LGR - BioForge - DOS PC Game Review

If you've come for the fork you'll be SORELY disappointed! Origin's interactive movie sci-fi adventure game, featuring flutes.
● Consider supporting LGR on Patreon:
/ lazygamereviews
● Social links:
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
● Purchase Bio Forge on GOG:
www.gog.com/game/bioforge
● Music used in order of appearance:
"Crystals" by Silent Partner
BioForge AdLib soundtrack
kzbin.info...

[@PaddyMcMe]

I love how much LGR knows, and has to know, to review these things. Culture, technology, science, history, economics, game design, game industry, etc, etc, and he just brings it altogether in a simple casual way that anyone can follow and understand without having to know any of that to fully appreciate the review. Just awesome. Also the way he goes in and out of his Duke Nukem voice consciously and unconsciously.

[@LGR]

Glad you're enjoying, thanks :)

[@OtherworldTelevision]

After watching a bunch of his videos in a single sitting I feel like the Duke is slowly taking control.

[@ronin_user]

I would thank you for being so specific. It’s like a nice Yelp review.

[@zacharyjochumsen9677]

@@LGR did you ever playb lifeline ever for the ps2 it was microphone controlled scfi horror gsme and how old are you by the way

[@dziltener]

I love that short-lived 90s aesthetical style of the pre-rendered games.

[@element1111]

I wish we got more of that. REmake was great.

[@ShadeWMD]

"Be prepared to forgive a lot of awkwardness." is what I would say to girls before the start of any first date.

[@phant0masterr]

you just won the internet dude :D

[@15wileyr]

"would say"

[@lucariowolfomegax1175]

Shade Draws 🎮🎮🎮🎮🎸🎸🎸🎸🐉🐉🐉🐉🐺🐺📰📰😇👌👌👍👍😽😽😻😻👏👏👏🎊🎊🍙🍙🍙🍙🍙

[@jozinek876]

same, probably

[@jozinek876]

@ScopeDog I've never been on a date before, would much rather stay at home playing TF2

[@willheisdarkrock6286]

Ug... LOVED this game. I still sometimes yell "If you've come for the fork, you'll be sorely disappointed!". Great game.

[@gav240z]

Haha classic. I always loved how you beat the living daylights out of the other prisoner whilst telling him you should work together.

[@HansLollo]

Man I loved this game. While I was waiting for it‘s release, I wrote a little diary from the perspective of the protagonist being transferred to the planet. :p

[@Nemoticon]

Lol, that's how we had to entertain ourselves back in the day!

[@spiff2268]

I'm surprised the modding community hasn't taken up the cause of fixing the bad stuff.

[@farmhousemedia3000]

Beating a guy to death with his own arm... WOW!

[@SpecShadow]

+The Adequate Gamer I remember that feature in Planescape:Torment and Severance: Blade of Darkness, two opposite games (one have great combat, other have great story).

[@pegasusactua2985]

You could do that as a finishing move in Gears of War.

[@Wavemaninawe]

"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

[@lukeskywalker8317]

Quan chi wins. FATALITY.

[@jozinek876]

Stylish ;)

[@mrbitbot]

Also known as the game with the best mouse cursor ever

[@fotakatos]

***** Actually it would stretch whenever you hovered over something clickable.

[@JacobKinsley]

Mario maker ain't got nothing on this

[@TheAdatto]

7years late but: The 7th Guest..

[@HtBCutman]

This is one of those games I have memories of as a child but could not for the life of me remember if it was true or not. Thank you LGR! Finally I am able to put a name to this game I watched my brother play so long ago. Your review are always awesome.

[@VeZius]

Ah, Bioforge! This was my first CD-ROM game ever! Such fond memories... Love the world of this game.

[@JazGalaxy]

VeZius wow. Huh. I wonder what mine was? Sam and Max Hit The Road, maybe?

[@crowsbridge]

I used to play the demo over and over, it was just the first room with the blue guy.

