll end up writing about a game: I was originally going to cover Eye of the Beholder in one article. I mean the Eye of the Beholder series, all three games, on the same page. I had the layout in place and I figured that 10 screenshots each would be enough. Turns out that 100 would've been a better guess.

Anyway, there's barely any story in the game, but I'll put a SPOILER warning here anyway just to be safe. Maybe I'll end up spoiling a puzzle for you or something.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 31: Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (MS-DOS) - Part 2

Hi, this is still Super Adventures, and I'm still playing Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon.

This is part two of four, and you can jump back to PART ONE by clicking the bold text.

The game is a part two as well, as it has a "II" in the title. I'm bringing this up because I don't think I've come across a numbered sequel yet while playing these Dungeons & Dragons games. They like to say things like "A Legend Series Fantasy Role-Playing Saga, Vol. II", but this was the first to put a number in the actual name. And then Eye of the Beholder III was the last, until the Baldur's Gate games seven years later.

Here's some more trivia for you: the Steam launcher suddenly stopped launching for me! I tried installing the game to a different PC and it ran on that just fine, so after trying a bunch of troubleshooting I just reinstalled Steam to skip to the part where it works again. That's proper old school difficulty.

There may be SPOILERS below, though that depends if you think it has enough of a story to be spoiled.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 30: Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

Westwood

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, FM Towns, PC-98

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the second Eye of Beholder game that Westwood released during 1991. And I thought SSI were rushing out their Gold Box sequels a bit fast.

Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon was released in December 1991, just 10 months after the first game, and it came out on many of the same systems. But not all of them. Sega CD and SNES owners were left out, probably because they didn't get a port of the first game until 1994. 

At least the Amiga still got a port! The gap between the PC and Amiga 500's hardware specs kept getting bigger, but they continued bringing Dungeons & Dragons games over for one last year. Hang on, the more powerful Amiga 1200 was released in 1992, they could've released a few games for that!

Anyway, this is going to be the first of four parts. It was going to be two, but I thought splitting them in half would be less of a gruelling test of endurance for you, and it's less editing work for me. Plus I really want to publish four articles a month and I've almost ran out of time! I wouldn't count on me finishing the game though, as... no time, too much to do. Sorry.

I'll throw a SPOILER warning here even though it's not exactly a plot heavy game, just so you're aware of what you're getting into by reading past this point.

Super Methane Bros (Amiga CD32)

Developer:

Apache Software

|

Release Date:

1994

|

Systems:

Amiga, Amiga CD32

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Super Methane Bros on the Amiga CD32!

The game came out in 1994 and there were already a few games with "Bros." in the title by then. First there was Mario Bros., which is its original Japanese title by the way. The abbreviation was there even in Japan. Then afterwards there was Super Mario Bros., Buster Bros. (which is not its Japanese title), Blood Bros., Snow Bros., and Bonanza Bros. And there's one thing that all these games have in common: they remembered to put the dot after "Bros".

Oh hang on, it seems that "Bros" without a dot is the correct way to write it in British English, and Apache Software was British. Actually Mobygames says they were from , but that's close enough. The studio didn't get to make many games before vanishing in the mid '90s, and half their credits are for ports of Sensible Soccer, but they did make the graphically impressive Amiga first-person shooter Death Mask and Mega Drive/Genesis platformer Marsupilami. Plus the sprite artist went on to become the lead artist on some of the Ratchet & Clank games, so there's some bonus trivia for you.

Okay I'm going to play this until I get bored or run out of lives. Shouldn't take long I expect.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 29: Silver Box - Shadow Sorcerer (MS-DOS)

Developer:

U.S. Gold

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, Atari ST

---

This week on Super Adventures, I've reached the last of the Silver Box games: Shadow Sorcerer. Well, it's the last game included in the Silver Box Classics collection anyway; the box was actually brown in the US and blue in Europe.

The US box calls it "An animated fantasy adventure", which is maybe promising a bit much. The game isn't Dragon's Lair. The European box calls it "A Dragonlance Role-Playing Adventure Vol. 1", which is also a bit weird, because it's not. 

