Krisalis Games - LaunchBox Games Database

Alone in the Dark

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1995

Alone in the Dark is an action-adventure survival horror game. The action is displayed from a number of fixed viewpoints. The backgrounds are 2D painted images, while the player character, all items and monsters are rendered as 3D models. To escape the mansion, you'll have to solve a number of puzzles. They usually involve finding an item and using it in a proper place. Apart from items necessary for the puzzles, you can also find books and documents that can be read, healing items which can be consumed to restore hit points, and weapons. Weapons come in handy, since Derceto is full of various monsters. Some monsters can be killed with weapons, but others are either impossible to kill or require a bit of thinking to take down. Note also that you have limited amounts of ammunition, so you have to use firearms carefully.

Arabian Nights

Commodore Amiga CD32 - Released - 1993

In Arabian Nights, you play Sinbad Jr., a gardener at the royal palace who loves to sneak a peek at the princess every now and again. One day, Sinbad looks up and sees a huge demon kidnapping the princess. He dashes to save the princess, only to be caught by the palace guards and thrown in the dungeon. There are nine levels in the game. In several levels, there are various gameplay elements which include flying on the magic carpet and racing against your opponent in a mine cart. You will also meet some characters, which if you give them an item they want, they will give you something in return. In other levels, you have to do things yourself. For example, obtain a snake that will set a prisoner free, or using a blow torch to open some frozen doors.

Cannon Fodder

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1994

Guide a team of up to six soldiers through 72 levels of combat in this top-down action/strategy hybrid, best thought of as Lemmings crossed with Commando crossed with Dune 2. The characters are controlled indirectly using the mouse, as you activate each soldier or group of them by highlighting them, click the left button to move them to a particular spot, and the right button for them to fire guns at an enemy. You can also pick up grenades or rockets, which can be used to destroy groups of enemies, buildings or some vehicles (by pressing both buttons at once). Each mission has a specific objective, and some feature vehicles such as tanks that used make things easier. Your troops can cross water but can't shoot within it, so finding and controlling bridges is often crucial. You can use the arrangement of trees to find hiding places to shoot from, and should watch out for CPU soldiers also doing so.

Champions

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1992

A compilation featuring four distinct, previously published games: Jahangir Khan World Championship Squash Manchester United World Championship Boxing Manager World Class Leader Board

Fly Harder

Commodore Amiga CD32 - Released - 1994

Your homeland's precious limited energy is being taken advantage of by the evil Thargoid Empire, and you and your spaceship must do something about it. There are 8 bases to enter, with the aim of using energy pods to cause the reactors to overload and thus malfunction. The game is viewed side-on, resembling the ST classic Oids quite strongly; which is to say that gravity and motion physics dictate the ship's motion strongly. The 8 levels all have plenty of enemies on offer, both wall-mountings and actual ships, as well as enhanced weapons and extra fuel and shield energy. The ship can take some damage, and repairs itself over time (for no logical reason), which is one of the few things that gives you a hope of getting anywhere early on. Losing a life causes all the enemy turrets to replenish, emphasizing the restart points and making things more maze-based and methodical.

Gods

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1992

Gods was converted to the Archimedes by Richard Walker. Taking the role of Hercules in this arcade-adventure platformer, you must scour the depths of an ancient city in your search for the great prize of immortality.

Graham Taylors Soccer Challenge

Atari ST - Released - 1992

Although Graham Taylor was the England international football manager at the time this game was released, the player starts a management career managing in Division 3 of the league, and have to work your way up, either by improving your squad (much as Taylor did in his successful spell with Watford, who he took from the 4th tier of English football to the top division and the FA Cup Final) or by doing well enough to earn a job elsewhere. Once you can finish in the top 5 of the league, you get a password to load the international management game, in a manner similar to many of Dinamic's games. The standard features of football management games are included, such as player transfers, team selection and organising training. You have a team of scouts who can be sent out to investigate other clubs, giving ideas on potential signings and helping you plan for future matches. A full squad of young players who could potentially challenge for the first team are on offer as well. You can directly interact with your players, and also recieve newspaper reports assessing your team's performance. The matches are represented by fully-animated match footage, which is of a comparable visual standard to Krisalis' arcade football games.

