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The RAM (Russo-American Mercantile) organisation is based on Mars. They want to control the Solar System - a natural enough ambition, I suppose. They rule Earth with an iron hand, thus NEO (New Earth Organization) has been formed to counter the tyranny. After Buck Rogers was found and revived from his frozen snooze he joined NEO and helped to remove RAM troops from Earth. However, fear of RAM is still high as they could strike any at time. You join the NEO, one of many new recruits. Buck's task is to form a team, get the hell out into space and put the stellar wind up the dreaded RAM.
Buck Rogers uses an uprated AD&D system although there are many similarities. The swords have been replaced by laser guns, the towns and villages by planets and space stations. You still control a group of six, the menu interface is structured in the same way, even the 'meanwhile' screens appear to have the same artistic 'feel' to them. However, there are many improvements. The complex skill system being the most important.

Character attributes contain many of the usual categories: dexterity, strength and so on. However, there is one surprise. 'Tech' measures a character's technical know-how. Experience points measure how much each team member has 'learned' by winning battles, finding money and completing parts of the adventure. Increasing levels via high experience advances a character's career.
Character classes, as in the fantasy genre, may only have certain careers. The available careers are interesting and varied. So, for example, Tinkers (a race bio engineered to work in cramped spaces - clever with tools etc) can only be engineers and medics. However, it is the skill system that provides the core to the game and the qualification for each career via minimum skill values. Rogues can, for example, bypass security, climb pretty well, convince other characters with a spot of fast-talking, hide in the shadows, move silently, notice things, open locks, and pick pockets. Genera skills are also included. They are listed as 'extra curricular' in the manual. During character creation and level increases you are able to allocate points to any skill you have. Skills have a direct influence in the game. Leadership skills may attract NPCs into the party during combat sequences, for example.

Many of the menu options are similar in their effects to the AD&D menu system, with modifications such as a bar/restaurant instead of the tavern. There are novel options such as the library to find info (an appropriate skill is required to achieve success). You con re-supply and repair your spaceship. Other notables are jury-rig (used when equipment is damaged), boost engines (attempting to squeeze extra speed out of the engines) and sensor (to probe enemy ships).
Combat uses the usual raised-side-view - ideal for tactical play - and is divided into 10 'segments'. Each segment includes a detailed array of variables such as each character's initiative number (which determines when that character acts in combat), the type and performance of armour each character wears (dexterity also helps in avoiding injury), THACO (the ability to hit an opponent in melee or ranged fire), damage (resulting from the weapon type used and the strength - the greater they are, the more hit points removed from the opponent), saving throws (recovers from poison etc), leadership skill check, battle tactics (this skill enables the team to work better as a group), performance in zero-g manoeuvring and so on. Terrain can be used during tactical play which aids the tactical realism. Combat in space is also available and includes boarding and salvage as options.

As the RPG genre matures we are slowly seeing it separate into different sub-groups. These should not be directly compared to each other as they all have different goals. Some RPGs are pure hack 'n slash (Bard's Tale) while others rely on interaction to succeed (the later Ultimas). Buck Rogers depends on tactical combat to win the game.
As it is the primary feature, combat is excellent and will be enjoyed by tacticians everywhere. In addition, due to the large amount of detail provided for each character (both in normal play and during combat), the game quickly becomes absorbing and addictive. Your characters appear more as 'individuals' rather than just an assortment of a few re-rolled stats such as charisma and strength. There is no doubt, therefore, that Buck Rogers sits firmly as the king of the 'Tactical' RPG castle.

Title: Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
Game Type: RPG
Publisher: SSI
Players: 1
Compatibility: OCS (AGA?)
Submission: Karl Anders Rostrup

Review
This game is a classic of SSI's GoldBox-series of role-playing games - it
is set in a futuristic version of the Solar System... and in my opinion,
this is definitely the best of all the GoldBox games.