U.S. Gold made three games set in the Dragonlance universe, starting with Heroes of the Lance, based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop module DL1 Dragons of Despair. A year later they released Dragons of Flame, based on DL2 Dragons of Flame. Finally we got Shadow Sorcerer, which is apparently an adaptation of both DL3 Dragons of Hope and DL4 Dragons of Desolation. I suppose putting "Vol. 3 and Vol. 4" on the box wouldn't have helped sales.

I can already see one big difference between this and the other two games: it was only released on three systems, none of them Japanese. Plus anyone who'd been playing through the series on 8-bit machines was entirely out of luck here, though that was true in general at this point. The NES held on for one more year and a few C64 and ZX Spectrum D&D games were still waiting for their European release, but I'll not be needing to boot any of those systems up again going forward.

Okay, there will be some SPOILERS below for this and the earlier games, which will also be spoilers for the books. But I don't expect to get very far in it.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 28: Gold Box - Pools of Darkness (MS-DOS) - Part 2

Today on Super Adventures, I'm getting right back into Pools of Darkness. I didn't actually get around to writing about any of the gameplay in part one, and I feel like that's something people clicking on a game article might be interested in.

The Pool of Radiance saga started on nine systems, but now there are just four left: IBM PC, Commodore Amiga, NEC PC-98 and Apple Macintosh. That's one less than last time, as the venerable Commodore 64 has finally retired. It was the final 8-bit computer left standing, but that era is now over.

Those four systems were the only ones to get the full saga, and that includes the books. There are only three novels: Pool of Radiance, Pools of Darkness... and Pool of Twilight. So they skipped the middle and added an extra story at the end.

I'm still playing the PC game, but I thought I'd show the Amiga title screen this time for the sake of variety. It doesn't add much variety though, as it's the same picture with fewer colours. Commodore really needed to get that AGA chipset out earlier, as even the Amiga's looking dated now.

Alright, beware of SPOILERS beyond this point. Beware of gameplay too, hopefully.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 27: Gold Box - Pools of Darkness (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, Mac, PC-98

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out the climactic chapter of the Pool of Radiance saga: Pools of Darkness. There was once one pool but now there are more.

I've played so many Gold Box RPGs now. I'm two games into the Krynn trilogy, I just started the Savage Frontier duology, I tried Neverwinter Nights for ten minutes, and I even checked out Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. But this is the first time I've reached the last game in a series! This is A FORGOTTEN REALMS Fantasy Role-Playing Epic, Vol. IV!

You can tell just from the title screen that the game is running in 256-colour VGA. That's nothing new, Gateway to the Savage Frontier supported VGA as well, though it seems that this time they weren't shy about using the colours available to them. On the other hand, the classic CGA mode was finally abandoned here, meaning players had no way to switch to eye-searing 4-colour cyan and magenta visuals anymore.

I'm really sympathetic to people who don't like continually upgrading their PC to keep up with modern system requirements... but the game came out in 1991, so if it got anyone to drop CGA and pull the trigger on a new graphics card, maybe even a Sound Blaster too, then it did them a favour.

Anyway, I should inform you that I will not be beating this game and bringing this saga to a satisfying conclusion, but I will be dragging this out over two parts anyway. So there will be SPOILERS here for events that happen early in Pools of Darkness, and it's game #4 so I'll probably end up spoiling something from the other three as well. The heroes survived, there's a starter spoiler for you.

Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing a little more about Perfect Dark Zero.

If you want to read part one, click HERE.

I mentioned last time that Perfect Dark Zero had a bit of a troubled development, but that seems to be true for all the Perfect Dark games to an extent. Even the first game had its problems, as half the team left Rare to start Free Radical Design and make TimeSplitters.

Somehow Perfect Dark  and TimeSplitters both released in 2000, and both continued the spirit of Rare's legendary GoldenEye 007. But Perfect Dark came out late in the Nintendo 64's life and was made by N64 veterans who'd had years to learn the system inside and out, while TimeSplitters was basically a janky stripped-down PlayStation 2 launch title.