HeroQuest

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1991

The famous fantasy-themed board game was converted into an isometric-viewed role playing game in which the evil Wizard Morcar must be defeated. You take control of a wizard, a dwarf, a barbarian and an elf, each with different strengths and weaknesses, who each start the 14 missions from opposite sides of the board. Strict turn-based movement rules apply, as actions other than movement can only be carried out before or after the move, the size of which is limited by a dice roll. These moves are carried out using an icon-based system. Characters can fight the many monsters which lurk, or cast spells to vanquish them. There are magic potions to uncover, but also hidden traps, so mapping is advised. Treasure can be collected, and traded at the shop after each level.

Jahangir Khan World Championship Squash

Amstrad CPC - Released - 1991

Squash simulations are something of a rarity, and it was this niché that Krisalis aimed one of their many sports simulations into. The rules of squash are accurately recreated, with a realistic court layout (viewed isometrically) and a need to hit legal shots. Three different ball speeds, variable match lengths and an 'easy' mode are on offer. Different tournament types are on offer, at 'club' and 'tournament' levels, with a customisable ladder system of multiple divisions to rise up. There is a full roster of opponents to play in one-off or tournament modes.

John Barnes European Football

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1992

The action is viewed from side-on and overhead, giving a slight forced perspective. Control is precise and the ball sticks to your feet to some extent. The only teams included are the eight qualifiers for the 1992 European Championships, and that is the only tournament. You can play either as the nearest player to the ball, or always be Barnes.

John Barnes European Football

Commodore Amiga CD32 - Released - 1994

"John Barnes European Football" is a soccer video game developed by Krisalis in 1992. The game was endorsed by popular footballer John Barnes.

Manchester United

Commodore Amiga - 1990

'The most famous club in the world' has had its problems in the League recently, but maybe you think you could do a better job, so here's your chance. As well as making managerial decisions you can even play for the entire team! But before you get your boots on, there's a bit of managing to do via the icon-driven menu system. Of course, no amount of training will be enough for some old snoggers so they can be sold and new players bought via the transfer system. Matches are viewed from side-on view. Both United and the opposition can be player or computer-controlled. Players dribble automatically and shoot when the fire button is released - the strength of kick determined by the time fire was held down. In addition you can chip the ball by pressing fire again quickly afterwards. Tackling is achieved either by running into the ball or by doing a sliding tackle. If mistimed the latter can lead to a free kick. In terms of presentation you have easy-to-use menus with a fair amount of disk accessing. Graphics are okay apart from pastel colour scheme and 'skating' players. Sound represents appallingly annoying tune with a reasonable match FX. Gameplay is not that great since it is frustratingly difficult to score goals. Man Utd fans will enjoy the almost forgotten experience of winning the league. Like the team, strictly second division.

Manchester United Europe

Commodore Amiga - 1991

First in Krisalis' trio of soccer games based on the exploits of Manchester United, Manchester United Europe is a fun action soccer game that lets you lead this popular club in major European tournaments, including the European Cup, European Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Cup, European Super Cup, and even the World Club Championship -- a more obscure tournament held each year in Japan. Amiga game features excellent graphics and 4-player action via 4-player joystick adapter. You can, for example, easily execute one-touch football and aftertouch tricks. In contrast with most other soccer games of the era, you have full control over your goalie's actions. Coaching options, while much more limited than specialized soccer sims, are adequate: you can do substitutions, see players get yellow and red cards from the referee, and watch action replays. There's little difference between "full simulation" and "arcade" mode since the effects of your coaching strategies aren't too obvious in the game. Still, Manchester United Europe paves the way to more full-fledged soccer games from Krisalis, and is great fun for casual soccer fans who are confident in their joystick skills. It's not Sensible Soccer, but it has its own personality and style that deserve a closer look.

Manchester United Europe

Atari ST - Released - 1991

Manchester United Europe

Amstrad CPC - Released - 1991

Play your favourite team as they make their way through the European Football championships. You can either select your team and let the computer's AI battle out each match, or take over control of the players and put the ball in the back of the net yourself. This was Krisalis' second game in the sport genre, a sequel to Manchester United - The Official Computer Game.

