| Credits | |
| Published: |
1989, Cinemaware
   |
| Coder: | Randy Platt, Tom McWilliams |
| Graphics: | Jeffrey Hilbers, Jeff Godfrey |
| Musician: | Jim Simmons, Gregory Haggard |
| Information | |
| Hardware: | OCS |
| Disks: | 3 |
| License: | Commercial |
| Language: | English |
| Players: | 1 Only |
| Relationship: | Precursor to Antheads: It Came from the Desert II Data Disk  |
| Categorization | |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Subgenre: | Miscellaneous |
| Tags: | action, adventure, alien, firstperson, humour |
| Magazine Reviews | |
|
Added by Kim Lemon on Jul 5, 2004. Viewed 85148 times.
|
|
No reviews yet! Be the first one to review it.
Save to My Favourites
Save to My OriginalsI have completed this game 
ExoticA
Get Amiga Forever for a great Amiga emulation experience and licensed Kickstart ROMs.
Internet Archive Various files
Planet Emulation ADF files
WHDownLoad Pre-installed packs
WHDLoad
Hall of Light
OpenRetro
SPS
YouTube
Wikipedia
UVL
Hands down my favourite Amiga game. I never owned an Amiga, only played it on my best mate's Amiga back in 1991, and the closest I could get was the PC version which had most of the playability but nowhere near the graphics and especially not the sounds. Bought the Cinemaware collection on Steam for $2 a few years ago and can play the excellent Amiga version now. 10/10
View all comments (10)
No other game crafted a sense of place like this did at the time. It felt like a living, breathing place. I could almost smell the dust kicking up off the asphalt!
Cinemaware's finest hour, this brought together all the best elements of their previous games and they developed a wonderful, pulpy 50's B-Movie adventure.
Playing against the clock gave a sense of urgency and it always felt like you were building towards an achievable goal as you pieced together the clues by chatting to people in the town and collected evidence to convince the mayor that strange things were afoot!
Great graphics, both in the environment, the giant ants themselves and the distinctive people. A wonderful score creates tension with ditties for each location.
I plan to travel to Lizard Breath, one day very soon, to finish the business I started in the 90's! My no.1 Amiga game.
View all comments (4)
Harder to get into than the popular Lucasarts games, but this one aged better. You immerge so much more into the game with the creepy music and suspicious environment.
View all comments (387)
A Movie has been set for 2016 release : [www]
View all comments (17)
Perfect just the way it is.
An HD remake like they are planning with Wings over here [www] would be really nice though ...
View all comments (165)
Great, great game that had everything needed to a make classic. Great story, great presentation, nice graphics, good player interface, tension-inducing sound and music, you name it! I have very fond memories of this one and there were very, very few games able to create as much tension and excitement as this did. A true Amiga classic!
View all comments (211)
I don't think I had the perseverance to complete any Cinemaware game, but ICFTD was right up there with the best they had to offer. The score made this a suspenseful, tense game to play, and the clever design of the entire game made my jaw drop in amazement. I may have to give this one another try. Many vivid memories playing this one. Where does the time go?
View all comments (35)
I got my first amiga (1000) in 1996 and this intro still gave me goose bumps. Probably my favorite amiga game. Gotta love that nurse!
View all comments (2)
This is still amazing! Spent many hours playing this one! Must have for the true amiga fanatic!
View all comments (31)
As far as I'm concerned this is not just Cinemaware's masterpiece but, arguably, the greatest Amiga game ever created and a cinematic experience that has very rarely -if ever- been surpassed since. The real-time gameplay made this immensely replayable-it never fails to shock me how sparsely this has been used by developers (only the obscure PC gem The Last Express and the excellent Dead Rising on the Xbox 360 spring to mind). The setting oozes atmosphere, the supporting cast of characters are all great caricatures of b-movie staples and the occassional mini-game is typically well designed and pleasant without disrupting the flow of the story. An absolute joy and a game that did -more than 20 years ago- things that games still dare not do today.
View all comments (5)
Holy moly I played the hell out of this one!
Wonderfully original, extremely fun to play for gaming fans, old monster movie fans alike. This...and Rocket Ranger had to be their best and the ones to remember after all these years.
Yep, I was floored by that opening bit too! The whole thing was first class, well thought out to keep the nature of the material intact throughout (you're playing a movie here, just as advertised)...
10/10. Among the absolute top of Amiga's best.