Five years later, both games got sequels but this time the situations were reversed. Free Radical's TimeSplitters: Future Perfect showed off what the venerable PS2-era consoles were capable of in the hands of experts, while Perfect Dark Zero was reworked in a hurry to become a launch title for the shiny new and unfamiliar Xbox 360.

And none of these first-person shooters ever got a release on PC, what the hell guys?

Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360) - Part 1

Developer:

Rare

|

Release Date:

2005

|

Systems:

Xbox 360

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the last of Rare's Perfect Dark games, Perfect Dark Zero! All that great Perfect Dark taste, zero sugar.

The title's actually indicating that this is a prequel, like Resident Evil Zero and Street Fighter Zero (but not Mega Man Zero). Funny thing is, the series already had a prequel, on the Game Boy Colour, so the plot's been moving in reverse. There was a fourth game in development by The Initiative, announced in 2020, but five years later they made another announcement saying that it had been cancelled. And that The Initiative had been cancelled too. (To be fair it seems like the developer barely existed to begin with, as it was shedding staff like crazy.)

Perfect Dark Zero was also in development for five years, which was pretty long for a game back in the early 2000s. It was originally going to be on GameCube, but then Microsoft bought Rare so they had to switch to Xbox. Then it needed a quick next gen upgrade to become an Xbox 360 launch title!

There were 18 games available for the Xbox 360 at launch, including Call of Duty 2, Quake 4, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted, so not a bad list. Though the most successful game by a Microsoft-owned studio... was this! I always assumed the game bombed, but nope it did fine. It sold over a million copies and made four times its money back.

Okay I'm going to be playing the game with Xbox One backwards compatibility, which promises higher resolutions, faster frame rates and improved texture clarity, so hopefully this will be a more pleasant experience for me than people had back in 2005.

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Xbox) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. I've only played two levels so far and I haven't even tried the multiplayer yet so I need to give it a little more time.

If you want to read part one you can CLICK HERE.

The 'future perfect' part of the title is probably a Perfect Dark reference, as the same people worked on both games... but it also refers to a verb tense that's used for actions that will be carried out before something else in the future. At least, that's the definition I just read. So "Free Radical will have released TimeSplitters 4 before Hell freezes over," would be an example.

Free Radical Design doesn't actually exist at the moment, the latest incarnation fell victim to Embracer Group in 2023, so the chances don't seem good. The new Perfect Dark sequel got the same treatment, as developer The Initiative were closed in 2025. At least James Bond is doing well lately, with First Light being the best received entry since GoldenEye 007. Turns out it helps when developers are allowed to finish what they're working on!

Alright, here's a bit more TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. 

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

Free Radical

|

Release Date:

2005

|

Systems:

PS2, Xbox, GameCube

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the third and (to this date) final entry in the TimeSplitters franchise, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. They could've called it TimeSplitters 3 and kept things simple, but they didn't.

Future Perfect was released in 2005, but it was firmly PlayStation 2 generation like its predecessors. In fact the TimeSplitters series spanned the entire era, with TimeSplitters 1 arriving the same time the PS2 made it over to the west, and Future Perfect coming out just before Perfect Dark Zero helped launch the Xbox 360. Wait... Future Perfect, Perfect Dark... that can't be a coincidence.

This was a multiplatform release, so PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox owners all got to play it (though not against each other). But there was one system that didn't get a port: Windows PC! Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 all launched on PC first, all in 2005, so it wouldn't have been an absurd idea, even at a time when consoles were king and ridiculous anti-piracy schemes were driving PC gamers to piracy. We could've had a bit of mouse aiming, maybe even some quicksaves, but no.

Alright, I'm going to load up the Xbox version on an Xbox One and I'll keep playing through the single player until either I have enough screenshots or my enthusiasm runs out. And I suppose there'd be no harm in me playing a few rounds of the multiplayer afterwards.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 26: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing some more of Gateway to the Savage Frontier! Not to be confused with Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire or Journey to the Savage Planet.

It occurs to me that I've got no idea what your opinions are about me dragging games out for two or three parts instead of getting to the point and moving on. If it makes you feel any better, this is still the same amount of words and pictures as a two-parter, I just split them across three pages so it's less of a gruelling marathon to get through (for both of us).

