Retro Live Magazine - Issue 1

CLASSICS 0N PC - S
PC gaming in the 90s was a historic
time. It was also a time of
change. Faster processors allowed
early gamers to experience
higher end graphics, faster action
and better sound. The 80386 microprocessor
was replaced by
the 486, and as a gamer back
then you either had an Intel chip,
an AMD chip, or one from a less
popular brand, such as a Cyrix or
IBM. Most people lusted after the
486DX2-66 from Intel, combined
with eight to sixteen megabytes
of RAM, along with a good sound
card of course. With this, your
MS-DOS powered PC was set for
gaming.
My first PC was an AMD DX-40,
built in Adelaide by one of the
hundreds of PC shops that had
suddenly sprung up. Saturday’s
paper was full of ads for custom
PCs, and everyone seemed to be
looking at buying a computer system
for homework, home finances,
recipes and all those excuses
that were really a cover for their
true purpose - gaming.
The first game I bought was Strike
Commander, a combat flightsimulator
by Chris Roberts which
was published by Origin Systems.
It came on something like 11 floppy
disks and my first go at loading
the game didn’t end well. For
some reason my graphics card
was not playing nice and so a trip
back to the PC shop resulted in
them giving me a new card. Back
home I started the long process
again, which thankfully resulted
in the start up screen.
There was an excitement to playing
a new game then. You see
whilst waiting for the 11 disks to
load (with me swapping them in
and out as commanded by the
OS) you’d read the manual, get a
feel for the controls and also the
back story.
Story:
In Strike Commander, you found
yourself in the future - 2011…
where the world has changed
politically. There’s conflict, and
of course oil is involved. You are
part of a mercenary team of fighter
pilots called The Wildcats.
The intro to Strike Commander
that loaded up from your hard
drive got the excitement levels rising.
The almost, “Top Gun” styled
music kicks in and those dots in
the distances on the horizon soon
zoom past you as F16 Jets.
The games screen then lets you
start a new game, where on our
“Mercenary Defence License”
you can fill in your name and call
sign.
Then the story screens cut in with
a bunch of talking heads discussing
the jets and the issues with
one of the old planes. You can talk
to a couple of the characters and
then head into the office. This is