''Outlander'' is an action driving

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

with a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

theme. It was developed and published by Mindscape in 1992 for the

Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

and in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was originally developed under the title ''The Road Warrior'', based on the film of the same name; however, Mindscape lost the rights to the license when the game was almost complete, they removed any references to the film and changed the title to ''Outlander'' to avoid legal issues.

Gameplay

In ''Outlander'', the player drives along a post-apocalyptic road in either first-person view (Genesis) or third-person (Super NES). Bikers and trucks attack the player's car with gunfire or ramming. To fend them off, a car window is displayed allowing the player to fire a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

to the left or right. The car is also armed with a forward-firing machine-gun. Enemy vehicles destroyed in this way result in an explosion that may damage the player's car. The car's fuel is consumed over time, and the player may either stop to refill, or run out of fuel. In either case, on-foot gameplay ensues. In this section, the player must avoid chain or petrol-bomb wielding bikers,

landmine A land mine is an explosive weapon, explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically d ...

s, and armed hillbillies. There is also opportunity to collect health, fuel, and ammunition before returning to the car. The player may also stop at towns, another on-foot section that allows resource gathering. Items include ammunition, food, water, fuel, surface-to-air missiles, armour, windshields, fuzzy toys,

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

s, and geiger counters. The geiger counter is used to detect contaminated food.

References

Action games Post-apocalyptic video games 1992 video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Sega Genesis games Video games scored by Mark Knight Video games developed in the United Kingdom Mindscape games {{Action-videogame-stub