It’s the little things, isn’t it? :D
Hehe, Crusader tanks.
@Left_Empty, I’m dying to know – was your mention of “fox” in your post after mine a deliberate tip of the hat to @LeeAbe that you knew what it was? If so, subtle and well played!
I actually got this one pretty quickly (not on first glance at work, but once I was home and saw it again I recognized it immediately – though I think it was one of those moments of clarity things because I look back at the first two pieces and go “how the hell did I get that?!”) – the SSI catalogs I got with Questron II, Phantasie, Roadwar, Colonial Conquest, etc. were basically my bored table / bathroom reading for years. I posted the answer then quickly redacted it because I was very interested to see this one proceed – it’s a great misdirect starting with the knights for a WW2 game. Seeing the guesses is most of the fun!
Any young person with an interest in computers and history and military stuff was drawn to SSI. Their catalog was like FAO Schwarz’s shop window at Christmastime. I’ve waxed poetic about Louis Saekow’s amazing cover art at SSI and this is yet another example. In fact, I’d put this cover art up there as among the best at SSI, perhaps industry-wide. It’s just amazing. To me, at least.
As for cheating methods, I’m not aware of any. I guess typing “knight tank game cover art” and looking at the image tab could work, but that’d kill the fun. The only hints I use are the shape of the image (like a square is a dead old-school Electronic Arts giveaway) and who is posting. We all have a history.
I can do the next one when I get home if nobody else wants, but I’ve done plenty. And knowing me it’ll be some Odyssey2 or SSI art anyhow. So if @Left_Empty (or someone else) wants to do this please do so.
Agreed SSI rocks.
Has anyone actually typed the name of the game for us benighted souls out in Internet Land?
I’ll do so since if nobody has guessed it based on the above it ain’t getting guessed (but let @LeeAbe post the image):
Knights of the Desert: The North African Campaign of 1941-43
(and the font is even amazing that they use, really, SSI’s visual design team was really great).
Yep here it is. I was drawn to this game because of the cover art back in the day. I remember enjoying it, but reading the Wikipedia page, it sounds like it wasn’t remembered in the greatest light.
I’ve tried Googling various combinations of “knights” and “tanks” and this game never came up for me.
I do not visit this thread often enough.
I had “Knights of the Desert” on the back side of another SSI game “Tigers in the Snow”.
(neither is really playable today, even in emulation. They’re sloooooooow.)
I thought you were referring to the emulation speed… man, this is a veritable nightmare to play. Didn’t realize it was so old-- a few years ago I fired up some of the SSG Battlefront games and they were clunky but still fairly playable.
Never played the game, but big very early DOS fetish here.
I must say I was torturing myself, until, very mercifully, grognard (sorry, you earned that label after posting V for Victory here!) @LeeAbe indicated it was released prior to Sword of the Samurai.
Seems sad nobody but LeeAbe played the game in the thread though.
I always try to post a modern game when I get a chance, but they’re all so generic and identikit since around 2005+ (A white background, a person walking forwarding and a title) and it’s extremely obvious what each on is. The DOS era had such creative and intricate artwork that related to the theme of the game, rather than the actual game itself.
It seems so obvious reading it, but I had never thought of putting those aspects in parallel.
If someone else wants to jump in feel free! If nobody has by this afternoon I’ll start another once I get home.
@Pod, excellent point about being related to the theme of the game rather than the actual game. While that was mostly by necessity (can you imagine Ultima IV’s iconic cover with visuals that more closely matched the actual on-screen look?!) I think it was for the better in that it yielded better art. I flip through the Art of Atari book and am struck by how beautiful some of the work is despite not having a great nostalgia for the games themselves (being raised in an Odyssey2 home). Could you imagine a book of modern covers and having anywhere near the same appreciation for the art?
Patiently waiting for the next Odyssey 2 education course to start :)
LOL. Ok, I’ll dig up something – might throw a curve ball and not even be Odyssey2!
Ok, here we go…
Edit: Updated with another chunk.
Some kinda Zaxxon port?
Beamrider?
So, hey. Don’t just update the same post every so often, or else no one will get notifications that you posted anything new to the thread and will miss it. Just FYI
Indeed, we don’t want another Wizball tragedy!
Ah, didn’t know that – will be sure to fresh post with every update, thanks!
Nope on all of the guesses so far. Here’s another hint:
Q-Type, the lesser known precursor to R-Type :O