| ARCHIVE STATS |
262 games
79 downloadable
1226 MB archived |
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| INDIVIDUAL GAME LISTING |
Duel II   
Duel II (Duel 2) was a pretty cool game. While, judging from the screenshots, I was expecting a Subspace/Continuum-type game, I found that I got both and neither. Sit tight for a large slew of old-school arcade innovations and deathmatch type games!
Graphic quality wasn't the best aspect of this game. The explosions look nice enough, but they just don't have the feel that an explosion should. And my biggest complaint about this whole game is that the ship(s) are awfully tiny, considering how much empty space the screen holds. The asteroids look great, though, and the missiles serve their purpose well.
The music is probably the best I've seen in a game of this type. The sound effects are spot-on, and the music was heart pumping. I'd say it got my foot tapping more than a couple of times. And the guitar-techno music in the opening menus was a good way to start it off. Another surprise you'll get when you start up the game is the presence of a story. Most shooters do not have one, and for an obvious reason: it's not necessary. This really goes to show you how much effort the author put into this game.
Ah, the game play. The category that every game is supposed to shine in. Thank god that this was the author's focus, though the control is pretty sensitive. And, there's not just some quality game here; there's also some quantity of modes. Some are only for Single-Player, some are only for Multi-Player, and some are for both. I am going to attempt to explain all of these modes in detail. First, I will go over the Single-Player only modes. This is the control for the first player: [ctrl] shoots, the directional keys are your movement, and [L] changes your weapon (if available).
The first of the modes is called "Missile Avoid". Your job is to dodge several heat seeking missiles that a stationary, rotating ship throws at you. The best way to do this is to stay near the walls until the missiles are close, and then back off from the walls as quick as you can. You are not given any weapons, just dodge. I found this mode to be pretty heart pounding, and much more fun than the "Asteroids Avoid" mode (see below).
Yes, the second mode, "Asteroids Avoid", just didn't give me the same adrenaline rush that "Missile Avoid" did. There didn�t seem to be as much strategy to it either, as all of the asteroids� movements were near-random movements. In case you haven't gathered what this mode is, yet, what you do is dodge asteroids, using the same rules as "Missile Avoid". The asteroids are not heat seeking, but move without notice of you. Notice, however, that just because this mode doesn't have as much strategy as "Missile Avoid", it makes up for it in sheer difficulty.
And now onto the multiplayer modes. The control for the second player is as follows: [a] changes the weapon (if available), [z] fires, and the movement is done with [r], [d], [f], and [g]. The multiplayer only modes are the only ones that incorporate map selection. Please note that neither of these two modes has a "bot" option. They are multiplayer only.
The first of the two Multi-Player only modes, "Duel", is exactly what you would expect from two ships in space with guns - a deathmatch. Your ships are automatically equipped with four different weapons, and more can be picked up in the form of power-ups. It should be noted that this is the only mode that allows you to choose your weapons. All other modes are either weaponless, or only have the normal single shot.
The second mode of this type is called "tag". It's pretty self-explanatory. You are given no weapons. Instead, the one with the red circle around him is "it", and has to "tag" his opponent. It's basically the same game everybody has played numerous times on the playground, except this time you're in a spaceship.
Then, there are the modes that can be played single- or multi-player.
The first mode is "asteroids". What? Yes, that's right. Asteroids. The classic arcade game brought into the 21st century. Like all Asteroids clones, the control is spot-on. You are not given the ability to choose weapons. Instead, your ship has the normal "single shot" found in most games. All things considered, and the fact that I'm a wannabe retro-gamer (grrrr....I'm with eViL bOrIs. The word "gamer" sucks.), I played this mode more than any other. I do have one complaint about this mode, though, and that's that your bullets don't go over to the other side when shooting an edge, like your ship or the asteroids do.
The second mode is called "drone kill". Unfortunately, this mode just isn't unique enough to hold my interest. It seems a lot like "asteroids", just smaller targets. Of course, the smaller targets mean that they are harder to hit and there are more of them. Still, it just wasn't as innovative as some of the other modes this game has to offer.
The Bottom Line: Duel 2 is a good game that has a lot to offer, but falls short in a few areas. Still, I would recommend this game to anybody who wants a blast from the past, or a good deathmatch game.
| PC REQUIREMENTS: 32 MB RAM, 300 MHz CPU |
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GAME AUTHOR Richard Cassan
REVIEWED BY Da_Goat
STAFF RATING 8/10
USER RATING ---
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FILE SIZE 2.9 MB
FILE DATE Aug 10, 2002
UPLOADED Feb 24, 2003
DEV TOOL C/C++ (generic)
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NO DOWNLOAD |
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NO DEMOS 