Manchester United: Premier League Champions

Commodore Amiga CD32 - Released - 1994

After Manchester United won the English League championship for the first time since 1967, it was no surprise that Krisalis re-used their existing license for a third licensed football game. Little did they know that the club was entering an unprecedented run of success that has continued well into the 2010s. The basic control system will be familiar to anyone who’s played a Kick Off game, as it involves holding fire to trap the ball under your player’s foot, and releasing fire to pass, although the ball will be kicked onwards if it is moving fast when it comes to you. Other gameplay features include diving headers, variable pitch conditions, penalty shoot-outs and accurate deflections. 2500 players featured in the game all had a range of varied ability statistics, as well as different skin tones. As well as individual matches and custom-created tournaments (which have much the same range of features as Sensible Soccer, plus full calculation of injury and suspension severities, including disciplinary points and differing injury lengths), you can play out a full season of matches for any club in England’s top 5 divisions – all domestic league and cup matches are included, with promotions and relegations taking place after each season. The Tacti-Grid editor allows for advanced match tactics to be configured and experimented with.

Manchester United: The Double

Commodore Amiga - 1995

This game is based on the wonderful '93-94 season of the English Premier League Championship. Which is, of course, the year when Manchester United won both the English league and FA cup in the same season. Hence “The Double” in the name of the game. But don't let this fool you, you can choose to play any team from the top 5 leagues of the English game. Also you can customize any team or player in the league to fit your liking. Not that it gets any better than Keane, Giggs and Cantona though... The statistical side if the game is impressive, as is the tactical. Both are quite simple and straight-forward, but still lets an advanced manager fiddle around a lot. You choose formation, players, arrange transfers and of course play games. The matches are similar to what it looks and feels like in Kick Off 3 or even Sensible soccer. Graphics are OK but not more, the sound actually has some crowd noises and chants. If you listen closely you'll hear: “United, United”. Not surprising perhaps but it does make the matches more lively. Controls during the games are good, but it's quite hard to score in your first games. Keep going though and you'll find that it can be done, but you'll hardly get many “crazy” results against top-level opposition. The heading of the ball is a bit strange as the players look to jump about 5 meters up in the air, and have a hang-time that would make Michael Jordan jealous. This was the third in Krisalis series of United games, it's also the best in my opinion. Not a true classic but you can challenge a friend or have some tough games anyway. Fighting your way through the friendlies, cups and leagues with your favourite team is really fun. A recommended download for anyone that enjoys football games.

Manchester United: The Official Computer Game

Atari ST - Released - 1990

Nebulus

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1992

Nebulus (aka Tower Toppler) was ported to the Archimedes by Krisalis. You play a small green guy who needs to blow up eight towers, because their presence is somehow poisoning the water of planets which could potentially be ideal colonies. Unfortunately you need to get to the top of these towers to blow them up. You make your way up to the top of the tower via walkways around the outside of the towers. You need to jump over, kick, and run from various enemies in your journey to the top. Most vertical movement is achieved by jumping onto moving ledges at the right moment. The game was considered revolutionary in its time for its graphic technique. As the main character walked around the outside of the tower, the character was fixed in the middle of the screen while the tower itself rotated. This gave it a pseudo-3D effect. Towers are linked together via a voyage through the sea in your trusty MK.7 submarine. This plays out as a side-scrolling collect-'em-up in which bonus points can be obtained.

Populous

Acorn Archimedes - Released - 1992

Converted to the Acorn Archimedes by Richard Walker. As a Divine Being you have a group of followers from whom you derive your power. The more followers you have and the greater their achievements, the more power you wield. Unfortunately, there is another group of people who follow a different deity. Since there's barely enough room in the world for your own magnificence, two won't do. You must rid the world of the opposition. To do this, you will use your great power to move the earth and your devout followers to crush the misguided.

