Circuit's Edge is a 1990 DOS Masterpiece.

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   Very recently.. like in the last 3 years or so, I discovered you play old DOS games in your browser at several different websites. Archive.org Macintosh and Atari 800 games is where I got my start, then starting moving through all the old DOS games. I always had a hard time with DOSBox on my PC, and getting it just right, so this was a new revelation for me, really eye opening, and a creative use of emulation. I've talked about Dune several times, but today I thought I would do a quickie about an amazing game that changed my childhood- Circuit's Edge. (CE)

Gibson approved.

     I had seen a few "Cyberpunk" movies as a kid, namely Bladerunner, and I had no idea they were based on books. CE is based on an amazingly well written book series called When Gravity Fails by George Effinger. Forget all you know about Bladerunner, here is the dark and gritty version in a place called Budayeen. Dropping with sex, drugs and ultra violence- this was the first game I played that pulled no punches. Before this, I had been playing Secret of Mana for Super Nintendo, so you could say this was a huge change indeed. I remember getting to a point at a bar where a woman propositioned me for sex, and it showed her ass. I had to quickly exit the game until my parents fell asleep before I attracted too much attention. I had never played or read Neuromancer, or even heard of William Gibson at this point of my life.

The story is top notch.

     Story on rails would be a good descriptor of how the game plays out. You are aimed in the right direction and set free to talk and see whatever you want. Very close in story and vibe to Johnny Mnemonic really. Spend too much time talking to bartenders, you get a call on your watch to keep things on track. Almost right away you get in some fights, which keep things super exciting and add the super violent gritty nature of the game. Absolute masterclass in storytelling and pace, even for an old game. You could release this today on Steam and people would think it was the new retro storytelling game everyone should play.

They are real.. if I can touch them.

     I felt like a total degenerate staying the night at a friends house, watching my buddy play for the first time late at night. I told him how good it was, the rated R/X nature of it, so of course he had to try it. CE is of those games you really can't put down, and was most kids first hard exposure to a world we had no idea existed.