[@Domspun]

VeZius My first was Rebel Assault, came with my PC Creative CD-Rom/Sound blaster set.

[@noneofyourbeeswax01]

@@crowsbridge Me too; it was a demo on one of those free discs you got back then with all computer magazines that generally had upwards of 50 game demos and shareware games. I thought it was so awesome that I did eventually get it, but it required the collective efforts of friends and family to complete, with a different person taking over when different abilities were required, e.g. the kidsd would usually do better at the combat/shooting sections whilst the older ones would be better at the more cerebral puzzles. With everyone having their own savegames and getting assistance when needed we eventually got one of us over the finishing line - which was something of an anti-climax, I have to say. We might just as well have been told we were "Captain John Smith" or "Zsa Zsa Gabor" at the end, there was no real revelation, no significance or meaning and enlightened us not at all. Still enjoyed it tremendously though, and had really hoped for the updated edition.

[@Dorelaxen]

Man, it's hard to hate on these old PC titles. They may have been clunky as hell and looked like butt, but they had so much charm and atmosphere to them. Like Harvester. I SHOULD hate that game, any rational person should hate it...but I love it. It's just SO damn cheesy and insane, you can't help BUT love it! Still waiting on a Tex Murphy overview, Clint...

[@jozinek876]

Classics like Half Life, Deus Ex and System shock 2 are better today than many titles in recent years. And barely anything comes close in terms of charm.

[@kiddhkane]

That's me and Time Commando! I loved the game so much. Probably many more

[@handsomebrick]

Harvester has so much imagination and ambition.

[@kummakummakummakummakummac8606]

@@jozinek876 - I was playing Deus Ex on Playstation 2 the other day. I spend more time playing older games then I do newer ones. The short answer is newer games are so dumbed down (in general0 to newer games.

[@futonrevolution7671]

Frick! That's a Laser Raptor. I thought they went extinct, thousands of years ago.

[@bobbulat1393]

Futonrevolution Must be the Viking Age

[@kummakummakummakummakummac8606]

+ 1 for the Morte av or whatever they are called.

[@UltraVibeProductions]

This definitely brings back many nostalgic gaming memories. PC gaming in the 90s was the best!

[@xxstyxx]

I had had a BioForge Mousepad, with the coverart. Even i did not liked the game, i used the mousepad for years, it just looked awesome. ^^

[@deadsi]

Wow this looks sickkk, can't believe I never heard of it before

[@Nov-5062]

This is one of my favorite games of all time. Probably in my top 10. It was so deep and complex, beautifully designed and well-acted (mostly, it's a 90's game after all😏). Contained an amazing combination of multiple game-genres and innovative story telling, enhanced by very decent visuals and smooth movememnt. Love it. Simply love it.

[@c0mmanderKeen]

Dear LGR, I really dig your channel. Regards, Keen

[@photophob]

Say what you will, but the 90s Origin titles were just amazing in terms of immersion and creating atmosphere. I spent me whole youth wishing i could live in the Privateer universe.

[@Ravenfellblade]

A Fork!

[@noneofyourbeeswax01]

_"If you've come for the fork you'll be sorely disappointed!"_

[@bobbobson110]

Fork you!

[@tormuse2916]

@@noneofyourbeeswax01 "Return the fork, or I'll command it to destroy you!"

[@TheSpacey52]

What the fork!?

[@SvendleBerries]

A LOG book.

[@sfmtv8399]

I refer to it as "Security camera" style. Because the camera Is stationary like you're watching a store security camera.

[@TheSpacey52]

More like Resident Evil with it's fixed camera angles and tank controls

[@dorpth]

More like Alone in the Dark, you youngsters!

[@ChristopherGoddard-du7gk]

Actually with this game you can see cameras littered around the halls and that's where the camera shifts to. The intended aesthetic seems to be that you were meant to see through the security cameras cameras

[@Waitwhat469]

Honstly, this looks like a game that would really benift from a reboot. Vastly improve graphics, and just slightly tweak game play (keep it movement and combat slower compared to modern games, but not restricting like a modern horror.)

