1987 Winners
Midi Maze
Hybrid Arts, © 1987
Tower Toppler (Nebulous)
Epyx (U.S. Gold), © 1987
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer
Electronic Arts, © 1987
Earl Weaver Baseball
Electronic Arts, © 1987
Skate or Die
Electronic Arts, © 1987
Death Sword (Barbarian)
Epyx, © 1987 (licensed from Palace Software, Ltd.)
Pirates
Publisher: Microprose
Developer: Sid Meier
Original PC Platform: Commodore 64
Ported Platforms: Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM, Sinclair
Collecting Fact: The earliest versions of this game were shipped in a
hardcover book exterior. The inside
of the cover had pouches for the disks, manual and map.
Later runs of the game came in a simple cardboard box.
Summary: Pirates
cemented Sid Meier’s claim to fame and stands as one the greatest combinations
of role playing, strategy, resource management and action ever to have been
produced. Pirates is an open ended
game with a very loosely woven plot. You
begin your pirate career as a slave in a sugar plantation in the Caribbean who
has just bought his freedom. Your
brother, sister and father have been lost in your struggles, and you are now on
a quest to find them. This quest
can be totally ignored; however, and you can completely dedicate yourself to
pirating the seas of the Caribbean.
As captain of a ship you will have to navigate your vessels (for you can
build an entire fleet should you wish) through treacherous waters, take
advantage of favorable winds, calculate your coordinates, recruit men and manage
your food supplies. In addition to
these activities, you must decide whether to pledge allegiance to one of the
four nations colonizing the region, whether to betray your masters, ransack
cities, search for buried treasure or even marry the daughter of a governor in
order to gain title and prestige.
The open ended nature of this game would most likely be its Achilles heel if
it wasn’t for the fact that you age, and if you don’t put a timely end to
your swashbuckling antics by settling down and retiring, you will see even
simple battles come to a most unfortunate end.
Depending on the riches you own at the time of your retirement, you will
be given a different fate -- from a beggar weeping over his lost glory, to the
governor of a colonial empire.
-- Trantor
Rocket Ranger
CINEMAWARE, © 1987
Ultima V
Origin Systems, © 1987
Maniac Mansion
Lucasfilm Ltd, © 1987
Empire "Wargame of the Century"
Walter G. Bright and Northwest Software © 1978 (© 1987 Intersel)
Battle Cruiser
SSI, © 1987
Tetris
Spectrum Holobyte, © 1987
