RETRO GAME REVIEW: CATACOMB ABYSS (Shareware)

Wolfenstein 3d is often erroneously credited as being the very first of its genre (this sentence being constructed in order to avoid repeating the word 'first' one right after the other). While Wolf3d may have been the first successful first-person shooter, it was not the very first. That honor belongs to a different Id software game: Catacomb 3d. Made for and published by Softdisk, Catacomb was therefore unable to gain the fame and popularity that Wolfenstein did due to it only being available to subscribers to Softdisk. Nevertheless, it gained a considerable following and has its place in gaming history.

It should be noted that this is a review of Catacomb Abyss, which was the sequel to Catacomb 3d.

I first encountered Catacomb Abyss on an old CD-ROM filled with shareware games that included some of my all-time favorites: Wolfenstein3d, Doom and Heretic, along with quite a few other games from that era, all of which have been almost completely forgotten. (Reviews of games like Corridor 7 and Blake Stone are coming). Nowadays, the shareware of Catacomb Abyss can be downloaded almost anywhere, and using a program like DosBox makes it run just fine on almost any computer. The question is, is it worth your time?

From the moment you boot it up, its clear that this is an Id software game. The status bar showing the player's face, the icons indicating ammunition, health and other essential stats are all present. There are, however, some key differences. First off, Catacomb is a fantasy style game rather than the traditional gun-based shooter. The environments are all bricks, graveyards, dungeons, caves and even an almost hellish demon-wold (foreshadowing, anyone?). Likewise, the enemies range from zombies to skeletons to goblins and more bizarre monsters.

Don't think for one minute, though, that this is an RPG. Catacomb Abyss moves and acts just like Wolfenstein 3d. The movement is crisp and given how old the game is, the animations are smooth. Like later id games, it has secret areas with loot to be gathered.

GAMEPLAY: As mentioned above, Catacomb basically plays like Wolfenstein 3d, although there are some key differences. First off, there is almost no weapon diversity here. The player has an unlimited supply of fireballs which have to serve for most enemies throughout the game. There are also two alternate modes of fire which are supplied through little spheres picked up throughout the game. One is a rapid stream of fireballs, the other one shoots them in all directions, which can be useful in later levels when hordes of enemies abound. In addition to these spells, the player can also find treasures which just raise the player's final score and potions which can be used to restore all health. The presence of what essentially amounts to a primitive inventory system is pretty unique.

Like all shooters of the early '90's, the levels of Catacomb Abyss revolve around finding keys and eventually finding an exit. The level design is roughly equivalent to that of Wolf 3d, which means that it is entirely made up of rooms of equal heights and areas defined by ninety degree corners. Early games like this didn't have a lot of options in terms of making areas easily recognized, and so it is pretty easy to get lost. That being said, it doesn't take too long to find your way around.

VISUALS: Because it uses EGA graphics, the game looks pretty dated. Not that one would expect a game that's over twenty years old to look new, but the switch to VGA for Wolfenstein3d was a huge upgrade. That being said, the artwork is of course good and the bright colors lend themselves to the fantasy styles. Not only that, but the shareware episode offers a wider range of environments than other games of the time period. With castles, graveyards, caves and the hell dimension, its easy to get engaged with the levels in order to see what the next one will look like.

FINAL VERDICT: 7/10 Fans of old shooters ought to enjoy this one. Its bright and colorful visuals combined with smooth and classic gameplay are pretty darn fun, especially when one wants a fantasy style game but isn't in the mood for a full-sized and complicated RPG. That being said, like all pre-doom shooters, it suffers from crowded and sometimes confusing level design.