[@sedy24x]

It really was my first and last original game I´ve ever bought. It was a blast back with our first family p90 Computer. I remember that 1MB cost 70DM which would be around 50 Euros today. SO our first setup with 550MB HDD, 17" Eizo, HP 690C, QuadSpeed CD Rom and 16MB Ram along with a Pentium 90 was around 9.000 DM when I was 13. That´s mindblowing 6500 Euros today, with a technology that was obsolete almost 2 years later.

[@Set_2_Stun]

I remember trying to play the PC gamer demo for this. Died many times before finally rage-quitting. It was the Dark Souls of 1995.

[@noneofyourbeeswax01]

Dude, you only had to get out of your cell, into the blue guy's cell to retrieve the fork - _"If you've come for the fork you'll be sorely disappointed!"_ - and use it to short-circuit the exit door, end of Demo! Mind you it's probably just as well you never played the full game, because believe me it gets insanely hard - you just saved yourself a lot of pain!

[@SwirlOfColors]

This looks like one of those 90's games where, yes there are faults, serious almost-downright-unplayable faults , but the good stuff is so, so good, and so unique, that you won't find it in any other game, so you keep coming back anyway.

[@tatsuo24]

my late dad bought me this game original pc cd back in the 90s in Poland. It cost him a fortune as the pirate game market was sky rocketing these days in Poland. Loved the game and loved my dad. Miss him.

[@CaptainBlaine]

I was specifically looking for this game review. Thanks for covering it! When I tried playing this as a kid, I found it too scary and didn’t really get anywhere lol

[@KaotikKnight]

The second I saw the jail cell the memories of this game came flooding back.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

2:43 Great scream Lol!! Thanks for covering this game, loved it back in the day.

[@dorpth]

Memories of this game: The 3D graphics were amazing at the time. This was only 1 year after Alone in the Dark's triangle people, and 1 year before Resident Evil which it looked nearly as good as. This was the first game I tried after upgrading from a basic 8-bit Soundblaster to a Soundblaser AWE 32 and the difference in music quality was minblowing, nearly as big a jump as going from PC speaker to a Soundblaster. The thing is, I initially upgraded to an Esoniq Soundscape but it wouldn't work with Bioforge so I traded it in for the AWE 32 which did work. Looking back, the Soundscape was actually the superior card, and Bioforge was one of the rare games that DIDN'T support it. So I missed out on a superior sound card just to play Bioforge and...I don't think it was really worth it. The game combat was so slow and clunky and janky that often I couldn't tell if you were meant to beat enemies, bypass them, or had to use some puzzle to beat them. It was hard to tell if your blast was hurting the giant ED-209 mechs. The robo-raptor could only be stunned and you had to use a puzzle to kill him. The main "villain" alien could only be stunned and had to be disabled with a puzzle the first 2 times you fought him. The 3rd time you fight him, you're meant to finally kill him with punches but there's zero indication that this fight is any different and it takes SO LONG that you naturally conclude that you're meant to use a puzzle so you give up fighting and run around looking for a puzzle. Took me a whole week before I was completely surprised by him dropping dead after the 100th punch.

[@SigurdWarp]

That was the first PC Game I bought for my first own computer when it came to shops in 1995. It did cost 129 Deutsche mark, supposed to be 129 Euro today. My AMD 486DX2-80 was close to the minimum hardware requierement and it took some time to load the game. But that time it was really awesome and it is still, till today one of the best games I ever played. It runs well in DOSBOX today on modern hardware, but you have to cycle down the Dosbox otherwise you will never be able to solve the reactor quest due to the time running out to fast. It was some kind of an early Half life. I even wrote to Origin back the days to get a copy of Bioforge Plus, but it never saw the liegt of day. I like your Videos pretty much. ;-)

[@atziluth12]

Fuc- at the dos prompt made me laugh hard. Cool review as always, Clint. Brought me back memories.