Alright, you're currently reading part 3. You can find part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE. If you decide to stick around then beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 25: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still playing the DOS version of Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

Though I decided to show the title screen from the Amiga port this time and I really shouldn't have bothered. It turns out that the only difference between the two is that some of the dots are purple in the Amiga game and green in the PC game.

There's no flashy PC-98 version to show off this time and I already showed the C64 title, so that's it really. We're past the days where there were a dozen competing computer formats, and they didn't go wild and port it to the Phillips CD-i or Atari Lynx or something.

Still, they did alright on PC, at least according to a chart I saw in Computer Gaming World issue #89 which said it was the best selling MS-DOS game in North America in August 1991!

Okay, this is part 2, so if you want to read part 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise carry on reading what you're reading, though I'm getting deeper into the story now so beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 24: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

Beyond Software

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm back to Dungeons & Dragons with Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

The opening titles call it a "Forgotten Realms Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Volume I", and I remember seeing that on a bunch of earlier titles as well. Though Pool of Radiance called itself a 'Fantasy Role-Playing Epic Vol. I' and Eye of the Beyonder was a 'Fantasy Role-Playing Saga Vol. 1' so they're a little different. And Champions of Krynn wasn't even set in the Forgotten Realms!

This is yet another Gold Box RPG, the 7th or 8th of them so far, but this time Strategic Simulations Inc. handed the reins over to Don Daglow's Beyond Software. Daglow was already a veteran RPG game designer at this point, having created one of the first RPGs ever made, Dungeon, in 1975 for PDP-10 mainframes. He also invented the concept of having a circle under the selected player in sports games, apparently.

You could argue that 1991 was the wrong time to start a whole new RPG saga with the ageing Gold Box engine, especially as there were two other D&D series still going and the games were already getting accused of being archaic. I think SSI may have actually agreed the engine was out of date, as they had new engines on the way for the Dark Sun and Ravenloft games. Fans just had to hang in there for a couple more years.

The Gold Box engine had gotten a bit of an update at least, with Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday introducing 256-colour VGA graphics. This is the first D&D RPG to make use of the upgrade, plus it introduces Sound Blaster support for proper sound effects! I'm not getting my hopes up for a soundtrack though.

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more of TimeSplitters 2! Just a little bit more, not much.

TimeSplitters 2 came out in October 2002, around the same time as games like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Metroid Prime and 007: Nightfire. Also No One Lives Forever 2, Red Faction II, Unreal II and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast. It was a great time for fans of single-player first-person shooter sequels, and the multiplayer was pretty decent as well.

In fact many would argue that the best first-person console multiplayer was right here in TimeSplitters 2, especially if you didn't have an Xbox for Halo. But right now I'm more interested in the game's single-player and I've only made it up to level two so far so I need to pick up the pace.

If you want to read what I said about level 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise, I'm just going to jump straight into the next level.

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

Free Radical

|

Release Date:

2002

|

Systems:

PS2, Xbox, GameCube

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the second TimeSplitters game! Which, by pure coincidence, is also the second TimeSplitters game to never get a PC port. 

The PlayStation 2 release was joined by Xbox and GameCube versions this time, but it still never made it to mice and keyboards. There should be some kind of law against releasing a first-person shooter on everything but PC, because that just doesn't make any sense. Plus it's cruel, to me personally.

I'm going to be playing the Xbox version on an Xbox One through the miracle of backwards compatibility, as they started selling it again a few years back. Perhaps they saw all the people buying Homefront: The Revolution after we learned that the game is hidden inside as a bonus feature, and realised they were leaving money on the table.

The original TimeSplitters game was a bit of a unknown to me when I wrote about it a couple of years back, but this one I'm already familiar with. I played a lot of TimeSplitters 2 back in the day, mostly the deathmatch actually. See, I do play multiplayer sometimes! But this time around my plan is to try the first few single-player levels, about an hour of gameplay. Then I'll show a picture of the multiplayer menu, say I'm very impressed by all the modes it has, and then skip to the part where I wrap things up.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 23: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm just going to write a little more about Death Knights of Krynn.

