Hell, for a good long time, adventure gaming was DOS gaming. Certain people will tell you that PC gaming didn’t really start till Doom. But having had a DOS box during the late 80s and early 90s, I can say with certainty that when you walked into most computer stores, the wall was brimming with adventure games.
That’s because adventure games – more so than platformers or FPS games – really showcased what made DOS special. All that CPU power and hard drive storage allowed truly interactive experiences that were almost cinematic.
And the move from EGA to VGA made it all more awesome. Look at that art! Even though the pixels are chonky, this still looks great.
Games like this made me feel like I was playing a Saturday morning cartoon. You had great Soundblaster music and sound effects, well performed voice acting, and there was a good story.
Flight of the Amazon Queen is about a pilot and actress getting stuck in the Amazon rain forest, having to contend with Amazonians women – transformed into dinosaur warriors by the evil Dr. Ironstein.
You get everything in this game: comedy, action, intrigue. You know, a real plot.
I played this game using ScummVM and this is a superior experience over DOSBox. Unlike DOSBox, ScummVM is not merely an emulator. Rather, it is a game engine recreation. Frankly, the results speak for themselves – Flight of the Amazon Queen is beautiful.
Of course, I haven’t mentioned the best part about Flight of the Amazon Queen yet: it is FREE! On GOG.com, you can download it – without DRM – store it on your hard drive. It is a complete playable game.
The Tex Murphy series was also a good setup. My Dad got a copy of Mean Streets, but barely ever let me play it really. It's also available on Steam, but a DRM free copy from GoG sounds like a better idea.
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