[@this_connor_guy]

Gotta love the charm of those old games along with the sound blaster 4 operator FM sound. A couple worthwhile weird/obscure 90s games you might wanna check out - ZPC and Blue Ice

[@JMMREVIEW]

Thanks again for this LGR (seen it first on Patreon) I am really glad you talk about the time bomb puzzle, I couldn't get past it as a kid and that happens very early in the game :(

[@ZombieGadget]

I've always wanted to play this one, but could never get it to run on the machine I had at the time. I completely forgot about this game since then, until now! Glad to finally see some footage of it. Great job as always, LGR.

[@c0ldsh0w3r]

I work midnights pretty consistently, and I always watch your videos. But your soothingly deep voice always makes me sleepy.

[@eva-charlottalisander841]

Your voice is awesome. I'm not even into the games that much. But you narrate so well,that I just listen and meditate. Thank you!

[@MixaloT720]

Man, I played this game time after time. Brings back gooood memories :D Thanx for reviewing it! :)

[@littleNorwegians]

I was disappointed to find out you do not in fact construct illicit copies of biographies in this game! D:

[@isaacwilson4174]

I personally was disapointed with the overall lack of mad scientis style surgeries

[@fotakatos]

littleNorwegians Heh, I thought it was about manufacturing tools out of biodegradable materials.

[@TheFunklin]

I love seeing your review this game. I used to play this until we've got to a point where my computer could not handle the processing power to play this game as it starts out simple but gets more complex. I later met the people who program this game because they are local coders. Really nice guys, they used to also run the software shop here in Gainesville Florida

[@liquididentity101]

The old-school PC music at the end got me more excited than anything. I love the soundblaster/adlib era PC tunes so much... Much like the graphics, the limited capabilities of the music made my brain fill in all the extras and it was amazing. Games nowadays rarely exercise that part of my mind.

[@richardadams4928]

Lawsa mercy, this is a DEFINITE old favorite. Flawed, yet still brilliant. Loved the intro cutscene.

[@jasonbeaven8050]

I have fond memories of that game. That "AHHHGGG" sound when you walk into the cell bars really brought me back. must have heard that 20 times before i got out :) RETURN THE FORK OR I WILL COMMAND IT TO DESTROY YOU!

[@kingstonlj]

This was one of the games I got with my first PC. I remember it being really tough, but I did complete it. Thanks for an interesting video.

[@ByteSizeThoughts]

Liberated a jewel case version of this for $4aud on Friday. Always remember this nearly getting game of the year back in '95 - how time flies

[@MrFutago87]

This is totally a game I would play if it weren't for the controls. Prerendered backgrounds are the best.

[@Kellmachine]

This game looks cool! Going on my GOG wishlist ASAP!

[@MundMoriginal]

Dude, just buy it!

[@NihilQuest]

20 years... I like when you review games from this period. Bioforge is one of those many titles I really wanted to play but I had amiga at the time and no money for a PC. I remeber it looked awesome and advanced in the magazines.

[@mrskizzot]

It's always weird when I have very specific memories as a kid playing a game I cant remember the name of then, BOOM you show it. Thanks.

[@VigilanteGamer]

So glad you reviewed this!

[@Osprey850]

The only thing that I remember of this game is the starting room and getting killed repeatedly by the nurse bot. I must've never figured out that puzzle and quit out of frustration. 28 years later, I know how to solve it. Thanks, LGR! 😂

[@Nov-5062]

Yep, just beat it a few times :-)

[@flare242]

I remember playing this during some summer vacation. All day, all night. I even remember some terrible part, where you had to disable some kind of reactor from blowing up, and you really didn't have much time to spare. There was a bridge you had to get across first, ooooh... the memories...