Prison

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1989

An Unforgettable Adventure. The year is 3033 AD. Criminals are no longer sent to jail, they are sent to the abandoned planet, Altrax. You have been wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent there. A long life is not that likely among the galaxy's worst undesirables. Your only hope is to escape! On your way to Altrax you learn that a pleasure craft ignored warning beacons and strayed into the electro-security net of Altrax. The craft was wrecked but the tiny escape pod was never found. Your only hope is to find it and escape, unfortunately, criminal gangs are also fighting to the pod.

Rogue Trooper

Commodore Amiga - 1991

Rogue Trooper is a Genetic Infantryman (G.I.) of the future whose entire battalion was wiped out on their first mission in the Quartz Zone of Nu Earth. Rogue must navigate many platform levels and several first person style flying levels to get to the root of the treachery. He is assisted by three bio chips containing the personalities of three of his dead buddies; Gunnar, Helm and Bagman - unfortunately, Bagman's silicon is deteriorating. The plot is helped along with comic pages between levels. This game is based on the long-running 2000 AD comic character of the same name.

Rogue Trooper

Atari ST - Released - 1991

Sabre Team

Commodore Amiga CD32 - 1994

A Sabre Team is a squad of four elite soldiers charged with some of the toughest hostage-rescue, building-storming and the like that Western forces have ever attempted. In this turn-based strategic simulation you must choose a team of four of these from the 8 available, and take them to victory in five increasingly tough missions. Even before you get into the main game-play, there is a lot of strategy involved in choosing weaponry, as they make different amounts of noise when used (reducing the stealth potential) and their ammunition is of varying weight. In each turn you have limited action points per soldier, which must be used for all movement, firing and reloading moves. The maps are viewed isometrically, with a compass used to indicate the directions of movement, and where the incoming fire emanated from.

Shadoworlds

Atari ST - Released - 1992

In this sequel to Shadowlands, you find yourself commanding a team of explorers through a deserted space-station, trying to discover what happened to the crew. Along the way you must solve puzzles, fight baddies and do masses and masses of exploring. You have four characters to control in this real time RPG, and the designers have done their best to remove all the numbers usually involved in RPG's (dexterity/wisdom etc) and replaced them with friendlier looking graphical bars. Another good idea is the way you can put your characters in formation instead of having to move them one at a time. The other big innovative game system is the clever use of light: Teque's "Photoscaping" system which means you can only see a few feet in front of you and you can use flares and torches to light up areas.

Shadoworlds

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1992

Soccer Kid

Commodore Amiga CD32 - Released - 1994

Aliens attempting to steal the World Cup have crashed as they tried to flee, and the Cup has been broken, its pieces scattered around the globe. As Soccer Kid, you must retrieve it. During your journey you will visit Britain, Italy, Russia, Japan, and finally the States. Soccer Kid is a platform game with some unique elements. As the name implies, you have to kill your enemies with your ball. Football-style tricks of keeping the ball in the air and under control are especially useful - headers and overhead kicks can be played with practice. You gain access to the pieces by collecting 11 Player Cards across each world. There is a saving feature that gives you the ability to save between each country (but not between individual levels).

Vikings: Fields of Conquest: Kingdoms of England II

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1992

The sequel to Kingdoms of England is turn-based medieval strategy game for up to six humans or computer opponents. Each player assumes the role of a Lord in control of a Kingdom with up to twenty armies to command in an attempt to become Sole Ruler and King of Medieval England. From the very beginning of the game you are placed in complex control of your kingdom. Using the mouse as controller and its cursor as your powerful finger, you must build your skills not only as the leader of a Campaign Army but also skillfully manage the infrastructure of your kingdom. There are two game scenarios: Against up to six human opponents. The scenario is based upon each player's ability to build his Kingdom into a society, which must prosper to enable the player to create the wealth to expand the growth required to increase the size and strength of his army, which will enable him to strategically conquer his opponents territory in his quest to become King of England. Head-to-head against computer opponents. In this scenario the human player must gain the skills as outlined in scenario one, but he is pitched against Vikings War Lords (up to five) who play by different rules, their aim is to gain wealth by conquest with no thought of development. They act as barbarians. It is up to human players to use the more constructive approach to outwit the computer player.