As we look through the library of Classics Digital I wanted to give a very quick history lesson. And that lesson is that this all ends at Infogrames (Atari SA). This onetime large French publisher scooped up numerous failing developers, publishers, and libraries in a way that is similar to the modern day THQ Nordic. I bring this up because in most cases, the games we are talking about fell into the hands of Classics Digital because they first fell into the hands of Infogrames. The games of Imagitec, which I looked at last blog, were eventually sold to Gremlin Interactive which was itself eventually sold to Infogrames which itself eventually became the new Atari. This blog we will be looking at the library of Ocean Software, a company that was, again, eventually purchased by Infogrames. And eventually we will get to the games developed by Infogrames itself. Point is, despite coming from numerous studios, all these games eventually became the property of a single company which in turn got itself into financial trouble and sold the digital distribution rights to those games to Classics Digital. And that is how these blogs came about.

So this entry we are going to be looking at titles by Ocean Software. 8 games are included in the current Classics Digital library. You can buy them individually for between $4 and I believe $8, or you could buy them as a bundle for $20. While I have yet to play all the titles as of this moment I would highly recommend not doing either of these things based on the earlier releases in this collection, save for one title we'll talk about below. We are once again going to go in or of release date. My idea with this was that we might see some evolution in design or technology that would make playing the games in order of release worthwhile. This didn't really work out with Imagitec due to the games all being different genres and all being borderline nonfunctional. But our first two Ocean Software titles both use a similar format and were developed by the same man.

The perspective is isometric of sorts. Those familiar with British Microcomputer developers of the 80's will likely immediately understand The Great Escape. Utilizing a black background and largely monochromatic environments, games made for the ZX Spectrum, BBC Mirco, and other British computers of the era, are all incredibly ugly and not very fun. If you have Xbox Game Pass you can see what I am talking about by playing the very early games in the Rare Replay Collection, which have a similar look and feel. This game is based on the film of the same name. You are a prisoner of war and must escape a prison camp and make your way to freedom. Holding you back are awful tank controls that are bound to the keypad, obtuse mechanics that punish you for undisclosed actions, and an overall sense that there is a giant manual somewhere that one should have read before starting this game, and yet that manual is of course not included in Classics Digital fashion. And so my first attempt ended in failure when I found what seemed to be a tunnel system leading out of my bunkhouse, but could not see anything. I assume I was meant to bring some sort of light source, but without it I was unable to make my way out of the tunnels and had to restart the game. Luckily, there is an actual restart button in this game, meaning I didn't have to alt-tab and close the window every time I wanted another go as was the case with Imagitec's titles.

My second playthrough ended when I was placed in solitary confinement for doing something wrong. I honestly could not tell you what that thing was. I was making my way from my bunk to roll call when I was suddenly thrust into solitary with no explanation. My third attempt I made it all the way to breakfast before getting thrown in solitary for another undisclosed reason. Was I not sitting at the right bench? Is there a way to know where I had to sit to eat? After several more attempts, none of which made it past my first breakfast I decided this was yet another game that should not have been released without some sort of manual. Now according to Wikipedia this game was fairly well received at the time, so I could probably learn how to play by looking up a guide or watching a walkthrough. But a major component of this was to go into these games blind and see what percentage I could actually play. So far that number is distressingly low.

Released a year later Where Time Stood Still seems to take inspiration from the likes of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In it you play as the four surviving crew members of a crashed plane who have mysteriously landed in what seems to be a prehistoric island. There are several interesting mechanics present here that made it worthwhile to start with The Great Escape. First off, you now control a party of 4 and can switch between each member at will. Each of those characters has a different ability. There is the rugged adventurer type who can shoot for example. And a young man who can run extra fast. I didn't make it very far into this title either but there were several interesting mechanics at play beyond the multi-character structure just in the first 15 minutes. First off, it seems that individual characters can die and the game continues without those characters. I'm not sure whether this indicates a game with multiple paths through or not, but it seems like it. Also this seems to be an early example of the survival genre, as characters have meters that tick down representing hunger, tiredness, and a third bar which I could not immediately discern the meaning of. Progression seemed to involve solving basic puzzles and overcoming both environmental hazards and the wild animals that roamed the island. Of course all this is presented in a nauseating shade of baby blue mixed with the occasional purple that was only found in DOS games that had no other options. I am uncertain if this is a superior option to monochrome Spectrum version. Regardless, it is ugly as sin and has no music and only very limited sound effects. I understand that the Spectrum version did have music at least but we don't get to hear that.

