Why does noone like Marauder and Room of Doom?

[ClintTX]

Marauder is a maze shooter similar to Berzerk, it uses actual line of site to determine if enemies and objects are visible to you. It was made by Sierra Online, but published by another company. To me it like a stealth shooter kind of like Castle Wolfenstein by Silas Warner.

 

Room of Doom is most like the Nintendo arcade game Sheriff, where you are in the middle of the screen and people shoot at you from all different sides and you have to kill them. It also has an enemy like Evil Otto that chases you around during this, and also there can be mines that spawn and you must avoid. There are tons of different variations of play on the game, too. It was made by CommaVid, who did the nice, but rare, Cakewalk.

 

The graphics of both of these games are very primitive, but they are both 1982 releases. That may have something to do with their unpopularity. I just don't understand how people rave about lame games like Adventure(which is so easy, I think it was mainly supposed to be a childrens' game, and I bear the game on the highest level the first night I played it, it's so easy you can just sit there and wait for the bat to bring you the stuff you need then ambush it), but trash these two good games.

Edited September 11, 2015 by ClintTX

[Yoss]

I haven't played either enough to comment much on game play but I think it's probaby their relative rarity that keeps them from being discussed as much.

[neotokeo2001]

Room Of Doom is a good game. Most people will look at it and say no thanks. Bad graphics don't help.

 

Improvements needed:

Graphic overhaul

Animation on the player

Animation on the creatures that chase you

Some time delay after you kill the creature before it re-spawns.

 

If those issues had been corrected then everyone would remember Room Of Doom as a fun game.

[toiletunes]

Ask noone.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

The obscurity definitely hurts both games. For many people, a lot of the appeal of playing old games is nostalgia, and if you never played it, there is no nostalgia. I agree with Neotokeo's points too. Room of Doom is a solid game concept badly marred by sloppy, lazy execution.

 

As for Adventure, it's not one of my favorites either but remember that when it was released, it was literally like nothing else out there. Here was a multi-screen game with a (relatively) huge world for a single player to explore in an era of single-screen player vs. player games. It was also a game that a lot of people owned at the time and that they have very fond memories of now so nostalgia is a big factor.

[neotokeo2001]

I just played Marauder again and it has the same problem as Room of Doom. Needs animation. Better graphics. Maybe bigger sprites.

 

KaeruYojimbo made a good point also. I never had these games when they were released. I probably would have played them a lot if I actually had them.

Edited September 11, 2015 by neotokeo2001

[Mef]

I actually love Marauder. The tiny sprites are very polished and the graphics are more crisp then Berzerk.

 

I really like the invincibility armor power up, it's a rate thing for the system. It even comes with proper graphical representation.

 

Plus, it's one of those games which don't start brutally hard and allow for a longer round before finally getting too fast.

 

Only complaint that I have is that it wasn't 8k so that it could actually hold a maze of screens and not just 9 or so.

[high voltage]

Marauder is indeed a very good game. Comments same as above, and it has one of the best box covers.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

The first time I played Marauder I didn't know it was supposed to be simulating line of sight. I just thought it was really annoying that the bad guys kept disappearing. If I'm not the only one who had that problem, it's lack of popularity might be a result It's-Not-Completely-Obvious-Exactly-What-I'm-Supposed-To-Be-Doing-Right-Away-And-I-Don't-Want-To-Read-The-Manual-So-$#&%-This-Game-I'm-Going-To-Play-Space-Invaders syndrome.

Edited September 12, 2015 by KaeruYojimbo

[+Random Terrain]

Trivia: No one = two words.

 

I like Marauder:

 

randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-favorite-games.html#marauder