The year is circa 2456. The Earth is a polluted ruin, having been abused
through centuries of heavy industry and warfare. The interplanetary
megacorporation RAM (Russo-American Mercantile) has risen to become one of
the greatest powers in the solar system in the 3rd Millennium, having vast
resources of manpower, technology and weapons. The other major powers -
Mercury and Venus - compete with RAM for political and military positions.
Earth is left with dead oceans and polluted land. Only a few relatively
small resistance groups try to oppose RAM's rape of the Earth, but they
are hopelessly outclassed in nearly everything. The game begins as your
party join one of those resistance groups - NEO (New Earth Organization)
to fight for the planet mankind called its cradle, and to restore it to
the blue pearl of the solar system it once was. The party hasn't even made
it past the introductions before RAM forces drop onto the training base
and attack, and your party must make do as best they can, and find a way
to repel the RAM forces. Fighting with everything from old-fashioned
knives to laser pistols and plasma launchers, you will eventually have a
sizable arsenal at your disposal as the game progresses. After repelling
the RAM attack, you are assigned to sift through the vast masses of
wreckage in orbit around the Earth, and you happen upon a mysterious ship,
virtually undamaged... and this is where the real adventure begins, as you
step into the seemingly abandoned ship, and its weapons vaporize the tug
you came aboard with, leaving you in dire straits indeed.

You will meet several of the famous characters from the Buck Rogers
universe, like Wilma Deering, Turabian and Buck Rogers himself, as you
find yourself travelling the reaches of the inner solar system from
Mercury out to the barbaric small communities of the asteroid belt as you
strive to uncover a fiendish RAM plot in time to save the millions of
people that still inhabit the Earth.

Buck Rogers: CTD is like the other GoldBox games in many respects, but
gives the impression that it's more thought-out than the other
fantasy-RPGs that have been released on SSI's label. CTD is for one thing
much faster than its fantasy counterparts, and whereas the fantasy-games
have fixed classes, CTD offers you a skill-based system where you can
invest skill points in whatever strikes your fancy, giving you a far
greater flexibility.

Like its futuristic game world suggests, getting in close with swords and
hacking your enemies down isn't the best tactic anymore. No, not when you
are up against advanced projectile and energy guns... though some
situations are still best left to good old hack'n'slash methods. Rather
than travelling by foot or horse from game location to game location, you
will travel via a medium cruiser among the various stellar objects. Random
encounters while travelling from location to location in space means that
you encounter hostile ships... and these fights can be _very_ tricky to
say the least. Only go up against a RAM Heavy Cruiser if you know
_exactly_ what you are doing, or if you're feeling especially suicidal...
even encounters of ships equal to your own can be devastating if you
haven't got characters that have advanced to the maximum level CTD allows.

But one thing you won't get around is encounters, i.e. combat. And lots of
it, but not as much as the 'worst' games of the genre. Still, because the
combat system is well-programmed, the number of combat scenes is more
bearable. And the graphics are well done for SSI's games, also for the
ship-to-ship combat scenes, complete with fitting sound effects and
graphics detailing hits on the opposing (or the destruction of your) ship.

Sadly, CTD is the one and only game in the Buck Rogers universe that was
released... the second, 'Prime Squared,' was released on PC, but the Amiga
version was likely cancelled because of the financial problems of
Commodore. The sequel is one I'd love to see converted, because CTD is a
game that leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment upon completition.
Even playing on the easiest level offers seriously difficult encounters at
times, like when you go up against RAM Combat Robots... and the
ship-to-ship encounters aren't affected by adjusting the difficulty levels.

Lastly, some tips that will help your chances of beating this game: Have
your warriors specialize _solely_ in needle-guns. As they advance in
level, their damage and to-hit bonuses will accumulate, making them very
effective warriors against just about everything they encounter. Have your
rogue (or another of your characters) put some points in the Computer
Programming skill. This isn't all that obvious in the beginning of the
game, but it pays off later in the game. Skills such as Astrogation and
Planetology are as of yet unused, perhaps for the sequel, should it ever
be released.

If you like games of the GoldBox vein, this is the king of them all. A
must in most RPG'ers collection.