Blackthorne



A Cinematic Platform Game from 1994, by Blizzard Entertainment, for the SNES and PC (later ported to the 32X, Macintosh, and Gameboy Advance). The gameplay is very similar to Prince of Persia; the main differences are that combat is done with guns and bombs instead of swords, and there is an item inventory system (some levels require the use of these items to make progress).

The game begins with player character Kyle Blackthorne being teleported from Earth to the world of Tuul by a magician called Galadril, who tells Blackthorne that he is the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Androth. However, Androth has been conquered by Ka'dra'suul, and it is up to Blackthorne to free the Androthi and defeat Ka'dra'suul.


 * Action Bomb: There are the spider-like walking bomb enemies, and there are also the "remote wasps" (flying bombs that you can control).
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: There's Blackthorne himself, and also the Final Boss (actually, the only boss) is Sarlac, the ruler of Ka'dra'suul.
 * Bag of Spilling: You begin each level with a fixed selection of items, regardless of what items you had at the end of the previous level. This might have been done to allow for the password-based save system to use only four-characters-long passwords.
 * Bloodless Carnage: Played straight in the SNES, averted hard in the PC version.
 * Cave Behind the Falls: Parts of levels in the first area (the mines) are located through doorways that are behind waterfalls.
 * Changeling Fantasy: Blackthorne was an orphan who grew up to be a soldier with the U.N. and then a mercenary, turns out he's actually an alien prince.
 * Combat Tentacles: The "eekers" have them.
 * Evil Laugh: The grag'ohr that you encounter earlier will laugh at you after shooting you, which gives you a chance to shoot them. Later ones don't do that, making them more difficult.
 * Friendly Fireproof: Both averted and played straight. You can shoot most friendly humans, unless they engage in combat (where they make for good shields) or have an upgrade for your gun.
 * Infinite Ammo: You can't run out of bullets/shells. The amount of bombs, however, is limited (they occupy slots in your item inventory).
 * Man-Eating Plant: The "eeker" enemies.
 * Market-Based Title: It was called Blackhawk in some European countries.
 * Not the Fall That Kills You: Unlike in Prince of Persia, you can grab a ledge no matter how far you've already fallen.
 * Not Using the Z Word: The grag'ohr are basically orcs (they even resemble those from Warcraft, which was released the same year).
 * Offhand Backhand: Blackthorne can shoot backwards. Doing so isn't useful, but it sure is cool.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: They are called grag'ohr and come in all colors of the rainbow.
 * Password Save
 * Punctuation Shaker: The Empire is called "Ka'dra'suul", and there are two types of enemies called "grag'ohr" and "whar'ork".
 * Sequel Hook: The ending shows . However, no sequel has been made.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can shoot and kill the slaves and prisoners you're supposed to be saving. They'll drop any gear they would have given you, so you can't make the game Unwinnable this way. This was removed in the SNES version.
 * Whip It Good: The whar'orks are armed with whips, presumably because they're slave-drivers.