BioForge
Encyclopedia
BioForge is a 1995
computer role-playing game (RPG) published
by Origin Systems
for the PC
. The game was marketed as a movie-like production, because of its in-depth plot and extensive voice acting (with 22 different voice actors for characters and computer voices). The game was localized in four languages: English
, German
, French
and Spanish
(screen text and subtitles only).
The game was very hardware-demanding in 1995
, requiring 8 MB of RAM and a 486 CPU running at 33 MHz at least, due to its use of texture-mapped, detailed 3D models and a software renderer (3D accelerators were not yet common).
Well received, but also going low on sales, it is considered by many to be an overlooked game and is featured prominently at the Home of the Underdogs
and has had generally favorable reviews.
In the far future, the known universe is ruled by an organization known as 'the Reticulum'. There is also an opposite fanatical group of religious extremists
known as the Mondites, who believe in the evolution
of man through machine by cybernetic implants, aspire to galactic conquest under the direction of their insane leader, the Prime Paragon.
Years ago, a Reticulum ship called Ambassadoria made contact with an ancient spaceship containing alien remains in stasis. One alien was transferred to the ship for examination. However it returned to life and destroyed everything until the ship self-destructs, after her captain recorded a log. The Mondites however received the distress call before the Reticulum could be notified; through studying the black box and the remains, they finally discover the aliens' homeworld, a moon which they name Daedalus (named after the Greek myth
) in a remote sector of the galaxy and establish a base while investigating the ruins the aliens left behind; a sentient race known as the Phyxx who were long thought to be extinct
.
To their end, the Mondites abduct people and subject them on Daedalus for their experiments. A mad scientist
called Dr. Mastaba who is the base commander
and head of the "ABA Project" (Assassin
Biologically Augmented) conducts these experiments under the guise of scientific research, mutilating the bodies of his victims in an attempt to turn them into the ultimate killing machine. However, everyone so far has ended up either dead
or insane
.
Using technology
borrowed from the Phyxx, the Mondites have finally succeeded in their experiments. But when one of the aliens is accidentally revived from suspended animation
in its tomb
, it goes on a rampage through the complex, damaging the reactor
and killing half of the base personnel in the process.
The player takes on the role of a randomly identified cyborg
based on how the player responds to various events in the game. (Experimental Unit AP-127) who awakens in a cell on Daedelus with no prior memories
. After escaping the cell, the player seems to be one of the scant survivors of the incident that has devastated the station. He must unravel the truth about himself, the research station, the bizarre Mondite cult
that controls it, and the mysterious ancient alien race that once inhabited the moon.
The game ends rather abruptly after the player escapes Daedalus in an experimental spacecraft
in the wake of the moon's destruction, escorted by several Phyxx Blockships. A sequel
(BioForge II) was designed and the team were working on the art when the project was halted and changed to an extension of the original game. The extension, however, was also cancelled and subsequently never published.
BioForge centers mainly on exploration and puzzle solving using items, and also on fighting and interaction with NPCs
. The ultimate goal of the game is not obvious at the beginning, since the player is unaware of his identity, which depends on his actions during the game. The player has full control over the main character's actions. This was a deliberate idea of Ken Demarest and Jack Herman. Richard Garriott helped kick off the Interactive Movie theme. In a 1994 magazine article he said that "Interactive Movies have become a buzzword
, so it's being applied to games which really aren't. Just because a game has FMV
that doesn't automatically make it an interactive movie, because you have very little control over the actor. Neither is a game in which you click on an icon, then sit back and watch a scene take place."
The player character can rotate left and right, walk and run forwards and backwards, and sidestep. The player can also enter a combat stance that makes several punch
and kick
movements and hand-to-hand weapons (if carried) available. Combat can be awkward and has somewhat of a learning curve since enemies must be faced at the correct rotation angle for attacks to connect. Also, since camera angles are fixed, the view can change in an unpredictable manner if the player crosses scene-thresholds during the fight, a gameplay problem first seen in Alone in the Dark
.
The body of the player character houses an exchangeable (and depletable) battery that powers various body functions put there by the experimenters. Functions include a regeneration system that heals all damage when activated, as well as a powerful projectile
weapon (known as the PFD Prototype). Upgrading and swapping the battery is key to the player's progress at certain points in the game. The player can also don a protective armoured suit that enables him to survive the harsh atmosphere outside the facility and explore the archaeological dig.
