Lunicus | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Cyberflix |
Publisher(s) | Paramount Interactive |
Programmer(s) | Bill Appleton |
Artist(s) | Jamie Wicks Susan Metros |
Writer(s) | Ben Calica |
Composer(s) | Scott Scheinbaum |
Platform(s) | Windows 3.1, Mac OS |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Adventure |
Lunicus is a 1993 video game developed by Cyberflix and published by Paramount Interactive. [2] It shares many traits in both graphical style and gameplay with some of Cyberflix's other games, like Jump Raven . It was rated as 1993 CD-ROM game of the year in the magazine MacWorld. [3]
It was released for the Mac and Windows 3.1, and was one of many adventure games released to capitalize on the adoption of CD-ROM drives.
Lunicus is primarily an adventure game; in between combat missions players may wander the Moon base they are stationed on and talk to the various non-player characters contained within, with full voice acting and some stilted animation which is characterized on the game packaging as "Talking Cyber Puppets".
During the combat missions, the player enters various parts of Earth and cleans out alien infestations either on foot or in a vehicle. The player's weapons are relatively static throughout the game, including machine guns, rocket launchers, and grenade attacks. While in the vehicle, the player can opt to duck inside one of the buildings to find additional ammunition and supplies. Nearly all buildings (except for quest-specific ones) are identical.
The game's latter missions involve defending the Moon base from attack by the alien forces, and attacking the alien mothership.
The player's activities are seen from a first person perspective, but they can only face one of four directions, turning left or right on a tile-based grid similar to games such as Scarab of Ra . Direct targeting is accomplished with the mouse, while movement is accomplished with either the mouse or the game's heads up display.
The game includes several pre-rendered full motion video sequences, usually bookending the combat sequences. Several difficulty levels are available, which alter the strength and numbers of the enemy waves.
Nearly all graphics in the game are pre-rendered sprites, including walls and city components.
As the game begins, the player is stationed on the United Nations moon base, Lunicus, to defend against the threat of the alien attack, led by the Hive Queen.
The aliens are present as an archeological dig in 2023 unearths several alien artifacts, one of which is mistakenly activated and alerts the alien force.
Lunicus was the first game developed by CyberFlix, which was not officially incorporated until after the project's release. [1] It was created with DreamFactory, a development environment programmed by CyberFlix founder William Appleton, who had previously designed the Macintosh software SuperCard. [3]
Lunicus was released in April 1993. [1]
In its initial Macintosh release, Lunicus was a commercial success, with sales of 50,000 units by August 1994. Around August 28, another 50,000 units of the game were shipped for Microsoft Windows. CyberFlix's Erik Quist expected the game to sell 100,000 units overall "by Christmas", Barbara Kantrowitz of Newsweek reported at the time. [3] By January 3, sales of Lunicus had reached close to the 100,000 mark. [4]
Macworld presented Lunicus with its 1993 "Best CD-ROM Game" award. The magazine's Steven Levy called the game "a mindblower", and praised its visuals and fast-paced action. Singling out the game's high frame rate as its best feature, he wrote, "Unlike other CD-ROM games, which have an annoying lag between the time you pull the trigger and the time something happens, Lunicus moves with sufficient speed to keep you in the action." [5]
Computer Gaming World in August 1993 criticized the varying quality of the graphics but concluded that Lunicus was "CD-full of fist-fighting action ... fancy footwork and a solid punch". [6] In April 1994 the magazine said that the game had challenging fights but "graphic quality is mixed and begs more realistic detail". [7]
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity is an adventure game by Spectrum HoloByte, based on the Star Trek universe. It was released in 1995 for DOS and later ported to the Macintosh. It puts the player in control of Captain Picard and his crew of the Enterprise D and features traditional point-and-click adventure gameplay as well as free-form space exploration, diplomatic encounters and tactical ship-to-ship combat.
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is an adventure video game developed and published by Interplay Productions in 1992, based on the Star Trek universe. The game chronicles various missions of James T. Kirk and his crew of the USS Enterprise. Its 1993 sequel, Star Trek: Judgment Rites, continues and concludes this two-game series.
Myst is an adventure video game designed by Rand and Robyn Miller. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and first released in 1993 for the Macintosh. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the environment by clicking on pre-rendered imagery. Solving puzzles allows the player to travel to other worlds ("Ages"), which reveal the backstory of the game's characters and help the player make the choice of whom to aid.
The Journeyman Project is a time travel adventure computer game developed by Presto Studios.
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Titanic: Adventure Out of Time is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game developed by CyberFlix and published in the United States and United Kingdom by GTE Entertainment and Europress respectively, for Windows and Macintosh. It takes place in a virtual representation of the RMS Titanic, following a British spy who has been sent back in time to the night Titanic sank and must complete a previously failed mission to prevent World War I, the Russian Revolution, and World War II from occurring. The gameplay involves exploring the ship and solving puzzles. There are multiple outcomes and endings to the game depending on the player's interactions with characters and use of items.
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Star Wars: X-Wing is a space simulation video game, the first of the X-Wing combat flight simulation games series. The player's character flies starfighters, including the X-wing, for the Rebel Alliance. The narrative precedes and parallels the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Terminal Velocity is a shooter video game originally developed by Terminal Reality and published by 3D Realms for DOS and Windows 95, and MacSoft for Mac OS. It is an arcade-style flight combat game, with simpler game controls and physics than flight simulators. It is known for its fast, high-energy action sequences, compared to flight simulators of the time.
Metaltech: Earthsiege is a mecha-style simulation video game developed by Dynamix and released in 1994.
World Builder is a game creation system for point-and-click text-and-graphics adventure games. It was released for Macintosh in 1986 by Silicon Beach Software and had already been used for creating Enchanted Scepters in 1984. On August 7, 1995, developer William C. Appleton released World Builder as freeware.
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Wolfpack is a World War II submarine simulator published by Broderbund in the 1990s, for Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, and Macintosh. It simulates combat actions between wolf packs of German U-boats and convoys of Allied destroyers and merchant vessels in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Wing Commander: Privateer is an adventure space trading and combat simulator computer game released by Origin Systems in September 1993. Privateer and its storyline is part of the Wing Commander series. The player takes the role of Grayson Burrows, a "privateer" who travels through the Gemini Sector, one of many sectors in the Wing Commander universe. Unlike Wing Commander, the player is no longer a navy pilot, but a freelancer who can choose to be a pirate, a merchant, a mercenary or any of the above in some combination. The player may follow the built-in plot but is free to adventure on his own, even after the plot has been completed.
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William "Bill" Appleton is an American entrepreneur and technologist best known as the programmer of the first rich media authoring tool World Builder, the multimedia programming language SuperCard, a best-selling CD-ROM Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, the DreamFactory REST API platform, and Snapshot Org Management for Salesforce.
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