10 Mar

Review: The Last Arcadian

The Last Arcadian is one of those games that in hindsight are pretty strange stuff for a public domain or shareware title. Considering even in the early 1990s a 3D shooter was automatically rather cool and thus profitable, The Last Arcadian makes you think why it wasn’t released commercially. It looks a bit dated even for a 1992 3D title but you have to keep in mind it is a one man show. A bit of money would have made it look much nicer. It could be compared to Epic but I’m not sure if that’s a compliment. I have seen worse — I have paid for worse.

(Another video below.)

The main idea is to go and destroy enemy bases while the enemy tries to do the same to you. The game is over if your base is destroyed. If you, flying a fighter, are killed, you will simply find yourself piloting a nearby fighter that was previously computer controlled. There are multiple wingmen flying around and if you watch the first video, they sometimes manage to win the game for you.

The enemy fighters are killed with lasers and homing rockets and the enemy base needs to be bombed. When you return to your base, you need to make sure nobody else is trying to dock at the same time; you have to request permission to land. You can also repair your fighter in the base and then return to the battle (to save the computer controlled fighters.) The bases can also fire cruise missiles that travel slowly and you need to escort them and also keep the enemy missiles away from your base.

Overall, the game is very nice. It is simple but has some quirky features and also some quite modern stuff like the zoom in your ship at the start of each level and the fact everything is three-dimensional. There is a feeling of immersion as the rest of the war goes on around you while you’re being resupplied — quite well done as I no longer have the imagination of a kid. If you’re a fan of the old 3D Star Wars shooters, you probably should check this out if you have an Atari ST lying around.

The game can be found on the ST Format 42 cover disk available on this page.

3 thoughts on “Review: The Last Arcadian

  1. Thanks for the great comments! Really nice to suddenly run into an article on the game I wrote in my student years back then.

    Micha.

  2. Awesome, the guy who made it replied :-D I played this when it was new on the ST format cover disk, when I was about 11 or 12 years old! The demo (yes it has a rolling demo if you leave the main screen for a while) is playing in the background as I type.. I’ve made it to the Earth level, it’s the furthest I got and it was soooo frustrating to see base destroyed, followed by the animated ‘game over’. I don’t suppose Mr Stalpers put a cheat in it, or does anyone know what happens when you complete the Mercury mission please??

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