Captain Blood
| Developer: ERE (Infogrames) | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Mindscape | Sound: |
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| Year: 1988 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Adventure | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
7/10 | |
Captain Blood is a unique futuristic adventure game where you can communicate with aliens using a language made up of icons.
The story is pretty wacky. It’s not the game that tells it to you, but the instruction manual. Here’s my take on it:
Bob Morlock, a failed programmer, finds himself thrust into the video game he created. He takes the place of his hero, Captain Blood, in command of a spaceship. From there, things take off: Bob decides to travel the galaxy in search of his missing clones to … er … cure his Parkinson’s. Any questions?
If you want to dive into all the intricacies of the story, I suggest you check out the dedicated article about Captain Blood on Grospixels or Oldies but Goodies, and download the Atari ST version.
Apparently, it’s better. Tss…
This game is a work of art. I said that ironically about Ghost Battle, but here the artistic intent feels genuine and deliberate. As for the gameplay… well, that’s a bit more debatable.
The piloting sequences above “wireframe” mountains (fractals, if you will) are probably inspired by Rescue on Fractalus! (Atari 8-bit, 1984).
If you’re looking for a spiritual successor, I’d suggest Outer Wilds (2020), and if the idea of translating alien languages intrigues you: Chants of Sennaar (2023).
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