Various objects, such as data-logs or healing packs, can be picked up and stored in an inventory
. Selected objects are shown as if carried in the left hand of the player character. Several hand-to-hand and ranged weapons, as well as batteries
and other large or one-use objects, can also be picked up during the course of the game, but only one can be carried, using the right hand, and they can not be stored in the inventory.
Much of the game's backplot is revealed by finding and reading logs on PDAs and notes left behind by characters, including accounts of experimental subjects losing their memories and lapsing into insanity. As the plot progresses, the main character automatically updates his own diary/log summarizing what he has discovered and what has happened for the player to review, an event marked by a sound cue.
A large portion of the puzzle element relies on accessing control and computer terminal
s in order to remotely control robots, open doors and bypass security systems. The puzzles are realistic and well integrated with the plot, so several have a time limit.
at Origin
by a core team of ten people under the direction of Lead Programmer/Director Ken Demarest
, during a period of two years from February, 1993
to March, 1995
. The game was developed using C++
and 80x86 assembly
and used the Phar Lap
DOS extender
. Internally, the game used a custom script language for world management and animation. It also employed an HTML
-like language to code the in-game interface.
The animations were created using the rotoscope
technique on live-actor movements captured with the Flock of Birds on-body motion detector
system, using an in-house pose editor named System for Animating Lifelike Synthetic Actors (S.A.L.S.A.) that was capable of displaying captured movement as fully rendered models in real time
.
Regarding the development of BioForge, Ken Demarest said:
BioForge uses a software-only 3D engine to draw polygonal objects and characters against pre-rendered backdrops with a fixed resolution of 320x200 pixels in 256 colors
. In this respect, the game is very similar to the successful Alone in the Dark
series of games which used hand drawn backgrounds. There are other striking similarities, like the movement scheme incorporating a separate combat mode. The combat element is toned down in BioForge with respect to the Alone in the Dark series, especially the later titles.
Other elements similar to Alone in the Dark are the gory atmosphere and scenery, although BioForge is actually sci-fi
, the logs and narrations one finds, the lonely and devastated scenery, populated only by enemies, deranged lunatics and dead bodies, is something that boosts this feeling.
Other technical details also worthy of note are:
as an extension to the original game, which would directly continue the plot, but it was cancelled after a rushed beta was completed in 10 weeks. A former Origin employee noted that the company was going through a "hard year" in 1995 and that job and production team cuts resulted in the cancellation of BioForge Plus. The cancellation may also presumably have been related to BioForges weak sales.
This extension was advertised in promotional electronic catalogs bundled with other games of the company, with this blurb:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun blog reported that EA Mythic received a crate full of old Origin Systems archive materials, possibly containing BioForge Plus source code.
but can be run reliably in the DOSBox
PC emulator as of version 0.65. Another way to run the game successfully is through a virtual machine
running DOS.
1995 in video gaming
-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California...
computer role-playing game (RPG) published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Origin Systems
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004...
for the PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
. The game was marketed as a movie-like production, because of its in-depth plot and extensive voice acting (with 22 different voice actors for characters and computer voices). The game was localized in four languages: English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
(screen text and subtitles only).
The game was very hardware-demanding in 1995
1995 in video gaming
-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California...
, requiring 8 MB of RAM and a 486 CPU running at 33 MHz at least, due to its use of texture-mapped, detailed 3D models and a software renderer (3D accelerators were not yet common).
Well received, but also going low on sales, it is considered by many to be an overlooked game and is featured prominently at the Home of the Underdogs
Home of the Underdogs
Home of the Underdogs was an abandonware archive founded by Thai Sarinee Achavanuntakul , aka: Underdogs or Fringer on her own blog, in September 1998, and grew to be one of the most significant abandonware websites on the Internet, despite losing its domains to cybersquatters and then briefly...
and has had generally favorable reviews.
Story
Extremism
Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
known as the Mondites, who believe in the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of man through machine by cybernetic implants, aspire to galactic conquest under the direction of their insane leader, the Prime Paragon.
Years ago, a Reticulum ship called Ambassadoria made contact with an ancient spaceship containing alien remains in stasis. One alien was transferred to the ship for examination. However it returned to life and destroyed everything until the ship self-destructs, after her captain recorded a log. The Mondites however received the distress call before the Reticulum could be notified; through studying the black box and the remains, they finally discover the aliens' homeworld, a moon which they name Daedalus (named after the Greek myth
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
) in a remote sector of the galaxy and establish a base while investigating the ruins the aliens left behind; a sentient race known as the Phyxx who were long thought to be extinct
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
.
