Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
Description official descriptions
Aliens of Gold, the first game in the Blake Stone series, pits the space-age British secret agent against Dr. Pyrus Goldfire; a madman bent on world domination. Using a mastery of genetic engineering and a tremendous reserve of wealth, Dr. Goldfire intends to unleash a mutant army upon the Earth.
The first chapter begins in Goldfire's S.T.A.R. Institute headquarters building. Each level has Blake fighting through guards to find an elevator keycard for the next level. Dr. Goldfire will personally appear along the way to fire shots at Blake, and his genetic creations also pose a tough challenge. Each chapter lasts 10 levels, and brings Blake closer to reaching Goldfire, only to have the mad doctor escape to a new installation in his network, and the start of a new chapter.
Blake Stone uses the Wolfenstein 3-D engine to render its levels. Basic gameplay and enemy AI is similar in most respects. Some of Blake's innovations include silent weapons that can kill guards without alerting others. Alerts are given to the player through text messages on the HUD. Health can be gained through use of wall-mounted vending machines, operated with tokens picked up off dead guards. An automap and stat-tracking are both available during gameplay. Finally, there are friendly AI characters who offer clues and powerups when you speak to them - provided Blake doesn't accidentally shoot them first!
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
Add Trailer or Gameplay Video +1 point
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (DOS version)
80 People (58 developers, 22 thanks) · View all
Engine Programmer | |
Engine Tools Programmer | |
Jam Productions | |
Contributing Artists |
|
Music | |
Texture Mapping Engine |
|
Cover and LINC Computer Illustration | |
Comic Book Illustration | |
Comic Book Storyline | |
Financing & Resources |
|
Special Thanks to [1] |
|
Apogee Technical Support | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 72% (based on 10 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 65 ratings with 10 reviews)
What can I say, this ain't Doom.
The Good
At the time I bought the game I really didn't have too much else to play so, I took it upon myself to beat the game. I actually felt ok about buying this one, at Sam Goody the day before they had all of their full version Apogee games on sale for $1 each (Note: I ended up buying Blake Stone, Duke Nukem II, and Alien Carnage). The music for the game was ok, although it lacked a punch that so many other Apogee games seem to have in them. Although I do understand that they didn't design the game, they still put their name on it. The controls are on par with Wolfenstein 3D, making the game easy to learn how to play.
The Bad
The graphics in Blake Stone were most decidedly sub-par. The textures were boring, the animation was choppy, and the pixelization made me want to squint and cry all at the same time. And then there are the laughable character models. Never before have I seen such creatures that made me want to shoot them just to put them out of their misery. The sound in the game made me want to shut it off. The "sounds" produced by this game are not much of an improvement over the use of the PC Speaker. Moving from worse to god awful, we have the computer AI. Very simply put, there is no computer AI. The monsters will consistently be stopped by shutting a door in their face. Will they dodge your shots? I don't think so, they will stand there and take the five shots it takes to bring them down.
The Bottom Line
Unless you happen to find this game on sale for a dollar, I wouldn't get it.
DOS · by Derrick 'Knight' Steele (2344) · 2000
The Good
This was my first shooter I have ever played. And I was addicted to it for weeks. Now I am say that it isn't much when you compare it to Quake, but for those ages it was a good game, the graphics were colorfull and it gots funny music. In the game you can't shoot every body, there are some professors that will help you. They can give you ammo, food tokens or hints. But be aware some of them will shoot you.
The Bad
The AI is worse, the creature are too stupid. And after awhile you get bored by the levels, it's to much of the same.
The Bottom Line
It almost hte same as Wolfenstein, but it is not better. It is just in space and you can shoot creatures instead of nazi's. And this is the perfect game for older computers, if your's to bad for games as Quake, Unreal.
DOS · by Buuks (197) · 2001
Wolfenstein 3D meets 007...but in a good way!
The Good
What I like...no...what I love about this game is that it transcends its FPS roots to give you an experience that you cannot find anywhere else! Gone is the level-grinding, bone-smashing tedium that is Doom! Return to a simpler time and enjoy the Wolfenstein 3D-like search for Dr. Goldfire to seek revenge for your family's untimely death! Yeah, it's kinda cheesy, but in a good way this time.
The Bad
What's there not to like about this game. Sure...it LOOKS cartoony compared to games like Wolf-3D and Doom, but in reality it's just as serious. It's a pity that it came out in the same year as Doom, since Doom naturally and completely overshadowed it in nearly every way.
The Bottom Line
This may look like nothing but a Wolfenstein 3D clone, but looks can be deceiving. Much more vibrant than its predecessor of sorts, the overall presentation and backgrounds are much more appealing to the general audience despite its somewhat gory overall content. Taking features like saving scientists (or in other words, the ones you don't want to shoot), playing "cat and mouse" with Dr. Goldfire, and throbbing music by Bobby Prince of Doom and Wolfenstein fame and combining that with a good overall story (you have to read it to believe it), you may find here what you couldn't find in Wolf-3D or Doom - charm! It's just that plain and simple. And if you're lucky enough to find a copy of the game that still comes packed with the comic, you're in for a special treat!
DOS · by Blast Vortex (45) · 2007
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Before it's time ? | GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) | Mar 16, 2008 |
Trivia
Comic
The original documentation for the game included an 11 page comic book which introduced Blake and his arch-enemy, Doctor Goldstern.
Dr. Goldstern's name
The main antagonist of the game was originally named Dr. Goldstern, however, this had to be changed to Goldfire after Apogee received a complaint from a watchful customer, as Mike Maynard recounts:
Dr. Pyrus Goldfire was originally called Dr. Goldstern. One person sent an email to Apogee complaining about how the name "Goldstern" portrayed Jewish people as evil. So we had to change the name.
Were the name kept as it was, it would have served as a bilingual bonus of sorts, as Stern means 'star' in German, and Goldfire's research centre where the first episode of the game takes place is called The S.T.A.R. Institute.
This change had not prevented the developers from playing with words though: the new -fire part of the name is echoed by Goldfire's first name, Pyrus, which is obviously derived from Greek pyros, meaning 'fire'.
Screen shots from the beta of the game that show the original name of Dr. Goldfire can be found here.
Engine
While Blake Stone uses an updated version of the Wolfenstein 3D engine, it is not the significantly upgraded engine that appeared in Shadowcaster.
German index
On January 1, 1995, Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS for being extreme violent. The game group offers more information about this topic.
Release
The programmers that developed Blake Stone (JAM Productions) were friends of id Software from when both teams worked at Softdisk Publishing as employees. JAM Productions was aware DOOM was going to be released and that it would kill all sales of Blake Stone, so the game was released early, 1 month before DOOM to hopefully see some sales. The first 30 days of sales brought in a good $100,000 for the development team. Once DOOM was released all income dropped to below $10,000 a month. The company struggled to release Blake Stone: Planet Strike then later the company broke up.
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Related Sites +
-
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
3D Realm's site for "Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold".
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Omniscia.
Windows added by Cantillon. Linux added by Sciere. Macintosh added by lights out party.
Additional contributors: Trixter, Apogee IV, vedder, Patrick Bregger, MrFlibble, Kayburt.
Game added January 24, 2000. Last modified February 14, 2024.