A puzzle game for DOS (and hence the PC), developed by id Software and published by Softdisk, and first released in 1991.

It features Roger, who you play, and his dog, Rover. For reasons that are never (to my knowledge) explained, Rover keeps on getting kidnapped by robots. And Roger keeps on going into the robot territory to get him back. Each level starts with Roger climbing up a ladder set into the floor, and you complete the level by arriving back at this ladder with Rover (at which point Roger climbs down with Rover, and then, shortly afterwards, Rover is kidnapped again).

Obviously, there are robots wandering around. There are in fact four different types of robot in the game, each with different behaviours (one type shoots Roger if he stands in front of it, but doesn't move, another type runs around and shoots Roger if he is seen, another type chases you around, and the last type runs around and kills Roger if it runs into him). To get to Rover, you must normally avoid, trap or destroy them.

To help you do this, you have items that Roger can push around in the world: crates (which float on water), mirror blocks (which reflect lasers at an angle), star pearls and anti-grav carts. Other things in the areas are grated floors (which robots cannot travel on), glowing floros (which Roger cannot travel on), water (including moving water in which crates float with the current), laser projectors, teleporters and force doors (which need an access card in order to be opened).

Typically there is only one possible strategy per level, which might involve trapping the robots in a room by using crates, pearls and/or the grated floors, destroying them with reflected laser light, or various other methods. You must be careful though - as well as being killed by the robots, it is quite possible to be killed by a misplaced laser beam.

The game was distributed as shareware, with the first 10 levels making up the shareware version, and another 20 levels being present in the registered version. There is also a sequel, Rescue Rover 2, which is much the same, with better graphics and new levels.

This is a great game, very challenging and incredible fun, and the simple (but adequate) graphics are fine. Although it's a bit frustrating to see Roger sit there and look in the other direction as Rover is kidnapped yet AGAIN! Go and play it, now, before you get distracted!


System Requirements: 8086+, 450k of RAM, EGA/VGA. Support for PC Speaker sound effects and a joystick.

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