To their end, the Mondites abduct people and subject them on Daedalus for their experiments. A mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
called Dr. Mastaba who is the base commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
and head of the "ABA Project" (Assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
Biologically Augmented) conducts these experiments under the guise of scientific research, mutilating the bodies of his victims in an attempt to turn them into the ultimate killing machine. However, everyone so far has ended up either dead
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
or insane
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
.
Using technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
borrowed from the Phyxx, the Mondites have finally succeeded in their experiments. But when one of the aliens is accidentally revived from suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
in its tomb
Tomb
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...
, it goes on a rampage through the complex, damaging the reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
and killing half of the base personnel in the process.
The player takes on the role of a randomly identified cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
based on how the player responds to various events in the game. (Experimental Unit AP-127) who awakens in a cell on Daedelus with no prior memories
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
. After escaping the cell, the player seems to be one of the scant survivors of the incident that has devastated the station. He must unravel the truth about himself, the research station, the bizarre Mondite cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
that controls it, and the mysterious ancient alien race that once inhabited the moon.
The game ends rather abruptly after the player escapes Daedalus in an experimental spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
in the wake of the moon's destruction, escorted by several Phyxx Blockships. A sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
(BioForge II) was designed and the team were working on the art when the project was halted and changed to an extension of the original game. The extension, however, was also cancelled and subsequently never published.
Gameplay
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
. The ultimate goal of the game is not obvious at the beginning, since the player is unaware of his identity, which depends on his actions during the game. The player has full control over the main character's actions. This was a deliberate idea of Ken Demarest and Jack Herman. Richard Garriott helped kick off the Interactive Movie theme. In a 1994 magazine article he said that "Interactive Movies have become a buzzword
Buzzword
A buzzword is a term of art, salesmanship, politics, or technical jargon that is used in the media and wider society outside of its originally narrow technical context....
, so it's being applied to games which really aren't. Just because a game has FMV
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
that doesn't automatically make it an interactive movie, because you have very little control over the actor. Neither is a game in which you click on an icon, then sit back and watch a scene take place."
The player character can rotate left and right, walk and run forwards and backwards, and sidestep. The player can also enter a combat stance that makes several punch
Punch (strike)
A punch is a striking blow with the fist. It is the most commonly used attack in hand to hand combat. It is used in some martial arts and combat sports, most notably boxing where it is the only type of technique allowed...
and kick
Kick
In combat sports and hand-to-hand combat, a kick is a physical strike using the foot, leg, or knee . This type of attack is used frequently, especially in stand-up fighting...
movements and hand-to-hand weapons (if carried) available. Combat can be awkward and has somewhat of a learning curve since enemies must be faced at the correct rotation angle for attacks to connect. Also, since camera angles are fixed, the view can change in an unpredictable manner if the player crosses scene-thresholds during the fight, a gameplay problem first seen in Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Dark (series)
Alone in the Dark is a series of survival horror computer games from Infogrames. In most of the series, the gamer plays as private investigator Edward Carnby, who usually goes to investigate a haunted mansion or town that is full of undead creatures. The story is based on the writings of H. P...
.
The body of the player character houses an exchangeable (and depletable) battery that powers various body functions put there by the experimenters. Functions include a regeneration system that heals all damage when activated, as well as a powerful projectile
Projectile
A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....
weapon (known as the PFD Prototype). Upgrading and swapping the battery is key to the player's progress at certain points in the game. The player can also don a protective armoured suit that enables him to survive the harsh atmosphere outside the facility and explore the archaeological dig.
Various objects, such as data-logs or healing packs, can be picked up and stored in an inventory
Inventory
Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose, such as the details of an estate going to probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. This remains the prime meaning in British English...
. Selected objects are shown as if carried in the left hand of the player character. Several hand-to-hand and ranged weapons, as well as batteries
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
and other large or one-use objects, can also be picked up during the course of the game, but only one can be carried, using the right hand, and they can not be stored in the inventory.
Much of the game's backplot is revealed by finding and reading logs on PDAs and notes left behind by characters, including accounts of experimental subjects losing their memories and lapsing into insanity. As the plot progresses, the main character automatically updates his own diary/log summarizing what he has discovered and what has happened for the player to review, an event marked by a sound cue.
