Aliens have conquered Amsterdam and the player has to drive them back. The defining feature of this game is that all levels are closely modeled after real-life locations; e.g. the dam, the red light district or the wax museum. The rest of the game features straightforward level design with five basic weapons to choose from.
Reviews View More
This review contains spoilers
Great game for the time from my own country.
Amsterdoom is a simple shooter with a simple story, created by the Dutch studio Davilex. Davilex made other classics from my youth like the Redcat series. Looking back today, the Redcat games and Amsterdoom were plagued by issues and technical instabilities, but at the time, I just thought it was my PC sucking too hard.
Anyway, Amsterdoom is a First Person Shooter, set in the capital city of Amsterdam. The world (or in this case, the city of Amsterdam) has been taken over by the evil Grøbers and you, an unnamed dude, needs to save it. It is kind of a Doom clone, but much slower.
You play through five parts of Amsterdam with five levels each. You go to the Dam, de Wallen (red light district), Rijksmuseum (art museum), Centraal Station (Amsterdam Central train station) and Schiphol. The goal in each level is reach the exit, which is a fancy teleporting thingy. You need to find keys to open doors, shoot Grøbers, which increase in strength and variants throughout the levels and pick up the part of the “Superwapen” after each district. You can find a ton of secrets, only existing of ammo and health packs. Every time you walk over a secret, you hear a fairy ping sound of some kind. When you collect five secrets at once, it is a little annoying. In the end of the game, you fight a gigantic Grøber named Thor (original, I know) and kill his ass. Then you save the world, and everything is fine and dandy again.
It is simple stuff, but this game made a lasting impression on me throughout the years as a kid. This is, of course, mainly because the game was in Dutch and I could understand everything on the screen, but also because it still is a good game and a classic that aged fairly well in my opinion.
Graphically, Amsterdoom looked amazing for the time. It is fully 3D, runs smoothly and the effects and animations are fair. You can destroy a lot of objects around you like trash cans, radios, billboards and crates so there is a lot of interaction with the environment. The only problem is that there are no NPC’s, corpses, or any kind of lifeforms around you when you play. It is just you and the enemies.
Like many games that lasted an impression on me, the music and sound is to thank for that. The battle tracks are glorious and are still fun to listen to today. The sound effects are a little generic in terms of explosions and gunfire, but the sounds that the Grøbers make when you kill their asses are brutal and keeps you motivated and satisfied.
The controls are a little stiff and sluggish. There are some platforming sections to reach a secret ammo or health pack and many times, your jump won’t make it. Other than that, it is just move and shoot and you cannot go wrong much.
Of all the gems Davilex put out of their studio, Amsterdoom is the most stable. It crashes rarely and overall functions as it should.
The biggest problem with Amsterdoom is that it is too easy. Back then, I struggled at times, but if you played other shooters in your teenage years, this game is ridiculously easy. It is mainly because the game spams you with health packs everywhere in the levels, and enemies drop them too. Secondly, when you get the machine gun, it is an easy win. Pull the trigger and never let go. The only times you might die is when a rocket blows up in your face or when you missed a jump.
Nevertheless, Amsterdoom feels something of national pride for me and I really loved, and still love the game. It is an all-time classic for me, and I can finish it any day anytime.
Amsterdoom is a simple shooter with a simple story, created by the Dutch studio Davilex. Davilex made other classics from my youth like the Redcat series. Looking back today, the Redcat games and Amsterdoom were plagued by issues and technical instabilities, but at the time, I just thought it was my PC sucking too hard.
Anyway, Amsterdoom is a First Person Shooter, set in the capital city of Amsterdam. The world (or in this case, the city of Amsterdam) has been taken over by the evil Grøbers and you, an unnamed dude, needs to save it. It is kind of a Doom clone, but much slower.
You play through five parts of Amsterdam with five levels each. You go to the Dam, de Wallen (red light district), Rijksmuseum (art museum), Centraal Station (Amsterdam Central train station) and Schiphol. The goal in each level is reach the exit, which is a fancy teleporting thingy. You need to find keys to open doors, shoot Grøbers, which increase in strength and variants throughout the levels and pick up the part of the “Superwapen” after each district. You can find a ton of secrets, only existing of ammo and health packs. Every time you walk over a secret, you hear a fairy ping sound of some kind. When you collect five secrets at once, it is a little annoying. In the end of the game, you fight a gigantic Grøber named Thor (original, I know) and kill his ass. Then you save the world, and everything is fine and dandy again.
It is simple stuff, but this game made a lasting impression on me throughout the years as a kid. This is, of course, mainly because the game was in Dutch and I could understand everything on the screen, but also because it still is a good game and a classic that aged fairly well in my opinion.
Graphically, Amsterdoom looked amazing for the time. It is fully 3D, runs smoothly and the effects and animations are fair. You can destroy a lot of objects around you like trash cans, radios, billboards and crates so there is a lot of interaction with the environment. The only problem is that there are no NPC’s, corpses, or any kind of lifeforms around you when you play. It is just you and the enemies.
Like many games that lasted an impression on me, the music and sound is to thank for that. The battle tracks are glorious and are still fun to listen to today. The sound effects are a little generic in terms of explosions and gunfire, but the sounds that the Grøbers make when you kill their asses are brutal and keeps you motivated and satisfied.
The controls are a little stiff and sluggish. There are some platforming sections to reach a secret ammo or health pack and many times, your jump won’t make it. Other than that, it is just move and shoot and you cannot go wrong much.
Of all the gems Davilex put out of their studio, Amsterdoom is the most stable. It crashes rarely and overall functions as it should.
The biggest problem with Amsterdoom is that it is too easy. Back then, I struggled at times, but if you played other shooters in your teenage years, this game is ridiculously easy. It is mainly because the game spams you with health packs everywhere in the levels, and enemies drop them too. Secondly, when you get the machine gun, it is an easy win. Pull the trigger and never let go. The only times you might die is when a rocket blows up in your face or when you missed a jump.
Nevertheless, Amsterdoom feels something of national pride for me and I really loved, and still love the game. It is an all-time classic for me, and I can finish it any day anytime.