The Groginati Sales Thread

[BanzaiCat]

The "Tank: M1A1 Battle Simulator" looks a LOT like either M1 Tank Platoon, or Steel Thunder. I can't figure out which one. I'd not heard of this title before, but the screens are very familiar.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/410550/

Anyone recognize it?

[BanzaiCat]

I have

• F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0
• Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
• Tex Murphy Under a Killing Moon
• Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation
• Link
• Chroma Squad

all in my cart on Steam right now. Someone talk me out of buying games I don't have time for.

[Huw the Poo]

all in my cart on Steam right now. Someone talk me out of buying games I don't have time for.

You're going to load each one up, smile faintly with nostalgia, then quit after five minutes, unable to bear the super low-res.  It won't take long for buyer's remorse to settle in as you look over your wishlist and wish you'd bought something modern.

You have been warned!

[Gusington]

Don't do it BC...think of the children.

[Staggerwing]

OTOH, it could be a liberating experience, much like encountering that old girl friend from twenty years ago who you'd been obsessing about all that time, torturing yourself with those 2 AM can't sleep what-if scenarios: "If only... if only... !"

Now that girl is about 13 numbers ahead of you in the DMV line, wider than she is tall, arguing with someone on her cell whom you gradually ascertain from the conversation's content is either her AA sponsor or her probation officer.

[Greybriar]

all in my cart on Steam right now. Someone talk me out of buying games I don't have time for.

You're going to load each one up, smile faintly with nostalgia, then quit after five minutes, unable to bear the super low-res.  It won't take long for buyer's remorse to settle in as you look over your wishlist and wish you'd bought something modern.

You have been warned!

I have to agree with Huw. Those are old DOS games. F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 was released in 1991, Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender in 1992, Tex Murphy Under a Killing Moon in 1994, and Tank: M1 A1 Abrams Battle Simulation in 1989.

[Gusington]

I was very excited for Age of Empires HD when it came out and played it for about two hours. In 1999 it was my favorite game but in 2015 I could not go home again.

[JasonPratt]

Someone talk me out of buying games I don't have time for.

The Tex Murphy games are more about the story and the related writing (and in some cases the acting, especially from Tex). The first two may be nigh unplayable, but one of them was remade later as Tex Murphy: Overlord anyway. If you start from Under A Killing Moon, you won't end up missing much -- its occasional weaknesses are what it always had.

[BanzaiCat]

I ended up going with Chroma Squad, Rex Nebular, and Link.

Chroma Squad gave me grief in that the tutorial wouldn't play. I wrote the dev (who is in Brazil) and 30 minutes later he wrote me back. The issue was due to an update and he backed it out until he could figure out what the problem is. I'm impressed with what he did and how quickly he responded...and that he responded at all.

I tried Rex Nebular...it's not bad. Typical 80s-era comedy in a point-and-click. The jokes aren't that funny (though most reviewers think it's HI-larious), but that's because I'm old and have heard them all pretty much.

Link isn't bad. A little odd. The English isn't top notch but it's only a word or two here and there. I like the turn-based premise it has.

Glad I skipped on F-117, to be honest. I bought F-19 a LONG time ago and still haven't played it yet. :(

As for that M1 tank game...I'd still like to know if it's either Steel Thunder (Accolade) or M1 Tank Platoon (MicroProse). I would swear it was one of those but branded under a different name.

I did want to try Tex Murphy. I recall how it was a big deal back in the early/mid 90s as it was a CD-ROM game and had live actors in it. That never pushed any of my buttons, though, but I've heard the story is excellent (had to have been, they made what, three sequels?). Maybe some day.

[Greybriar]

....As for that M1 tank game...I'd still like to know if it's either Steel Thunder (Accolade) or M1 Tank Platoon (MicroProse). I would swear it was one of those but branded under a different name....

There is one thing that all three games have in common: They were all released in 1989. ;)

Sorry but of the three, I only played M1 Tank Platoon so I can't help you. Here are a couple of YouTube videos that may prove enlightening:

[Huw the Poo]

I thought it was intended to be a kind of spiritual successor, coded by an ex-Microprose dev?  I might be misremembering though.  It's weird - in places it looks exactly like M1 Tank Platoon, but it definitely isn't the same game.

[Staggerwing]

Didn't the original release of Tank: M1A1 Battle Simulator include a mass-market paperback copy of Armor Attacks: The Tank Platoon - An Interactive Exercise in Small-Unit Tactics and Leadership in the box?

[Pete Dero]

Stellaris at Green Man Gaming - use the WATCH25 code to get 25% off for a limited time.

[JasonPratt]

According to Greybriar's link above, the game isn't the same as Microprose's M1 Tank Platoon. http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/tank-the-m1a1-abrams-battle-tank-simulation

As for the Murphy games:

1.) Mean Streets. Entirely skippable today, since it was remade with vastly better production values later, and without two of the horrible factors plaguing this game. (One of which is that the devs originally wanted to make a sci-fi flying car sim, but then needed a plot for it, and then thought it would be neat to get out and move around... and eventually it just had a terrible flying car sim in the adventure game. ;) )

2.) Martian Memorandum. Same gameplay, different story, better user interface, none of the super-annoying things. You could feasibly start here. But it isn't a properly 'acted' game, unlike the cinematic pretensions of the sequels. I've never missed not playing it -- but I did pick it up on sale when the latest game was released last year!


Seriously, refund those other games where applicable and just go with these if you're going to spend the money! If you get into UAKM, you will absolutely enjoy the remaining sequels. If not, you can refund the batch. (I should note that I've only played the final game from Steam, though, which is designed for modern systems to start with. The other three, I haven't -- I mean I haven't played them from Steam. But I have played them all at least twice.)

3.) Under A Killing Moon. This is really the one to start with. Just treat the other two games as events in the past history of the main character, who in the grand tradition of hard-boiled PI movies (even ones that clown around) isn't starting out as a newb after all.

4.) The Pandora Directive. Arguably the best of the bunch. You can end as a sad clown. The arguably best ending (getting your original sweetheart back) segues into the next game; but there are six endings.

5.) Overseer. Assuming the best ending from #4, the framing story involves Tex and his best girl going out for dinner to get reacquainted, and since she wasn't around for the first game (I think he met her in #3) he tells her the story of the first game -- now reset to involve him as a fresh-faced idealistic private investigator, being slowly eroded into his cynical (though still somewhat optimistic) self. He meets all the (other) supporting characters for the first time, picks up his trademark props and quirks, etc. The game ends on a dramatic cliffhanger.

6.) The Tesla Effect. I can't recall exactly how they resolve the pretty dang serious cliffhanger at the end of the previous game, but I wasn't unhappy with this final entry which hits a lot of nostalgic notes but doesn't overstay its welcome. Also, the writer incorporates the huge gap in real-life time between games into the story in an interesting way.

[Nefaro]

Olde Skewl!