View all comments (288)
Was this maybe the best game ever on Amiga? Sure it was Cinemaware's masterpiece, and the best possible adaptation of a classic 1950's monster movie on your favourite home computer. The classic Them! Was turned into the most amazing arcade-adventure ever, as well as the scariest! The music was haunting, always suggesting the imminence of something terrible, the first time you saw the person with whom you were talking running away in fear and then the giant ant appearing was truly effective. The hospital escape sequence could have been a game on its own so much cool it was! Another cool feature of It Came From The Desert was that there was not just one way to complete it, things happened in real time while you played, so, depending on the people you talked to and the things you said, the plot changed. An immortal classic.
View all comments (54)
This epic masterpiece has no equal. It is the most atmospheric game I've ever played.
View all comments (8)
Right from the start with the voice over intro, you just know you are in for something special. Its a nice mix of adventure, action and kind of a real time investigator... It's just a lot of fun and ties together nicely, and its compelling to play through! All presented in pure Cinemaware class!
View all comments (178)
This was a favourite of my entire family (parents included). My brother, my sister and I would play together and be captivated for hours, sometimes days. We used to purposely crash the car to get thrown in hospital because it was so much fun escaping! I can still remember the nurse running after you yelling, "That's him!". And remember the first time you encounter a big ant and you have to shoot the antennae off? They don't make 'em like they used to!
View all comments (4)
Nothing but fond memories of this, the haunting music still gives me the chills, i'd play this game many times even if i knew i'd messed up the timings. You needed to play every move right, which made finishing it quite hard for me, but you could still have a blast with the mini games
View all comments (14)
Games of today rarely if ever compare to the atmosphere
and oozing of style this game has.
View all comments (25)
I can only go to echo what has already been said by some many others... But still I'm puzzled that sooooo many ppl didn't get to experience this game. The variety, mystery and story kept me coming back.
View all comments (4)
Quite possibly my favourite Amiga game ever. Many varied little sub games, great interaction with the characters in the barely believable but still possible story.Killing Giant Ants... Who would have thought it would have made for such a legendary game?
View all comments (34)
Probably one of the greatest Amiga games released which created an atmosphere second to none. Used to spook me out playing late at night with the lights out!!
View all comments (2)
Somehow they managed to get everything seem so very creepy and nightmarish. And I love that intro. I have to visit here every now and then, just for a little taste of the old Cinemaware magic.
View all comments (20)
Total classic this one... I spent many an hour spent trying to escape the hospital. "Get him!!" Graphices and sound were amazing and as everyone else has said - totally atmospheric and absorbing. Managed to finish it eventually after countless attempts!!
View all comments (4)
This game really gave me the creeps when a little boy
View all comments (5)
Probably the best Cinemaware game, good graphics, exceptional atmosphere and it delivers a true 50s B-movie feel. I never completed it, but tried oh so many times.
Basically it's just a series of arcade-ish minigames, held together by an adventure-ish shell - and I really hated the bloody Hellcats
View all comments (36)
A fantastic game, with great atmosphere, that I just NEVER managed to complete!
View all comments (210)
Wowowoowowowowow!!! This is some serious stuff. Super B-Movie plot and design, good design, nice gfx and a well developed story. It was very hard to play, but rewarding, indeed.
View all comments (206)
Many fond memories of this game - Not hard to win (for me at least), but the fun of it was developing alternate storylines by visiting obscure areas at different times of the day or night. My personal favourite was the hair-raising escape from the hospital. The music would just hit you with the trumpets blaring. The doctor rounds the corner as you hide out under the gurney... Classic.
View all comments (11)
A classic! (88%)
View all comments (809)
Very very hard but fun at times.
View all comments (32)
Good game, but very frustrating - requires a lot of experimentation and mapping of locations you have to visit at the right time. It was hard not to be impressed with this at the time of the release.
View all comments (21)
I think I played this game more than any other. A completely unique and superbly made game. The intro set the game up perfectly. So many different outcomes depending on a) what you do (do you research all the ant data at the lab or do you go off in search of them yourself etc), b) who you speak to and c) what time you speak to them.
View all comments (21)
Unique game. (How many other games do you get to battle giant mutant ants?)
View all comments (102)
Oh yeah AWESOME!
Escaping from hospital is really exciting...Sounds, graphics, could you expect more than this?
View all comments (86)
Absolutely wonderful game! Great atmosphere and storyline.. Too short though. But very, very good fun while it lasts.
View all comments (10)
Det kom från öknen.
View all comments (377)
This had a great startup, very B Movie! The game itself was well put together with different action sequences and I still laugh when I remember wheeling around the hospital in the wheelchair! Great game all round.
View all comments (524)
Your own interactive b-movie, all that was missing was Tom Servo, Mike and Crow in the foreground.