I don't usually drag these things out to three parts, because I usually spend the time to properly edit them down! But this is a fairly interesting game so I don't feel too bad about making an exception. I won't be finishing it though, I haven't turned into the CRPG Addict. Yet.

Here have some links to help you get around:

• Death Knights of Krynn - Part One
• Death Knights of Krynn - Part Two
• List of the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played

Going to three parts means that I get to show off the C64 title screen as well. It's nothing that amazing, but I can appreciate how the C64 versions of the Gold Box RPGs all share the same theme and look like they're part of a set. That is not the case for any of the other versions. Not that there are many other versions left at this point, as the game only came out for PC, C64, Amiga and PC-98. I was thinking of showing off the Amiga title screen, but it's just the PC version with slightly better colours.

Once again I should mention that there will be SPOILERS here, for both this and Champions of Krynn.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 22: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm going to continue playing Death Knights of Krynn! If you'd prefer to read part one instead, click THIS LINK.

I'm still playing the DOS version you can buy from Steam and GOG, I just decided to show the PC-98 version of the title screen this time. It's based on the game's box art, or at least the painting the box art borrowed. The PC-98 title music is also worth a listen, and if this was 1998 I'd have it autoplaying when you open this page.

The painting is called 'Lord Soth's Charge' and that's him at the front, the leader of the undead army. I don't actually know anything else about him, but I feel like we wouldn't be friends in real life. I do know something about the engravings surrounding the logo though. There are three orders of Solamnic Knights: the Order of the Crown, the Order of the Sword, and the highest of them is the Order of the Rose. So the rose design is probably related to that.

Warning: this is going to have SPOILERS. Not just for Death Knights of Krynn, but also Champions of Krynn, as it's a sequel.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 21: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, PC-98

---

This week on Super Adventures, it's the second game in Strategic Simulations Inc.'s Krynn series: Death Knights of Krynn. There's an interesting use of colour in that title screen. It makes me think of Halloween... or maybe Christmas. Regardless, it's very on-brand for Gold Box art.

I've been playing the Dungeons & Dragons games in as close to chronological order as I can figure out and so far there's been a lot of variety. I've been jumping between action games, wargames, dragon flight sims etc. That's not really the case for this next batch though, as they released three Gold Box RPGs in the same year: Death Knights of Krynn, Gateway to the Savage Frontier and Pools of Darkness - the middle chapter of one series, the beginning of another, and the conclusion to the original saga. Oh, plus there was Neverwinter Nights, the Gold Box MMO.

Death Knights of Krynn is once again taking me back to the Dragonlance campaign setting, and I actually know a bit about the place now. I know about the War of the Lance and the Solamnic Knights and their fearsome moustaches, I know about the Dark Queen Takhisis and the Draconians made from corrupted dragon eggs. I don't think I know anything about Death Knights yet, but I'm here to learn.

I should probably warn you that this is going to have SPOILERS. Not just for Death Knights of Krynn, but also Champions of Krynn, as this is a sequel.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 20: Eye of the Beholder (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the rest of Eye of the Beholder.

(Click this text for PART ONE, or this text for the LIST OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS GAMES I've played so far.)

The game was originally for MS-DOS, Amiga and PC-98 computers, then made its way to the Sega Mega CD and SNES a few years later. So for once no one involved had to think 'But how do we get this to run on an old 8-bit Commodore 64 in 64 KB of RAM?' Even the game it borrowed its gameplay from, Dungeon Master, was a 16/32-bit Atari ST title.

The Atari ST was left out this time, though owners were likely used to that by now. It got two more Dungeons & Dragons games this year, Curse of the Azure Bonds and Shadow Sorcerer, before being dropped entirely. This was technically the second and last D&D game for the Mega Drive/Genesis too, with the Mega CD release coming out after the Sega exclusive Warriors of the Eternal Sun.

