The Last Express

Robert Cath hastily jumps off a speeding motorbike onto the Orient Express, as it departs from Paris on the evening of 24 July 1914. He's been invited to join the train by his friend Tyler Whitney, who apparently has made a remarkable deal and wants to tell Robert all about it. But as soon as Robert enter Tyler's cabin, he finds him on the floor... murdered!

Those are the opening scenes of The Last Express, a 1997 first-person adventure game directed by Jordan Mechner (Karateka, Prince of Persia). What follows is a story of early 20th century mystery drama, all set on the Orient Express as it continues its voyage across Europe to Constantinople, using an interesting rotoscoped visual style and with voice actors speaking German, French, Serbian and Russian besides English.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") to discuss this very unique game are veteran DOS Game Club members Richard ("Pix") and Esko ("firefyte"). We also got a voice message from Jozef ("yozy") who actually interviewed his mum for this!

So what's the game like? Does it hold up? Who murdered Tyler Whitney? Listen to find out!

[ download mp3 ] (126 mins, 145 MB)

Little Big Adventure

Evil dictator Dr. Funfrock is ruling the remote planet of Twinsun with an iron fist. And now that talk of the legend of Sendell has been forbidden, you have even been sent to prison for having strange dreams. What a mess! Luckily your ancestors have hidden various magical items for you, which give you a fighting chance to beat Funfrock and save the planet.

This is the premise of "Little Big Adventure", a top-down isometric action adventure game developed by French studio Adeline Software and published by EA in 1994. The team is largely made up of veterans from Infogrames who previously worked on Alone in the Dark. Are there any influences of that found in LBA? And how does it hold up 28 years later? That and more is discussed in this episode of DOS Game Club!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we have two new guests on the show. First of all there's James from the Retro Spectives Podcast, another retro gaming podcast in which they take deep dives into old games. Also joining is Michiel, aka "El Muerte", founder of The Magic Ball Network, one of the biggest fan sites for Little Big Adventure, which has been going for over 20 years now.

Enjoy the show!

[ download mp3 ] (179 mins, 205 MB)

KKND: Krush Kill ‘n Destroy

FMV cutscenes with very quirky humour? Check! Ridiculously over the top scenario? Check! Giant acid-squirting scorpions vs. six-wheeled flame thrower ATVs? Check!

In 1997, Beam Software released the first game in the KKnD series. Is it just an unimaginative Command & Conquer reskin clone? Or did it bring something unique to the then still young real-time strategy genre?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") is club member Björn ("TigerQuoll").

This month our shoutout is slightly different, pointing you to a brilliant interview series that Caroline Delbert did with game developers who entered their games into the 2022 Queer Games Bundle over on itch.io. Nothing retro gaming related this time, but definitely worth checking out.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (79 mins, 91 MB)

MechWarrior 2

You're seated in the cockpit, twelve meters above ground, your Mech's 75 tonnes stomping heavily on the desert ground. You're getting close to nav point beta, no sign of the enemy, yet. "Enemy Mech Detected!", your computer tells you in a sterile, cold voice.

You arm your missiles and lasers and fire your first salva as you turn your Timber Wolf to the left. More hostiles show up on your radar - this is going to be one hell of a mission. The first of the enemies' missiles miss you by half an inch as you fire all your lasers at their leader.

Seconds later, your Mech trembles under the impact of more missiles. A loud explosion and a heavy jolt tell you they must've hit one of your ammo stores. "Heat Level Critical" the same female computer voice tells you, "Core Meltdown Imminent"

In 1995, Activision released MechWarrior 2 and sent similar shockwaves through the gaming community. But does the milestone game hold up today?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are club member Hannes ("Mr Creosote") and new participant Emil ("elhammar"), who has studied MechWarrior 2 academically.

Also a big thanks to DGC member "TigerQuoll" for sending in a voice message! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to club@dosgameclub.com.

This month we have two shoutouts, one to Games Studies Study Buddies who make academic games studies accessible to the layperson, and one to HalfBlindGamer, who focuses on obscure games and dissects them earnestly where others resort to jokes and giggles.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (182 mins, 208 MB)

Quake

There isn't much we need to say to introduce you to Quake. It's Quake, after all.

Quake may be one of the most important games crossing the bridge between the "old" and "new" gaming worlds. It still came out as a DOS game, originally, as shareware, rendered fully in software. But it was also there to give us online multiplayer, modding, machinima, speed running, 3d acceleration, e-sports and so many more things.

It didn't invent those things, but coming at the right time, when the Internet finally became widely available as well as consumer-grade 3D accelerators, it, like no other game, encapsulates the spirit of the late 90's.

But is it a good game, even today?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are club members Thanael ("Trumad") and Garrett ("f2bnp).

Also a big thanks to DGC members "watchful" and Luke for sending in voice messages! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to club@dosgameclub.com

The month's shoutout goes to A Question of Character, where you can learn about the innermost details of the most interesting characters in the universe. Visit them on https://www.youtube.com/c/AQuestionofCharacter.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (161 mins, 184 MB)