Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

Awesome. It's finally here. I've been trying to remember and find this game for a few years now. I originally had the demo when it first came out and that was it for that game back then. I recall in the limited demo that I could get a shotgun and blow some zombies away and I think it had some nice gruesome bits too. Anyways, time to play once I've downloaded it. :)
________
Paxil Attorney

Uh.. the review sounds like the guy hasn't even played the game. This is one of the most unplayable pieces of garbage ever.

Just to warn those who are excited about this game after reading the review:

- The graphics were behind-ugly even when it came out, no matter what the reviewer says. The pseudo-3D is sure to cause epilepsia to anyone who is able to play the game for longer than 10 minutes.

- There's no plot to speak of, the monsters respawn once you enter another room (area), and the horrible graphics make the gameplay pure pixel-hunting.

- The controls are flawed, and the combat is just ridiculous hack&slash.

- A ton of bugs are included, including a tendency to crash every now and then, to skip cutscenes, and to make finishing the game impossible, should you miss a few leads early in the game.

Beware.

EDIT: Of course, it's rather fitting to have such a horrible game up for Halloween..

Well in all honesty, the reviewer didn't give any score to this game (as he never did thus far), so I guessed that he'd give this game such a high score. After all, he is very enthusiastic about the game in the review.

YES! Thank you! I have been hunting for this title ever since PCGamer smeared it as one of the worst games of all time! (Yes, I'm one of those types of people)

This isn't a game you play because it's good, it's one you play because it is so bad it's funny! Thank you so much! I hope you feel a special warmth in your heart in knowing that somewhere in Kentucky there is a Nekoguy who can now die happy. ^_^

:ranting: (Start)

If you don't like it don't play it. I did play it, and I did like it. I like it because I've been playing games since before graphics even existed. I wrote my first, and played games on a TRS-80 Model 1 where the standard ASCII character were the graphics. I've played every manner of game since then.

For the state of games in 1990, this game was pushing the envelope, Sure, it is a knock off of Wolfenstein 3D, so what. I'm not comparing Isle of the Dead to games today, I'm comparing it to games that existed at the same time it did. The graphics, the technology imployed for that time are pretty nice.

I have submitted a hand full of games, of which I rated none of them as I don't know what the rating used here is comprised of. The game is free, so if you don't like it, just delete it and move on.

:ranting: (End)

Would you care for some tea? :D

I'd just like to point out that I bought the original copy of this game in the mid-90s. It wasn't innovative even back then, as around the same time games like for example Blake Stone and System Shock were released. The graphics were also some of the worst of the time.

I'm sorry if you felt offended by my post. My intention was to comment the game, and show where my opinion differs from yours. I believe it is fair to state a different opinion, especially when the game is as bad as Isle of the Dead.

Also, the line "the only weapon I have found is the machete" and the fact that the review doesn't mention the plot, the cutscenes, the bugs, and the different user interface in specific locations (such as the airplane at the start) really make it all sound like the game hasn't been thoroughly played before submitting the review.



..and I prefer coffee. ;)

Really Id say this game was good for it's time. I played it, it's a good game...if you like the genre which I do.



..Id also Prefer Orange Juice.

No offense taken. I don't take offense were none was given.

I do not have a manual, nor was there any story intro to the game. I was simply working with what I had. I "reviewed" and submitted about 10 games in one weekend, so I did not finish any of the games this go around. Theses are all games from my past that I've played before, and honestly, I don't always want to play all the way through again.

Anyway, I was more interested in contibuting some old games to people who are like minded. One one hand I could care less about reviewing them, but on the other hand there is a certain sense of fun in writing the reviews.

I will endeavor to do a better job in the future.

:evil: D++n the game is old and we know that. Of course if you are playing a game that was produced today and go back to a game that was made years ago there is going to be a difference. I got this game on cd back in the days. even though I can't jump through hoops about it, I still had a good time. Different stokes for different folks! :blink:

:max: You are doing the best you can and you can't please everybody.

Well, yes, but I think Timpsi's point was that it wasn't exactly top of the range even back then...

Edit: and please try not to double-post. If you want to quote multiple posts, you can always use the quote tags. As in .

Ah, I've wanted to play this since I read a review of this game back in -93. The reviewer didn't give any score to the game, he just uttered how it was biggest pile of crap he ever saw.

But now, how do I get out from the beach? Is there a specific spot I need to cut down whit the machete? Or do I need to fire some thing up? Do I need to do something in the plane besides cutting off the compass?

Heh i remember that local gaming magazine gave this game something like 30p/100p score or so :D Only good thing was mentioned that packing is recycled material.
Well, never played myself, just remeber that review LOL

This game remind me of that movie Day of the dead.

