73: Gloom

Number 73
(83 points)
Gloom
1996: 18

Doom? Gloom? Coincidence? Surely not, but the Amiga had no right to be playing a Doom clone regardless, so the fact that this existed at all was a triumph in itself.

As an armed space marine, you run and shoot bad guys in this first-person shooter, a genre the Amiga was not best placed to handle. You can improve your main laser weapon to fire multiple shots, and collect extra lives by playing an arcade game machine within the game itself. The controls are simple, as you can play with a one-button joystick, but using another button - or a CD32 pad - gives you the ability to strafe, which can be very useful to avoid enemy fire in the tight corridors of the game.

Gloom is one of those games that you feel had to be included just for the technical achievement of it, but to be honest, it just serves as a sad reminder that the Amiga's time was over. By the time this came out in the latter half of 1995, the PC had gone through Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2, Rise of the Triad, and Duke Nukem 3D would be around the corner in a few months. Meanwhile, the souped-up Amiga 1200 was playing host to something that barely can match the aforementioned Wolfenstein, which was already looking old hat on the PC. Is Gloom fun? Sure, and the performance is impressive for the machine, but it was also an indication that the gaming world had moved on, and neither Amiga nor Commodore were invited to the party.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Gloom (1995)(Guildhall)(AGA)(Disk 1 of 2)[h HLM]
Gloom (1995)(Guildhall)(AGA)(Disk 2 of 2)