As most gamers know, 3D Realms have been around for a long time. They are responsible for a large number of great games from the early to mid 1990s. Their recent Anthology release makes it easy for the gamers of yesterday to replay some of the greatest PC games from the early 1990s.

There is a long list of games included in the 3D Realms Anthology. Here is partial list with some of the notable games: Bio Menace, the Blake Stone games, 2 of the Commander Keen games, Monster Bash, Mystic Towers, Death Rally, Alien Carnage, Major Stryker, Realms of Chaos, Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Terminal Velocity, Wacky Wheels, Stargunner, Shadow Warrior, Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad: Dark War, Duke Nukem 3D, and Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project.

All of them come packaged with DOSBox and are redeemable in Steam. The games are easy to access. Start the game from Steam, DOSBox launches complete with all the game’s original menus and gamers are in. Most of the games have partial controller support which is a mixed blessing.

Playing some of these takes me back to the early 90s, in my parents basement on their old 486 running DOS. I can picture some of these games in packaging at the local supermarket or at Software Etc. I remember playing Demos for Commander Keen, Rise of the Triad, and Duke Nukem 2. A good friend had Alien Carnage and Monster Bash and I played that game all the time at his house. I preferred the keyboard over the joystick.

I remember playing Wolf 3D at my cousins, and playing the highly controversial Duke Nukem 3D at another friends house. The only game I owned that wasn't a shareware or a demo was Raptor. I picked this up in the late 1990s on CD for under $10. I had a blast with that game at the time.

The big question is how do the games hold up? Is the $40 price worth it? I tried a handful of these games for 20-30 mins each. They are still fun if you can look past some of the control and graphical issues. Gamers have come a long way in gaming. Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Rise of the Triad, Blake Stone, and any of the other FPS games have not aged well. But the corny humor is still there as well as the plethora of Easter Eggs. Major Stryker and Raptor hold up pretty well and I feel like I’m playing something from the 16-bit days on a console.

Duke Nukem Manhattan Project is the most recent release and looks the best. That was released in the early 2000s. Most of the platformers are really showing their age, especially anything from the early 1990s. I also noticed some weird sound issues. That might be just DOSBox and how the game is supposed to run with a current setup. Most of the games in the 3D Realms Anthology are still full and I got the chance to play some I'd never played before such as Bio Menace, Hocus Pocus, and Realms of Chaos.

I recommend this collection for anyone who grew up playing these games. If you are a parent, this is a great way to show your kids some of the games you used to love. This collection will bring hours of fun and memories. I also recommend the soundtrack which has great remastered tunes from some of the games in this collection. 3D Realms Anthology is a must own collection for PC gamers. Hopefully Epic/id takes notice and one day gamers may see collections of their classic games.

Review code was provided by 3D Realms. You can buy the collection here.

Review score 4.5 out of 5

Thanks to the publisher for providing a code for review.

3D Realms Anthology Review