Anyway, I'd give you a spoiler warning about all the story I'll be playing through, but it's not really that kind of RPG. I could give you a warning for new dungeon tiles though, as I'll be delving deep enough to see all the art.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 19: Eye of the Beholder (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

Westwood

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Release Date:

1991

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Systems:

DOS, Amiga, PC-98, Sega CD, SNES

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm returning to an old nemesis of mine, Eye of the Beholder. I've tried this a bunch of times and never gotten anywhere in it.

The text says it's A Legend Series Fantasy Role-Playing Saga, Vol. 1, so that's a little different. Pool of Radiance was a Forgotten Realms Role-Playing Epic, Vol. 1, but this time it's a saga and it's part of the Legend series! A series that only has games called Eye of the Beholder in it, as far as I'm aware. Plus they missed out the 'Forgotten Realms' part, even though that's where this is set.

Oh, this is by Westwood Associates, by the way, the folks who made Hillsfar (bad) and DragonStrike  (awkward), and the internet says it came out in 1991, not 1990 like it says on the title screen. 1991 featured more Dungeons & Dragons games than any year before or since, with Eye of the Beholder being right at the start of them. And also at the end of them.

• Eye of the Beholder
• Death Knights of Krynn
• Neverwinter Nights
• Gateway to the Savage Frontier
• Pools of Darkness
• Shadow Sorcerer
• Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

Two Eye of the Beholder games in one year is a bit much, though I suppose it's not as bad as four Gold Box RPGs!

Alright, this is the second time I've covered this game, if the first time even counts. All I did was wander around the first floor of the SNES game for a bit before getting bored and giving up. This time however I'm not quitting so easily and you can expect to see hours worth of identical-looking plain dungeon walls. So get a drink and make yourself comfortable. That's just good advice in general, really.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 18: Gold Box - Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little bit more of sci-fi RPG Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. I just want to get up to the bit where you get to fly your own spaceship and see how that works. (Click HERE to return to part one.)

The game was released in 1990, for DOS, C64 and Amiga, and then the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1991. This means it's the first and only Gold Box title to get a release on a Sega system. It wasn't the first Dungeons & Dragons game to get ported over however, as a: it's not a D&D game, and b: Heroes of the Lance was released on the Master System a little earlier.

I've heard that a few of the releases included the novel First Power Play by John Miller, which is the kind of extra I like to see in a game box. Though I'd be happy to get any extras in the box these days. Or a box.

Speaking of relics from ancient times, here's a fun fact for you: the character of Buck Rogers debuted in 1929, so he predates Conan the Barbarian by 3 years and Superman by 9. The premise of his story is that he's a pilot from the present day who gets frozen in suspended animation until the 25th century. That's a massive 500 years, or at least it used to be. The present day has moved forward a bit since then, so if they announce they're making a new movie in time for his 100th birthday in 2029, he'll start off already 1/5th of the way there.

Note: this is a game with a story, so there will be SPOILERS below. Not for all of it though, I'm not going to end up finishing it.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 17: Gold Box - Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1990

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Systems:

DOS, C64, Amiga, Mega Drive

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday! A Science Fiction Role-Playing Computer Game Vol. I. Not to be confused with Buck Rogers XXX, that would be... something else.

I actually played this once already, 14 years back. Though the PC version scared me off, so I played the friendly Genesis/Mega Drive version instead, with its icons and isometric levels. I don't recall much about it now, but there's one thing I'm sure of: it's got nothing to do with Dungeons & Dragons' medieval multiverse of knights and clerics whatsoever. It didn't even come in a gold box.

It does run on the Gold Box engine though. Plus it's by D&D video game developer SSI and it was an adaptation of the Buck Rogers XXVc tabletop game from D&D publisher TSR. I think that makes it worth a look.

Hang on a moment, the more I stare at that logo the weirder it seems. Half the letters have impossible sharp corners, you can't do a T or a D that way, and the letters W and M are straight up impossible to reproduce on a 7-segment display. Also the T has a single pixel of red missing and it's bothering me.

Alright, now I'll be able to sleep tonight. Doesn't really look as good though.

