War Zone Download (1991 Amiga Game)

If you can think back a few years and remember the game Commando, you'll probably already know what Warzone is all about. Core Design, the people responsible for the excellent Corporation and Chuck Rock, obviously feel that there's still some life in the old dog. Hopefully, they're right, as Commando and Ikari Warriors look pretty dated compared with recent shoot 'em-ups. Obviously though, the question you must all be asking is, what do we get now that we didn't get then? Well for a start, there's the improved graphics and sound, additional pick-up weapons and of course the vastly improved gameplay and speed that 16-bit computers were designed to offer. Apart from that though, there's not that much extra.

The game is set in 1999. A foreign enemy force has invaded various parts of your beloved home country and is hell-bent on overthrowing the Government. To backup their efforts, they've even taken a number of hostages and prisoners of war. You, and possibly a team mate in the simultaneous two-player mode, must infiltrate the enemy forces and bring an end to this terrible atrocity that currently dominates world news. Battling your way through eight enemy infested lev- els, you'll meet various types of military hardware including tanks, jeeps, helicopters and armoured vehicles. As you progress through the vertically scrolling levels, you'll come across various crates, boxes and barrels left behind by the enemy. Shooting such objects, may reveal a useful tool such as additional weapons, power-ups, medical aid or a bonus points star.

Collecting powerful weapons is vital if the mission is to be a success. The weapons range from the basic machine gun to a fully guided rocket launching system. Other weapons include a green laser, three-way plasma beam, grenade launcher and a short range flame thrower. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, but they can all be vastly improved by collecting power-ups. The green laser for instance, can be increased from a single shot to a treble shot weapon, the flame thrower's range is increased and the grenade launcher can be improved to lob three grenades at a time.

Each time you're hit and believe me, that'll be plenty of times, your health points decrease. The only way in which to increase the ever decreasing energy bar is to pick up medical aid such as first aid kits. If, however, you allow your health to reach zero, you lose a life.

Throughout each level you'll encounter enemies of varying ability and intelligence. Some of the agents for instance, simply run at you with all guns blazing, while others take well aimed shots from secret hideouts. Also, some require a single shot to disable them, whereas others will have to be encountered several times before you'll find an effective way in which to eliminate them.

Once you've waded and battled your way through the various enemy ranks and negotiated the many obstacles, you'll have to face up to the feared end-of-level guardians: usually the most formidable piece of hardware the enemy can lay their hands on. To eliminate such artillery, you'll have to pump several rounds of ammunition into it, while avoiding the various homing in missiles and lead that's offered in return. Luckily, before you left base you were trained in the use of smart bombs, that can be used effectively to combat the guardians, or for that matter, at any time during the game when the going gets tough or things get out of hand. Simply by holding down the fire button, the bomb is activated, wiping out the contents of the entire screen. Obviously though, there's a limited supply, that can be topped up by picking up the ones carelessly left behind by the enemy agents. Another way in which to earn brownie points, is to release the hostages found chained to posts. Release every one of them and you'll definitely return home a hero.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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