"1998" | The Obscuritory

Tagged: 1998

The box for Comer by Shine Studio. The front of the box reads: “COMER is an interactive adventure into the surreal world of natural and architectural wonders. Be a COMER and experience the story, 3D graphics, stereo sound with a quality of no compromise. In an ancient oriental script of prophecy, life was referred to as ‘The Game of Zao Hua.’ In modern terms, it might be ‘The Game of Creation and Evolution of Life.’ The study of prehistoric earth reveals that there were periods of lifeforms such as that of dinosaurs and that of mammals. Usually in a drastic ‘Bang!’, one period ended, lives were wiped out, new cycle started. Here and now, another ‘Bang!’ is taking shape...”

Read about Kyle Choi’s Comer in ROMChip!

Where do the outliers fit into gaming history? My article about Comer, a surreal self-published CD-ROM game from 1998, is now available in ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories!

Screenshot from Cooking with Dom DeLuise

Cooking with Windows recap

We made recipes from CD-ROM cookbooks. Here are our thoughts about them and their (mostly terrific) food.

Cybermercs: The Soldiers of the 22nd Century

The rusty sci-fi future of Cybermercs enlivens its repetitive role-playing shooting gallery gameplay, at least for a while.

The dirty secret of Secret Writer’s Society

A bizarre story about a writing program that was reportedly sabotaged by a rogue programmer and the questions that raises about educational software.

H.E.D.Z.: Head Extreme Destruction Zone

H.E.D.Z. has 225 characters – one of the largest, strangest groups ever assembled – and not much else.

Heroes

If you packed as many features as possible into a version of Snake, it might look like Heroes.

Liquid War 5

From the bones of the strategy genre comes this liquid-y war game where fighting is about filling up the right spaces.

Lode Runner 2

When the Lode Runner series moved into 3D, it got more overwhelming, frustrating, and delightful.

Secret Writer’s Society and the worst bug ever

This rote educational writing game has a huge problem that causes the text-to-speech voice to read a list of obscenities. After the game has been lost for 20 years, I got a copy, and now you can play it too!

Sierra LandDesigner 3D

Sierra’s line of home productivity software (really!) included this gardening tool, which makes it easier to plan a garden but doesn’t necessarily teach how to landscape well.

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