Comments on: A PC Game Involing Gangs from the Late Eighties

Question: A PC Game Involing Gangs from the Late Eighties

dbarefoot — Wed, 11 May 2005 16:49:30 -0800

I have very fond memories of playing a graphically-simple game in the late eighties or possibly early nineties. It was set in the future, in a plague-ridde, post-apocalyptic America. You were a gang leader, and your job was to assemble gang members, vehicles and guns and essentially deliver America from ruin.

There were two modes--a map of America and then a tactical view for vehicle to vehicle battles. The game featured fairly detailed resource management. I remember that there were five kinds of troops, each starting with the letters A through E (D was definitely dragoons). I also recall that if you stopped by the California city where the game was developed, you could get your vehicles super-charged. Any takers?

By: icontemplate

icontemplate — Wed, 11 May 2005 16:56:14 -0800

Roadwar 2000?

By: icontemplate

icontemplate — Wed, 11 May 2005 17:03:45 -0800

Oh, according to this strategy guide, since the game was made in San Jose/Mt. View, you could visit SSI headquarters and gain a few powerups.

By: agropyron

agropyron — Wed, 11 May 2005 17:09:47 -0800

Not only were the troops lettered from A to E, but the names had one fewer letter as you went:

Armsmaster
Bodyguard
Commando
Dragoon
Escort

wish I knew how to show those in fixed-width :(

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Wed, 11 May 2005 17:17:30 -0800

DOS version available at Home of the Underdogs, and is most likely playable in DOSBox.

agropyron, use the <tt> or <pre> HTML tags.

By: dbarefoot

dbarefoot — Wed, 11 May 2005 17:22:30 -0800

Yes! Roadwar 2000! How could I forget? Thanks very much.

By: ori

ori — Wed, 11 May 2005 17:30:12 -0800

Reminded me of this game, which -- since it's so great -- I'll post here anyways.

By: PurplePorpoise

PurplePorpoise — Wed, 11 May 2005 18:00:48 -0800

ori - duuuude, that game was teh roxor! Have you tried the new(er) Freedom Force?

By: john

john — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:09:10 -0800

I remember Roadwar 2000 and always wanted to give it a try, but never could find a copy of it. I had to settle for Autoduel by Origin Systems (gobbled up by Sierra) based on Steve Jackson 's Carwars, which could use a good update.

By: agropyron

agropyron — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:36:56 -0800

Armsmaster Bodyguard Commando Dragoon Escort

Woo, so beautiful. I am really impressed that they found soldier-type names that are in alphabetical order AND descending number of characters.

By: CrunchyFrog

CrunchyFrog — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:31:00 -0800

And there was a sequel to it called Roadwar Europa. I got the two of them, along with Wargame Construction Kit in a package called "Roadwar Bonus Edition." This was by Wizardworks, back when they were making cheap shovelware compilations of old games, rather than cheap new ones.

By: dbarefoot

dbarefoot — Wed, 11 May 2005 22:45:38 -0800

I should mention that I was reminded of this game (and the RPG "Car Wars") by this news from E3, about a new game called "Auto Assault".