Anyway, it seems a bit strange to build a new tabletop RPG around a character people mostly knew from a campy TV show from the late '70s, but there was actually a good reason why TSR were trying to resurrect the brand: they were being run at the time by Lorraine Williams, whose family owned the Buck Rogers IP. If you've got a classic sci-fi brand and a tabletop RPG company, it's not the worst idea to try combining the two. And it apparently sold an okay number of copies. Not great, but enough to justify the sequel that came out a couple of years later.

Okay I'm going to play the game for a while and see if I can get further than I did in the Mega Drive game. I remember walking around a damaged spaceship, though I can't recall if I managed to walk back off again.

Starfield (PC) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm contemplating the fact that 'Starfield' is only two letters away from being 'Garfield'. Though one of those letters is the longest T I've ever seen in a logo.

I've already put a few hours into Starfield, but I'm not quite done with it. Mostly because I haven't really done anything yet. If you want to see the story so far click here: PART ONE.

I'm not promising that I'll be able to get anything done in this part either, but I'll certainly make an effort to try out all the game's features before I'm done with it. Even though it will mean that I also have to write about them and try to explain them. RPGs always need a horrifying amount of explanation.

Note: like I said at the start of part one, this is an old version of the game from early 2025, not the shiny new April 2026 updated release. I won't be comparing the different versions because I don't actually know what's different. The update isn't even out yet at the time I'm publishing this.

Another note: beware of SPOILERS.

Starfield (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Bethesda

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Release Date:

2023

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Systems:

Win, Series X|S

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This week, Bethesda's infamous Starfield is getting a free update to coincide with its launch on the PlayStation 5! It's a huge upgrade that apparently makes the game better in every way.

But I won't be covering that.

I actually played Starfield way back in January 2025 and never finished writing about it. Because I somehow keep forgetting that trying to do seven things at the same time always leads to nothing getting done. So this week on Super Adventures, I'm opening a time capsule containing my opinions on the game as it was.

It's a shame I couldn't have been more hyped about Starfield, as I love the 3D Fallout games and Mass Effect, and space games like TIE Fighter and Freelancer used to be my thing. So "A new space RPG by the makers of Fallout 3" was right at the top of my 'dream game list', just underneath "A new space RPG by the makers of Fallout: New Vegas". I can't believe I actually got both of them in the end, though it wasn't a huge shock to me that both turned out kind of flawed.

Still, it's a new IP from the developer that gave us the Fallout sequels and the Elder Scrolls sequels and nothing else in two decades besides IHRA Professional Drag Racing, so that on its own is interesting. Though it wouldn't have been so bad if they had used an existing IP for their space game... like that Star Trek licence that Bethesda Softworks had at one point. "A Star Trek RPG by the makers of Fallout 3" is even higher on my 'dream game list'. 

Alright, I'm going to go on an expedition into Starfield to see if there's any joy in there to find. It's a big universe so this will be the first part of two.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 16: Gold Box - Secret of the Silver Blades (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more of the MS-DOS version of Secret of the Silver Blades.

That's actually the title screen from the PC-98 version up there, that's why it looks so dithered. They took a picture made to fit into a tiny EGA palette of 16 colours and then squeezed it down to just 7. Still, it could have been worse - the Macintosh version is black and white. I don't mean it's monochrome like the Game Boy, I mean it has two colours: black and white.

The game was released on five systems, MS-DOS, PC-98, Mac, C64 and Amiga, and they'd all gotten the previous two games as well, so anyone playing through the saga on one of those machines was in luck... for now. People who'd been playing on the Apple II or Atari ST were less fortunate as those computers got dropped here, and I doubt it was possible to get the saves working on another system. Their heroes had to all retire at game #2, never levelling up past level 12... or past level 4 if they were a halfling fighter with low strength (1st Edition AD&D is weird).

Okay, if you want to jump back to part one, CLICK HERE.

If you want to view the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played, CLICK HERE.

And if you want to keep reading, be aware that there will be SPOILERS beyond this point.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 15: Gold Box - Secret of the Silver Blades (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1990

|

Systems:

DOS, C64, Mac, Amiga, PC-98

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Today on Super Adventures, I'm playing the 11th Dungeons & Dragons video game, Secret of the Silver Blades! 

