Games

Biologically themed shooter including side-pod powerups that can be positioned around your ship.

Take a band of gun-toting rebels - a robot, a madman, a mole and a criminal mastermind. Put them in a vividly stunning fantasy realm. Then give them an impossible mission - pulling off the biggest heist of all time in the middle of a war. All you have to do is battle your way through dastardly enemies, giant war machines and an army of psychopathic robots. But don't worry; you have plenty of ammo and absolutely no common sense. Victory is yours in 12,000 bullets or less!

Armalyte: The Final Run, like its C64 namesake, is a traditional side-scrolling shoot'em up heavily inspired by R-Type, giving the player's spaceship the task of traversing five levels. The starting setup is a simple forward-facing shot as well as a power shot that must be charged by holding on to the fire button. Upgrades are a forward-facing three-way, a vertical two-way, or the addition of a single backwards shot (only one of the three at time). Also available are pods that attach to the ship and fire a forwards laser, and, only in the final level, self-homing missiles. The levels not only feature many enemy formations, but also environmental hazards, like drops of acid or falling stalactites. On one occasion, the scrolling speeds up, making the level a hazard course. Each stage ends with the customary end boss.

The aim of Armalyte is to progress to the end of a long, horizontally-scrolling level where the screen will cease scrolling and battle will commence with a Boss. Beating the Boss allows the player to progress to the next level. There are eight levels in all. Smaller Bosses are encountered midway through each level and these also have to be beaten to progress further. During each level the player encounters numerous small enemy ships, many of which fly in fixed formation. Levels also feature scenery which can destroy the player's ship if touched. Weapons can be upgraded through an upgrade system.

Armagetron is a multiplayer game in 3d that attempts to emulate and expand on the lightcycle sequence from the movie Tron. It's an old school arcade game slung into the 21st century. Highlights include a customizable playing arena, HUD, unique graphics, and AI bots. For the more advanced player there are new game modes and a wide variety of physics settings to tweak as well. It is available for Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS 4 and OpenBSD as free software released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License.

Armada 2526 is a 4x space game and the successor of Armada 2525. As usual the player takes control over a faction and tries to spread over the universe. The main part of the game is the turn-based space map where the player builds ships, sends them to unknown places and colonizes planets. With the research trees the player unlocks new technologies and abilities. The economical system is simpler than in other similar games: there is just one general money account which is used to buy everything - there are no local budgets. The only limiting factor for constructing buildings is the planet's population - more people means the opportunity to construct better ones. The planet itself and its surface is no factor. The player can automate certain processes to minimize micro management and concentrate on strategical decisions.

An early 4X space strategy game that foreshadowed the more recent Master of Orion I and II. The game can be played with 2-6 players, any combination of which can be either human or AI controlled. There is no real sound in Armada 2525, save for the occasional system beep. Game play can be either open ended or set to a specified number turns. There is no set objective to gameplay (except for your 4X's) and the story line is almost non-existant: It is the year 2525 and as your race begins its first step in extra-planetary colonization, you discover that you are not alone in the galaxy. You must compete with up to 5 other races in colonizing planets, and the near lack of diplomatic interaction in the game pretty much insures that you will need to build defenses early on. Unlike Master of Orion, diplomacy only occurs when an opponent requests peace, but you cannot make such requests yourself. Armada 2525 offers a fair assortment of ships (approx. 20) and buildings (approx. 15), which can only be built after the appropriate technological advance. One can build research labs which are dedicated to one of eight available scientific fields: weapons, construction, hyperspace, force fields, biotech, planetology, info science, and psycho science. Combat can be controlled to an extent - though you cannot affect the individual actions of ships, you can issue general orders and arrange them into formations. Your race will start at a predetermined homeworld from which it will expand to colonize new solar systems in the usual 4X quest of exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating of your opponents.

The game is another entry in a row of historic wargames by Dr. Peter Turcan. This time it is focusing on the battle of English fleet against Spanish Armada invaders, which took place near Plymouth on July 31st, 1588. You may either play as Lord Howard or Medina-Sidonia. It is also possible to play a two player game, or to take neither side (watching the computer playing both sides). The battlefield is observed in 3D perspective, up to 30 orders are typed in certain pre-defined text format, which is combined with names of commanders, places and time of execution. You will get reports from your subordinates indicating whether or not your orders have been carried out completely besides watching the battlefield yourself.