In the plane you should find the knife, compass, wire cutters, book and a flare gun.

I found that you should follow the beach all the way along pickup up everything as you go, then near the end chop/move through the trees. :) But then I quickly died there so I think I should run this under dos box.
________
Homemade vaporizer

Yes, there is a specific spot (two actually). Look at the tree tile and you will seem a "blurry" spot, near the plane, and one at the far end of the beach (around the corner). Use the machette on them.

At the plane you need to get the book from the dead guy, the compass with wire cutters and the machette.

The coat is on the beach, along with shotgun shells and coconuts.

:Titan:

How do you install? I unzipped a bunch of files, double-clicked the "SETUP.BAT" file, looks like it does something....but then nothing. Do you have to start it from a DOS command?

Quite likely, you won't have to install it at all. You're running it in DOSBox, right?

walk along the beach until u reach the other side of the plane(use the machete) then u find a shotgun
it makes a bit easier...
:cheers:

5?! :) This is one of the worst games I've ever experienced. Ugly, stupid and absolutely non-scary. I respect Abandonias' taste for games, but "Isle of Dead" hardly deserves mark higher than "1".

It's not Abandonia that's responsible for the rating, really, but the individual reviewers. And this one seems to have thought very highly of this game.

Actually I did not rate the game. Since I did not rate it, but the "tone" of my review was positive it was given a "5". Based on some of the other DOS games I was playing in effort to find stuff to submit, I was surprised by IOD. It was more than I expected for a game from that time frame, which is why I was so up beat on it.

I agree, it's a matter of personal taste and there weren't many of such kind at that time (and this is for good, taking in mind 3d-technologies of early 90th), but the very first time I played it, I saw how bad it is. The graphics isn't the main factor (while, say, "Eternam", which came out a year before, looked much better). Look at "Legacy: Realms of Terror", or "Alone in the Dark", or the recent "Waxworks" - all of them came out at the same time, but what a rich gameplay they had! Interesting stories, very good mix of fighting and problem-solving (real problem solving, not just "run to the other side of island and get a banana there"), and, again, much nicer graphics.
For me "IoD" is missiong all of this, while introducing very stupid and limited gameplay (also very irritating), almost no story, no puzzles, confusing fighting (even with gun or riffle) and ugly engine.
That's IMO, of coure, but the game is among the worst I've ever played, along with "Curse of Enchantia", "Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2" and "Psycho" :) That is the reason I desided to leave a comment, so please don't take it personal :)

This was one of the (very!) few games that my parents got for me as a birthday present when I was younger... I was so disappointed! It nearly put me off buying computer games at all! It's nearly impossible to tell that anything is behind you, so I ended up being killed countless times before finally giving up.

False remark in review...

This came out after Doom, and it was one of the several clones that came out afterwards, despite it's interface, this was one of the crappier blatant doom "me-too" games.
This game is lacking in quality, and needs to be destroyed.

Little People Farm Forever!

Ah, I figure out the hot spot system in area changing... pretty annoying actually, but non the less. If you want a shotgun just follow the beach until you get to the other side of the plane. There's th shot gun.

Funny thing though, I didn't notice any notable difference in caused damage between the machete and the shot gun. Only real difference seems to be, that you can kill the deaders further away.

Ooh, and the game has voice acting. Bad, beyond any standards, but voice acting none the less.

Man, sorry... I wasn't sure about that, so I went with it, and it was partly why I was impressed with it (because I thought it was pre-Doom). Oh well, I still would upload it simply so other folks could have access to it.

Little People Main Street forever plus one!

:tomato:

You are so naive, Little People Farm is the best ever!
Yeah, I just noticed that because I own a Computer Gaming World magazine that had the review, and that was around the time when the Doom clones were rolling in like never before.
Isle Of The Dead isn't "horrible" it's just poor, I never liked it myself, because it's quite difficult, and the weapons are so lame.

Hey guys,

I'm wondering is this the CD version of Floppy version. The reason why I was looking out for this game was because I was big zombie fan. Also I knew the game was going to be bad as the cover art featured a scantily clad babe. You can see them all in Mobygames.

FINALY!
Ive ben looking for this game ever since i gave mine
away to a friend.

Good im glad your happy!

I've been seeking this game for years, after reading a review in games magazine. Finally thanks to Abandonia I can now lay my hands on it.
The game is superb, especially these grotesque monsters which die in a juicy fashion. ;) But I have some objections concerning the level of difficulty. To say shortly: this game is goddamn tough. After entering each new area, you find yourself instantly surrounded by blood sucking, vicious monsters which eat muck out of you. It's always -1 coconut/medikit per each new level. And the medical equipment is so hard to come by...

