Where to get it

1990 · Indie Built · Adventure · Point-and-click adventure

Countdown

An 3rd person Point and Click adventure game for DOS. You play as Mason Powers, a former CIA agent, who wakes up with his memory erased. While recovering from his amnesia he realised that he has been framed for a murder.

Released: 1990
Platforms: Linux MS-DOS Windows macOS
Genres: Adventure Point-and-click adventure Puzzle
Developers: Indie Built
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Thriller
Country: United States
Languages: English

About

Countdown is a point-and-click adventure game released by Access Software for MS-DOS in 1990. The game was re-released on GOG.com on 26 July 2021.

The player plays as Mason Powers, a CIA agent who wakes up in a Turkish mental hospital, suffering from partial amnesia and accused of murdering his supervisor. Powers must escape the hospital, find out who framed him, piece together his memory, and prevent terrorists from blowing up a peace conference.

›Story

You're American agent Mason Powers and you've just intercepted an ultra secret message about an international terrorist group. Just as you're about to brief CIA Section Chief, Frank McBain, everything goes black...and you wake up in remote prison hospital in Turkey...with no memory of what happened and charged with the murder of Frank McBain!

Keywords

spy
detective
gog preservation program

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

Amiga and Atari ST versions of Countdown were planned for release in Autumn 1991, but were never released.

Reception

Computer Gaming World's Charles Ardai stated that "Countdown is as close to perfect as any game can be. It also comes closer to earning its self-appointed identification as an 'Interactive Movie' than any of its predecessors or competitors". The magazine wrote that excellent VGA graphics, sound, and controls made the game a "feature film" compared to the "mere cartoons" from Sierra On-Line, and compensated for the stock plot devices of amnesia and a protagonist falsely accused of murder.

The One gave Countdown an overall score of 84%, praising the game's "cinematic atmosphere", which they attributed to the game's digitized graphics, "spine-chilling" sound effects, and the game's flashback sequences. While expressing that Countdown isn't an 'interactive movie' but rather an adventure with cinematic effects, The One compared Countdown's visuals to British science fiction series Joe 90, and 1965 spy film The Ipcress File. Despite praising the game's 'good' animation, The One criticized Countdown's 'average' graphics and "limited" inputs, stating that it "can't quite match the breadth or complexity of a top class Sierra or Lucasfilm" game. Despite this, The One praised Countdown as "complex and substantial", and expressed that the game's espionage plot and exotic locations are 'engaging'.