Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
| Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold | |
|---|---|
| Title screen | |
| Developer(s) | JAM Productions |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Engine | Enhanced Wolfenstein 3D engine |
| Platform(s) | PC (DOS) |
| Release | December 3, 1993 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold is a first-person shooter computer game created by JAM Productions and published by Apogee Software. It uses the Wolfenstein 3D game engine to render graphics in first person, while adding many features. The shareware version of the game was released December 3, 1993. The registered version of Blake Stone shipped with a comic book, called a "Blake Stone Adventure". To date it is the only title in the company's product line to do so. In 1994, a sequel called Blake Stone: Planet Strike was released, which continues where Aliens of Gold leaves off.
Story
The story is set in the year 2140. Robert Wills Stone III—a.k.a. Blake Stone—is an agent of the British Intelligence, recruited after a highly successful career in the British Royal Navy.
His first major case is to investigate and eliminate the threat of Dr. Pyrus Goldfire, a brilliant scientist in the field of genetics and biology, known for his outright disrespect of professional ethics. Backed by his own organization, STAR, Dr. Goldfire plans to conquer Earth and enslave humanity using an army of specially trained human conscripts, modified alien species, and a host of genetically-engineered mutants. Agent Stone is sent on a mission to knock out six crucial STAR installations and destroy Goldfire's army before it can assault the Earth.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Aliens of Gold is very similar to Wolfenstein 3D. Playable areas are single-leveled, with orthogonal walls and textured floors and ceilings. Level features include: locked doors which can be opened by five colors of keys (gold, green, yellow, blue, and red), one-way doors, secret rooms accessible through pushable wall blocks, and teleports that instantly take the player into another location within the level. Also included are features such as clipping, invisibility, and auto-mapping.
Dr. Goldfire appears periodically in certain sections and will attack Stone. After being hit a few times, he activates a teleporter on his watch and escapes. There are five weapons available.
There are multiple food dispensers in each level, at which the player can spend tokens to purchase food that recharges the Stone's health. There are also non-hostile 'informant' scientists who provide information, ammunition, and tokens when spoken to. One of the stage bonuses upon completing a floor is how many informants are still alive on that floor; informants are unaffected by enemy fire, and can only be killed by Blake Stone. Informants and hostile scientists look exactly the same, and can only be told apart when Stone speaks to them or begins firing in their direction. Hostile scientists will say things like "You shouldn't be here..." or "Do I know you?". Repeatedly talking to hostile scientists leads them to open fire on the player.
Level structure
The game consists of six episodes, each with 11 levels, nine regular and two secret. A main elevator goes through levels 1 through 10 and is the only means of moving between the levels. The goal of each level from 1 through 8 is to secure a red keycard and use it to unlock the next floor. The elimination of all enemies and the collection of all treasure on the current floor are optional objectives which provide bonuses upon completion. ("Plasma alien" enemies, which spawn repeatedly from electrical outlets, do not count towards the kill ratio.) Blake Stone can take the elevator back down to previous levels to find missed items or kill any remaining enemies.
On level 9 of each episode, defeating Dr. Goldfire forces him to drop a gold keycard. The key is used to unlock the way to the boss, which holds another gold keycard for the level's exit - the episode's end. Each episode features two secret levels. One of them, floor 0, can be accessed through a teleport hidden somewhere within the same episode. The other is floor 10, directly accessible through the main elevator. A red keycard is required to enter, and is usually hidden on floor 9. Secret levels do not have special objectives; their only purpose is to boost the player's score.
Sales
id Software released Doom one week after Apogee released Blake Stone.[1] Doom quickly eclipsed Blake Stone, which sold poorly after initial success.[1]
Credits
- JAM Productions: Michael Maynard, James T. Row, Jerry K. Jones
- Contributing Artists: Cygnus Multimedia Productions, Debra Berry, Jeff Dee
- Music: Bobby Prince
- Publisher: Apogee Software
- Texture Mapping Engine: id Software
References
- ^ a b "Blast - The Old Shoebox: Download Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold - The Online Magazine". Blastmagazine.com. Retrieved 2008-11-29.