Also I can't get used to the control interface. Turning seems to be a little jumpy, and on lower turning speed settings the mouse tends to lag. Left and right cursor keys are permanently binded as turning controls so it's impossible to strafe with them. The only solution I found comfortable is to keep your CTRL key pressed, which switches your left/right arrows to strafe mode.

My rating: 4

Pros:
- funny grahics
- adventure elements (or so you may call it...)
- juicy deaths
- animated cutscenes

Cons:
- level of difficulty
- creepy controls

[/b][/quote]

No offence though, I totally agree with you. I was one of those that bought this game too in the late mid-90's and it was definitely wasted money.
It was absolutely horrible to me, a real nightmare to play. I was only sixteen or so at that time and I don't speak english so I thought that one of those goons said "whooaa lumberjacks" instead of "bummer-dude".
That is just the funny part, I couldn't laugh about the rest of it. The gameplay sucked so hard, and enemies overwelm you so quickly that your player's life is drained within seconds and the controls so horrible you could get instant RSI problems.
It was even worser than I thought, I havent seen this game again in 12 years.
It brings back bad memories but I am glad to see that game again (but I am NOT gonna play it) thank you very much because it IS a rare game after all.

Howdy All!

What a great site and thanks for your comments on Isle of the Dead.

In my eyes, this game was at the end of the era where commercial games could be made locally. Our 2d artist was and still is a fun comic book illustrator, Myk Friedman. We all had great fun with it, doing to voices at 2am into a cassette deck and then copying it to disk, catching the red eye flight out to CES to promote it, etc..

We did it on the budget of 30k advance from the publisher. The next year, Wing Commander III came out with it's 4 million budget, FMV and pro actors. Many of us got offers to go to the west coast. Some did go, but we were also developers for Creative Labs and knew how expense it was to live out there.

Technically, one of the challenges was making in being able to run off the CD. Merit Software had to foresight to know that with the coming of CD's, games were going to save HD space. So on our first game out the door, we had to be able to run the game off the CD, with a small directory installed on the HD for saved games, etc..

As for inspiration, we all loved good cheesy horror flicks and wanted to ensure a fun element was there instead of taking it all too serious. Plus the added bonus was that whacking zombies meant we could never be politically incorrect or offensive to anyone. Some folks were complaining about killer people (and dogs) in Wolfenstein & Spear of Destiny.

It was fun, it was a learning experience and then came ... the internet!

Cheers,

~Sean
:cheers:

Hi there!
I would like to Really Thank to the great person that included this incredible game in the stunning page, Abandonia. To those who dislike this Isle of the Dead, an Canalis Analis I am, and might you be right. For the other part of writers in this forum, congrats to them. I enjoy this game, nevertheless there are many others, but, if had sex with a chik, why would I say that the rest are awful? Each one has its own, and played the game many hours(eventhough had not had sex with many girls!).
I'm writing for two reasons. The one, I have said so(Thanks to webmaster!!!), the other, is about the game. Has anyone played it,
1) Where's the fkng RIFLE!!!
2)I'm kind of lost, already drawn maps, and its door, and so on, got to the Oracle and have the Uzi... Any idea? I'm stucked!
3) You are great if played this game!

Of course I have played DOOM, the best game ever released, but, like Isle of the Dead too.

Greetings to all of You!

You must travel clockwise around to the other side of the airplane on the isle of the dead to find the shotgun. Less than half way there is cave which has the rifle. Be careful, however, as the rifle is booby-trapped and rusty. Look around the cave, and you should be able to find all that you need to shine it up like new.

My Question is after you save the girl at the oracle, how do you return back to the compound with the plane before the island blows up? The return path seems blocked!

Wow, I am glad to see this finally made the downloadable list :)

I am the person who initially emailed abandonia with the zip file for review and addition to the abandonware archives!

This copy of Isle of the Dead came from floppy, for those who were wondering.

I agree that it wasn't the best game out at the time, but it held a special place for me, as it was one of the first games I got on my PC.

So flame on, hate me, or love me, but I had to give this gem back to the community :)

Later,

Adam

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zombienerd @ Jul 20 2006, 02:11 AM) [snapback]244072[/snapback]</div>
Actually this game came from GameBringer's archive. He did not review a copy provided by Abandonia. It was from his personal trove of DOS games. However, thanks for taking the time to contribute. Need more folks to do that!