Computer terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...
s in order to remotely control robots, open doors and bypass security systems. The puzzles are realistic and well integrated with the plot, so several have a time limit.
Development
BioForge was developedGame development
Game development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...
at Origin
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004...
by a core team of ten people under the direction of Lead Programmer/Director Ken Demarest
Ken Demarest
Kenneth Llewellyn Demarest III is a computer game programmer, business person, and artist.As a technical innovator, he helped advance the state of the art in video games by developing the first 3D, texture-mapped characters ever seen in a computer game with BioForge...
, during a period of two years from February, 1993
1993 in video gaming
-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
to March, 1995
1995 in video gaming
-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California...
. The game was developed using C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
and 80x86 assembly
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
and used the Phar Lap
Phar Lap (company)
Phar Lap was a software company specializing in software development tools for DOS operating systems. They were most noted for their software allowing developers to access memory beyond the 640 KiB limit of DOS and were an author of the VCPI standard.Phar Lap Software, Inc. was founded in April...
DOS extender
DOS extender
A DOS extender is a computer software program which enables software to run under a protected mode environment even though the host operating system is only capable of operating in real mode....
. Internally, the game used a custom script language for world management and animation. It also employed an HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
-like language to code the in-game interface.
The animations were created using the rotoscope
Rotoscope
Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator...
technique on live-actor movements captured with the Flock of Birds on-body motion detector
Motion detector
A motion detector is a device for motion detection. That is, it is a device that contains a physical mechanism or electronic sensor that quantifies motion that can be either integrated with or connected to other devices that alert the user of the presence of a moving object within the field of view...
system, using an in-house pose editor named System for Animating Lifelike Synthetic Actors (S.A.L.S.A.) that was capable of displaying captured movement as fully rendered models in real time
Real-time computing
In computer science, real-time computing , or reactive computing, is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"— e.g. operational deadlines from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within strict time constraints...
.
Regarding the development of BioForge, Ken Demarest said:
Technical details
8-bit color
8-bit color graphics is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file, such that each pixel is represented by one 8-bit byte. The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at any one time is 256....
. In this respect, the game is very similar to the successful Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Dark (series)
Alone in the Dark is a series of survival horror computer games from Infogrames. In most of the series, the gamer plays as private investigator Edward Carnby, who usually goes to investigate a haunted mansion or town that is full of undead creatures. The story is based on the writings of H. P...
series of games which used hand drawn backgrounds. There are other striking similarities, like the movement scheme incorporating a separate combat mode. The combat element is toned down in BioForge with respect to the Alone in the Dark series, especially the later titles.
Other elements similar to Alone in the Dark are the gory atmosphere and scenery, although BioForge is actually sci-fi
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, the logs and narrations one finds, the lonely and devastated scenery, populated only by enemies, deranged lunatics and dead bodies, is something that boosts this feeling.
Other technical details also worthy of note are:
- As a character gets more and more injured in combat, wounds and bloodBloodBlood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
appear on the model, which will also limp or move awkwardly, indicating its overall health (effects that diminish while the players regains health). - Laser blaster beams deflect intelligently off metalMetalA metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
surfaces in scenes, often bouncing multiple times before dissipating. - BioForge pioneered quaternion-based skeletal animationSkeletal animationSkeletal animation is a technique in computer animation in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character and a hierarchical set of interconnected bones used to animate the mesh...
, with pose interpolation and interchangeable skeletons. This would later become a common technique in 3d computer and video games.
Expansions and Possible Sequels
BioForge Plus was projected by OriginOrigin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004...
as an extension to the original game, which would directly continue the plot, but it was cancelled after a rushed beta was completed in 10 weeks. A former Origin employee noted that the company was going through a "hard year" in 1995 and that job and production team cuts resulted in the cancellation of BioForge Plus. The cancellation may also presumably have been related to BioForges weak sales.
This extension was advertised in promotional electronic catalogs bundled with other games of the company, with this blurb:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun blog reported that EA Mythic received a crate full of old Origin Systems archive materials, possibly containing BioForge Plus source code.
Compatibility with modern systems
BioForge is not compatible with modern operating systems such as Windows XPWindows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
but can be run reliably in the DOSBox
DOSBox
DOSBox is emulator software that emulates an IBM PC compatible computer running MS-DOS. It is intended especially for use with old PC games. DOSBox is free software....
PC emulator as of version 0.65. Another way to run the game successfully is through a virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
running DOS.