I'm playing the DOS version to be precise and I can already tell from this title screen that the game isn't going to be supporting 256 colour VGA graphics. That's fine though. 4 colour CGA was no fun for anyone, but Tandy and EGA hardware allowed artists a large enough palette to come up with something distinctive. They gave us a style tied to a specific time and place in history that otherwise would have never existed. A style with lots of magenta and cyan.

(I hope the VGA era isn't too far off.)

Secret of the Silver Blades is the third game in the Pool of Radiance saga, following on from the events of Curse of the Azure Bonds. This means I've finally made it back to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting after a surprisingly long stay in the Dragonlance universe. I'm also back to the Gold Box engine, so I already have a good idea of what this is going to be like.

Anyway, I'm going to be playing the game for a few hours, so there may be SPOILERS here for this and earlier games in the series.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 14: DragonStrike (MS-DOS) and DragonStrike (NES)

This week on Super Adventures, I've finally got another excuse to Photoshop together a title image. The weird thing is, I started adding the ripped cover effect to it before I noticed that the Amiga version's cover already uses a torn paper effect (you can see it the top left behind the dude). That's such a weird coincidence. Their effect is better, but I think mine came out looking okay.

Anyway DragonStrike came out in 1990 and is the 10th Dungeons & Dragons game. Meanwhile DragonStrike (NES) came out in 1992 and is the 21st Dungeons & Dragons game. It was pretty common at the time for different systems to get wildly different games that all shared the same title, but in this case it's only the NES release that just had to be awkward.

Covering both games at the same time requires breaking the timeline a bit, but doing it this way means I get to compare them, so you're getting double dragons this week.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 13: Gold Box - Champions of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm just playing some more of the DOS version of Champions of Krynn, but I thought you might want to see the PC-98 title screen instead this time.

The game was released on just five systems this time: IBM PC, Amiga, PC-98, Commodore 64 and Apple II, so we've lost the Atari ST and Apple Mac - both 16-bit systems weirdly. The 8-bit C64 is still hanging in there, but this was the final Dungeons & Dragons game to be ported to the legendary Apple II. It had been the main platform for RPGs in the US, giving the world titles like Ultima, Wizardry and The Bard's Tale, but it had its last major hit in 1989 with Prince of Persia. A computer that couldn't run SimCity or Golden Axe didn't really have a place in the early '90s.

In fact technology had moved on so far by this point that the PC version of Champions of Krynn actually has Adlib sound card support! It's also one of the very few Gold Box RPGs to support the Roland LAPC, which is basically an MT-32 on a card (the next few games didn't support it for some reason). It doesn't really change much however, as I think the only music in the whole game is the theme tune at the start.

If you want to go back to part one, CLICK HERE.

If you want to see all the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played CLICK HERE.

Beware of SPOILERS beyond this point.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 12: Gold Box - Champions of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1990

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, Apple II, PC-98

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Champions of Krynn, a 'Dragonlance Fantasy Role-Playing Epic Vol. 1' (Version 1.2). It's the beginning of a brand new Dungeons & Dragons trilogy!

I've already played a few games in the Dragonlance campaign setting, like Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame, but even though they were based on tabletop modules I wouldn't exactly call them RPGs. Champions of Krynn is actually a proper Gold Box RPG however, just like Pools of Radiance... except I'm probably going to have to deal with those annoying dragon men that shoot magic at you and explode when they die again.

This also the beginning of a new decade: the 1990s! I'm on year 9 of my quest to play the first 10 years of Dungeons & Dragons games, and the end is in sight. Though in truth I'm only halfway through them, as SSI were releasing a ton of these games at this point. We got three AD&D titles this year:

• Champions of Krynn - What I'm playing right now.
• DragonStrike - A dragon combat flight sim.
• Secret of the Silver Blades - Chapter three of the Pool of Radiance Gold Box tetralogy.

Plus there was Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday. It's got nothing to do with D&D, but it's adapted from another tabletop game by D&D creators TSR and it runs on the Gold Box engine, so they basically just swapped the dragons for spaceships.

Okay, I'll be playing the game for a couple of hours, taking screenshots and writing words, so there'll be SPOILERS below.