Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold

aka: Blake Stone 3-D, Secret Agent Game
Moby ID: 786
DOS Specs
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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!

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Credits (DOS version)

80 People (58 developers, 22 thanks) · View all

Engine Programmer
Engine Tools Programmer
Jam Productions
Contributing Artists
Music
Texture Mapping Engine
  • id Software
Cover and LINC Computer Illustration
Comic Book Illustration
Comic Book Storyline
Financing & Resources
  • Apogee Software
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)

Wolfensteins future

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

James Bond meets Flash Gordon in a bargain bin near you.

The Good
Generally good use of the Wolfenstein 3D engine, with a few minor enhancements. The manual is full of lovingly-drawn comic book art and backstory, suggesting that the producers of this game truly appreciate the old-fashioned action hero genre.

The Bad
The plot/setting is kind of silly, yet not at all humorous--so don't expect an Austin Powers-style romp. There really isn't much here that wasn't done in Wolfenstein 3D, so this game lacks the impact of that classic.



The Bottom Line
Although not terrible, this game is really only worth buying if you need to play every FPS out there.

DOS · by PCGamer77 (3158) · 2015

The first FPS I ever played, and loved it!!

The Good
As I said, this was the first FPS I ever played. I borrowed the floppy off my friend, and thought it was the best game ever! I loved the graphics,sounds, and especially the MUSIC!

The Bad
Now its sorta out of date. But I still play it every once in a while. Also, I bought this game because I thought you actually kill the boss, Dr Goldfire, in the last mission.

The Bottom Line
If you see it for less than $10, buy it. It will give you a few hours play.

DOS · by James1 (240) · 2006

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

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.

Information also contributed by Jim Row, Xoleras and Zovni

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  • MobyGames ID: 786
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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.