I continue to play through the catalog of classic games from Apogee Software. Thankfully, the games have had more hits than misses. That was certainly the case with Hocus Pocus. You play as Hocus, a young magician. Your goal on each level is to track down all of the crystals. It’s a straightforward 2D platform game. You run, you jump, you shoot. I found the difficulty to be pretty forgiving. It wasn’t about dying from a single hit or fall. Also, there were ample healing potions to make up for any mistakes. Part of the challenge was figuring out how to reach all parts of a level. I completed the first episode, Time Tripping. There are still three more episodes to play: Shattered Worlds, Warped and Weary, and Destination Home.

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a game I remember playing when it was relatively new. It was published by Apogee Software in 1994, although it was made by another developer. After 20+ years, I think it holds up pretty well. Back in the day, it was quite impressive, particularly for a shareware title. Raptor was another vertical-scroller arcade style shooter that reminded me of the coin-op classic Xevious. I put a few hours into Raptor, mainly playing through the Bravo sector levels.

It just occurred to me that I forgot to document the previous Apogee game I played, Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold. When I saw it used the Wolfenstein 3D game engine, I didn’t expect to play it for very long. This was pre-Doom and about as primitive as it gets for 3D first person shooters. A funny thing happened. I actually got into it more than I expected. Before I knew it, I had completed all ten levels (floors) of Mission 1: Star Institute. Although the graphics were primitive, I enjoyed the simplicity of the levels with their fixed ceiling height. Targeting was on a level vertical plane, which meant no raising and lowering weapons to aim. I’m not inspired enough to finish all six missions. However, I’m glad I played it if only to bring back memories of playing Wolfenstein 3D.