:whistling:

I like 90% of the people here have waited YEARS to get a copy of this again!. I bought it when i was 9 years old, with my friend. We saved up for WEEKS and then went half and half. I got to install it first, but he kept the box and game. I remember it being SUPER hard, and even killing the zombies was difficult.

I am so glad i can download it now, and to see that what cost me 58.67 as a kid (oh ya, i still remember the exact cost!) is downloadable in under 60 seconds. It's amazing how far we've come.

I've wanted to play it again (and finish it) for a long time now. It's one of those games I was simply to little to figure out, and now that I am older, should be able to do .... with a walkthrough = ).

I have a few questions though

1. where do i find cheats for it?
2. Where do i find a walkthrough for it?
3. How do i run it, when i go into dos an attempt to run the IOD.bat or Setup.bat, or even directly try the IODex1.exe file, they all give me the same error. "General protection fault, possible illegal address" ... what does that even mean? ....

THANKS!!

As for problem 3, try DosBox.
You can download it here.

If you have any problems with it, try having a look at the official FAQ on the DosBox site.
Basic Setup and Installation
Command Line
Z instead of C at the command prompt
Internal Programs (important, especially MOUNT)
Most of the stuff in there is not really needed, but you would do best to familiarize yourself with the specific topics I linked to.
The mounting of your DosBox games directory, switching the promt to the emulated C: drive and clearing the screen from previous commands can all be executed from the [autoexec] section of dosbox.conf, so you won't have to re-type them every time round.
Frontend programs can help running DosBox with varying configurations for different games.
For both a more accessible user interface and oldschool feel, you can use Norton Commander (get it from our programs and utilities page - scroll down to the bottom to find it). NC might seem awkward at first, but in fact it is a very functional genuine DOS era file manager frontend. It has a plethora of functions that will help you in navigating around the directories, while still retaining the command prompt.

Though all of this might seem complicated, it's very easy once you get used to it. So remember:

DON'T PANIC!!! ^_^

Hi there!
May you help me with one game I looking for? I don't remember in which year I played it, I was a child...
It's similar to this genre. Facts that I did remember:
1) It was 3D, interactive
2) Gameplace were uninhabited island, with non-flat terrain.
3) There were inventory, with knife at least
4) Your health were shown as "parts of body" in special screen; after fighting with tiger you probably lost your arm.
5) It were possible to amputate damaged parts of body. Then you were need arise campfire, drink boiled water and sleep in heat
If somebody know about this, write please to *REMOVED*

Robinson's Requiem, 99% sure of that.

:wall: Ima trying to get this errr "Beaut":max: to run on my computer and failing. I've realy wanted to play it for eons and all the negative reviews only made me wanna play it more. It looks pretty cool from the screenshots and i've done some research. Is it realy that bad?

"Worms?? Absoloutley Not!"

You can't get the game to run? Are you using DOSBox? More info on what you did whith the downloaded file is necessary for us to help you.
Operating system? Version of DOSBox (if any)? Anything you can think of as relevant would be appreciated?

Seeing all these bad reviews is a bit depressing....
only because I have been trying to find this game for years, and I was wondering, "it would have been awesome to find a cult following of this game" lesson learned don't look up old faves on the internet,
----
anyways this was my first 3D game, I was behind the times when i was 10, 1995 when everybody was playing 3D games or n64 I had a Snes, so when my dad bought this game i was pretty amazed it blew my mind, 3D graphics a gun!!!! I remember how happy i was to get to the reserve in the game, due to it being a bloody difficult game, and when i seen the guy on the toilet i bust out laughing.

I just downloaded the game today, i think my computer is two fast because the damn speed of my character is way to fast, I am slowly.... getting use to it,

Try running the game in DOSBox. :)

I cannot get this game to run either, I am using D-fend reloaded dosbox pops up and says now loading island of the dead and it sits then crashes to desktop. D-fend says Dosbox Failed to start and I cannot find anything on that except a change log in d-Fend that says we now have this new error report : D. any ideas?

Thank you for these exquisite box shots, Ermuli! :clap:

"WARNING - Game features scenes of graphic violence. If you feel you may be offended, please do not purchase."
If it only would be that easy nowadays... :D

But back to thewasupkid's request…

It works fine using the D-Fend Reloaded front end with the download from Abandonia.

It is some problem on your end.

- First run SETUP.BAT and set up your soundcard
- Then run IOD.BAT to start the game

Or you could try running it just with Dosbox. We have many tutorials on how to do just that around here. :D

When the keys are mapped after your liking with DOSBox mapper, this game isn't all that bad tbh.

EDIT: Or maybe it is. :max: