''Outlander'' is an action driving

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

with a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

theme. It was developed and published by Mindscape in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

for the Mega Drive/Genesis and in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

. It was originally developed under the title ''The Road Warrior'', based on the film of the same name; however, Mindscape lost the rights to the license when the game was almost complete, they removed any references to the film and changed the title to ''Outlander'' to avoid legal issues.

Gameplay

In ''Outlander'', the player drives along a post-apocalyptic road in either first-person view (Genesis) or third-person (Super NES). Bikers and trucks attack the player's car with gunfire or ramming. To fend them off, a car window is displayed allowing the player to fire a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- p ...

to the left or right. The car is also armed with a forward-firing machine-gun. Enemy vehicles destroyed in this way result in an explosion that may damage the player's car. The car's fuel is consumed over time, and the player may either stop to refill, or run out of fuel. In either case, on-foot gameplay ensues. In this section, the player must avoid chain or petrol-bomb wielding bikers,

landmine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

s, and armed hillbillies. There is also opportunity to collect health, fuel, and ammunition before returning to the car. The player may also stop at towns, another on-foot section that allows resource gathering. Items include ammunition, food, water, fuel,

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s, armour, windshields, fuzzy toys,

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

s, and

geiger counter A Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter) is an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. It is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental ...

s. The geiger counter is used to detect contaminated food.

References

Action games Post-apocalyptic video games 1992 video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Sega Genesis games Video games scored by Mark Knight Video games developed in the United Kingdom Mindscape games {{Action-videogame-stub