View all comments (132)
Remember playing this at a sleep-over with my cousin late at night once (in my youth) when we should have been asleep, great atmosphere, absorbing, creepy and fun. Although not two player, as such, the game design with its engaging plot and minigames made it great a great 2-3 player game. At the time I hated the time pressure, but I think this probably made the game in retrospect.
View all comments (13)
Very good pastiche of 1950s 'atomic mutant' B-Movie fare. The atmosphere and music were absolutely spot-on and the gameplay is, even today, very involving. Definitely well-worth playing if you liked watching 'Them' and the likes on Friday night telly.
View all comments (145)
Wow this game rocked in regards adventure genre and who would've thought that a classic B-type film which was pretty crap would pull off to be one of the best adventure games I think to come onto the Amiga. It had lush GFX and atmospheric music with some nice touches like trying to run away from hospital bed in order to solve mysteries & having knife fights with the biffs in town. Truly a masterpiece ! They should re-release this on next gen consoles
View all comments (522)
For some reason Cinemaware was able to produce great games in a row, this being one of the best if you're into RPG's. It really sets the mood and has enough mini games to keep you busy for a few weeks. The sequel Antheads was more of the same, but part one rocked. There even was a version in the making with videotaped backgrounds and actors but this was never released (due to money issues if I recall well).
View all comments (62)
It was a cool game, but I didn't like the time pressure. But I still played it again and again :-)
View all comments (9)
The best adventure game from Cinemaware - incredible graphics and music, with gameplay and humour to boot! Superbly suited for moody late night playing. A classic.
View all comments (201)
Cinemaware really mastered interactive B-movies. They were A-class games and "It" wasn't an exception. I spent many hours with it, trying to solve the mystery and overcome the menace of the giant ants. I was really satisfied when I finally killed the ant queen. Great atmosphere, great graphics and varied gameplay. I know, it's a cliché but they really don't make games like this anymore.
View all comments (166)
Loved the movie and when I saw the theme of the game I was on heaven. Even better, when I saw the game it looked stunning, the sound was amazing, the intro was for die for, and all the mini-games were funny. The game is a little harder... Still have to solve it...
View all comments (86)
Now we are talking, showed the power of the Amiga, a wonderfull intro starts the game off, you get great GFX, great sound and an amazing atmosphere.
One of my Amiga highlights.
View all comments (10)
Well, this is a classic! It Came From the Desert is real quality. The graphics are great, the sound is superb, starting of with the speech during the intro, through to the excellent atmospheric music in the game. A nice element was the realtime component. Things are happening at certain times in certain places, very well done, but this made the game that bit harder. The story was excellent and the suspense was really good! I had a lot of fun trying to escape from hospital, which was a nice little part of the game! Many characters and nice action, it's all in here. Great great game! One of my all time favourites!
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Playability: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
View all comments (211)
I remember the narrator's´s voice in the intro... "The desert. Unchanged for millions of years..." It was an IFF-8SVX sample. It has 5 long spoken sentences, and the file length was only 75 kB. Really impossible today! I never completed this game. I still see the giant ant in front of me, where the task was to shoot out its tentacles...
View all comments (768)
Have to say up until Vice City was released this was my favourite game on any platform. Amazingly atmospheric, scary even late at night. Superb graphics, sounds, music, playability. Always found the overhead plane scenes a bit odd though!
View all comments (44)
B-movie as a game. Ten in graphics, gameplay - everything. Loved blowing those ants away...
View all comments (6)
This is without any doubt the greatest game there ever was!!
An excellent mixture of Adventure, Action and Strategy and moodier and more atmospheric than any other game. As Zappa did, I've played it a thousand times to discover every little detail (and there are a lot of!!).
View all comments (2)
Adventure game with a distinctive style typical for Cinemaware games. Pretty cool, especially the intro. If you like this game be sure to check out Rocket Ranger too.
View all comments (232)
The best adventure game ever for this platform (yes, I know, Monkey Island I & II are great too, but the PC-versions of those games are equally good). Superior atmosphere here. It really feels like it's the 50's in a small desert town. That intro sure is great. This game and Wings were Cinemaware's best efforts.
View all comments (52)
Truly open ended adventuring in a living world, where things are always happening, and the story progressing. Cinemaware at its finest.
View all comments (245)
Huge. Awesome. What to say about this masterpiece? I played and re-played it thousand of times, finding the fastest way to finish it, looking at every detail in the game and in the graphics. The incredible atmosphere... You really were in Lizardbreath when you played ICFTD. Defects in this game? No one I can remember at this time. Maybe the best game from Cinemaware on Amiga, score for me is 10.
View all comments (29)