Mr Creosote 1996
Genre: Puzzle, Strategy
Rating: 0/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Computer version of a well-known (and extremely stupid) TV show. What I'm especially proud of is the how the 'studio audience' is trying to influence you ;)

Written in Quick Basic 4.5.

Art Department 1993
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
Rating: 2.5/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

[Mr Creosote] "Geheimprojekt DMSO" is an Art Department graphic adventure, promoting the rheumatism medicaments by the company Merckle GmbH. Professor Scheiffele of the university of Ulm, who had been working in corresponding product research, has vanished. Right before that happened, he called his nephew Jack Bene for help via telegram. Now it's his task to find the professor and uncover the background of his disappearance.

Jobline 2000
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: Norsk, Svenska
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Okay... first off, this game is in swedish... or norwegian - you can switch between these languages... and it's completely irrelevant. This game is a Coloris/Columns clone - and a very good one! Concept is simple - get 3 gems in a row, vertical, horizontal, diagonal - and they vanish. The original was usually referred to as a "Tetrislike game" although that kind of reduces the concept to less than it is. Coloris (or Columns ...or gemline) requires a different set of tactics and strategy. You cannot make long term plans as you can (try to) do in Tetris, you have to build and let vanish fast - you CAN prepare a larger collapse, but the game doesn't let you this room, you'll run out of space faster than in Tetris. Some might argue it's not as challenging as Tetris - maybe it's not, but it requires a different kind of thinking, not necessarily easier or harder...

Deutscher Bundestag 1994
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

This is a very special promotial game. It doesn't advertise a product or some company. It doesn't tell you 'buy this'. Or in fact, it does the latter. But in another meaning: it's political propaganda! And it does try to convince you to 'buy' all the stuff which is said there...

Dynamix 1992
Genre: Adventure, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

Loud-mouthed American Jake "Lucky" Masters who served in the first World War owes the businessman Lomax lots of money. Quite conveniently, Lomax' daughter who works as a nurse to help the poor rural population of China has just been kidnapped by some local warlord. Jake seems to be the right man to come to the rescue.

Rauser Advertainment 1993
Genre: Simulation, Action
Rating: 0/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

I've always had a soft spot for promotial games. With some ironic distance, they're mostly very funny: unvoluntarily humor galore. The uncoolest companies trying to get their useless products into the concious of young people. That's of course not easily done. Medicine against rheumatism suddenly turns hip, politicians become MTV-compatible stars. Or the promoted product doesn't turn up at all. Hilarious!

Mr Creosote 1999
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 0/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

A remake of the C64 classic Imperator.

Written as a school project together with another wannabe programmer in Turbo Pascal. It's not quite as complex as the original, but still quite nice in multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, the second (extended) version never made it past the planning stage.

Art Department 1993
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 2/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

Karamalz is a brand of Malzbier, so what we have here is a promotial game. Promotial games are mostly simple versions of classic arcade games or short Adventures. This one sticks out from the crowd by being a sports game. It's a surprisingly complex ice hockey simulation!

Richard Jordan 1999
Genre: Action, Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Remaking a classic game is always a controversial, but also popular venture. There's always the question of the point, because why do a straight remake when there's the original (running on every imaginable device thanks to emulation). On the other hand, if a supposed remake strays too far from the source, the old fans complain as well. A difficult balancing act.

Marc S. Seter 1993
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

Although the C64 classic had been remade on the Amiga by Graftgold themselves as Paradroid 90, this version had its rough edges. Paradroid II, a freeware remake of the original, came out a few years later. Hard to believe in these days of lawsuits, trademark, patent and 'intellectual property' trolling: The programmer got through with not only using the original name, but also with producing pretty much a carbon copy of the graphics and much of the gameplay.