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Hired Guns IBM PC MS-DOS 1993 Visual Sciences


Hired Guns 1993


Visual Sciences Ltd. ported DMA Design's 1993 Amiga version of Hired Guns to IBM PC MS-DOS in 1993. Both the original Amiga version and IBM PC port were programmed by Scott Johnston.

A flip-screen cRPG in the vein of Dungeon Master, Hired Guns is notable for its independent control of up to four units and support for 1 to 4 players. A 256-color VGA 320x200 game, Hired Guns crams 4x 140x82px viewports into a single screen [1]. Each screen-quadrant can be switched to different modes via space-saving tabs along the top.


Unlike most flip-screen cRPGs, Hired Guns also features seamless transition. The unit control and GUI of Hired Guns are solid, and it is cool that you can push blocks, set sentries and use psionic amps. Both the Amiga and IBM PC versions are immaculately presented; there are fancy screen-wipes and a smoothly-scrolling world map. In addition, the music is amazing on the Amiga (Brian Johnston / Krisalis).

However, as a cRPG I found Hired Guns to be rather dull, and my opinion has not changed three decades later. Overall, I give it 7/10.

  • Hired Guns Manual: 23 pages
  • Hired Guns: The Luyten System: 42 pages
  • Hired Guns: Countdown to Graveyard: 42 pages
  • Hired Guns: Code Sheets

Hired Guns requires 540K free conventional RAM. Hired Guns was distributed on 2x 3.5" 1.44MB HD diskettes. The install size is 6 megs. Hired Guns audio supports AdLib, Roland and Sound Blaster (2.7 megs of audio).

[1]

Flip-screen cRPG active drawspace size comparison (in horizontal and vertical pixels):


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