Wisdom Tree's classic example of code re-use is shown here, their third incarnation of the same game. Color Dreams' Crystal Mines was released in 1989, followed by Wisdom Tree's graphic re-use Exodus in 1990. The final re-use of the same engine landed here in 1992 with Joshua - the end of a religious nightmare (heh).

Crystal Mines featured a futuristic mining robot who used lasers to burrow through rocks and destroy enemy robots while trying to collect crystals. Exodus featured none other than Moses himself, who used the Word of God (aka. the letter "W" shooting out of his body) to defeat heretics, false idols and other enemies of the almighty while trying to collect Bible questions to answer at the end of the level. Joshua features essentially the same thing - you play the boy himself, wielding his incredibly potent horn (heh) which he can toot at Satanists while grabbing those Bible questions.

The main new feature of Joshua is the digitized sounds which play at various strategic points of the game. Unfortunately, this is a bit wasted - the death and victory sounds are mostly digitized snippets of jingles which aren't that good in the first place. The best sound - indeed, the best part of the entire game - is the voice of (I presume) God himself exclaiming "Be courageous, Joshua!" before every level.

Can you find all the Bible questions?

This is what I get for falling asleep at Sunday school

Pix: |tsr

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