[@doggonemess1]

I loved this game. It was freaking hard, but really cool. It's sad that it never had a sequel. And I still have my box!

[@3rd.Eye.Saw.Destruction]

I’ve dove into this game recently and I really love it

[@AsahinaZatsu]

I enjoyed the eerie ambiance last half of darkness reference, oh and the whole video.

[@blissx]

nice! I've been waiting for you to get around to this one.

[@duckofftopic207]

this game is so rare, i plaed a demo from a pc gamer demo disc a long time ago. thanks for reviewing it.

[@LucasRazorBlade]

Okay, important question: Does the box or CD glow in the dark?!

[@LGR]

***** Nope.

[@jurredevries8763]

Love this game as a kid, could never get far though..thanks for some sweet nostalgia.

[@Dreadjaws]

This has been on my GOG wishlist for a while, I was always curious how it'd be. Thanks for the review!

[@SeriousTails]

Yet another great video LGR! Keep at It!

[@obiewancoyote]

So glad I bought this game used back in the day.

[@ChrisGhysel]

Found the big box version for €1 on last week's local flea market... :D

[@Seafyre]

Congrats! I want that myself

[@TheRealTHD]

4:10 RIPTOR I love the bass on the music. Gives me an advanced Sega Genesis vibe.

[@FrankSandqvist]

Holy crap that game looked amazing for a 1995 game, though.

[@LGR]

Frank Sandqvist Oh yeah, it's crazy impressive for the time.

[@Maschinestorm]

This one really makes me miss big box pc games. I had that box sitting on my desk for years back in the mid 90s, one of the few pc games my dad bought for me.

[@testikuskitestdrivr6012]

Oh man, the 3D models walking around in a pre rendered screen that is just a image. The times, the times they are a changing. This was a leap in different tech, the atmo man the atmo of this game was incredible, CD-rom titles, loved it, never had the gear to play it proper though.

[@devin8577]

Alone in the Dark style gameplay meets System Shock atmosphere, with a dash of The Terminator-inspired character designs?! This looks amazing!

[@MadMac5]

I remember seeing the box for this game at computer stores back in 1995. It looked so cool, but my 386 DX-25 was far too slow to even attempt to play it. It looks like the sort of game that would have blown my mind, but would have been incredibly frustrating once I inevitably got stuck. I likely would have powered through the clunky controls, though, much like I powered through Star Control III and Outpost.

[@L2Nuku]

Other games like these that i liked were Ecstatica 1 and 2, and Dark Earth, ever played those Clint?

[@The1234philly]

box art reminded me of the 3 fingered martian hand print at the end of Total Recall :-) The game sort of looks like that too

[@MAMECADE]

Oh man the memories of BioForge... and trying to install it to work on my Tandy 1000 SX.... Uuugh, but so awesome. It was best of times it was the worst of times.

[@LGR]

MAMECADE Video Game Reviews Oh man, that's a recipe for disappointment!

[@maxblazek]

Wow. That promo art is so fucking sick.

[@jtpetch]

I remember playing this on (my dad's) good 'ol Compaq brick of a laptop. Man, it was a fun game. Although the combat system could have used a bit more speed, I quite enjoyed the complexity of it. Having to choose quickly which move would be best at that point really added some strategy to it. If I could get it to run properly on anything modern, I would definitely play it again.

[@velius2014]

Great video LGR, loved it!

[@Fauwst]

I love to crack open a beer, light up a joint and listen to your soothing voice review old shit.

[@allurhatrbelongtome]

hell yeah brother

[@Kholaslittlespot1]

I used to love this and also Ecstatica... but they were both really hard!

[@TheVeryAngryShrimp]

I really want to play this game now. Reminds me of Resident Evil with the pre-rendered backgrounds.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Zurgo Pussysmasher What he said about the combat system is no joke, though. Be prepared!

[@SolidSnake2017]

I think you've sold me on purchasing this game dang it, you know how to exploit my precious nostalgia lol.