It is also my understanding that this game was incredibly well received at the time and I don't doubt it. While the tank controls and horrible perspective from The Great Escape return here, these were fairly standard for British computer games of the time, even if they make the games very difficult to play today. This game at least has the sense to let you bind the controls how you wish. Of course I ended up having to redo this multiple times because instead of left, right, up, and down I was presented with North, South, East, and West. And no, North is not, as you might expect, the top of the screen. That said, the actual movement itself feels a fair bit more responsive than in The Great Escape, and your AI controlled companions exhibit some interesting behaviors, such as running off if they are under attack. You can of course take direct control of them if the AI is causing issues, but you can only control one character at a time, making the game something of a management title as you try to balance the needs of all four characters with the limited available resources. If only the whole thing didn't control so poorly, and look and sound so truly awful. It's a hard one to enjoy, but maybe the most ambitious and innovative game I've played in this series yet. Worth admiring but maybe not worth playing all the way through.

Our third title for the day is Elf. It is a side scrolling action shooter where you play as an Elf trying to rescue a woman whose relationship to said Elf is unexplained. Also unexplained is how to begin the game. The answer is to hit the right shift key from the main menu, something I only learned when I found a thread on the Steam forums where like minded players were asking the same question. Again, basic usability is a nightmare in these titles. Digital manuals are essential and I simply cannot recommend playing the vast majority of these titles until they are included unless you are already familiar with them. Anyways, at least the actual game is fairly easy to grasp. I called Elf side scrolling but it actually uses a screen swapping approach like in Flashback, Out of This World, or the early Oddworld games. You travel around an area searching for items to trade to various characters throughout a forest filled with monsters trying to kill you. When you give one character an item they give you another who you then give to another character and so on and so forth. I repeated this task quite a few times but sadly never discovered how to save the game. So when I did eventually die and run out of lives I was sent back to the main menu. And instead of spending any more time with this title I gave up and went to write this writeup. Basically, this game seems competent if fairly uninspired. The art design is mediocre at best and oddly out of place at worst. Why are there magic carpet riding genies attacking me in this Elven forest? Also, oddly, you cannot play both the music and have the sound effects on at the same time. While such limitations were common in the 70's and early 80's, this title was released in 1991, making it a very odd technical hiccup. DOS obviously supported music and sound effects playing at the same time, and I selected the highest level sound card in the options selection at the start, so the game thinks I have top end hardware that should even be able to play sound in stereo, so I can't explain why this limitation exist. It does though and so you will have to make your choice.

Still, while definitely more enjoyable than the previous two titles, I still wouldn't recommend paying $5 for Elf, or $20 for the Ocean catalogue. But we have five games left to go so let's continue. Pushover is Dominoes but starring the mascot of British potato chip brand Quavers. When the Quavers dog loses his chips down an ant hill, the player must take control of an ant and play dominoes to get the chips back. Why does playing dominoes get back the chips? I have no idea. Those types of things didn't really matter back then. Anyways, this is dominoes and it works fairly well with some special pieces thrown in that wouldn't exist in the real game. For example one piece topples upwards knocking out pieces above it instead of below or beside it. Another continues flipping endlessly until it hits into a solid object. These make the game a bit more complex than a normal game would be, and figuring out where to place these specialty pieces to get all the dominoes knocked down is the key to the puzzles and what makes this game fairly fun. I have to say that this is the first title I have played in this series that I genuinely enjoyed with no real quibbles. It looks mediocre and sounds mediocre for what amounts to an early SNES title, but it plays just fine. The only complaint is again with the lack of a manual, meaning you have to learn through trial and error what the specialty pieces actually do. But there are not so many that you can't memorize them with a little effort, and the game doesn't have lives so you can just keep retrying a level as much as you want. There are no save states, just passwords that return you to a level, but beyond that I actually quite enjoyed the hour or so I spent playing Pushover, and finally had to force myself to stop and write this. So congrats to it for being the first title I would genuinely recommend as an enjoyable game. Maybe not worth $5, but definitely worth the $0.05 I paid for it.

And that brings us to the end of part 4. We've played four more games and have another four Ocean titles to play next time before ending with Infograme's internally made library. Until then, game on.