Grilka's leg itches for a moment.
Grilka notices a slowly spreading rash.
Grilka gets a splitting headache.
Grilka suddenly keels over.
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday doesn't try to hide its TTRPG roots. Thanks to its extremely rudimentary UI and use of text to communicate pretty much everything that goes on, it plays and feels very much like a TTRPG campaign. And thanks to the power of human imagination, a game that communicates via text rather than in-game graphics can be a very effective experience if the writing is strong enough.
Grilka suddenly awakens screaming, eyes unfocused. Grilka attacks.
(after the battle) Jurgen's leg itches for a moment.
And much of the writing in Countdown is very, very strong. The quotes above are taken from an early mission where you are exploring a derelict ship with no human survivors, security robots and monstrous aliens are trying to kill you, and meanwhile something unseen and terrifying is happening to your party - the narrator breaks off from his usual flowery writing style, and the minimalistic descriptions of your symptoms really turn up the sense of tension.
When I was a kid I wasn't a fan of the game because its presentation was so primitive compared to nearly everything else I was playing at the time. The tilesets are nearly identical, there's very little graphical detail onscreen, and the music, while not terrible, sounds amateurishly arranged seemingly exclusively on a stadium organ. The two times I played it as an adult? I had an absolute blast saving the inner solar system with my ragtag bunch of NEO recruits based on sci-fi characters, real-world personalities, and personal friends.
Unlike many of its contemporaries whose dungeons (no matter how well-designed) boil down to "open some chests, find and beat the boss", Countdown really leverages on its writing to create missions that feel organic and natural. Nearly every room you enter at the very least yields some flavorful worldbuilding or useful information. Occasionally you get more significant events or choices to make: when you successfully infiltrate a base and are being given the VIP treatment by your enemies, when do you blow your cover (if at all?) Your objectives will determine how you should act in these situations, and thankfully - whether to gather information and remain undetected, escape captivity on a pirate ship, or storm an enemy base to rescue an ally - these goals are always clear.
The game also has its share of weaknesses, some small and some large. It handles the poison status in the most asinine way, treating it as a one-hit KO that keeps the affected character down for at least 2 fights. It's one of the naggiest games ever, repeatedly telling me YOUR TEAMMATE IS DYING!! right after I've tried and failed at first aid several times. Its character creation and stat/skill system seems to be lifted entirely from the tabletop ruleset and is entirely too complex for what the game is trying to do, leading to some very opaque mechanics and needless decision paralysis. But all those are excusable as long as the combat is pretty good (it is), the exploration is rewarding (it is), and the writing is strong (it is... for most of the game!) Turns out the real "Countdown to Doomsday" was the countdown to release date on a tight development schedule - that's the only explanation I have for the markedly weaker writing in the back half, culminating in an extremely lackluster final mission with rooms and corridors devoid of any flavortext and progression walled behind extremely phoned-in fetch quests. The Doomsday machine alluded to in the title goes down with a fart rather than a BOOM and it's kinda disappointing really.
This is a game I wish for a remake of, unrealistic as it is. Having it run on the engine of something like Shadowrun Returns would be amazing! As it is, it's a flawed game but a very strong one, unique in many ways in the Genesis library, and deserving of much more appreciation. I can't believe how few plays this has - if anyone reading this has an itch to replay a classic Dragon Quest or Phantasy Star, maybe give this one a try instead. Half an hour should be enough to know if it's for you or not!
Grilka notices a slowly spreading rash.
Grilka gets a splitting headache.
Grilka suddenly keels over.
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday doesn't try to hide its TTRPG roots. Thanks to its extremely rudimentary UI and use of text to communicate pretty much everything that goes on, it plays and feels very much like a TTRPG campaign. And thanks to the power of human imagination, a game that communicates via text rather than in-game graphics can be a very effective experience if the writing is strong enough.
Grilka suddenly awakens screaming, eyes unfocused. Grilka attacks.
(after the battle) Jurgen's leg itches for a moment.
And much of the writing in Countdown is very, very strong. The quotes above are taken from an early mission where you are exploring a derelict ship with no human survivors, security robots and monstrous aliens are trying to kill you, and meanwhile something unseen and terrifying is happening to your party - the narrator breaks off from his usual flowery writing style, and the minimalistic descriptions of your symptoms really turn up the sense of tension.
When I was a kid I wasn't a fan of the game because its presentation was so primitive compared to nearly everything else I was playing at the time. The tilesets are nearly identical, there's very little graphical detail onscreen, and the music, while not terrible, sounds amateurishly arranged seemingly exclusively on a stadium organ. The two times I played it as an adult? I had an absolute blast saving the inner solar system with my ragtag bunch of NEO recruits based on sci-fi characters, real-world personalities, and personal friends.
Unlike many of its contemporaries whose dungeons (no matter how well-designed) boil down to "open some chests, find and beat the boss", Countdown really leverages on its writing to create missions that feel organic and natural. Nearly every room you enter at the very least yields some flavorful worldbuilding or useful information. Occasionally you get more significant events or choices to make: when you successfully infiltrate a base and are being given the VIP treatment by your enemies, when do you blow your cover (if at all?) Your objectives will determine how you should act in these situations, and thankfully - whether to gather information and remain undetected, escape captivity on a pirate ship, or storm an enemy base to rescue an ally - these goals are always clear.
The game also has its share of weaknesses, some small and some large. It handles the poison status in the most asinine way, treating it as a one-hit KO that keeps the affected character down for at least 2 fights. It's one of the naggiest games ever, repeatedly telling me YOUR TEAMMATE IS DYING!! right after I've tried and failed at first aid several times. Its character creation and stat/skill system seems to be lifted entirely from the tabletop ruleset and is entirely too complex for what the game is trying to do, leading to some very opaque mechanics and needless decision paralysis. But all those are excusable as long as the combat is pretty good (it is), the exploration is rewarding (it is), and the writing is strong (it is... for most of the game!) Turns out the real "Countdown to Doomsday" was the countdown to release date on a tight development schedule - that's the only explanation I have for the markedly weaker writing in the back half, culminating in an extremely lackluster final mission with rooms and corridors devoid of any flavortext and progression walled behind extremely phoned-in fetch quests. The Doomsday machine alluded to in the title goes down with a fart rather than a BOOM and it's kinda disappointing really.
This is a game I wish for a remake of, unrealistic as it is. Having it run on the engine of something like Shadowrun Returns would be amazing! As it is, it's a flawed game but a very strong one, unique in many ways in the Genesis library, and deserving of much more appreciation. I can't believe how few plays this has - if anyone reading this has an itch to replay a classic Dragon Quest or Phantasy Star, maybe give this one a try instead. Half an hour should be enough to know if it's for you or not!