[@vikinghelmet3466]

3:55 "I have no wish to harm you!" [proceeds to be beaten to death with own arm.]

[@Siarawaszympanemjest]

I simply ADORED this game and finished it without a guide. Took forever, as a kid, but well worth it. Also - boo for playing on easy combat. Hard makes every repeated move slower, forcing you to mix things up.

[@erespecko]

I remember this from pictures in some local PC magazine (I'm from Czech Republic)... I remember I played Dark Earth back then

[@mr.kobayashi1675]

How brilliant it was. Part of my childhood. Great memories.

[@Bruno-TheMayors]

Missed this one. Looks great.

[@dimkinson]

make a review on Lost Eden. such a unique adventure game!

[@kummakummakummakummakummac8606]

Never heard of it but thanks. I'm always looking for games I never heard of.

[@theKOmorita]

OMG, you also have a Black Dahlia box!!!!

[@GadgetUK164]

I loved this game and played it right to the end without cheats or guides etc. Awesome!!!

[@BigGfromSA]

Great blast from the past. Cheers

[@cesarrc]

Wow I’ve been trying to remember what this game was for years! It ran terribly on my PC back in the day but I still recall that damn starting prison scene.

[@IAMPOPP]

When i was young i had this game. My computer could never run it, but i always stared at it wondering how it would be. Guess i didnt miss out on much.

[@52BLUE]

You did. This game was groundbreaking at the time and absolutely terrified me as a 12 year old.

[@MarkTheMorose]

One of my earliest PC games; still have it, still haven't played it. I remember having a go on a friend's PC and not being able to properly hear the speech. "If you've come f.... , you'll disappointed". Other early games I got from around the same time: Ecstatica, Desert Strike, Alone in The Dark, and Little Big Adventure (maybe known as Relentless in the US). Still got them all, too, and not one of them has been played...

[@DonGeritch]

Great video about great game! I know a few games with similar stile and gameplay wich Id like to suggest for the future reviews: Martian Gothic, Dark Sun, Ecstatica 1 & 2

[@fotakatos]

DonGeritch Yeah, would love to see LGR reviews for the Ecstatica games. Those games really deserve more late recognition and I'm sure LGR would present them more positively than PC Gamer or RPS (not sure which one) did a year or two ago. Particularly Ecstatica 1 is easily a game that broke new ground in many areas and remains unique in so many ways (aside from the obvious ellipsoid graphics).

[@sedy24x]

Dude, thank you for re-playing the first game I´ve ever bought. Well I couldn´t play from the first day as I had some IRQ problems...

[@Lord_Deimos]

Bioforge used to freak me out as a kid probably because I didn't know what body horror was back then.

[@MundMoriginal]

Bioforge is so freaking amazing! I feel like the game was held back by the industry standards in gameplay and technology. Really, if it was made later, it could have been the best cyber-horror third person person action adventure game. The beginnning was most promising, but the slow gameplay and clunky combat showed its ugly face, as soon as you escape the prison (not the cell, but the prison by using the chopped of arm).

[@Iggsy81]

ahh man i loved this game as a kid.. such a dark eerie world

[@jaynukem1929]

Gotta love that Death Scream!!! 2:43

[@shoutingstone]

Bit late to the party but man I loved this game when it first came out. I even loved the combat, I thought the way your opponent reacted to your hits, falling when hit in the head or doubling over when hit in the gut, was amazingly realistic. One of a very short list of games I was ever able to finish. Finished on a cliff hanger too if I remember rightly :(

[@CryoDragon]

I saw you typing fuc- at the DOS prompt :-0 Also I am very disappointed at the lack of fork

[@bfgtech48]

I've still got this game, and it was the business. All it's quirks was taken for granted back then no matter how clunky. Would love to see a remake.

[@oplfm7009]

This reminds me Time Commando. Looks pretty cool!