Crystal Quest Classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMnqdu-7GwI I just love this. It's a faithful reproduction of Crystal Quest (Crystal Raider for those who only had the shareware version) which I used to play on a black-and-white Macintosh Classic when I was a kid. Maybe it's because it's such a nostalgia trip for me, but I find it a horrifyingly addictive experience. Guide your inertia-powered spherical spaceship around and collect all the crystals, and if you manage to avoid all manner of crazy monsters you might be lucky enough to get out of the opening at the bottom of the screen. If you're REALLY lucky you might get a huge crystal and loads of points and feel like an 11-year-old again* (*last part probably exclusive to me). 'Hash Monsters', 'Sandbags' and the 'Blim Thingies' - might not be their real names - will spawn from both ends to try to stop you, and stop you they will unless you use a lot of bombs to clear them out. It gets very difficult, very quickly in a very entertaining way - you'll be yelling at the screen with a smile on your face. For this price you cannot argue with its arcade madness.

Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this pop up on Steam - I spent so many hours in the late 80s and early 90s playing this on a variety of old-school Macs. This seems to be pretty much a perfect recreation of the classic, down to the amazing sound effects. Blem. Blem. Blem. AaaAAAaah!

Crystal Quest! I used to play this ALL the time as a kid. Well, the original one. And let me say that I got MUCH better than I did when I was a child. Because. You know. I was a child. Anyway, as soon as I saw this in the Steam store, I had to get it. And I wasn't disappointed. Yeah it gets pretty nuts in the harder levels, but I did well, and I'm really loving throwing it on for a quick time-killer. You don't expect to survive long, and it's a blast. Nostalgia out the wazoo!

PROS: If you played this game on Mac back in the day, your brain will melt from nostalgia. It plays and sounds exactly like what you remember. CONS: As noted by others, the achievements do not work. Based on the fact that the game is still being sold at full price despite being no longer being supported by the devs, I can't really promote the game. If the devs decide to reappear and fix the achievements and maybe make some minor updates, then I'll change my review. As it stands, the brief nostalgia trip isn't worth the five bucks.

Achievements didn't work. Other players have reported the same problem. This has been known for almost 1½ years now (in July 2021) but the issue hasn't been fixed.

Crystal Quest, a game originally made for the Mac in 1987. The Steam version looks like the Apple IIgs, Macintosh Color Classic and Amiga versions, it is not emulated, but an almost identical recreation. The game itself is excellent, the only flaw is the achievements are not working. 7/10

I was a little hesitant because of the "from my childhood" reviews. But then I considered that people regardless of age hate fundamentally bad games, so people wouldn't remember this game so fondly if it sucked. Then I remembered that games like this existed to teach basic I/O skills on computer and waving the mouse around was one of the styles... and on that basis I feared it really MIGHT suck. Well after giving it a go I'm happy to say it doesn't suck. In fact the gameplay is well-tuned and very skill-based, and overall this game is charming and compelling. I have the hand cramp of a life time, but it was worth it and I plan to play a lot more when it un-seizes. What you see in the previews in the Steam Store is what you get here. But it is the kind of game that keeps calling you to play more because you know you can hone your skill "just a bit more" as you click to play again. Worth it! Edit: I came back after about 3 hours of play to say I'm done with this game. It was a fun diversion and worth what I paid for the fun I got back. Sure it wasn't AAA gaming but the core gameplay is fun enough.

It's amazing, but still has some faults.

Not a bad old school little game. A bit hard with its mouse controls though!

Ouch. Right in the childhoods.