The Three Stooges (1987)
Cinemaware's fifth Amiga release, The Three Stooges, arrived in 1987 and was based on the antics of the American comedy trio. The short film series of the same name ran from 1922 to 1970. The game features the central characters of the films – Moe, Larry and Curly – with Moe mercilessly bossing around the other two bunglers. There are board game-like elements here, combined with arcade action and a touch of simple strategy. In practice, the game is built around five different minigames. The Three Stooges captures the spirit of the films remarkably well, but it is also repetitive and highly mechanical. I knew the game from my Amiga years in the 1990s, and it was interesting to return to it some thirty years later.
Defender of the Crown (1986)
I dug out the legendary Amiga game Defender of the Crown, in which the player seeks to conquer Britain in the early Middle Ages. It was the first release from the renowned Cinemaware, and it occupies a special place in Amiga history as a showcase for the computer’s groundbreaking multimedia capabilities. Audiences accustomed to 8-bit machines were astonished by such impressive graphics in the mid-1980s. The music was equally novel, based on samples and making use of four-channel sound. Defender of the Crown, like Cinemaware’s other productions, was guided by the idea of interactive movies. There are no video sequences, which only became common in games during the 1990s, but the concept is reflected in the scene-by-scene narrative and the game’s dramatic atmosphere. Defender of the Crown is a strategy game, although its strategic depth is fairly limited. The game relies heavily on randomness, and victory is by no means guaranteed.
It Came from the Desert (1989)
The action-adventure game It Came from the Desert from 1989 offers not only a retro Amiga experience but also a time warp into the science-horror films of the 1950s. A radioactive meteorite crashes into the small Californian town of Lizard Breath, causing the local ants to mutate. The geologist who arrives to examine the crater — the character controlled by the player — recognises the danger, but no one believes him. The geologist becomes an unlikely action hero whose mission is to collect evidence of giant ants and fight them. The game has an intriguing atmosphere and the makings of a cult classic, but it is also too rushed for leisurely enjoyment because everything plays out in real time. It Came from the Desert can be played not only on an original Amiga and via emulators but also on a modern Windows PC, as it is included in the Cinemaware Anthology Collection.