Hi there,

Welcome to a new game review on the Gaming on AmigaOS 4 blog! Thanks for popping in!

In today’s post, I’ll be looking at ZGloom, which is a C++ re-implementation of Gloom from classic Amiga.

The source code was made freely available by the developers, but it is in 68K Assembler. The code has partly been converted manually to C++ and put in an SDL2 framework. ZGloom was done by Swizpig. BeWorld ported it to MorphOS, and Javier de las Rivas brought it to AmigaOS 4, with some help and tips from Salass00, Kas1e, and Samo79.

I’ve reviewed both Gloom and Gloom Deluxe on my other blog in the past, so some of the content might be a bit similar here.

Background and History

First some history about Gloom.

Many of you will remember that Amiga users were very eager to play games similar to Doom, and of course the game Doom itself, on the Amiga back in the middle of the 1990’s.

Team 17 entered the race with Alien Breed 3D and later on Alien Breed 3D II, Manyk released Fears (developed by the demo group Bomb), Alternative Software made Death Mask, Fields Of Vision brought Breathless to the table, while Black Magic Software created Gloom and Gloom Deluxe. Mark Sibly, the programmer of Gloom, is well-known for creating the Blitz Basic programming language, as well as popular games such as Overkill and Guardian.

Gloom was published by Guildhall Leisure Services Ltd. After the bankruptcy of Commodore in 1994, Guildhall was one of the most active publishers of Amiga software. Apart from Gloom, we can find games like Xtreme Racing (fun 3D racer), Street Racer, Roadkill, and Legends in their portfolio.

Programming a nice and playable 3D engine with texture mapping on an Amiga 1200 was (and still is) a big accomplishment back in the middle of the 1990s. By creating Gloom, Mark Sibly and Black Magic Software became pioneers in this new field of Amiga gaming.

Before it was released, I read all I could about it in the usual Amiga magazines, like The One, CU Amiga, and Amiga Format. I was hooked instantly after seeing the screenshots since it looked amazing to me back then.

It went as far as me pre-ordering the game from Christiansens Elektriske via mail order. This was a shop selling Amiga games and hardware in Norway in the 1990s. They were also the distributor of the 17-bit PD library. I remember phoning them several times about when it would arrive, hehe, and finally, I received it in the post. 🙂 I did play the game a lot and enjoyed it. This was in 1995 I think.

So, how did Gloom fare in the magazines?

The One gave it 90%, Amiga Format 91%, while CU Amiga rated it 90%. Excellent scores to say the least! The reception was overall very good for this game.

It did not stop there though, since Gloom Deluxe appeared later on in 1996. This version was not restricted to Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000, since it would also run older Amiga’s with a minimum of 68020 and 2 MB RAM.

I bought Gloom Deluxe as well and still have it in my collection to this day. It was an improvement over the original with better textures on the floor and ceiling and of course the most important one, a weapon being in front of you, just like in Doom. Above you can see the game from my collection.

After that, we got the Gloom 3: Zombie Edition and Gloom Special Edition. I did not play these back in the day but have now tested them very briefly due to ZGloom. 😉 These are not up for review this time, but consider them an added bonus to getting Gloom and Gloom Deluxe.

Now, let’s move on to ZGloom on AmigaOS 4!

Installation

ZGloom is available for download on OS4Depot. You can find it via the link below:

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=game/fps/zgloom.lha

To install it, unpack the downloaded archive to your desired destination.

This archive does, unfortunately, only contain the regular Gloom game. To get all of them, you must also download ZGloom from MorphOS Storage and then copy the folders for the different Gloom games to the ZGLoom directory.

Once that is done, double-click on the icon to start.

A launcher will appear and you can then choose between Gloom, Gloom Deluxe, Gloom 3: Zombie Massacre, and Gloom Special Edition.

ZGLoom should run fine on all AmigaOS 4 setups, including emulation with WinUAE and QEMU.

The Story

As mentioned previously, in this review, I’ll be focusing on Gloom and Gloom Deluxe in ZGloom, which is the same game except for technical differences.

You are in control of a soldier, who is armed with a deadly plasma rifle. According to the manual that came with the game, you are fighting very dangerous cultists.

