Riverworld is a PC game released in 1998 by
Cryo Interactive
Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo.
History
Cryo was formed by members of ERE Informatique ...
, based on the
series of novels by
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories.
Obituary.
Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...
.
In the game, the player takes the role of
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
, the nineteenth century explorer. The game begins with a cinematic sequence showing what happens to Burton after he has died – how he comes to enter Riverworld.
''Riverworld'' is a real time strategy game,
similar to
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
's ''
Age of Empires
''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was ''Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the ser ...
''. Although Burton is the central character, it is seen from a third-person perspective, and other people within the game can be moved and controlled.
Gameplay
The player begins with control of one territory along the River, with two opponents – shown in green and blue, and led by other historical figures - controlling other territories. These areas of land can be captured by gaining control of the central grail stone – a mushroom shaped object in the centre of each. More people can be recruited by building houses, for which building material needs to be collected. Towers can be built for defense purposes, barracks can be built to train soldiers, warehouses can be built to construct war machines, stores can be built to add building materials to stockpile, docks can be built to construct ships, workshops can be built to train people as engineers and scientists, and technology centres can be built in order to advance the civilisation.
The game begins in the Wood age, a very primitive time where wood from trees is the main resource. The game then advances, after completing sufficient technological research and recruiting a special sort of builder (e.g. Jules Verne from the Electric Age) to build a special structure to proceed to the next ages, including the Stone and Iron Ages to more modern ages (Steel, Uranium), and through to the future, with corresponding advances in technology and weaponry.
Development
''Riverworld'' was written entirely in
assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
.
[
]
Reception
''Game Over'' gave the game an overall rating of 65% and said that "RiverWorld brings a rich atmosphere to build a intuitive realtime strategy with some complex role playing concepts."
''PC PowerPlay
''PC PowerPlay'' (''PCPP'') is Australia's only dedicated PC games magazine. ''PC PowerPlay'' focuses on news and reviews for upcoming and newly released games on the Microsoft Windows platform. The magazine also reviews computer hardware for us ...
'' #31 gave ''Riverworld'' a score of 65.[http://download.kingpin.info/other/magazine/PCPowerplay-041-1999-10.pdf ]
According to ''Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', ''Riverworld'' was commercially unsuccessful.
Reviews
* ''Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'' #65
*PC Zone
''PC Zone'', founded in 1993, was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as ''PC Leisure'', ''PC Format'' and ''PC Plus'' had covered games but ...
- Aug 13, 2001
*PC Games
A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-dete ...
- Nov, 1998
*GameStar
''GameStar'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine in Germany. It is the best-selling German-language magazine focused on PC gaming and it also hosts the largest video gaming-related portal in the German-speaking internet.
Content
The pri ...
- Nov, 1998
References
External links
Philip José Farmer's Riverworld
at MobyGames
1998 video games
Cryo Interactive games
Riverworld
Strategy video games
Video games based on novels
Video games developed in France
Video games scored by Stéphane Picq
Windows games
Windows-only games
{{strategy-videogame-stub