Here is a photo of part of the story:

“I glanced up at the flag waving forlornly in the acid-sharp breeze. ‘The United States of Earth’ was what it represented, but the enormous number of stars it had accumulated over the centuries made it look more like a dirty rag. I turned my attention back to the N.W.O. building ahead. It was, as it was meant to be, an imposing building, both in size and in design. Its sharp spires, oddly colored windows, and antique building materials were the ultimate tribute to the ugliness of an age long passed. I had only been here twice before, and the results of each visit are still etched in my mind – as are anyone’s worth horrors…

Seated before the council of 7, I struggled to maintain a dignified calm. The room was cemetery quiet – the old men holding me firmly in their collective gaze. At length, one of them rose to speak…

The New World Order Greet you agent Black. Thank you for arriving promptly. I grinned inwardly at the rhetorical compliment. He continued…

‘We of the council have reason to believe that the Cultists are operating again.’ My stomach froze. I had really known this all along, although I had not wanted to believe it. My other missions for the N.W.O. had involved the Cultists, and both had involved more violence than any man could be expected to endure. But I had survived, sanity more-or-less intact, and had made the mistake of thinking the N.W.O.. we set fit to retire me from further Cultist missions.

‘Evidence suggests that cultist infiltrators are smuggling equipment and resources off Earth, on an Erath Starcruiser, and are time jumping to cover their activities. We believe we know which Starcruiser is involved but due to the time jumping have no strong evidence to implicate it.’. My Mind reeled – Time jumping? Had they really gone that far? The dangers of time jumping had long ago been established, ever since spacecraft were capable of reaching the phenomenal speeds necessary – its tendency to unravel the very fabric of the universe – the mind-shattering effect it had on its practitioners.

‘We have arranged with the owner of the concerned shipping company to have you teleported aboard the suspected Starcruiser. She has personally guaranteed us your safe cover and passage. Your mission is simply to determine the Cultist’s destination and return such information to us. Again, we thank you for your co-operation.’ He sat. I left.

I had a bad feeling about this mission. It nagged at me all through a mostly sleepless night, right up until I reported to the Teleport Centre the next day. As I lay on the teleport couch, watching one reality fade while another took its place, I hoped that things would go as smoothly as the council had promised…”

When the game starts, you are teleported to a building filled with crazy cultists (and other enemies). They start attacking once they spot you. The game is on!

No As Many Choices

When launching ZGloom for the first time to play the original Gloom, you will notice that the menu is different. It is much smaller! The two-player modes have been removed, as well as the serial link. Here are the menus from Gloom Deluxe and ZGloom for comparison. By the way, you’ll also see that ZGloom has a level selector, which is handy. 🙂

Gameplay

Gloom is a fast-paced shooter with plenty of enemies and there is action to be found. Sometimes, I think of this game as more of a shoot ’em-up than a regular first-person shooter.

The game consists of many levels. There are over 20! In addition, there are secret rooms with bonuses spread throughout the game, and even a mini-game featuring a title similar to the classic Defender. After what I’ve read elsewhere, there might be more mini-games included, but I have not found these myself. I really should get my act together and focus on playing this game from start to end. Anyway, there’s also a good variety when it comes to the enemies, some are more difficult to eliminate than others.

Just like in other first-person shooters, you can upgrade your weapon by picking up bonuses. Unfortunately, there are no rocket launchers or chainsaws in Gloom, but your trusty plasma rifle packs enough punch to get you through the levels. In Gloom, you can not see the gun in front of you, but this is possible in Gloom Deluxe and the ones released afterward.

The levels are varied when it comes to puzzles, textures, enemies, and so forth. It gets more interesting the more and longer you play. Here I’d like to mention ghosts going through walls, and dangerous raptors!

As for controls, you can configure the in-game keys to your liking, which works well. I prefer playing with the keyboard, as it makes strafing a breeze. I do remember playing the game on an Amiga 1200 with a joystick, which was not a very good experience. 😉

The most important question, though, is whether it is fun to play.

Yes, ZGloom (Gloom and Gloom Deluxe) is definitely fun to play! There is no lack of action, there is variation in levels and enemies, and the atmosphere can be a bit spooky. Controls work fine and are easy to learn and master. As long as you can do a bit of strafing while blasting away, you should do fine. 😉

So, how does ZGloom compare to the versions for Classic Amiga?

I think it is the same games, except that ZGloom lacks a few options, but these are not very relevant for AmigaOS 4 users anyway. If you are looking for a good game of Gloom, you’ll feel right at home with ZGloom once the game is launched and running. 🙂 It feels good to have Gloom running natively on an AmigaOS 4 setup, no doubt about that! Thumbs up from me!

That was all for this time. Thanks for reading this review of ZGloom and for visiting my blog. Hope you enjoyed reading and that you will check out the game! 🙂